Brandy's Bizarre Adventure
by Von Reivanon
Summary: Brandy the Bandit lives happily with her king Oticat, her best friend Dan the Knight, and the rest of her fellow troops. But when the dark machinations of an evil King and an evil Clan start to tumble into motion, her life is thrown into chaos. Rated T for intense action, peril, heavy themes, and slightly suggestive content. And yes, there are lots and lots of JoJokes.
1. Chapter 1

Ultimately, Oticat4 was a good king. He always donated everything he could, which was nice. He made sure to regularly send mail to his clanmates, even when he didn't want something. Occasionally, he would make a trade that didn't benefit him in any way, just to help out his clanmate. He always did all three of his Collection Day battles, and he always, _always, _used his War Day battle. He made good decks, using annoying meta strategies only when he had to. And he had good cards, as well. Good spells, good buildings, good troops- the best of which was Brandy the Bandit. Or at least, she thought so.

As she sat on the bench in the dugout in the midst of the latest battle, Brandy closed her eyes for a second, and took in the wonderful atmosphere. The cold wind of Frozen Peak seemed to be rather biting to some people, but Brandy didn't mind all that much. She felt it, sure, but it didn't mean a whole lot, not when this was one of their last battles before Arena 9.

"Hey, Brandy! You're up!", came the shout of Dan the Knight, her best friend. He had been in Oticat's battle deck from the very beginning. Brandy was a relatively recent addition, having been unlocked from a Legendary Chest only a few months ago.

"Thanks, Dan!", she yelled back, and leapt up from the bench. A quick Dash, and she was on the teleporter. Her vision blurred a light blue, a low roar echoed in her ears, and a second later, she was on the ice and snow of the battlefield, placed right on the right bridge.

"Alright, what do we got today?", she said to herself. Looking out across the Arena floor, she saw an Hog Rider. Okay, that was pretty standard, especially after the recent buff. But Brandy knew better than to try and catch him- no one could outrace a Hog. She would leave that task to Agatha and her Skeletons.

Looming up from behind the opponent's king tower was a Balloon, a faint 9 glowing over its surface. There was no possible way she could deal with that. Brandy hoped that maybe Bowza could deal with it. The Magic Archer was one of the only air targeters in the deck, along with Agatha and Randy, who was an Ice Spirit.

Brandy looked forward, and to her surprise, the path to the tower was completely open! It looked as though the enemy king, focused as he was on the Ratzo Brothers charging on the left side with their Battle Ram, had simply forgotten to defend it.

Brandy ran for the tower as quickly as she could, trying to get within dash range. She had seen him use his Fireball just a few moments earlier, so she knew that she didn't have to worry about that. He did have a small spell in the form of The Log, just like Oticat. The spell had regained its former popularity pretty much the second Barbarian Barrel was nerfed. But now, she had crossed the bridge, was in dash position, and ready. Steam rose off of Brandy's body as she knelt to rush forward. Too late, the enemy king noticed. He pressed his finger to his digital interface, and flung it forward. Within a second, his The Log had come hurtling toward her, bouncing off of the ground at high speed. But unfortunately for him, his reaction had been just a bit too slow. Brandy dashed, and passed almost phantasmally through The Log. A Villager in the front row of the stands cheered, and threw her drink into the Arena. Almost immediately, it was absorbed by the Shield that protected the Arenas from any interference. Brandy finished her Dash, and struck the tower, shaking the Princess within, almost off of her feet. It's health readout dropped to 400- it was almost down Just a few more hits would finish it. So Brandy raised her club to strike the tower- and another Log emerged from nowhere and knocked her backwards.

"Wha…", Brandy thought to herself. "How did he get a Mirror? He's only in Arena 8! Oh well, that Log didn't stop me."

Brandy wasn't in Dash range, so she just started to run towards the tower. Hopefully, she could still bring the tower down- oh. Nope. Not with that just-played Mini Pekka blocking the way. Brandy knew she couldn't take it down, not without her Dash.

"Hey, look! Pancakes!", she shouted, and pointed to somewhere in the audience.

"PAN. CAKES?", asked the Mini Pekka, and swiveled its head all the way around.

"Yes, Pancakes!", said Brandy. "Go get them."

"PAN. CAKES!", it beeped, and swiveled its head around again. It saw Pancakes, all right- that was the way it saw the world. And to it, Brandy looked like a very inviting stack. It raised its sword, and swung down.

Seconds later, Brandy reappeared back on the bench. She huffed, and blew her bangs out of her face.

"Hey, you didn't do too bad.", said Dan. "You did better than me."

"Why?", asked Brandy. "What happened to you?"

"I took one step, and got fried by a flawless prediction Lightning.", Dan replied. "But you know what that was?"

"What?"

"It was a…", Dan began, as he waved his hands around in the air. "Positive Elixir Trade! Yeeeaaah!"

"Yeeeaaah!", Brandy sang back, and they exchanged high fives. A second later, the entire Arena was rocked by an explosion, and the two friends stumbled.

Because out on the battlefield, the huge rock of Webert the Bowler crashed right through stone, destroying the enemy princess tower and winning the match.

"Oticat 1, MaNoFwAr_68 0.", drawled the Wizard in the announcer booth. "Blue team wins."

The specially constructed blocks of ice on either side of the Arena cracked and split, forming into the shape of a single crown, lit from within with a mysterious blue light to signify the score.

Oticat4 held up the screaming hog sign- his favorite to use whenever he won. The red king, MaNoFwAr_68, ranted and raved, then flipped the laughing sign multiple times in a pathetic attempt to mask his loss.

Within seconds, everyone that had been out on the battlefield reappeared, back on the bench. Agatha and Bowza crossed weapons in a formal celebration, staff to glowing bow. Webert shared a fist bump with both of the Ratzo Brothers at once, while Randy danced on top of The Log.

"Kudos for taking out that Minion Horde, Bowza.", said Agatha.

"The mountains cannot meet the sky without the trees, Agatha.", replied the Magic Archer.

"And that means?", said Agatha.

"It means that you helped take them out too.", said Bowza. He would usually do this- speak in riddles, then provide a translation just in case nobody understood. Which was all the time.

"Hey, nice job with that Furnace, guys.", rumbled Webert. "It was really annoying."

"Well, we couldn't have done it without you.", said one of them.

"Yeah, you took out the Fire Spirits.", said the other.

Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit.

Oticat and his daughters, Sadie and Elizabeth, walked down from their respective towers after their emoting was finished. Oticat clapped his hands.

"Alright guys, great match today. Let's head out."

As one, they exited the dugout and strolled towards the Prize Goblin at one end of the Arena. Here, the winning king would receive Gold and Chests, as well as sometimes a Crown for their Crown Chest. Here was also the spot where the loser would hand over a select amount of trophies - usually between 20 and 30, but occasionally higher- to the king that won.

"Hey Grug!", said Oticat to the Goblin attending to the table that day, once they arrived. He slammed his elbow down onto the counter. "What do you have for me today?"

"Oh, I have something simply delightful for you today, sir.", said Grug, and rummaged around below the counter. With a grunt, he pulled up a handful of Gold and a battered red crown.

"Here you go, mate- 16 gold, 1 crown for your chest, and..."

The prize goblin ducked down behind the counter again. As Oticat watched in excitement, loud grunts of exertion and Gobbish curses could be heard. Finally, with a heave of heroic effort, Grug lifted a massive Chest onto the table, and gasped.

"Here's your Giant Chest, sir!", he said finally. "Hope you - _wheeze_ \- enjoy it.

The king's face lit up in delight. "Awesome!", he said. "It's always good to get a nice and juicy chest like that."

Webert took the Giant Chest in one massive hand, and gently bounced it up and down.

"And of course, the trophies.", said Oticat, eager to receive them.

"Right," the goblin replied, "MaNoFwAr_68 should be along any second to deliver you his trophies." Oticat4 looked down the hallway- and sure enough, the angry red king was marching stiffly toward him. One of his Princesses carried a bundle of 30 Trophies in a wheelbarrow behind him.

With a sneer of disgust, MaNoFwAr_68 gestured towards his daughter, and she piled the won Trophies into Oticat's own wheelbarrow, pushed by Elizabeth.

"Here, take your stupid trophies. I hope you lose them.", said the red king with a huff.

"Oh, it's all right man. You played well out there. Good game.", Oticat said, and moved his hand to give him a thumbs up. Once MaNoFwAr_68's eyes followed Oticat's fingers, they were swiftly changed to a circle, and slammed against the blue king's knee.

The red king drew swiftly back, then crossed his arms and turned around. Oticat just laughed.

"Hmph. You'll hear from my clanmates about this.", he said.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and laughter. Brandy came around the corner, already engrossed in conversation with Dan and Agatha.

"I can't believe that moron left the tower open for me!", she said, and put her hand on Dan's shoulder. "And such a nice Log placement- it's like he's got the reflexes of an actual Log!"

Everyone laughed, except, of course, for the MaNoFwAr_68. Smoke merely came out of his reddening ears, and he grumbled. But then, as he looked at Brandy, the source of the insults, he stopped. His head tilted very slightly, and a mote of an idea began to form in his head- somewhere around 11%. Suddenly, he gave a good natured smile and clapped Oticat4 on the back.

"Yeah, no hard feelings man.", he said, suddenly all sunshine. "Just don't expect us to cross paths again anytime soon."

And with that, he turned around, swept his cape around, and strode out of Frozen Peak, his team and Princesses following closely behind.

Dan frowned, and scratched his head. "What do suppose that was all about?"

Agatha stepped forward, her brow furrowed with concern. "I don't like the way he was looking at you, Brandy."

Brandy startled and turned to the Witch. "Why, was he looking at me? I didn't notice."

"So, I'm gonna hit the shop really fast.", said Oticat as they left the Arena. "You guys can just wait here."

He walked into a nearby Official Store, in order to check what was for sale. Sometimes they had free Gems, Gold, or even free Chests. They also had a selection of various cards for sale, as well as some Emotes. Also available were high end, specialty chests, but hardly anyone ever bought them, due to their massive Gem cost.

Brandy decided to follow him, then at the last second took a left into the Gift Shop. This was for visitors to the Arenas to pick up souvenirs- action figures, posters, and the like. After a few seconds of poking around, Brandy noticed a figure of herself posing on a shelf. Of course, it was not actually her, but rather a regular Bandit. But all Bandits, and indeed all troops, did look practically the same. The figure was packaged as part of "The Essential Bridge Spam Kit", and nestled in between two Elite Barbarians.

Brandy picked up the box, and looked at it for a bit. It also included a Battle Ram team and the massive figure of a Pekka. In between the figures, she could see out the back of a box- and through the box, Brandy could see a small Villager child staring at her.

Brandy put the box back onto the shelf, and knelt down. The little girl yelped and hid behind her mother's skirt.

"Now Cookie, what do we say?", said the adult Villager.

"Hi.", squeaked Cookie shyly, staring up at Brandy with sheer admiration in her eyes.

"Hi, Cookie.", said Brandy. " I'm Brandy. How are you doing?"

Cookie, as typical of small children around unfamiliar people, said nothing.

"Cookie, you've wanted to go on this vacation for months.", sighed her mother. "You kept on talking about how you wanted to meet a real troop, and now here's one and you don't want to talk to her."

Cookie continued her silence.

"Maybe I can get her to talk.", said Brandy, and knelt down onto one knee. With a swift sleight of hand, Brandy tucked her hand behind Cookie's ear, and pulled out a Gold piece. Cookie gasped and grabbed it.

"How- how did you do that?", she asked, her fear vanishing in the face of magic.

Brandy wiggled her fingers. "It's all in the fingers, kid. I can teach you, if you like."

The adult Villager swept Cookie back under her arm. "Oh, no thank you. She already gets into enough trouble around the Hut. Which reminds me-"

She fumbled in the folds of her dress for a second, before pulling out a huge camera. "Do you think you could take a picture with us before you go?"

"Sure, that'll be fine.", said Brandy, and maneuvered herself in between the two, hands in the air and fingers in a V. With a click and a snap, the picture was taken, and the camera put away.

"Well, we better leave, Cookie.", said her mother, then looked around. "Cookie?"

Cookie was staring intently at something on the floor. Upon closer inspection, it seemed to be a large floor art of a vicious looking red Dragon. Cookie's study of the picture was interrupted by a tug on her sleeve.

"Cookie, we need to leave."

Cookie looked up with eyes shining. "Mommy, can I be a Bandit when I grow up?"

Her mother grimaced. "I'm afraid that's not possible, dear. When you're born, you're one thing and that's it. Your father learned that the hard way."

"Now, don't be so sure.", said Brandy with a smile. "Something could always happen."

The second Brandy left the Gift Shop, she was very nearly blinded by a ray of sun that glinted off of the metal ground. It was getting kind of late after such a long day of battling, and the sun was beginning to set. Oticat walked out of the door next to her, with a small white square in his hand.

"Hey, guess who just got a new Emote?", he asked to the team, and they all crowded around to look.

"What is it? What did you get?", asked Dan excitedly.

"I bet it's Goblin Facepalm.", said one of the Ratzo brothers. "I love that one."

"Yeah.", said his partner. "Especially when you charge a Tombstone instead of the tower."

"Hey, did I ask for your opinion?"

"No. That's why I'm giving it."

Oticat silenced them with a motion, then moved his hand to reveal his purchase- the Dabbing Wizard. Everyone cheered, and laughed.

"Watch this.", said Oticat, and pressed it. The symbol of the Wizard on the tile made a small motion, and a pressing sound issued from it as he dabbed.

"But all fun aside, we had better head home.", said Oticat. "It's pretty late, and I really want to set this Giant Chest to unlocking."

So Oticat and his team got up, walked to the Balloon station, and got in line.

"11, please.", said Oticat to the Bomber tending the stand. "And hurry."

"Yeah, yeah, 11.", said the Bomber sarcastically. "Look, you can just say the standard package- there's only ever a Team, a King, and the two Princesses. Never anything else."

"Oh." said Oticat. "Well, in that case, standard package, please."

The Bomber sighed, and expertly unhitched a group of Balloons from their tethers. "Here you go, sir."

Once Oticat and the team were in the Balloons, high in the sky overlooking the great uncharted canyon that seperated Arenas, they all started to relax a bit.

Oticat4 looked at his Giant Chest, then up at the sky. Back to the chest, then back to the sky. Up, down. He really wasn't sure if he should do what he was thinking of, but it was a spontaneous feeling day. Finally, he sighed and cleared his throat.

"You know what, everyone?", he said.

The various Troops in their various Balloons all turned to look at him with varying levels of curiosity.

"What is it, Dad?", asked Sadie.

"I really shouldn't be doing this, especially after buying an Emote, but I feel spontaneous today. I'm gonna Gem this thing once we get back home."

This caused a great excitement among them all. Rare chest openings were always fun to see- and there was the hope that one of them might get upgraded. And that was one of the greatest feelings of all.

Work- Once they all arrived home, the team hurried out of the Balloons, full of excitement. The door burst open with a bang of Webert's foot, and they all rushed through.

"What's the rush for, sir?", asked Masonl, Oticat's highest level Wizard.

"I just got a Giant Chest.", Oticat quickly explained. "I'm going to Gem it open. You wanna watch?"

Masonl folded up his glasses, and folded to Oticat's side. "Yes, sir. I rather would like to."

The group, now larger with the addition of Masonl, quickly filed into the Card Hall. Here, Chests were unlocked, decks were built, and cards were upgraded. With trembling hands, Oticat gently placed the Giant Chest into the unlocker. Everyone watched intently as he walked over to the cupboard, took out 72 gems, and carried them over to the machine. He placed them, one by one, into a special slot fitted into the front of it, and the Giant Chest cracked open. He grabbed it and took it out, then set it on a nearby table.

"Alright everyone, let's see what we get! Here's hoping for an upgrade!"

His hands trembling from excitement, Oticat reached in and pulled out a sack of 1500 gold. A few thousand Gold was always nice to have. But now, on to the cards. He placed the Gold on the table to be carried off to another part of the room by a "helpful" Goblin. Oticat reached in again, and pulled out a stack of 185 Commons. With a flip, he turned them over to reveal them as Knights. His eyes lit up and he turned to Dan. "Congratulations! You're getting upgraded!"

Everyone cheered- with Dan the loudest. Oticat rubbed his hands together, and reached in again. This time, what was clutched in his hands were Rares- 64 Battle Rams.

"Dang, this is a good Giant Chest.", he said as he turned around. "Two stacks that we use." But he stopped as he saw everyone else in the room staring in shock and awe at something behind him.

"What? What is it?", he asked.

Brandy whistled. "Oticat. Look.", she said.

Oticat turned around, and saw what they were all looking at. A shimmering corona of multi-hued light glowed from the Giant Chest- the surest sign of a Legendary.

Elizabeth squealed with excitement. "What do you want, Dad? I hope we get a Lumberjack. They're so dreamy."

"I want…", Oticat said, and glanced back at the group. Bowza and Brandy both had their hands clasped together, both hoping for an upgrade.

_Come on, please…, _thought Brandy. _I want to be Level 10…_

"Well dang. I don't even know what I want.", said Oticat with a shrug. "Just something I don't have, I guess."

He shut his eyes, and pulled out the last card. It flew out of his hands and into the air, where it began to float. It spun around faster and faster, spattering sparks of rainbow light, until finally it stopped- and turned into the shining silhouette of- a Lumberjack! Elizabeth clasped her hands and screamed, as snow fell around him.

The Lumberjack stepped forward, posed, slipped on a wild patch of snow, fell down the stairs, hit his head on the floor, and said "Bugger!", which is a terrible thing to say as your first word ever.

"Woah, are you alright-", Oticat started to say, but the energetic Lumberjack jumped to his feet before there was a second and shook Oticat's hand with a grip as hard as oak.

"Hi! Name's Kars! Kars the Lumberjack!", he shouted enthusiastically. "Good to be alive, huh?"

"Well, Kars, I'm-", Oticat tried, but Kars had already moved on. Quick as a flash, he was down the stairs and already introducing himself to the rest of the group.

"Hi, I'm Kars!", he shouted as he pumped Dan's hand up and down. "You look like some fine people!"

Before Dan could even think of something to say, Kars turned and saw Elizabeth, attempting to control herself. Kars winked at her, and the Princess fell into the arms of her sister.

"Hey, Bowler!", shouted Kars, and Webert looked down at him. "You got any trees to chop?"

"Well, there's some outside.", rumbled Webert. "I guess you could-"

"Awesome!", Kars shouted, and kicked open a random door. He laughed maniacally as he ran through in search of some lumber to jack.

"Sadie, see to it that he doesn't go too crazy.", said Oticat.

Now it was time for everyone to wind down. And in order to do that, they usually partook in one of their favorite activities- watching some T.V Royale. Brandy took her regular spot sprawled across the couch, Dan sitting in the chair right next to her. Agatha summoned some of her skeletons so they could watch too, the Ratzo brothers sat on their ram, and Webert, Randy, and Bowza stood, as always. Oticat, Elizabeth, and Sadie had the seats of honor in the middle. Oticat grabbed the remote from its glass case and flicked the On button.

"Hey everyone, and welcome back to TV Royale.", said the Villager on screen. "I'm Trisha, your host, and today we're going to be taking a look at several exciting things. Isn't that right, Ted?"

Her co-host, a Wizard, laughed. It wasn't very authentic, but nobody expected it to be.

"That's right, Trisha.", he said. "First up, the rumors going around are, in fact, true. Dennis, roll the ad."

Dennis, the Bomber working the camera, flipped a switch, and the scene on the screen changed from a newscast studio to darkness. Writing appeared on the screen.

_Introducing a new card…, _was what it said.

Oticat leaned forward in anticipation. This was exciting. "What do you guys think it's gonna be?", he asked.

"I bet it's the Hydra.", said Brandy. "I remember hearing about that a few days ago."

"No, it's the Firecrackers for sure.", said one of the Ratzo brothers. "That'll be just our luck."

"Now, the only wave that can truly crash is one who-", Bowza started to say, but saw no one was paying attention. So he forgot about it.

_The Gravity Elf!, _flashed the writing on the TV, and for a split second, a figure of a young, slender woman in bright green cloth appeared, in front of a bundle of leaves. Purple particles shimmered around her, and then the TV faded back to the newsroom.

"So, the Gravity Elf, eh?", said the Wizard. "About time the Jungle Arena got another Epic. It just hasn't been the same without the Executioner around."

"But that's only the first of our announcements.", said the Villager. "Because the council of the gods has ended, and our monthly balance changes have been announced."

"Now, this is a pretty large one, and it might spark some controversy. But rest assured, they know what we're doing.", said the Wizard.

"Firstly, the great Dr'ew has decreed that the speed of the Elite Barbarians will be reduced from very fast to merely fast, and their HP and Attack will be increased by 4%. He says that this will help give Kings more time to react before the Elite Barbarians start hitting the tower."

"Good.", muttered Elizabeth. "About time the jerks got what was coming to them."

Dan stood up. "Oops, looks like we're out of Elixir.", he said. "I'm gonna go get some more."

"Could you bring me a brush while you're over there, Dan?", asked Brandy. Dan nodded, and walked away.

"Secondly,", continued Trisha, "the mighty Ti'm wishes the HP of the Dark Prince to be increased by 6%. He says that he rather likes Dark Princes, and wants them to see a lot more action."

Giovanar the Dark Prince had stopped to watch. Upon hearing this announcement, he pressed his hands to his helmet and shouted something excitedly. But no one could understand what he said, because he had a giant metal bucket on his head.

"And lastly, the ineffable Se'th has decreed that the speed of the Ice Spirit be raised all the way to very fast, in order to help underleveled ones get that one hit on the tower."

Randy jumped up from where he sat, and did a little dance. But he _said _nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit.

"And that should be it for today, folks- wait. No.", said the Wizard, and pressed his finger to his headpiece. "Never mind, that's not quite it yet. We still have one more change- with the Knight."

"Hey Dan! You're missing this!" Agatha and Brandy both shouted. Dan, in the kitchen, almost dropped his mugs of Elixir.

"What? What am I missing?", he yelled back.

"You're getting balanced, you klutz!", shouted Brandy good-naturedly. So Dan hurried back as quick as he can, mugs and random muffin in tow, and quickly sat back down.

The Wizard on the screen cleared his throat. "Now, this is a bit of a controversial change.", he said. "I still don't quite believe it myself, even as I hear it. But it's my duty to report the news, so you here all go. The Knight will have his hitpoints..."

Everyone leaned forward, and the Wizard blinked. "Nerfed. Reduced by 50%."

In the utter silence that followed, you could have heard a flea blink. No balance change had ever affected a card this much. Never. Cards had been pushed to uselessness for far less, and everyone knew it. Slowly, everyone's eyes turned to Dan.

Dan's grip on his mug loosened, and it fell out of his hand. He could feel it, and his dreams, shatter on the floor. With trembling hands, Dan slowly walked towards the T.V, then grabbed it and began to shake it violently.

The normally calm Knight lost it. "Why?", he screamed. "Why? What did I ever do to deserve this? I'm iconic! I'm not oppressive! I'm… I'm…"

He slumped to the floor, with his head in his hands, and began to quietly sob.

"I'm… balanced…"


	2. Chapter 2

"Look, Dan. It's not that bad.", Brandy said, giving the Knight a pat on the shoulder. The aftermath of the nerf had been devastating, Knights had not been a very played Troop to begin with, and now he was nigh-useless. After a short discussion brought upon by a lost 2v2, everyone had taken turns attempting to cheer him up. Agatha hadn't done it, Webert had somehow managed to make it worse, so now it was Brandy's turn. They were together, up in his bedroom.

"Give it a rest, Brandy.", Dan grunted. "I mean, what's the point? I'm obsolete. Nobody uses me anymore. You know my usage rate was hovering around 6% anyway, and now it's about to hit zero. I'm being replaced with Mini Pekkas, Guards, Royal Ghost, Ice Golem, - people would actually use Ice Golem as a minitank, over me!" He put his face in his hands and sighed.

Brandy frowned. She wasn't sure how to handle this. _Maybe I could return his mustache trimmer, she thought. Maybe I could…, _she thought, and then she had it.

"Well, you know what always cheers you up when you're down?", she asked.

Dan didn't even look up. "What?", He grumbled.

Brandy walked over to the closet. "Your sword collection! You've always liked going over that, right?"

If such things happened, a red exclamation mark would have appeared over Dan's head. But things like that didn't happen- yet. So as such, he just stood up and threw out his hands. "Wait! Don't open-"

Brandy threw open the doors to the closet with a loud crash.

"-that.", Dan groaned, and winced.

Brandy's face turned to shock and concern. Because instead of finding Dan's extensive sword collection, all neatly polished and organized as usual, she found herself staring at bottle after bottle of-

"Dark Elixir? You're drinking Dark Elixir? You know you can't drink that stuff. Where'd you even get it, anyway? Webert?"

Dan sighed again and sat down on the side of his bed. "I know, I know. I know I shouldn't be drinking it. It's just the only thing that takes away the pain anymore."

"Dan, it can't be that bad.", Brandy said. "So you got nerfed. So what? Oticat still uses you, you have all of us-"

Dan stood up, his face contorted. "You don't understand, Brandy. You're- you're a legendary. And I'm just a common. You were born at level 9, I had to work my way up from the bottom. All you have to do is show up, and everyone loves you. You have your Dash, all I have is stats. You're a hero. All I am- was- is a distraction. My only purpose was kiting, and I can't even do that anymore."

He closed his eyes, and sat back down. "Watch. I'll probably be replaced any day now."

Brandy paused, then leaned close to him. "No. No you won't."

Dan didn't respond.

"Dan, listen to me. I promise you, Oticat needs you in the deck. You've been there since day one, and he isn't about to get rid of you now."

Her friend looked up. "Really? You really think so?"

Brandy smiled. "Dan, you're still a glass breaker. Dan, you can still match me in a fight. Dan, you can still distract a Pekka. So Dan, I don't _think_ so. I _know_ so."

"Really, Brandy?", asked Dan. "Am I really still viable?"

"Dan, as long as you're my friend, you're always viable.", said Brandy.

"Well, when you put it that way...", Dan smiled, and stood up.

The door slammed open, and Oticat burst into the room. Dan and Brandy both looked up in surprise.

"Dan, I have some big news.", said the king, slightly out of breath.

Dan grabbed his sword from off his desk and twirled his mustache. "Yes? What word doth you bring this noble knight?"

The king's eye twitched. "I'm sorry, but there's no easy way to say this. I'm switching you out for Guards."

Dan stared. He was silent for a few seconds, then his face twisted as he finally spoke.

"I knew it.", he said. "I knew this was going to happen. So it doesn't matter then, does it? None of what I did matters? All the battles that I won, all the towers that I destroyed, all my experience- nothing? What is this, Oticat? Is this just a game to you?"

Then nobody moved in the room, as they all just silently stared. Brandy opened her mouth to speak, but Dan raised a hand to silence her.

"Go away, Brandy.", he said quietly. "You'd never understand."

Brandy stared back at him, the hurt evident in her eyes, but did not say anything. Finally, Oticat broke the silence.

"Um... well, it's time to go.", he said. "We got a battle soon. Brandy, suit up. Dan... hang in there buddy. I'll find a place for you. Somewhere."

The mood as the team touched down near Arena 9 was tense. None of them had ever done this without Dan, and they weren't sure if they could adjust to the Guards or not. But this was a battle, and they had to put such worries aside.

"Heya, wanna place a bet?", said the voice of a Goblin. Brandy turned, and saw two of them in a small booth. It was set ramshackle against the wall, and had "Betz" written on it. The Z was backwards.

"Um…", Brandy said.

"Yeah, you're a Bandit.", he continued. "Bandits love stealing, so why don't you make a steal with this golden opportunity?"

His partner, who had been totally and utterly distracted with the cleaning of his ears, picked one part of a single word out of this sentence- golden.

"Golden?", he asked frantically in Gobbish. "Gold?"

"No, you idiot.", said his friend, also in Gobbish. "It's just an expression. Go back to bed."

With that out of the way, the bet-dealer turned again to Brandy, but she was gone. Her attention had been moved entirely to a nearby screen.

A broadcast was playing, one straight from the infamous "opinion" section of the TV Royale crew. And it was a real mean one.

"Good night, Knight!", shouted a Giant. "This aggressive mini-tank has always been a little obsolete, but now?"

An image of a Knight twirling his mustache was slapped with two Xs over his eyes and a crying emote.

"Its over! He's gone! Down the drain, down the dumps! He's gone forever, and there is no! Bringing! Him! Back!"

An explosion filled the screen, and the Giant narrating gave a vicious thumbs down.

"That's just a great big middle finger to every king who ever leveled up their Knight, and just a taste of what's bound to be coming next! What classic card will be totally stomped on and obliterated? Find out, only on Infowars!"

The screen blinked out, and Brandy sighed. "I hope Dan wasn't watching anything just then."

"Hey, wanna get drawn?", she heard something whisper in her ear. Brandy flipped back her hood, almost dislodging a Bat. It giggled and flew a short distance to a small booth Brandy had not noticed before. A man stood in it, casually sharpening a pencil. He did not resemble any troop, and he certainly wasn't a king. _Snapshots with Adam Clowery _read a sign that hung right above his head.

"Ah, hello.", he said when he saw Brandy walk over. "I'm Adam. I draw, as you can see."

He gestured to the myriad of drawings that were taped and nailed to his booth.

"If you want to be drawn, it's only 100 Gold."

"I… shouldn't.", Brandy said. "I mean I have the Gold, but I should really go catch up with my team."

"Ah, yes.", said Adam. "I see. Time."

He paused for a second, then carefully took out a pencil from behind his ear. With lightning speed and precision, he flashed it across a canvas, all while not taking his expert eye off of Brandy. After exactly 4 seconds, he put down the smoking pencil, and handed Brandy the drawing.

Brandy blinked. It looked exactly like her. "This… this is amazing.", she said. "How did you do it so fast?"

Adam shrugged, and gave a slight wink. "Just skill, I guess. But you better go- your teams probably missing you right now."

"Right.", said Brandy as she pocketed the drawing and ran off.

As the team filed into the bench, Brandy could not shake off the weirdness of her friend not being there. Neither could anyone else.

"I can't believe he's really gone.", Agatha said. "I remember when we were still in Arena 1 together."

"I never even really got a chance to know him.", said Webert. "I only got on to the team an arena ago."

"He really did tank for us.", said the Ratzo brothers. "I can't even count how many towers we took with him helping us."

Bowza merely nodded.

Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit.

Oticat4 walked into the room.

"Alright, we got a big match ahead of us.", he said. "If we win this match... we go onto Arena 9!"

No one said anything.

"Eh? Eh? No? Okay, look. I know that Dan isn't in the deck anymore. But its not like he's dead- he's still back at home. And I know that he wants us to win here."

Agatha stood up, and hit the floor with her staff. "You're right. We're still a team, and we need to move."

Oticat stepped into the elevator that would take him up to his platform, and the announcer raised his microphone. With a bored air, he read off the match details.

"Alright, we got Oticat on blue, and Odurawaz on red. Ready, go."

He threw down his hand, and the match began. As was Oticat's habit, he started the match with a screaming Hog Rider emote. His opponent responded with a raspberry Goblin. Oticat responded to his opponent's response by selecting the Ratzo Brothers, playing them right on the left bridge. They fist-bumped, grabbed their ram, and stepped onto the teleporter. Within a second, they were out on the field.

"All right, guys, we're going for a bit of a bridge-spam strategy today.", whispered Oticat so his opponent wouldn't hear. "Just keep moving, and we got this. Brandy, you're up next."

"Bridge spam, huh? Didn't think he really did that.", said Webert in confusion.

"He only does it when he's angry.", replied Agatha. "It's not really hard to see why he's doing it now. Go get 'em, Brandy!"

Brandy smiled weakly, and stepped onto the teleporter.

Her vision turned blue, then faded into the vines and gold piles of Jungle Arena. It seemed familiar to Brandy for some reason. Was this the place where she was normally unlocked? She didn't really know- she had been gotten from a Legendary Chest. Or had she been unlocked through trade? She couldn't quite-

"Brandy! Focus! You're just standing there.", Bowza shouted from right next to her.

"Oh. Right. Sorry." She scanned the arena in front of her, and saw a couple of Archers firing at Webert. They were distracted. She grinned. Good. She raised her club, whistled, and dashed forward at them. Brandy's dash was interrupted by something- she didn't know what. It vanished too fast to see. And judging by the angry King emote that Odurawaz used a second later, it shouldn't have been there. So Brandy gathered herself again, and aimed at the Archers. They turned to see her seconds too late, and their mouths dropped open in shock. Seconds later, there were significantly less arrows being fired. The huge Bowler gave her a thumbs up, and started going at the tower. Brandy looked around for any more targets, but did not see any. She was about to head for the tower, when she heard one of the most terrifying sounds in the world from her left. A clank of metal hitting the ground, and a monstrous "BUT-TER-FLY." That could only mean one thing- a Pekka.

Brandy turned to the Pekka. She knew she couldn't defeat it, but she could at least slow it down. So she readied herself to dash, and- and she was stuck. She couldn't dash. Why couldn't she dash? It reminded her of the time she tried to take off her mask, only worse in every way. ANd then, the cold hit her. A cold so frigid, it hurt. Brandy looked down. Oh, that was why she couldn't move. The red king had hit her with everyone's favorite status effecter, Freeze.

"Freaking no-skill, cancerous, idiot, using Freeze…", she growled under her breath. "And count down from 5, 4, 3…"

Brandy looked up again, and saw the Pekka raising its massive purple sword high above its head to crush her. "BUT-TER-FLY.", it said again.

Oh, well. At least she had protected Webert. The Pekka swung downwards and hit Skeletons.

Wait, Skeletons? Agatha must have come up from behind Brandy without her noticing!

"Head for the tower! I'll handle the PEKKA!", Agatha shouted as she summoned another trio of skellys. She turned around to address Bowza.

"Hey, Bowza!", Agatha shouted. "Take out that Minion Horde!" Figured that with Dan gone, the second oldest veteran was directing them.

"Right!", said Bowza back to her, and aimed his bow. With cool precision, he fired his bow. The arrow of light shot through the air with a soft whistle and sliced through the Minions like a hot knife through cold butter. It would have been a hot knife through regular butter, but Bowza's damage wasn't all that great, really.

Finally, Brandy's legs unfroze, and she took off. Only 8 tiles from the right tower. 7. 6. With the Princess firing at Agatha's Skeletons, she had a perfectly clear shot. Brandy crouched and started charging up, when something smacked her face. Curious, she grabbed it and held it up so she could see. Was that... gum? Had a spectator spat their gum into the arena? Brandy looked to the audience, when another of the mystery projectiles smacked her. And another. Strangely enough, it was actually damaging her.

"What the...", she said, and looked to her left. There were two girls in eyepatches pelting gum at her. Oh well. She could take them out without a second thought. She readied her dash, and saw them wave to someone behind her. But Brandy didn't have time to worry about that. She leapt forward, and struck one of them right in the jaw, popping her into Elixir. Brandy raised her club- and another hit her in the back of the head, taking out the last of her HP.

When she reappeared back on the bench, she was pleased to see that the enemy king was on the ropes. Even though he still wasn't thinking quite straight, Oticat had guided his troops admirably, and victory was almost assured.

"Howdah.", whispered Bowza to himself as he fired. He wasn't sure why he said it, or even really what it meant, but he just said it anyway. It was practically instinct. He nocked yet another shining arrow, and fired over the heads of the Ratzo brothers. They had already slammed their ram into the left tower, which was now at only 500 HP.

Odurawaz looked at Oticat, looked at his tower getting decimated, then back at Oticat. With a sigh of acceptance, he pressed a button on his interface, and broadcast the White Flag Goblin emote. A king in the audience- Oticat's clanmate, SpacekrakenX, responded with a simple laughing Electro Wizard emote. An Electro Wizard seated above him used a laughing King emote, but the simple irony was noticed by nobody.

With one last yell, one of the Ratzo brothers swung his sword downward, and the stone of the tower cracked. The Princess within flipped her escape switch, and she vanished to the bench as her tower broke down, and spilled all over the grass.

The heads of the audience turned as the Golden Goblin statue's eyes flashed, and hit 0. The rest of the various decorations spread across the Arena glowed blue to signify the outcome of the battle, 1-0. The battle was over, and Oticat had officially moved on to Arena 9!

But the mood among the team was anything but celebratory. Sure, they had advanced, but Dan wasn't here to share the moment with them.

"Did we do something wrong?", asked a Guard.

"No.", said Webert. "Why do you ask?"

"You're all just staring at us.", said another timidly. "And it seems like something is our fault."

The Guards hadn't been played the whole time, and everyone was just a little mad at them.

They hadn't really done anything wrong- they just weren't Dan.

"No, no, you're fine.", said Oticat reassuringly. "I didn't get a chance to play you, but that's fine. I'm sure you'll get your shot next time."

Both teams left their dugouts. Oticat walked confidently over to the prize Goblin, ready to collect his new Arena 9 chest. "Ooh, sweet new cards.", he said. "Goblin tribal time."

On the other side, the red King shrugged on his cloak. "Well, we tried.", he said to his team.

"I'm sorry, dad.", said the Princess who's tower had been taken. "I could have defended, if only I had fired faster."

"No, you're fine, Emma.", said Odurawaz. "Besides, we completed our task."

Emma looked up. "We did?

"Yes.", he said. "We've gotten the information we needed, and now the rest of the plan can proceed."

"Right.", said the Princess. "That's good."

The King pushed his glasses up his face and smiled. "Yes. Resistance against it will be useless. Useless, useless, useless."

"So, did anyone else notice when he threw the Skeleton Army right in front of me?", grunted Webert, as they walked. "And that Dart Goblin in front of Brandy? This guy was hilarious!"

"Oh, is that what that was?", Brandy asked. "It vanished so fast, I couldn't even tell."

Everyone laughed, then Brandy sighed. "If only Dan were here to see it all."

"Brandy, only the sea misses the sky.", said Bowza. "You must remember that."

Whatever that meant, it didn't help Brandy much. The thrill of winning slowly turned to something else. Brandy didn't quite know how to describe the feeling. She looked to her right- and saw a Red King, standing stock still in the middle of the crowd.

As soon as she laid eyes on him, an involuntary chill ran through her body. He looked just like any other king- except for one distinctive mark, a black line running down from both his eyes. The look was haunting, and unnatural. But the air of uneasiness was nothing compared to how she felt when he turned slightly, and looked straight at Brandy.

_Hello._

Brandy stumbled back, right into Larry, whose head fell off. He angrily put it back and silently shook his tiny bony fist at her, attracting the attention of Agatha.

"What is it now, Larry?", she asked, then paused as she saw Brandy staring straight ahead.

"Brandy, what is it?"

"That king.", said Brandy, and pointed. "When he looked at me, I heard a voice inside my head."

Agatha put her hand to her chin, and thought. A quiet, almost silent warning bell went off inside of her head. This was starting to seem dangerously suspicious, but she couldn't actually prove anything.

"Bowza, what do you make of it?", she asked him.

"Trees do not require the light for reading, only for life.", he said.

"Oh, you're not helpful.", sighed Agatha. "Don't worry about it, Brandy. I'm sure it's nothing."

"If you say so, Agatha.", said Brandy, and they continued walking.

Then, nearby, she saw a Villager peddling her wares- a collection of just smithed-swords.

_I should get one of those for Dan. Maybe it'll help cheer him up., _ Brandy thought to herself, and walked over to the Villager.

"Hey, these are nice swords.", she said. "What are they made from?"

The Villager looked up from her knitting and smiled warmly. "These are pure Spooky Iron, imported straight from Spooky Town. Do you like them?"

"Yep.", said Brandy. "In fact, I think I'll take one right now. Bye."

She grabbed a blue sword and dashed away through the crowd, knocking a Prince right off his horse. The Villager almost called out, but thought better of it. She knew the rules. Bandits, along with Goblins, were allowed petty theft in the same manner as Rascals were allowed to commit small crimes, and large troops such as Giants or Pekkas were forgiven for accidentally destroying small buildings. It was only their nature, after all.

Brandy stopped running and smiled. Stealing something always made her feel better, and this time was no exception. But her smile disappeared as she looked around, and saw that her team was nowhere to be found. Brandy jumped over the heads of the people in the crowd, but she still couldn't see them. So she ran to the Balloons as quickly as she could- and they weren't there, either. But far off in the distance, way up in the sky, she could see what appeared to be the blue glint off of Bowza's magic bowstring.

"Dang it!", she said, swinging her fist. "I missed them."

She didn't know exactly what was standard procedure in these types of situations- she had never missed the Balloon before. She looked around, and saw the Bomber that attended the station, tossing rocks off the side into the gully below. Perhaps he could help.  
"Excuse me, sir!", she said to him as she ran up with a wave. "Can I get a Balloon?"

The Bomber didn't even turn around. He just picked his head off of his neck and turned that around to face her.

"Where's your king, kid?", he asked, his tone of voice the definition of sarcastic boredom.

"Oh, uh, I just missed him. I got a little distracted, and I-"

"Oh, give me a break. If I had a bone for every time I've heard that one before, I'd have an entire Skeleton Army.", he scoffed.

"But- but- you gotta give me a Balloon.", Brandy whined. "What else am I supposed to do, walk home?"

This time, the Bomber turned his entire body around. She didn't know that you could make sarcastic looks without skin or organs, but he somehow pulled it off. Brandy quickly flipped back her hood in an attempt to look friendlier.

"Look, kid. You either show me your king..."

He gestured towards a random King in line.

"5000 Gems…"

He raised one eyebrow, through some sorcery, then jerked one thumb towards a wall of rock, some distance away.

"...or I show you the footpath."

Brandy fumed and stomped her foot on the ground.

"Fine. Whatever. Your Balloons suck, anyway. Probably only level 1."

She turned around and began to make her way towards the canyons.

"I hope you get fired, or blown up, or... or something!", she called over her shoulder, but the Bomber didn't seem to hear her. As soon as she was out of sight, a shadowed figure crept out of the shadows and up to the Bomber's desk.

"Did you do it?", the figure asked him. His voice was smooth and elegant, but perfectly evil.

"Yeah, it's done.", replied the Bomber. "Now, my fee?"

The figure pressed a small pouch of Gems into the Bomber's waiting hand. "Yes, yes, here you go. Thank you for your cooperation."

The figure walked out from the shadows, and turned on a communicator. Within seconds, the face of a King had appeared inside of it.

"Did it go well, my lord?", asked the King on the screen. "Did everything go right?"

The figure smiled, the black lines underneath his eyes stretching with it. "Oh yes,", he said. "Everything went well. It's not often that I dirty my hands with this kind of grunt work, but there's always a certain satisfaction I get out of doing so."

And then, he threw back his head and laughed. The sound and the force of it were tremendous, a magnificent _ohohohoho_ that attracted the attention of everyone there. But the red King waved his hand, and they all went back to their business.

"Yes…", he whispered to himself. "Everything is going just according to plan."

. /v1/fill/w_904,h_884,q_70,strp/bandit_clash_royale_2_by_jonpisti_


	3. Chapter 3

The sand crunched underfoot as Brandy walked through the canyon, the only light shining from the stars overhead. She glanced at the map, grabbed from the faded and worn kiosk that She hadn't really been here had been next to the entrance. However, it was far from complete, and Brandy had left its edge around 30 minutes ago. As such, she now only found her way by the helpful signs left by previous travelers. _Go this way_, they said, pointing down a path, or _Warning: GG up ahead_, referring to a wild Goblin Gang.

"Stupid, fricking, pathetic Skeleton...", she muttered under her breath. "It's his fault I have to walk. I hope he gets fired."

She was, of course, referring to the Bomber that had stubbornly refused to grant her access to a Balloon. She thought all of his reasons were quite illogical. 5000 Gold, just for passage in a Balloon? He was probably just mad at something else, and wanted to take it out on her, or whoever walked by.

Brandy gripped herself and shivered as the cold night wind hit her skin. Was it always this cold at night? She hadn't really been out at night before, just a few minute-long Elixir runs to the outside fridge. But Agatha went outside every night. Brandy didn't know how she could stand it. She was a Dark Elixir troop- maybe that had something to do with it.

Brandy heard a slight sound above her, and looked up. She was expecting maybe a Skeleton ambush, or another traveler. Maybe even a rockslide. But what she got was very different indeed. A tiny green and yellow bird flew out of the air and alighted on her shoulder.

"Hey, little guy.", she said. "What are you doing?"

The bird looked at her, cocked his head, and began bobbing it madly up and down. "Gems.", he chirped.

Brandy was a little taken aback. "Did you just… talk?", she whispered.

"Gems.", said the bird. He chirped once more and flew away. Brandy ran to follow him, and saw a green glow coming from around the bend. Could it be? She dashed around the corner, and it was. It was a Gem Box! The bird had been right! Someone had just left 25 Gems sitting here in the canyon, and now it was just begging to be taken. Her eyes lit up at the sight of so much loot, and her fingers started to tingle, the same way they always did just before she was about to steal something.

"Oticat's gonna be so happy.", she said as she bent over to grab the Gem Box, then held it to her chest. "20 free Gems are always nice."

She was going to keep 5 for herself, to boost her own personal funds. Brandy had a good sized allowance- 200 Gold and 1 Gem per week- but now that she had started to collect figurines, she figured more was going to be needed. With the Gems in her grasp, Brandy started to whistle, and continued down the path with a slight spring in her grasp.

George the Barbarian poked the fading fire with a stick. It was a nice stick, he was glad he had found it before his brothers did.

"Hey, could you throw another stick on the fire?", he asked. "And get me another sausage."

Dave, one of his brothers, grumbled good-naturedly. "Sure, George. But the next one you want, you're getting it on your own."

George caught the sausage that Dave threw to him, put it on his stick, put the stick into the fire, and waved his hand offly. "Yeah, fine. Whatever. It's your turn, bro."

Another Barbarian, Phil, looked up from his cards and spoke up. "Right, just gotta think a little more. So, what are you up to on the Leg Press, George?"

"Well, I hit 1600 last night. New personal best. What about you?"

"I'm still stuck at 800. I just can't beat it, no matter how hard I try.", Phil sighed. "And of course everyone else is so much higher than me."

He selected a card from his hand and tossed it onto the pile face down onto Dave's 10 of Crowns. "Okay, Princess of Elixir. Go."

"Yeah, who holds the record right now?", asked Dave. "Is it John?"

"No, John's at 15000 exactly last time I checked. Right now, it's Nidvaleer. 36000 pounds.", said George.

Phil slapped his knee. "Frickin T'im! 36000 pounds? That's ridiculous!"

"Well, it makes sense.", said George, ever the voice of reason. "His legs have to be outrageously strong with all that jumping he does, right?"

"Hold on a minute.", said Joe, the fourth Barbarian. "I don't think that was really a Princess of Elixir, Phil. I'm calling it."

"You sure?", asked Phil. "Are you sure, Joe?"

"Yes.", said Joe. "Now flip it over."

Phil groaned, and flipped the card, to reveal an Eight of Elixir. His bluff hadn't worked. Joe threw his hands up into the air, and hollered with triumph. "Pick it up! Pick up the pile!"

A slap of feet on the rocky ground interrupted their game, and they all looked up to see Ed, the last brother, slide into their makeshift camp. He leaned on his knees, out of breath.

"She did it, guys. The Bandit took the bait.", he panted.

George stood up and grabbed his sword. "This game will have to wait. Onwards, Brothers! Fulfill the plan!"

"Why are doing the voice, George?", mumbled Joe. "There's not even anyone around here to impress. It's just us."

"I'm not doing the voice.", George said. "I just-"

"Oh come on, that's totally The Voice.", said Ed. "Let's go."

Even though stealing things came naturally to Brandy, stealing requires taking. And taking meant that someone was not going to be very happy. And she knew it. And so when a Barbarian came running down the dirt path, she fully expected it. And so she gave him a jaunty wave, and took off. Brandy could outrun him, no problem. Come to think of it, she could probably pretty easily beat him in a fight, too.

Phil stopped running. There was no way he could possibly catch up to Brandy, especially if she started Dashing. He took the communicator out of his belt and spoke into it.

"She's too fast for any one of us.", he whispered. "Plan Wa."

"What's Plan Wa, again?", came George's voice through the communicator, almost too staticy to make out. "Is that the one with the Goblins? Because I don't think we have-"

"No, that's Plan Mmu.", said Ed as he joined the conversation. "Plan Wa is where we all surround her from different angles. Two plans, you got that? Wa. Mmu."

Brandy increased her pace, leaning into the wind for additional speed. She risked a look back- and saw no Barbarian. _Huh_, she thought. _I must have lost him. Nice_.

So Brandy stopped her sprint, and slowed down to a walk. Mission successful.

But when another Barbarian rounded the corner in front of her, she wished she had kept on running.

"Hello, cutie pie.", said Dave as he drew his sword. "One of us is in deep trouble."

"Really?", she asked him. "Because the way I see it- you left this unguarded. So I'm taking your Gem Box. Toodle-oo!", she said, and ran to the left. But Brandy skidded to a stop, when Joe appeared in the alley in front of her. To the right she went, but the way was blocked by George. Brandy turned around, and saw Phil. Four directions, all blocked. And Brandy knew that there was still one more out there.

"Hey, look guys. Let's just talk this over, shall we?", she said, hoping the nervousness in her voice wasn't too obvious. She stepped back too far, and tripped. Brandy hit the ground, the Gems from the Box spilling next to her. "I'm sure this whole thing was just an innocent mistake. In fact, this probably isn't even your Gem Box. So why don't I just take it and leave? I'm sure we can all agree on that."

Listen, little girl.", Joe said. "You're coming with us."

"What are you talking about?", Brandy said.

"Hmph. You Bandits always talk so big.", he said. "Really, all Legendaries, but especially Bandits. Always dashing everywhere, always stealing, always being so prevalent at 4K. But you took the bait so readily. You just can't deny your instinct, can you? And now you're-"

His words were cut off by a ferocious war cry, and everyone there looked up. "What the-"

An Elite Barbarian fell out of the sky with sword swinging, having jumped from a ledge above. He landed on the Joe's head, knocking him out cold, then swung his sword in a menacing circle.

Another jumped out from the corner, and tackled Dave, grinding him into the ground. The three remaining Barbarians, severely lacking the firepower to deal with this new threat, turned and looked at each other. No words were needed- they turned and fled. One of the Elite Barbarians stuck out a hand to help Brandy to her feet.

"Hey," he said. "I'm Chad, and this here is my partner Rick."

"Yeah, and I'm Rick- dang it!", said Rick, as he realized exactly what Chad had said. "Chad, stop introducing me!"

Chad chuckled. "So, that was pretty close."

Brandy eyed them carefully- she had heard that Elite Barbarians were supposed to be self-centered jerks. But Chad gave just a good natured grin and threw his arms open wide.

"Good thing we found you when we did, eh? It's dangerous to be out here by yourself, you know." They took a big step forward, one on either side of her.

"Woah, hey, what are you doing?", asked Brandy nervously. She didn't like how they positioned.

"Oh, we're just walking you home.", said Chad. "Cause Bandits really put the glass in glass cannon, right Rick?", asked Chad, then he struck a ridiculous pose. "Good thing you have a pair of stud muffins like us to protect you."

Brandy forced a nervous chuckle.

"Now then, where do you live, uh... uh... hey, what's your name? I never caught it back there.", said Chad.

"Brenda.", said Brandy, using the name of another Bandit she knew. She didn't quite trust these guys, nice as they seemed. "My name's Brenda. And I live just over that way." She pointed in a random direction.

"Great!", exclaimed Chad. "Yeah, you can tell I'm Chad cause" - he pointed to his forehead- "I've got the scar. Good to meet you, Brenda." They started a brisk walk down the sandy canyon path.

"Yeah, sure.", Brandy chuckled nervously. "So, I guess you guys missed your Balloon too, huh?"

"Actually, no, we didn't.", said Rick. "We just waited for someone to come along, so we could help them. Our king understands- we do this all the time."

Brandy grimaced. "I see. How... chivalrous of you."

They continued walking. Several silent, awkward minutes passed. The pregnant pause produced several children, all of which were even more awkward than their progenitor.

"Hey, wanna know how I got this scar?", said Chad, in an attempt to relieve the monotony. "It's really a very interesting story. You see, I-"

"Oh great, not this again.", Rick scoffed. "The way he talks about his scar, you'd think it was some holy artifact."

"Listen man, I'm the one with the scar, and the one with the girl. So shut up.", said Chad.

"Oh, you had to bring your girlfriend up.", said Rick. "As if I'm supposed to be impressed by a Valk."

"Hey!", shouted Chad, and punched Rick on the shoulder. "So, as I was saying..."

It took Chad a full half hour to relieve the entire story of his scar, which he said had been gained while he single handedly fought off 16 Level 13 Pekkas at 1% health on the entry match for Electro Valley several months ago, while he himself was still a Level 1. Apparently, even the regenerative ability of the Arenas hadn't been enough to keep all of his wounds at bay, which is why he had gotten his scar. Brandy thought it was rather far fetched, and Rick kept on interrupting every time he thought Chad was full of it, which was approximately every 5 seconds. However, long and meandering as the story was, there still was a little bit more to go until the exit to her Castle.

Brandy hoped that something would happen in order to break the increasingly awkward walk. Maybe they would run into something on the road ahead. Maybe Oticat would appear in a Balloon and give her a ride back. Maybe something totally wild and crazy would happen that she couldn't even predict.

And then, something did happen.

"Yeah, but then there was this Mega Knight, and this Musketeer that kept on trying to-", Chad kept on rambling, and stopped. He tilted his head, put his ear to the sky, and pointed a finger to the air. "Shh, shh."

"What?", Rick whispered. He had stopped right behind Chad, and Brandy had stopped moving as well. "What is it?"

"I hear something.", said Chad. "Something very… suspicious."

Brandy thought that she, too, could hear something. It almost sounded like the rattle of metal, or the clink of Gold. No, it wasn't metallic enough for that. More like stone against stone, or… or…

"Bones.", said Chad. "I hear bones."

He straightened up. "There are Skeletons just ahead. Get ready for a fight."

"A fight?". Brandy stammered. "With Skeletons? But we're all single target troops!"

Chad chuckled, and leaned down next to Brandy. "Well, Brenda, we are in the Arenas. But I'll tell you a little something."

He drew his sword, and gave it a swift practice swing, the silver metal glistening in the soft moonlight. "Out here, there's not really any rules when it comes to combat. You can fight however you want. Target types, hitspeed- that doesn't really matter as much."

"Really?", asked Brandy, and her eyes widened. If what he said was true, then that meant she could fight in ways that she never even thought were possible. I_magine what I could do with my Dash…_, she thought.

"Alright, quit your chattering!", barked Rick. "Those Skeletons will be upon us at moment!"

He drew his sword as well, and struck a glancing blow on each of his helmet horns. He growled, and leaned down in a combat position.

"You ever fought like this before?", he asked Brandy.

"Oh, uh, no.", Brandy admitted. "I've never really had to, I guess. Not really much experience, I'm afraid..."

For a brief moment, Chad and Rick's eyes met. They subtly nodded, a barely visible gesture. This was good.

Then they turned again, and faced the Skeletons that were now bearing down on them, in a horrifying horde of… two?

There were only two Skeletons now approaching them down the path, and they certainly weren't charging. In fact, they were walking rather slowly, and they looked almost scared. As scared as Skeletons could. Brandy's brow knitted in concern, and she knelt down.

"Um, are you guys lost?", she asked quietly. "Did something happen to you?"

The Skeletons could speak- they didn't come from a Witch. One looked down at the ground, and gave his response. "Yeah, we're kind of lost. See, we got separated from our Army back at the Arenas, and now we don't know where we are."

"Oh, that's horrible.", said Brandy sympathetically. "That happened to me, too. Only, you know, not from my Army. Just from my King. But these guys are helping me get home. Maybe they can help you too-"

Her sentence was interrupted by the sound of a blade rushing down right beside her. Brandy instinctively jerked herself to one side, and Chad's blade fell directly through the Skeleton on the right, cleaving it in half. The other panicked and tried to run, but was almost instantly destroyed by another stroke.

Brandy turned around in shock, and looked up into Chad's face. "What- what was that for? They were lost! I was trying to help them!"

"No.", Chad said. "No, they weren't. Typical drifter strategy. Try to lure you into a false sense of security, and then they strike. The old _oh no help us we're lost_ trick usually gets most people."

He swung his sword again in the air. "Most. But not us."

Rick cupped his hands to his mouth. "Hey, any other Skeletons out there that wanna mess with us? Yeah, we'll take you on!"

For an Elite Barbarian like Rick, yelling usually worked. Yelling intimidated people. But this time, it might not have been the best idea.

Dozens of Skeletons suddenly appeared from the rocks, chittering their own bizarre language and clacking their swords together. Within seconds, there were at least 50 of them, all prepared to strike at Chad, Rick, and Brandy.

"Well, shoot.", said Chad. "Didn't think there would be this many."

He glanced at Brandy. "Hey, Brenda, Bandits usually have a lot of gear and stuff on them. Got anything that could help us against these Skeletons?"

Brandy searched her memory, and came up with nothing. But then she searched her pockets, and got what was definitely something. She withdrew the item from her pocket, and held it up in the air.

"Alright, this will do it!", she said, and broke the seal on the bottle. "One Earthquake Spell, coming right up!"

Brandy tossed the vial into the crowd of Skeletons, and it hit the ground with a mighty bang. The Skeletons stopped running, looked at Brandy, and realized what was about to happen. They tried to run, but the shockwaves of the Earthquake were too much, and the entire Skeleton Army turned to puddles of Elixir within seconds.

Chad gave an appreciative whistle. "Woo. Nice."

"Thank you.", said Brandy, and winked.

"So, uh, where did you get an Earthquake Spell from, anyway?", asked Rick.

"Stole it.", Brandy said. "I don't think my King cared all that much."

And with that, they continued their walk. But within a few seconds, Rick thought he would start the conversation this time.

"So, what's a pretty girl like you do in your spare time?", he asked.

Brandy felt her face unexpectedly flush. "Wha- what?", she stammered. Had she heard Rick right?

"I said, what does a pretty girl like you do in your spare time?", he asked again.

"Really?", asked Brandy. "You- you think I'm pretty?"

Rick looked at Chad, and exchanged glances. _What are you doing?_, Chad's glare seemed to say.

_Just roll with it, man._, replied Rick's eyes. _I think I got a thing going here._

"Why sure I do.", he said out loud to Brandy. "I mean, you've got your nice green eyes, your cute little button nose, the way you move, your, um, petiteness..."

Brandy felt her chest flutter, her heart beat faster, and she struggled to form words. "Well, I- I, uh…"

"Aw, you don't have to say anything, cutie pie.", said Rick. "I understand. "

He extended one finger and delicately stroked Brandy's chin. Rick reached around with his other hand, put it on her back, and started to move down her back. She took a sharp breath.

"And tell you what, we're having a bit of a party at our Castle tonight, if you wanna come?", he said, and whispered into her ear. "I can get you to real special spot in the party, if you know what I mean…"

Brandy attempted to say something, anything, but the dizziness overloaded her brain, and stopped her tongue.

"Well alright then.", said Rick, and wrapped his hand around her. "I guess that means that-"

With a massive burst of effort, Brandy shook off the shock and pushed away his hand.

"No thanks.", she said. "I hardly even know you. What kind of signals do you think I'm putting off? And besides, I'm... taken."

"Aw, that's a shame.", said Rick. "By who?"

"Dan.", said Brandy, the first name that came to her head. This wasn't true, of course, they had always been only friends, but she just wanted to throw the Elite Barbarians off her trail.

"Dan, eh?", mused Chad. "What is he?"

"He's a Knight.", said Brandy. "Level, uh, 13." This, too, was a bluff.

Rick frowned, and said nothing else. Brandy wished that this, probably the single most awkward conversation in her life, would end soon.

She looked up- and saw at long last the turn in the canyons that would take her home.

"Well, alright guys, this is where I go my own way.", said Brandy, relieved. "Thanks for walking me home, but I gotta go now."

Chad and Rick looked at each other, then nodded. With the special telepathy only linked troops have, they knew it was time to put their plan into action. With one on either side of Brandy, they grabbed her arms, sharply turned and forced her down the opposite direction.

"Uh, guys? I don't live down that way. I live the other way.", Brandy said nervously.

"Oh yes.", said Chad. "We know."

Brandy's mouth went dry, and her breath died in her throat. For the first time on the walk, she truly realized that she was in the company of two very large, shirtless men. Men that could very easily overpower her, if they felt like it.

"What are you doing?", she said, louder. "Stop!"

"Brandy, you were very impressive in the Arena today. Very impressive indeed.", said Chad.

"What are saying? What are you doi-?", Brandy began, but was cut off as Rick's shoulder pushed her into Chad. And she realized with an icy chill that Chad hadn't said Brenda- he had said Brandy. They knew her name. _They knew her name._

"Yes, very nice indeed, cutie pie. Your king must be very proud of you. I'd expect he wouldn't want to, well, lose you or anything."

Chad grabbed Brandy's arm. He yanked her closer to himself and leered into her face. "Yes, imagine if you were, oh, I don't know, kidnapped or something. That would be a real shame, now wouldn't it? For your king, I mean. Not necessarily for you..."

Brandy squirmed out of his grasp. "No! Let go of me!" She looked down- and noticed, for the first time, a rope and cloth hanging from Chad's belt.

Oh no. _Oh no._

A shock of fear gripped Brandy's heart. Where they going to-

She looked down the canyon- they were already far away from anyone. Chad grabbed her by the shoulder, and spun her around. Any trace of his previous, cheery demeanor had vanished.

"You're coming with us, Brandy. Whether you like it or not."

A creeping chill ran up and down Brandy' arms. They were. This whole thing- the Gem Box, the Barbarians, the signs, the map, the Bomber- probably even the bird. It had been just a clever trap, and Brandy had failed to notice it. But they weren't going to take her. Not if she could help it.

"Do you understand, Brandy?", rumbled Chad.

"Yes.", said Brandy quietly, while slowly reaching for her pocket. "I do."

"Good.", Chad smiled. "See how easy it is when you coopera-"

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence. Because in one lightning fast motion, Brandy grabbed a smoke bomb out of her pocket, flung it to the ground, and jumped away.

Chad coughed and stumbled trying to shield his eyes from the choking, acrid smoke. And as Rick did the same, Brandy turned around and took off running down the narrow alleyway of rock.

Chad waved his hand, trying to dispel the smoke cloud. "Where did she pull that from?", he growled. "Little brat probably stole it."

Rick drew his sword, ready for a chase. "Looks like this job's gonna be hard, bro. Not like the last one- that was easy. But you've been wanting a challenge, haven't you?"

Chad wiped his sweaty hand across his face, removing the last of the smoke. The rest had swiftly vanished in the cold wind. "Yeah.", he said, and smiled. "This'll be fun."

Brandy sprinted as fast as she possibly could down the canyon, knowing the Elite Barbarians could be upon her at any moment. Even if their speed had been nerfed from Very Fast to just Fast, same as her, they could still catch her if given the chance. Left, right, straight, diagonal, left- she took random twists and turns, not caring what direction she went- just as long as it was away. And then, she stopped. Because horribly, he rock wall rose in front of her path in a dead end.

"Okay,", Brandy thought to herself, "maybe this is all just a dream. Maybe I can close my eyes, and then open them, and I'll wake up."

She squeezed her eyes shut, counted to three, then opened them. The scene before her remained untouched. She started to panic, then remembered something- her emergency communicator, in her back pocket. She pulled it out and dialed the first saved number- the number for Emergency Services.

"Yes, Emergency Services, how may I help you?", asked the Goblin on the other end.

"I'm being kidnapped!", screamed Brandy. "I need help!"

"What?", said the Goblin, sounding shocked. "That's illegal. People can't do that."

Despite Brandy's shouts of protest, he hung up and resumed getting high. Brandy growled, cursing the vast inefficiency of the government, and instead dialed Oticat. He would be sure to help.

"Come on, come on, pick up…", she whispered, knowing the Elite Barbarians were mere seconds away. After a few seconds, her communicator dinged, and Brandy's hopes soared.

"Hello, this is Oticat.", came the voice on the other line.

"Oticat! I missed the Balloon, and now I'm getting-", she said as quickly as she could.

But her hopes were dashed as she listened closer, and heard "I am currently unavailable to answer your call right now, and will call you back as soon as I can."

"No!", Brandy howled, and held the communicator up in the air in an attempt to activate its emergency beacon ability. She saw the red light flaring to life-

And the small, handheld device was impaled by a thrown sword, stuck into the far wall, and shattered completely. Brandy gulped, and turned around. She saw two Elite Barbarians, each coming from a separate alleyway. She was trapped.

Chad put out his hand, and Brandy flinched.

"Now, you don't have to be like this, cutie pie. You can make this easier for all of us. Just come along with us, we can go back to the castle. Easy as that.", he coaxed.

"Why? Why do you want me?", Brandy asked, almost screaming. "What did I ever do?"

"That's for us to know, and you to find out.", said Chad. "If it is the will of Ryusei_Nakao69, then it must be done."

"Ryusei_Nakao69?", Brandy asked again. For some reason, the name sounded oddly familiar. "Is that your king?"

"Clever girl.", said Rick. "Too bad you're not clever enough to just cooperate."

He started to take a single step towards her, but Brandy held up a hand. "Now, hold on a minute. I've got a little something for you."

She reached her hand into her pocket. "A spell that I picked up a little while ago. Good luck getting through it. It's an Earthqua-"

And then, Brandy's blood ran cold. She remembered that she had used the Earthquake to take out the Skeleton Army. She didn't have her ace in the hole anymore.  
But even so, she knew that she would have to at least try to fight back. Even if Elite Barbarians were her hardest counter, she had to do at least something. So Brandy gathered her strength, and smoke rose off of her. She yelled, and Dashed at Chad. The sand blew apart at her speed, but to her shock, upon impact, he just laughed. "We're level 13, cutie pie. You can't touch us."

As if to accentuate his point, he drew back his fist, grinned evilly, and punched Brandy in the gut.

She staggered back, the wind knocked out of her. The ringing in her ears drowned out all sound, and she instinctively grabbed her stomach, dropping her club. Brandy gave a ragged cough of pain, and blood spattered out of her throat and onto the canyon floor.

"You...bastards...", she groaned, and fell to the ground.

"Aw, can the little Bandit not take it? Is she too weak? Huh?", asked Rick, his face a mocking smile.

"It's so adorable how she tried to fight back. Its almost as if she thinks she can escape.", laughed Chad.

But Brandy, slowly, shakily, still managed to get back up. She raised a fist, and wiped the blood from her mouth.

"You think you can get away with this?", she quietly asked them. "You think that if you try and take me now, that I'll just sit there and let you? You think that… that…"

Brandy's eyes closed, and she lay motionless on the ground.

Chad watched her lay for a few seconds, then scoffed. "Well, I think she's unconsciousness. Rick, grab her."

Rick leaned closer to pluck Brandy's body off of the ground, and suddenly saw Brandy's eyes open. "Gotcha!", she said.

Quick as a Zap, Brandy front flipped into the air, right over Rick's head. He dumbfoundedly turned around and tried to grab her, but she was already out of his reach. She raised one hand, performed a rude gesture, bounced off his head, and leaped into the air, grabbing for the rock wall. Flying through the air, now far out of the reach of the Elite Barbarians, Brandy let out a shout, and grabbed onto the rock wall, securing a foothold. Now, it would be a simple matter to scramble over the rock wall, and away from her would be captors. Brandy reached- and a huge, meaty hand grabbed her foot and yanked her down, directly onto Chad's shoulder. He locked a massive arm onto her, pinning the Bandit.

"Well. It looks like we got you now.", he said.

Brandy squirmed to try and get free, but her captor was too strong.

"What- how did you- I was out of your reach!", Brandy said.

Chad just squeezed tighter, crushing the air out of her. Her voice of protest died in her throat. "Oh, just some elasticity potions our friends cooked up for us. Pretty cutting edge."

Rick strode over, and raised an eyebrow. He looked down her skirt. "Hey, Chad, I got an idea."

"Yeah? What?", replied Chad.

"Well, you know what the two best ways to counter a Bandit are?", he said slyly.

"What?", asked Chad again.

"Swarm her, and smash her.", finished Rick. "We can't swarm her - there are only two of us - so that leaves the other option."

Brandy's face paled, and er heart somehow beat even faster. A cold dread ran up her body. "What- what are you-", she started to say, but she already knew what they were planning. This had suddenly become far worse than any mere kidnapping.

"Oh, nothing that concerns you, cutie pie.", said Rick. "Just a little nudge-nudge, wink-wink, eh Chad?"

"Oh, I don't know, Rick. I don't think Valeyrie would be very happy if she found out."

"Valeyrie doesn't have to know. Now hold on to her a little bit tighter. We don't want her getting away."

Chad tightened his grip, and Rick grabbed a fistful of her tunic, preparing to rip it off.

In that moment, Brandy closed her eyes. She so very much wanted to be anywhere but here. More than anything, she so very much wanted to have made the Balloon back home. She so very much wanted to be bored on the bench in the Arena. She so very much wanted to wake up to a breakfast of Elixir and doughnuts, reading the newspaper. She so very much wanted to do the daily crossword with Agatha. She so very much wanted to get completely stuck on 17 across.

Rick yanked on her tunic once. The cloth did not rip, but it came close. But as the cloth slid against her skin, Brandy felt something odd in her back sash. And then she remembered- _the_ _sword. _She still had the sword that she had stolen for Dan. With the right timing, she might just be able to kill one of the Elite Barbarians The thought gave her hope, and with strength she didn't know she had, she ripped one arm out of Chad's grasp.

"Woah hey-", Chad started, but Brandy did not waste any time. She slid the sword out of her back sash, and swung it directly at Chad's throat. The blade shattered, and fragments of the blue Spooky Iron flew in all directions.

"No.", Brandy said quietly. She watched the metal, and her hope, fall to the ground and hit the sand. "No!", she screamed, and Chad slapped her face.

"Oh ho, that was pretty close! You almost got me there, cutie pie!", he said with surprise. "Good thing Wizardbro cooked us up some..."

He and Rick both did a little dance. "Invulnerability potions! Yeah!"

Rick ripped her tunic again, then again. The seams, even as tough as they were, began to tear. With one more yank, it would come off. Brandy was completely out of tricks. It was time to bargain.

"Please, don't do this.", she stammered, and a tear rolled down her cheek. "I have lots of stuff at home- what do you want? I can give you Gold, Gems- anything you want."

Chad just smiled. "Well, we want you."

Ten nightmarish minutes later, Brandy's unconscious body slumped to the ground. A soft groan escaped her lips, and Chad unwound the rope from his kilt as he put it back on.

"Well, that went pretty successfully, eh Rick?", he said. "Just hope George and the others aren't too mad about us uh... improvising the plan."

"Yeah, I'm sure they're fine.", Rick said, as he took the rope from his brother and tied Brandy's wrists and ankles with it. "They probably couldn't have handled her anyway. She was a feisty one. If it wasn't for those potions, I think she might have escaped."

"Nah, we would have gotten her anyway.", said Chad, as he slung Brandy into a bag so not as to damage her body along the way. "Because we're not like those other guys. We're _elite_."

"You got that right, bro.", said Rick. He slung Brandy over his shoulder as they bumped fists, and then they began their long walk towards the castle of their clan. They had gone a little past schedule, and Ryusei_Nakao69 did not like to be kept waiting.

. /v1/fill/w_805,h_993,q_70,strp/creepy_bandit_by_aligamer005_


	4. Chapter 4

Red was the light of the sun as it set over Oticat's castle, accented with rich yellows and blues. A dot appeared on the horizon, then another, then 7 more. They soon came into view of the Guards and Builders on the castle walls, revealing themselves as Balloons. As they touched down on the ground, the last of the day was slowly obscured by the mountains in the distance, and night fell.

Bowza leaped out of his Balloon. Ethereally, he sensed that something was wrong, but he didn't quite know exactly what. So he knitted his brow for added concentration, and looked around at the team climbing out of the Balloons. He counted them, then counted them again. Ah yes, that was it.

"The sky lacks its swiftest cloud.", he said to Agatha.

"And that means?", she said, with a hint of annoyance.

Bowza cleared his throat, and spoke with a much quieter, softer voice than normal. "Brandy's missing. She's not here."

"Her Balloon's probably just lagging behind.", said Agatha. "There's often one that's late."

She looked up and saw a Balloon coming down towards them. "See look, there she is now. It's all fine."

The rest of the group had heard their conversation, and so they all watched as the balloon landed. But to their surprise, a Miner walked out of it instead of their Bandit.

"Oh, yeah, uh, sorry guys, I'm really sorry for being late. You see, some gold fell out of my pocket and I just had to pick it up, you know?", he apologized in a thick Kiwi accent. Then he looked up, into the highly confused face of Oticat.

"Oh. You're not my- oh.", he then said. "You're not my king. Well then, I'm terribly sorry, I must have accidentally made just a little mistake there, heh. So I'll just be on my way. Sorry guys."

He started to climb back into his airborne craft, when Webert put a huge hand on his shoulder and turned him around. "Now hold on a minute there, little buddy. We might need your help with something."

"Oh yeah bro, happy to help.", said the Miner. "Really nice to help, what do you have for me?"

"Well, our Bandit is missing.", said Webert. "You wouldn't have happened to have seen her, now would you?"

The Miner just stared at him. "What does she look like?"

"Look like? Well, she's got white hair, and.. and dresses in green and blue, and... well, she's got green eyes...and...and..."

Webert put one hand to his chin. He was quite stumped- he hadn't had anything to eat for a while, and his lucidity was fading. The stress of the situation didn't help, either.

One of the Ratzo brothers cut in, raising his sword. "She's a Bandit! How do you not know what a Bandit looks like, you stupid Miner?"

The Miner turned to them, a deeply hurt look across his face. "Oh, I may not be the quickest Miner, but you don't really need to call me stupid, bro.", he said.

"Do you know where she is or not?", Agatha hissed at him, with uncharacteristic fury. Larry jabbed his sword into the air in an exaggerated motion, as if to back her up.

"Oh. Well, now that we're here talking,", said the Miner, "I don't actually think I do, technically speaking. So I should probably just be going, really."

The Miner turned around, then his head snapped up.

"Oh, no. Wait! Wait hold on. I saw a Bandit!", he remembered.

Agatha grabbed him by the shoulder, and looked deep into his eyes. She thought a little mind magic wouldn't be out of the question to help him talk, so she applied it generously.

"Where was she, Miner?", she asked. "Where did you see her?"

"Well, I saw her near the Jungle. She was walking with her team-"

He turned around to face them.

"Oh! You guys were her team! She's your Bandit, then?"

The looks given to him by everyone could kill, or at the very least seriously injure.

"Oh. Right, and then she got distracted and missed her Balloon, and then I had to leave. But on the way here, I was flying over the canyon, you know, and then- and then I just heard this awful scream, like really terrible."

Agatha and Bowza glanced at each other, and the Miner took a deep breath and continued.

"I don't know what it was, but it was probably something. I'm Mike by the way, could you please stop calling me Miner?"

"Okay, MIKE, where did she go next?", Agatha asked, the annoyance in her voice at the simple Miner audible.

"Oh, she got really mad and started walking through the canyons. She's probably still there!", said Mike. "Can I um, can I leave now?"

"Through the Canyons?", whispered Webert to himself. "But those are dangerous."

"Yeah, you can go now.", said Oticat. "Alright everyone, to the balloons!", he shouted confidently. "Operation rescue!"

But before everyone swung into action, Bowza raised his bow.

"Alas, it seems the final waves have left the shore.", he said with a sigh. "And our own possession is sadly unmeasurable."

"Right.", said a Guard. "The Balloons aren't running."

Oticat looked at him. "You understood that?"

The Guard shrugged. "Yeah. I was bored one day, and decided to learn what all his phrases mean. Sadie told me."

"Yes, it's true.", said Sadie. "The Balloons aren't running anymore."

They all collectively groaned.

"Well, what do we do now? We gotta get there somehow.", asked one of the Ratzo brothers.

Webert looked at Mike's Balloon, then pointed one finger into the air.

"Hey, Mike, my little bro, do you think we could-"

"Oh, sorry, but no.", Mike firmly replied. "It couldn't possibly hold all of us, be a real disaster if we tried. And I need it to get back home, besides.

Agatha thought for a few seconds, then looked into her staff. Its slightly haunted eyes stared emptily back at her, and an idea took hold in her mind.

"Mike, you can dig pretty fast, right?", she asked.

"In the arena, yeah. Why?", Mike replied.

"Well," Agatha said, "Do you think you could dig that fast outside of it too? Fast enough to get us to the arenas?"

Mike looked at his shovel, then back up at her. Could he?

"I uh, I don't really know. I've never thought of doing that before, actually, now that I think about it. Here, let me just-"

He stabbed his shovel into the ground, then began to dig, faster and faster until he was all the way underground. He popped his head up. "Looks like it works! So that's good, right?"

Bowza slung his bow across his chest and dropped his "mystical" act. This was serious.

"Okay, you all go.", said Bowza. "I'll go get Dan. I'll ask Chuck if I can borrow Trigger, too."

One by one, the team went into the hole, while Bowza ran inside of the castle. Oticat4 jumped in first- he fit easily. Randy was right behind him, also sliding in without a hitch. Because he was an Ice Spirit. Agatha and the Guards were next. They were a bit larger, but they could still go through. But after several failed attempts, it was discovered that the Ratzo Brothers and Webert were simply too large to fit through. "What do we do now?", Webert puzzled.

Mike smiled. "Well, actually, I think I might have a little something that can help us. Yeah, I actually stole it from a Spell Factory I visited on holiday. Don't think it's ready for release yet." He pulled a small yellow vial out of his pocket. "Behold, the shrinking spell!"

Inside his room, Dan morosely popped open another bottle of Dark Elixir. He leaned against the wall and took a deep swig, then sighed as he picked up a photograph from his dresser. He stared sadly at the golden, faded picture of him and Oticat4 on the destroyed red king's tower after the very first arena battle they had ever fought. Each holding their foe's trophies, as he cried into them. What had happened to those days? Back when he was strong. Back when he was tough, and respected. Back when he-

The door burst open without warning. Dan fell off of the side of the bed, fumbled with the picture, dropped it, looked up and saw Bowza.

"Oh. What do you want?", he mumbled.

"It's Brandy.", the Magic Archer replied, nearly out of breath.

"What about her? You want to tell me how great she did in the last battle? How she got a 3-crown by herself? How she's actually the chosen one or something, going to embark on a magical quest to stop an ancient evil and save the world?", he said, the influence of the Dark Elixir slurring his words.

"No. No, you want to tell me how she found a new friend to hang out with. Anything better than stupid old me, right?"

"She's missing.", Bowza said.

Dan stood up, suddenly stone-cold sober. "What?"

"She didn't come back home on the balloon. Nobody knows where she is, and she was last seen going into the canyons 3 hours ago by some random Miner. We're going to try and find her. You wanna come?"

Inside of his room, Chuck the Hog Rider was happily humming and combing out his mohawk, while working on a new poem of his. This one he had chosen to pen on the purest pine paper he could find, with red ink. It was about Hogs, of course, all his poetry was, and the Hog Riders that rode them. He poured himself another glass of tea, picked up his pen, and-

"Chuck!", Bowza yelled as he flung open the door. Chuck made a sound like an exploding bullfrog and leapt backwards.

"What? What is it?", he screamed, and tried to cover up his poetry.

"We need to borrow Trigger for a bit.", Dan said.

"Why? I need him. He was helping me work on my... my, uh...", Chuck trailed off. He didn't want to admit his Hog had been helping him write poetry. He wasn't even sure how to word such a thing.

"Brandy's missing.", said Bowza. "She didn't come home on the balloons, and a Miner said he thinks she might be in the canyons somewhere. We need Trigger to help sniff her out."

"Oh. Well, alright.", said Chuck. "Just bring him back in one piece, you hear?"

Trigger, already knowing what to do, shuffled over to Bowza and Dan. Chuck noticed something.

"Hey, Bowza?", he asked. "Why aren't you speaking all riddle-like like you usually do?"

Bowza just cast a look over his shoulder as he left that could have chopped lasers.

About an hour later, a slight clanging sound broke the silence of the canyons. It was followed by muffled shouts of good natured cursing, scaring away a flock of birds, until the ground burst open and a Miner popped through.

"Well, here you go bros. Hope you find your Bandit.", he said, exhausted from an hour straight of digging.

He was immediately trampled by everyone else all rushing out of the tunnel as quickly as they could.

"Bowza, go right and pick up a trail. Randy, make sure we're not being followed. Who knows what's out here.", Agatha said. "Dan, follow Trigger. And go left."

"Like wind.", Bowza said. Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit. Trigger took off, Dan in pursuit.

As the Hog clopped down the trail, Dan could barely keep up. Hogs were the single fastest troop there was, and Dan couldn't match the speed of even one that was walking. He looked down to breathe a little easier, and saw footprints - The familiar footprints of a Bandit.

"Trigger, stop!", he shouted. But Trigger continued, snorting excitedly, having picked up a scent.

"Yeah, and so I told him to go Freeze his head."

"Oh bro, you didn't!"

"I totally did, Rick. I totally did."

"But he was an Ice Wizard! His head's already frozen!"

"Yeah. Yeah, that's the joke."

This conversation was, of course, between Chad and Rick, still walking back home. The sun was far behind the horizon by now, and they were almost there. They just still had to get past the security checkpoint that marked the exit from the canyon.

"Hey, could you carry her for a bit?", asked Chad. "My arm's getting a little sore."

"Your arm's getting tired?", asked Rick in disbelief. "Just from carrying a Bandit?"

"Hey, even a Bandit gets heavy after you carry her over your shoulder, with one arm, in the same position for like 2 hours. You know that, bro."

"Yeah, you're right.", said Rick. "I'll carry her."

Chad swung the bag down from his shoulders. He intended to make a clean pass to Rick's waiting hands, but his arm had fallen asleep, and so he missed wildly and dumped the bag open on the ground, spilling Brandy out onto the ground. She opened one eye, and moaned.

"Hey! What was that, bro?", asked Rick.

"My arm fell asleep, Rick.", hissed Chad. "Just gas her, pick up the bag and go."

Rick took a small, white square of cloth out of his belt and pressed it against Brandy's face. She moaned again, with notable alarm. But Rick pressed harder, and her eye closed. With a smile, Rick picked her up and slid her back into the bag.

"Sweet dreams, Brandy.", he said. "Just hold on."

He grabbed the edge of the bag and slung it over his shoulder. It took several seconds for him to realize it wasn't quite as heavy as it should be. He turned his head to look over his shoulder, and saw Brandy crawling away on one arm.

Bowza quickly dropped to the ground and swept his hands across it. He noticed some footprints in the dirt.

"There's a trail of footprints here. They look like hers." He walked further. "But there's another set here- they look like..."

His eyes narrowed.

"Elite Barbarians.", he said, utter contempt in his voice.

He walked over along the path of the trail, maneuvering through the twists and spires of rock that Brandy had been just hours earlier, with Agatha right behind him.

"Hmm. They walked together.", he mused. "There seem to be no signs of a struggle, and the footsteps are calm. Agatha, what do you sense?"

Agatha touched two of her fingers to her forehead. "I don't sense anything very alarming. Some uneasiness, certainly, but nothing too bad yet."

Brandy, only barely conscious, pulled herself desperately along the canyon floor on her one good arm. She could feel the rocks and sand tearing at her bare skin, but she knew that a few scrapes and bruises would be vastly preferable to whatever horrible fate awaited her with them.

"Hey! I thought you gassed her!", yelled Chad.

"I did! I gave her the cloth!", said Rick, holding it up. Then he looked at it one more time, and his eyes slightly twitched.

"Oh.", he said. "Guess this wasn't the right cloth after all."

"Rick, what is that?", asked Chad slowly.

"This is my, uh…", said Rick. He looked down and whistled.

It took a moment for Chad to get what Rick was saying. But when he did, his face twisted up in disgust. "Dude, that's gross! Why'd you even bring that?"

"I brought it? I didn't bring it!"

"Whatever. Just grab her."

Rick took a few steps forward and grabbed Brandy around her waist. She turned her head upwards, and her face flashed white.

"Stop struggling, Brandy.", said Rick. "You already know this is going to happen, so don't fight it. Just let it happen."

He picked Brandy up from off the ground, and she screamed. And such was the sheer terror within her scream, that even the two Elite Barbarians were given a moment of pause. But their orders overcame their humanity, and Rick pressed the correct cloth to Brandy's mouth.

"Good, Brandy.", he said. "We're almost home."

Brandy had two options here. Either she breathed in and lost consciousness, or she held her breath until the same thing happened. But her decision was made for her as Rick pressed down on her chest, expelling the air from her lungs, and sending her into another deep sleep.

"Anything else yet, Bowza?", asked Agatha. She hovered a foot above the ground, stressed out as she was.

"I'll tell you when I see something.", the Magic Archer replied. "I'll just keep on following the footprints."

His glowing eyes scanned the rocky ground for any sign of the rapidly weakening trail. The footprints grew sparser and shallower on the rock, and- there. There, right in front of him, they became more active. Further apart. He heard Agatha moan from behind him, and turned around. The Witch clutched her head and swayed gently above the ground.

"I feel it.", she said. "Terror. Something happened. Something very, very bad."

"So, what did that map say, Chad?"

Chad looked at a torn segment of a map that he had found on the ground. "It said, I'm writing this letter to whoever finds it. My food and Elixir ran out days ago, and-"

"No, not that side.", said Rick. "The other side."

"Oh, right. Just testing you, bro. It says that we only have about 7 more to go before we exit the canyon."

"7? 7 what?"

"I dunno. It just says 7."

Chad looked up, and saw what appeared to be an old, faded security checkpoint. It lingered on the very edge of the canyon, manned by a bored looking Goblin bouncing a ball on a string. The Goblin, Grug, was, in fact, unspeakably bored. The only reason he was even here was because he had lost a bet. So when he saw the two coming towards him, he took several seconds before he remembered what he was supposed to do in this situation.

"Hey, lemme check you.", he said to Chad, trying to maintain an indifferent air. "Can't let you pass otherwise."

"Yeah, sure bro.", said Chad. "Check away."

Grug climbed over the counter and circled them. "Alright, alright, no obvious illegal substances on your person. Good. Let me just-"

Chad and Rick both raised their arms, and Grug performed a quick pat down. "And you got a bag, lemme see that."

Chad handed him the bag. Grug opened it, looked inside, handed it back, then saw what was in it. He took the bag again, and took a closer look.

Out of all the things he had been expecting the bag to hold, an unclothed, unconscious, very clearly beaten up Bandit had not been one of them. He looked up into Chad's face, towering over him. He was sure that there was something he was supposed to do in this situation, but for the life of him, Grug could not remember what.

"I, uh…", he stammered as Chad leered. "I… I…um..."

Then Grug stiffened, straightened himself up, and pulled himself up to his full height of 3' 1". "

I'm pretty sure you've violated some law, sir.", he said. "I'm not sure what, but once I figure it out, I will take the proper action."

"Oh, no you won't.", said Chad, and stabbed Grug in the gut.

Grug looked down at the sword almost as big as he was that jutted through his stomach, now swiftly turning to purple sludge. But he wasn't that worried- he would reform at the checkpoint in about 10 minutes. At least, he hoped.

As the Goblin dissolved into Elixir, Chad swung Brandy's cocoon back onto his shoulder and sheathed his sword. "That's the end of the canyons. We're almost there."

Bowza was about to say something to Agatha, when he saw the shattered remnants of a blue sword beneath her. They commanded his immediate attention.

"Agatha, could you just-", he said as he motioned for her to move aside, and she did. She looked down, and saw the broken metal as well.

"Mysterious,", he breathed as he picked up the handle. _Hmm, its Spooky Iron_, he thought. _A pretty rare sight. Such a sword would have fetched a hefty price._

He set down the piece he was holding, and moved to inspect the others. But he stopped when he felt the tap of a Skeleton on his shoulder. Bowza looked up.

Agatha's face was pale, even more so than usual. She pointed. "Bowza, look.", she said, her voice thick with maternal worry. Bowza could feel the dread hanging in the air- part from Agatha, and part from the past.

He looked to where she indicated, and saw Brandy's club laying on the far side of the path, next to a roughened patch of scuffed-up sand. He leaped over, and brushed his hand over the markings. And as he analyzed the patterns, his heart began to race faster.

_These markings- she was between them, then underneath one on the ground. Then in the air, then-. _A cold wash of dread, like an avalanche of dead rain, sank through his soul. _No, no, of course they didn't. It was just a struggle. That's all it was. I hope. I hope to Se'th-_

But he chanced to looked upwards, and he saw something that confirmed his worst fears, lying not 10 feet away from him. He slowly leaned over and plucked the bundle off of the ground. Agatha saw, and floated over to him.

"Bowza, What did you find? What are those?", she said, her voice picking up speed.

Ashen-faced, Bowza lifted what he found. "Her clothes. These are her clothes."

For a second, there was silence. For another second, the only sound that could be heard was the slight twitching of Agatha's hand. But once the third second hit, the silence was rent by a broken cry of despair, and the sky lit up violet.

Trigger had stopped running. It wasn't that he had lost the scent, it was just that the scent trail had ended. It had stopped right in the middle of a patch of very stirred up sand, and a spilled pile of Gems. Not seeing anything else to do, he snorted and started to root around in a nearby bush, but stopped when Dan grabbed him by the collar.

"Okay, Trigger. Good- whew- good boy." Dan took a moment to catch his breath. "Let's see what you found."

He dropped to his knees, and inspected the ground. There were some footprints, and some marks, and some more marks, and oh my, there sure were just a whole lot of marks, weren't there? They all looked the same, too. Dan looked around some more, then realized something.

_I can't track,_ he thought. _I just never learned how._

So Dan stood up, brushed the dirt off his armor, and turned to Trigger. "Well,", he said, "that didn't accomplish anything. Now, let's go meet up with the others."

A huge flash of violet light filled the air above the canyon, sending Trigger into a panic and causing Dan to fall. They looked at each other, looked back at the light, then ran off towards it.

Once the light subsided, and the echoes of the scream had at last died away in the air, Agatha fell faint to the ground. A bolt of lightning illuminated the canyon clearing, and Dan appeared alongside Trigger.

"What happened?", he breathed. "What is it?"

Oticat and the Princesses appeared in the next flash, digging through their pockets. "Spell?", Oticat asked. "Anyone need a spell?"

Webert moved aside a huge boulder into the clearing, Randy riding on his shoulders. "Did we find her?", the ponderous Bowler asked. Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit.

The Ratzo Brothers broke through a narrow cliff with their Ram, which immediately reformed. They shouldered it, and said nothing.

Bowza turned to face them. His face was grim, and uncharacteristically serious. He was about to say something, but decided that simply holding up Brandy's clothes would be far more effective. And he was right.

"This is the work of Elite Barbarians.", he further explained. "Level 13, judging by the depth of their footprints. I don't quite recognize their clan symbol- its a purple gloved hand."

"Oh, it must be a premium clan symbol.", said Oticat. "Their leader must have shelled out a lot of Gems for it. Let me just consult my king booklet-"

He pulled out a small book from his coat and flipped through it. "Yes, yes, yes, just gotta- Ah! Here we are. It says that symbol belongs to a very powerful clan. TheEvilOverLords. Come to think of it, we fought one of their members just yesterday-"

He clapped his hands together in realization, and spun around. "And- and he said that we would be hearing from his clan mates about his! Oh! Shoot!"

Bowza traced the dirt aimlessly. "Overleveled Elite Barbarians. There is no greater evil in this world."

Dan stared emptily ahead, crushed. Brandy was gone, taken. His best friend, kidnapped just like that. And the last thing he had said to her?

_Go away, Brandy. You'd never understand._

How quaint his troubles seemed now. How small next to whatever Brandy must be going through right now. She was so innocent. She had to be lost. She had to be terrified-

Dan felt Larry tap his leg. He looked down at the eager Skeleton, and was surprised to see that he was holding a note. It said "To Dan, the Knight" on the front.

"Where did you find this, Larry? What even is this?", he asked. Larry pointed to Brandy's torn clothes, and put his hands together to plead Dan to open it.

So Dan opened the letter, unfolded it, and scanned the words. In a crude, hand-written script, it read:

"Hey Dan, your girl was awesome. We really had a great time with her. She tried to put up a fight- at first. . You can have her back, as soon as we decide the ransom. But I really don't think she'll want to come back. Later, little dude."

It was signed with a single lock of Brandy's snow-white hair, and a single streak of blood.

Dan's eye twitched. Then the corner of his mouth, and then his mustache. He gripped the paper tighter in his hands, until the muscles bulged past his armor. A low roar began to build in his throat. He thought about holding it back, but realized there was no reason to. So he screamed in pure anger, into the sky.

"Woah Dan, what are you doing-", Elizabeth said, as Dan charged headlong into the direction of the footprints, sword waving wildly over his head.

"I'll kill them!", he screamed. "I swear, I will kill every single one of them!"

He ran so fast, even Randy had trouble catching up to him. But when he did, the trip tackle sent him sliding into the dirt.

"Randy, what are you doing?", he growled. "I have to kill them!"

But Webert put a hand on his shoulder. "Dan! What are _you_ doing?"

Dan handed Webert the note. It only took a few seconds for Webert's face to turn a far more reddish purple than normal.

"You know what, Dan?", Webert rumbled. "I'm with you. Let's go crush them."

He held his boulder defiantly in the air, but Agatha held up a calming hand.

"Dan, Webert, if you think for one second that we're just going to let you attack an entire Clan Castle, you're insane."

Oticat, next to her, held up a communicator. He was already dialing.

"You're going to need some help.", he said.

Past the canyons, just beyond the burning desert that housed Bone Pit, a door on the walls of the Clan Castle of TheEvilOverLords creaked open. Chad and Rick slipped inside, still carrying Brandy's body bag. They shut the door behind them, and walked further into the room, closer to a tall, dark throne. The figure on it spoke into a telephone.

"How is Mr. Donnie coming along on the new wing of the Castle?", he asked, in an impeccable voice, then slightly recoiled.

"Oh, he's done? Well, give him my personal congratulations. I can see that was 500 Gems well spent. But I have to go- my other plan needs my attention.", he said a he set down the telephone, and slightly turned.

"Well? Did you do it?"

The two Elite Barbarians snapped to attention, and saluted him, dropping Brandy onto a nearby table. She groaned, but did not stir.

"Yes, Ryusei_Nakao69, sir! The deed is done!"

The king spun around in his chair and gave a low laugh. "Excellent, excellent. I would- wait a minute."

His brow knitted, with almost grandfatherly concern. "Chadwick? Richard? Where are Mr. George and the others?"

Chad shrugged. "Well, we were just in the area, you know, doing stuff, and we decided to check on them. They seemed incapable of getting the job done on their own, so we decided to step in."

"Well, where are they?", the King asked.

"Oh, they're fine.", Rick said. "They'll be back here soon."

Ryusei_Nakao69 sat back in his chair and massaged his forehead. "Did you at least tell them before you took control?", he asked.

"Um, no.", admitted Chad. "We had to keep the illusion up so the target would drop her guard."

Ryusei_Nakao69 sighed. "If it worked, then I guess it worked. Good job."

Then he resumed his former position- hands together in front of his grinning face.

"Because I would expect nothing less from my finest troops, from the finest king, from the finest clan. Kudos to both of you."

Chad clapped his hands. "Alright then! Let's talk ransom! What should we demand?"

Rick slammed his hands down onto the table. "I was thinking either 80000 Gold, or maybe 500 Gems, or maybe just a Legendary King's Chest- no! Wait! One of those fancy new Mega Lightning Chests! Those are cool, right?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 held up a hand to silence them.

"Please, gentlemen. I have no need of Gold, or Gems, or Chests. I have the black market for all of those.", he said.

"What?", grunted Chad.

"There will be no ransom."

The Elite Barbarians groaned, and gave him unbelieving looks. "What? That's lame! You mean we're just going to let her go?"

The red king smirked. "Oh no no no. Because do you know the real reason we took her? The real reason why this particular plan was weeks in the making?"

"What?", grunted Rick.

"For whatever reason, I still don't have a Bandit of my own. I just have the worst luck with chests, and both theSenate and LeChris are still unwilling to trade. And I _would _like one- my Bridge Spam deck really isn't complete."

"Sir, do you mean... are we gonna-", said Rick, raising his eyebrows.

"Yes, Richard. I do. We're going to keep her."

And then, he laughed. It grew from a mere chuckle, to a hefty chortle, and finally, a show-stopping cackle. As the rafters groaned and creaked from the force of his unholy laughter, The _ohohohoho_ echoed off of the rafters, and flew into the night.

It was a bright, sunny morning as ChupilickytwaCT opened his mailbox. He didn't get mail that often- he much more often sent it. He was the Leader of his clan, LosDementosCT, after all. But today, his daughter Annabelle had told him that there was something for him. So it was for that reason that he reached in his hand and extracted a bundle.

Most of it was normal fare- a private Trade Request, a hand-written letter from…from… from someone, that much was sure. The writing was almost totally illegible. There seemed to be a "Legendary" in there somewhere, but it was being eaten by the quadratic equation. Oh well. ChupilickytwaCT tossed the letter aside, and picked up the next one, a letter from Oticat.

"Why, its from Oticat.", he mused to himself. "Very nice young chap, wonder what he's up to now?"

He sliced open the letter with an arrow, unfolded the crisp paper, and began to read.

_Esteemed Leader ChupilickytwaCT_., it began.

_I am writing to you in my hour of need. My Bandit, Brandy, has been kidnapped- and worse. I believe it to be the work of TheEvilOverLords._

"TheEvilOverLords?", ChupilickytwaCT whispered. "Those buggers."

I _have managed to pinpoint the location of where she is being held to a Clan Castle near the East Shore, just beyond Bone Pit. I know I cannot take them on by myself. So please, illustrious leader, hear my plea. Notify the clan, tell everyone, get help. You know I don't ask for much. Please, help me. Help Brandy._

_With respect,_

_Oticat_

ChupilickytwaCT refolded the letter and put it back in its envelope. "Oh.", was the only thing he said for several minutes, as his thoughts whipped around in his head. "Oh my."

But then, eventually, he composed himself, and put the resealed letter into his back pocket.

"I hear you, Oticat. I hear you loud and clear."

He turned to a nearby Builder, tending the hedges. "John?", he commanded.

The Builder snapped to attention. "Yes, my lord?"

"Call a clan meeting, and go find my son Edward. We must prepare for battle."

. /v1/fill/w_1024,h_1246,q_70,strp/someone_unlocked_you_bandit_by_aligamer005_


	5. Chapter 5

As the sun slowly filtered through the window and landed on her bruised face, Brandy awoke in a bed that wasn't hers. This, in itself, was strange, waking up in a bed. She hardly ever used hers- she preferred to sleep on The Log. She only slept in a bed when she was truly exhausted, or sick. Something must have happened last night.

As if to prove that, Brandy couldn't quite a strange feeling out of her head. It was a feeling that something was terribly, horribly wrong, but she could not for the life of her remember what it was. And her immensely sore body didn't help either.

She yawned, sat up, stretched, and opened her eyes. A Red Villager stared back at her, and Brandy fell back on the bed.

Wait a minute. Red villagers? That didn't make any sense. Brandy sat back up again, and the Red Villager cleared her throat.

"Good, you're awake.", she said. "Are you alright, dear?"

"Who are you?", Brandy said, confused. "Where am I? What's going on?"

And then, horribly, it all came flooding back into Brandy's mind. How she had missed the Balloon, how the Barbarians had cornered her in the canyon, how the Elite Barbarians had pretended to rescue her, and then, and then- she nearly threw up. They had done that to her?

Brandy tried to push the memory out of her mind, but its presence was too strong. She could hardly believe it. She had been stolen. Taken, just like that.

But this wasn't the time to reflect on such matters. Brandy needed to get out of here, now. She instinctively reached for her club, but it wasn't there. Of course it wasn't, they would have taken that away from her first thing. She twisted up and sat on the side of the bed, and noticed that she was in the uniform of a red Bandit. Disgusting.

The Villager leaned down, her face etched with concern.

"I expect you would feel quite sore after what happened to you last night.", she said. "We've given you a salve that should help."

"You…", Brandy growled, and clenched her fist.

Seeing her aggressive stance, the Villagers ceased their chatter and began moving fearfully away. But quick as a flash, Brandy Dashed out of the bed, grabbed one by the throat, and slammed her against the wall.

"How would you like to answer a few questions for me?", she asked the Villager.

The Villager stuttered a few incoherent syllables, and Brandy slightly loosened her grip.

"I'm sorry, we're only supposed to keep an eye on you. Not tell you anything.", she replied.

Brandy and gripped tighter. "Look, I'm usually a pretty nice Bandit. But if you don't get me out of here right now, I'm going to have to change all that."

"But if I did, I'd be punished for sure."

"Punished? What do you mean?"

The Villager only looked down, and Brandy saw a huge scar on her lower leg.

"Well, um…"

Brandy's grip loosened again. Her aggressive strategy suddenly didn't seem viable anymore. But she had to get out of here.

"How'd you like to be dead?"

"We can't die here. It's our own territory."

Darn. The villager was right. Brandy thought for a second, then turned back to face her.

"Okay, how'd you like to wish you were dead?"

The Villager stared forward at her, her expression almost blank. But the subtle movements of her eyes communicated to her sisters to arm the door trap.

"Alright, the way out is through that door over there.", she finally said, and pointed to the far wall.

"And that's it?", Brandy asked. "No tricks, or traps, or false walls?"

"No."

"Great. Thanks for your cooperation.", Brandy said, and let the Villager down. Brandy ran over to the wall, opened the door, and was greeted with the sight of glowing blue metal. Instinctively, she crossed her arms in defense, but it was too late. A massive jolt of electricity flowed from the wall and into her.

Brandy screamed in pain as her already damaged body was hit with the force of a Lightning, and fell to the ground. The Villager leaned over her prone position.

"I'm sorry. I really am. But I'm not allowed to help you." She cupped her hands to her mouth. "Help! The prisoner tried to escape!"

Within seconds, the sounds of tramping boots came from a nearby hallway, and a band of Royal Recruits flooded into the room. Brandy raised one arm in protest, but they surrounded her, picked her up, and shoved her in a straightjacket within seconds.

"About time you woke up.", said one Recruit. "We were just coming down to take you upstairs anyway."

"Hope you like that room.", said another. "Get used to it."

"What are you talking about?", said Brandy suspiciously.

"That's for us to know, and you to find out.", grunted a third Recruit. "Now come with us."

They all marched upstairs, Brandy in tow, as her heels began to spark blue.

Upstairs, the monthly Clan Meeting and Party of TheEvilOverLords was about to begin. It was different from their weekly Clan Meetings, in that they had a party afterwards- hence the name. All the members of the Clan were in attendance, their prize troops with them. Normally, the Clan Meetings were about stuff such as donations, clan wars, and the like. But today, this time, Ryusei_Nakao69 had a very special prize to show off.

As he stood with his arms behind his back, in the middle of backstage, he chuckled softly and turned to his right.

"Would you be pleased with this, Kurizas?", he asked his son-Prince.

"What do you mean, father?", Kurizas asked, looking up from polishing his lance.

"If you were me, would you be pleased with this work? The plan that has come together?"

"Well, if I were you, I guess I would be, yes."

Ryusei_Nakao69 stood up, and ran his fingers down his face, tracing the outline of the black scars that adorned his cheekbones.

"Good, good. That's very good, Kurizas."

After a few seconds of simmering silence, a Goblin in a stagehand uniform popped out from behind a curtain and smartly saluted.

"Sir? We're ready for you now."

The King known as theSenate popped his knuckles, and flipped open a dark grey notebook. He adjusted his crown, selected a pencil from behind his ear, and began to write. Being one of the Co-Leaders of the clan, and also the one best with words, he was the one in charge of writing everyone's speeches. But he had already completed that several hours earlier, and thus was writing a much more personal letter.

_Dearest Sophia_, it began.

_From the first time I laid eyes on you, I knew that there could never be an Archer Queen as lovely as you. Indeed, even-_

"Whatcha writing?", came a voice from behind him. theSenate turned around, and saw a Bandit looking over his chair and at the paper.

"It's nothing, Bailey.", he said, and hurriedly hid the notebook. "Go back to your business."

Bailey smirked, and slid back down off of the top of the chair. _Oh, I'll get that notebook, _she promised herself. _One way or another._

The curtain at the front of the stage parted, and Ryusei_Nakao69 walked out from the middle, much to the cheers of the crowd. He folded his hands, walked up to the podium, and cleared his throat.

"Everyone, thank you for coming. The Emperor of the Arena has returned!"

The audience cheered again. Ryusei_Nakao69 had actually recently been arrested on charges of ID sharing, but the charges against him had been dropped due to the mysterious disappearance of all witnesses and opponents.

"Let us begin with our first order of business.", he said, and shuffled his notes, which had been given to him only seconds earlier by his daughter Stacy.

"It seems that Mr. Mickeyfuns has not met the required number of donations this week, and has thus been kicked. Now, the loss of a member is usually a rather tragic occurrence, but Mickeyfuns was only in Pekka's Playhouse. Not too much of a loss. But that does bring me me to the next item on our list, raising the required number of trophies in order to join. I've noticed that we have had an unusual number of riff-raff joining our clan lately."

While he spoke, Brandy's escort had already entered backstage. A Royal Recruit poked her in the back with a spear, just enough to hurt.

_C'mon, c'mon..._, she thought. _Just a little more. I just need a little more._

"Alright, here's what you're gonna do.", he said, his voice muffled by his bucket. "We're all gonna walk onstage, he's gonna say his thing, you stand there and look pretty, we go off stage, you go back to your room and wait. You got that?"

Brandy chose to say nothing. Instead, she slightly nodded.

"I said, you got that?", said the Royal Recruit again, a touch of annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.", she finally said. "I just couldn't hear you over the sound of stupidity in the room."

"Fine, whatever. Just follow us.", he said with a sigh. He didn't get paid enough for this, he thought. If he even managed to get paid at all, which was rare. He jabbed Brandy in the back again, and they all moved forward.

Back out on the stage, Ryusei_Nakao69 was finishing up his opening remarks, and starting to move on to the meat of the meeting.

"And of course, everyone, don't miss your War Attacks. There's not really a reason to, I shouldn't have to remind anybody, and yet some of you still choose to miss them." He pointed into the crowd. "I'm Looking at you, T. Wiseau."

Several members of the crowd turned to look at the black-haired King he was pointing to. "Hey, I did nawt mees it.", he said in his bizarre, unique accent. He was also just a very bizarre king. "I did nawt."

He looked around. "Oh hi Mark.", he said to someone who wasn't there.

"And finally,", said Ryusei_Nakao69, trying to move on, "We have a very special treat for you all tonight. Sirs MaNoFwAr and Odurawaz. Your tips have been much appreciated, and it was only with your help that this operation was successful. And of course, I have to thank my very own Elite Barbarians, Chadwick and Richard, for their invaluable help."

They both stood up from the back of the room, and many clapped, although some cheered. A group of Archers and a Princess shrieked, and a Valkyrie hollered.

"They have managed to capture me a Bandit! Bring her out, everyone."

He turned and caught the eye of a Goblin stagehand, who flipped a hand signal to another. The other Goblin pulled on his line, and the curtain opened, revealing several squadrons of Guards, a line of Royal Recruits, and Brandy, her eyes closed and trying to keep her breathing slow.

Inexplicably, a Bowler yelled "Hey, my Rider!" from the audience. Someone would have gotten on him about it, if it were not for the R-Word pass tattoo that was clearly displayed across his chest. Perhaps that's why he did it- in order to show off.

In the far corner of the room, a newspaper high up on the table twitched slightly, and a pair of mystical eyes looked straight through it, right at Brandy. The strange man reading then took a sip of his tea, and resumed looking at the Comics section.

"Better keep a close eye on her, your Highness.", said one of the Guards. "She's a fiery one. Almost killed Helen."

"Helen?", asked the King, one eyebrow raised.

"A Villager.", explained the Guard.

"Oh, don't worry.", Ryusei_Nakao69 replied. "She may be stubborn, but we'll fix that tomorrow."

Brandy felt her forehead knit. "What…?", she said to herself.

"Oh, has he not told you?", a Goblin whispered from behind her.

"Told me what?", she asked frantically. "What is he going to do to me?"

"Oh, he's going to hypnotize you to be his troop.", said the Goblin with a shrug. "Just like everyone else we kidnap."

It took a few seconds for the Goblin's words to sink in, but once they did, Brandy felt her heart jump. Blackness creeped in the corners of her vision, and despite her best efforts to stay calm, she felt herself starting to hyperventilate.

He couldn't do this. Hypnotism was just a thing that Witches did at parties with volunteers. And on Hogs. He couldn't actually do it to her. Could he?

Her thoughts were broken by the sound of Ryusei_Nakao69 pounding a gavel on the podium. "Meeting dismissed! Everyone, the accommodations for tonight are as follows. theSenate, take the far north tower. LeChris, deep south laboratory. VADER, you drew the short straw, so the Elixir shed out back. HurtJohn…"

The rooming announcements continued for a while- around 15 minutes in fact. There were a lot of Kings, and a lot of Troops. But eventually, they were finished, and the room was almost empty. The only ones left on the stage were Brandy, a handful of Royal Recruits, and Ryusei_Nakao69. And a couple of stagehands, but they were practically invisible, and didn't count.

Ryusei_Nakao69 turned to Brandy, a diabolical leer crossing his face. "Now, Miss Brandy, I would normally command these Recruits to take you to your room. But I'm going to give you a little offer, a luxury really. If you'd like, why don't you sleep upstairs? With me?"

Brandy choked a little bit. "No.", she said. "That's- that's disgusting."

"Disgusting?", Ryusie_Nakao69 said, faking his hurt. "I don't think you have any idea of the situation here. You see, you don't really have a choice here. I got you. You're mine."

"Well, I'm getting something better.", Brandy quietly retorted. A tiny spark of bravery grew somewhere within her.

"Oh?", said the King. "And what is that?"

"Out.", she said. "I'm getting the frick out."

"Wait, what-", he started to say, but it was already too late for him to respond. Brandy at last put her plan into motion, and unleashed all of the Dash energy she had been building up for almost 10 minutes. With a sound like a sonic boom, she blasted off across the stage, blowing the king off his feet and crashing through the huge double doors.

"Someone! Stop her!", he roared, readjusting himself as quickly as possible. He started to run after her, but was stopped by a tap on the shoulder. He turned around, into the face of a shadow.

Inside the hallway, Brandy still dashed at incredible speed. She jumped over a Gold Chest lying in the middle of the floor, and saw passing Ram Rider and a Mini Pekka both ran towards her, from opposite directions. The Ram Rider gave a fierce warcry and threw her bola, but Brandy, still Dashing, ducked and slid on her knees. The bola passed harmlessly over her and hit the Mini Pekka, which skidded into the wall and fell.

Brandy straightened up again, and saw the door to outside at the end of the hall. Hope surged through her, and she pressed the side of her straitjacket to the wall. The immense friction generated slowly but surely burned through the thick, course material, and the jacket popped off. Brandy shook herself and continued running. _Almost there..._

"She's getting away!", shouted LeChris, arms full of Gold. "Do whatever you have to to stop her!"

A Dart Goblin jumped in front of her with his arms open, and was instantly bowled over by Brandy. His blowgun snapped, and his body splashed into a puddle of Elixir. He reformed a second later, but not without a massive headache. And the tinges of blue fire all over him didn't help either.

"Mr. Door!", yelled VADER, another Co-Leader. "Stop her!"

Brandy was now but mere seconds away from the exit door. She noticed that her Dash had begun to flicker and fade, but she was still going strong. With a yell of sheer effort, Brandy leaped, one hand outwards, for the door. She hung there for a moment, seeming to be suspended in the air. Hope soared on her fingertips, her eyes lit up blue- and at the very last second, Brandy violently collided with the the outstretched arm of a Golem.

If Brandy had not still had her Dash invulnerability, the impact surely would have killed her. Instead, it only stopped her cold, knocked the wind out of her, and sent her sprawling backwards onto the floor.

Brandy lay there for a few seconds, trying to get her body to respond. The immense pain was felt across her entire torso, like a pulsing… pulsing…

She couldn't think of any figures of speech. It just hurt too much. Brandy strained, and finally got control of her muscles again. She tried to get to her feet, but the huge, rocky hand of Mr. Door, the Golem, grabbed hold of her, locking her arms to her sides and lifted her into the air. Veronica, Ryusei_Nakao69's daughter-Princess, walked out from behind him with a smug grin.

"Mr. Door has a grip strong enough to restrain a Pekka. You can't escape him.", she said. Mr. Door gave her a rocky smile, looking for approval, and Veronica patted him on the head.

"We'll - rrgh - see about that!", grunted Brandy, and pushed. All of the muscles in her arm strained as hard as they could against the iron grip of the Golem, sweat dripping down her brow. But after a few seconds, she hadn't even caused the Golem to budge, and Brandy realized that Veronica was right - it was like trying to push against a mountain. So Brandy then chose to conserve her energy, and quit struggling.

"Oh, you're done?", Veronica asked mockingly, and applied another layer of lipstick. "I was starting to get bored."

She took a metallic ring out of her pocket, knelt, and snapped it onto Brandy's leg. It made a soft, slightly satisfying click as it took hold, and then lit up red. Brandy could feel a strange sensation move across her skin as it hummed.

"There.", said Veronica as she stood back up. "That should prevent any more incidents."

"What is that?", asked Brandy. "What did you do to me?"

Veronica took a long drag on what appeared to be a cigar, even though there was nothing in it, and smiled sickly-sweet at Brandy.

"It's an anti-ability collar.", said Veronica. "It's my father's own invention. You see, what it does is that it blocks the natural Elixir flow of troops from accessing their hearts, causing a buildup of mortality, and heavily increasing the amount of normalcy."

Brandy was silent, as she tried to figure this out.

"Oh, that's right.", said Veronica, using the exaggerated voice of a young child. "You don't know anything about science, do you? Cause you're just a simple little Bandit. So I'll put it in terms you can understand. It stops you from dashing."

"You can't do that.", said Brandy, hiding her shock. "That's impossible."

"Is it?", came the voice of Ryusei_Nakao69, who had come up from behind his daughter. "Is it really? Go on ahead, try it. Be my guest."

Brandy tried to Dash. She tried to use her latent, built-in abilities as a Bandit, skills she had had for entire life. But instead of a light blue film running across her skin, flowing into the collar, and vanishing, nothing happened. She stared at the King in shock. And when Mr. Door at last opened his hand and dropped her onto the floor, she didn't even try to run away.

Ryusei_Nakao69 tapped her forehead.

"Do you see now, Brandy?", he whispered. "This is what I do. This is my specialty. For I may battle in the Arena, just like any other king. But I do not deal in Trophies, or Gold. No, I deal in a far more precious commodity."

Brandy stared up at him, and he cracked a cruel smile as his eyes lit crimson. "I deal in souls.

Brandy felt a primordial instinct of pure fear take root somewhere inside of her. She had always heard stories of people like this. Kings who stole Troops, or Troops that went around murdering others. And Bowza had told her there was a special word for people like that.

Demons.

Ryusei_Nakao69 gestured to a dour-faced, bearded Bowler standing at a nearby hallway door. "You there! Bowler!"

The Bowler snapped to attention. "Yes, my liege?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 shoved Brandy towards him with a cruel sneer. "Take her away."

"Yes, my liege.", the Bowler replied. He leaned over, grabbed Brandy with one massive hand, and turned her around.

"Come with me, Bandit.", said the Bowler. Oddly enough, his tone of voice seemed gentle, almost kind. But Brandy did not notice. She only stared at the ground, and numbly nodded. The Bowler put one hand on her back, and walked her into the hallway.

"Oh, Bowler?", came the voice of Ryusei_Nakao69 from behind, and the Bowler looked around.

"I would normally have you take her to her room. But for this one…"

He fixed Brandy with a look that was a strange mix between contempt and lust.

"Take her to Dungeon C instead. The one with the Arena 8-12 troops."

The Bowler saluted without a word. "Understood. Will there be anything else, sire?"

The King waved his hand. "No, that's it… um… what's your name, again?", he asked.

"Jobe, sire.", said the Bowler, and bowed.

"Ah yes, Jobe.", said the King. "So that's all for now, then."

And so the Bowler slightly shoved Brandy, and the continued their path, now towards the dungeons.

The walls of the lower levels of the castle dripped with bright green mold, and entirely unknown species of insects scrambled from the light of the torch that the Bowler carried. Once they were out of earshot of the King, or anyone else, the Bowler looked to his left, nodded, then the same to his right. And then, to Brandy's growing curiosity, he set the torch on the wall, knelt, and grabbed his beard.

"Brandy, are you okay?", he said in a different voice.

Brandy looked up for the first time since they had began their walk, and saw a very familiar face, now free of the beard.

She gasped. "Webert?"

Her friend smiled, and slightly posed. "Yes! I am!"

Brandy's lip quivered, and she jumped forward in a hug. "I knew someone would come! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!"

Webert gently patted her back, and put his finger to his lips. "Okay, I know you're excited. I'm excited to see you too, I've been looking for a while. But keep the noise down."

"Okay, okay, I will.", whispered Brandy. Then she thought for a second. "You said you've been looking for me for a while- how long?"

"Hmm?"

"How long, exactly have you been looking for me?"

"Oh, about two days."

Brandy thought about this for a second. "TWO DAYS?", she finally shrieked, then quieted back down to a whisper. "But I just woke up not even an hour ago. You mean to tell me I've been unconscious for two days?"

Her skin crawled. "What did they do to me?", she whispered to herself. "And… and…"

Brandy looked up into Webert's face.

"How did you get here?", she asked.

"Yeah,", Webert replied, "this isn't technically me. I'm speaking through a Clone."

"Oh.", she said. "But, how did your Clone get in here?"

"I just walked on in. This place actually has one of the best bowling alleys in the world- all Bowlers are allowed."

"Huh.", Brandy said. "But, you're Blue. Wouldn't they recognize that?"

"No. Clones are neutral-aligned outside of the arenas.", he explained. "I just read as Red to them."

"Well, I guess that makes sense.", Brandy said. "So, what we do now, then?"

Webert pointed one finger in the air, opened his mouth to speak, then stopped. His eye twitched as he thought of something to say, couldn't, and put his finger back down.

"I… don't know, actually. Bowza and Agatha just told me to get in and find you. Not what to do after that."

"Are they here too?"

"No. Just me."

Brandy felt a little let down. "Oh. Just… you are gonna get me out of here, right?"

Webert smiled. "Of course. Just remember, don't arouse any suspicion. Nobody can know what just happened.

Brandy nodded. "Right."

Ryusei_Nakao69 stopped where he was walking. His mechanically enhanced hearing had just picked up something very strange. Normally, he heard many things that would be considered odd throughout his castle- electric explosions, genetic experiments, screams of pain and torture- but to him, it was all just daily routine. But this time, he had heard an odd conversation. He had only picked up the tail end of it, but…

_Nobody can know what just happened. _That is what he had heard. His mind acted fast, cross-referencing the sound bite with everything currently happening. There was the party upstairs, the party outside, the Dragon dissection in the laboratory, the prisoner block, the-

He stopped. Of course. It was the voice of a Bowler. He pulled up his sleeves and went for Dungeon C as fast as he could.

"Well, what if we organize a breakout?", asked Brandy. "There are probably lots of prisoners here, and we might be able to do it."

Webert shook his head. "No, no. Too risky. Every red troop here can respawn, and we couldn't. Any direct attack would be suicide."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Well, what if we-"

Webert suddenly looked up. "Someone's coming. Quick, act like we weren't doing anything."

He hurriedly pulled on his beard, without checking to see if it was quite right. Brandy put her arms behind her back and sat down on a nearby bench, with her head hung. Within seconds, Ryusei_Nakao69 came striding around the corner, a suspicious look on his face.

"Jobe, what's going on?"

"I just sat down, sir. You see, she tried to escape, and I had to really work to restrain her.", he said with a pump of his arm. "Quite a fast one, this Bandit."

But Ryusei_Nakao69 wasn't listening. He focused all of his attention on Webert's face. Something wasn't right. He didn't know exactly what it was, but he was going to find out. Going to- oh. Yes, that was it.

"Jobe.", he said. "Your beard's not on straight."

A cold shock of fear raced through Brandy on the bench, and she stiffened. Webert, too, was taken aback a bit.

"Uh,", he said. "Uh, well, you see, I…"

Brandy started to panic. Webert had never been a good lier. He was pretty bad at it, to be totally honest. And if he couldn't think his way out of this one, then the King was going to find out everything, and Webert's clone would be destroyed, and then, and then-

And then to everyone's surprise, probably even including himself, Webert's eyes quivered, then his lips. He dropped his ball to the ground, fell to his knees, and began to sob.

"I'm sorry, your majesty,", he said in between gasps, "but... but…"

"What?", snarled Ryusei_Nakao69. "What is it, Jobe?"

"I just can't grow a beard!"

Ryusei_Nakao69's face twisted into confusion. "You can't grow a beard."

"No. I can't. No matter how hard I try, I just can't! I don't know why!"

"But, you've always had a beard, haven't you? Even when I just saw you around the castle."

"I know, I have- and it's all just been a lie! As long as I can remember, I've always just worn a fake beard."

"But… why?", asked the king.

"All the cool bowlers have one- I just had to have one, you know?", Webert sobbed.

Ryusei_Nakao69, his composure a bit unsettled, chose to just pat Webert on the back a few times.

"Well, you know, just keep in there, Mr. Jobe. I won't tell anyone.", he said. "I suppose everything is alright, and you can take the prisoner to her cell now."

"Oh, right.", said Webert, and stood back up. He dried his eyes, straightened his beard, and grabbed Brandy. "Come on then, Bandit."

So as Ryusei_Nakao69 left to take care of other business, Webert and Brandy continued their march towards the Dungeon.

It was a while later when Ryusei_Nakao69 at last sat down in his chair, cracked open a can of soda, turned on some TV Royale, and smiled. The day had gone all according to plan, and there was nothing that could happen that could possibly ruin it. Nothing at all.

He flicked the remote a few times, and the channel changed to one of a Barbarian in a forest clearing. The title flashed across the screen a few times- Wheel! Of! Death!

The Barbarian looked around frantically. "What's going on?", he said. "Where am I?"

"You're on Wheel of Death!", shouted an unseen Wizard. "Smile- you're on camera!

"Wha- I'm being filmed?", shouted the Barbarian. "What kind of sadistic retard watches this crap?"

"Oh, I love this show.", murmured Ryusei_Nakao69 to himself. He took a long swig of his drink, and heard a knock at the door.

"Come in, come in.", he said, and the door opened.

"Daddy?", came the voice of a Princess. "Did you get me a new toy?"

Brandy coughed, and shifted on the hard stone floor. It had been about an hour since Webert had put her in the cell- gently, of course, and with a promise that help was on the way. He had also removed her handcuffs, but they had decided together that taking off her anti-dash collar would arouse too much suspicion. So for now, Brandy was just waiting for something to happen. Anything.

"Psst! Hey!", came a voice. Brandy turned her head over her shoulder, and saw two Rascal Girls, tied with their backs to each other, in the cell right behind her.

"Are you untied?", one whispered.

"Yes.", said Brandy. "I guess I am."

"Good!", the other whispered loudly. "You can help get us out of here. I'm Bubble, by the way, and this is Gum."

"Hi.", said Gum.

"How do I get you out?", Brandy asked. "There's still a cell wall between us."

"The keys are on the far wall.", said Bubble. "You can just dash between the bars and grab them, right?"

Brandy sighed heavily. "Well actually, I can't. This collar on my neck stops me from dashing. And I can't take it off."

"Oh.", said Gum. "Darn."

"Where's your brother though?", asked Brandy. "Isn't he supposed to always be with you?"

"No, Tim's being held in another cell.", said Gum. "We got to stick together though, thank Dr'ew."

"Yeah.", added her twin. "We're scheduled to be hypnotized though."

"Shoot.", said Brandy. "So am I. Tomorrow evening."

"Oh, I wish we had that long.", said Gum. "They're coming to get us at 10:30. Say, what time is it?"

Brandy strained, and saw a clock on the wall out of the corner of her vision. "It's 10:28.", she said, and felt the Rascal Girls' eyes widen.

"Crap!", said Bubble. "We only have a few minutes! We gotta-"

There was a crack of stone, and the wall on the other side of their cell bulged slightly outward. Then another, and the wall burst, revealing a heaving Rascal Boy.

"Tim!", shouted Gum ecstatically. "You came!"

Tim straightened himself up, flung his wooden sword onto his back, and started towards the Girls.

"I thought they got you already!", said Bubble. "How did you manage to escape?"

Tim said nothing, and simply grabbed his sisters by the rope that held them together, lifting them into the air.

"Heh, Tim, aren't you gonna untie us?", said Gum, a note of nervousness in her voice. "Please?", added her sister.

Tim just looked up, and huffed his hair aside. And for a single moment, Brandy, Bubble, and Gum could see his eyes. They were blood red.

Bubble and Gum's faces both drained. "Tim! No!", Bubble screamed in horror, but her hypnotized brother had already began to walk towards the exit he had created.

Both of them screamed, as the realization of what had happened, what was happening, and what would soon happen fully set in. "Timmm!"

And then they were gone, leaving a mortified Brandy alone, having been totally unable to do anything at all.

Ryusei_Nakao69 turned down the volume on the TV, and turned to his third daughter. She was noticeably smaller than either Veronica or Stacy, as she was younger. "I'm sorry, but not this time, Chloe. I have a very special purpose for this one."

"But Daaaaaddy, I want her!", whined Chloe, with hands clasped. "Please?"

"Do remember those Archers I got you the other day? Weren't they enough for you?"

"They were…", Chloe huffed, "But then they got boring. I'm bored, Daddy, I want a Bandit!"

Ryusei_Nako69 stiffened in his chair. "Chloe, I'm afraid not. Usually I would let you have her, but my contractor wants her. So no."

"Please, Daddy? Just for one night?", Chloe begged. "Please please please please please please ple-"

The King put his hands over his ears. "Oh, fine. I suppose you can have her for one night. Let's go get her."

He stood up out of his chair, and Chloe clapped her hands together and jumped with delight. "Thank you, Daddy! You're the best!"

She hugged him ferociously, and they both headed on down to dungeon 3.

Brandy aimlessly dug at the stone of her floor with her fingernails. Silence reigned in the dungeon, as her only cellmate that she could see was an Ice Golem. And of course he didn't say anything, because he was an Ice Golem. Instead, he just kept on staring ahead, into the Aether, with his constant facial expression that meant everything and nothing. Brandy looked ahead at the poster on the wall, a tourism poster meant to attract people from other continents. It depicted a pile of troops - including a Ram Rider, some Rascals, and a Royal Ghost - all reaching for a floating Red Crown. As Brandy stared at it closer, she could see a Bandit among the pile. Staring, waiting for her chance to strike.

But within time, the poster lost its appeal, and Brandy just closed her eyes. And when she did, she could only see a faint afterimage of Dan. It occurred to her just how much she missed him then. His smile, his personality, everything about him. And what had their last conversation ended on?

_Go away, Brandy. You'd never understand._

But Brandy wished that that was her biggest problem right now. How she wished so desperately that Dan's nerf was what she had to deal with, instead of being kidnapped and lying in a dungeon, with who knows what fate about to befall her. She remembered the awful screams of the Rascal Girls, as their brother was the one to take them away.

A jingle of keys broke her thoughts, and she looked up. Ryusei_Nakao69 was there, right at the entrance to her cell, with a bouncing young Princess in tow. Brandy realized with a start that if he was there, then that must mean that her time had come. And if her time had come, then that meant that he was her to hypnotize her.

Well, she wouldn't go down without a fight. Brandy leapt to her feet, and assumed a fighting pose. But she slightly relaxed when she heard their conversation.

"Remember Chloe, you only get her for one night.", said Ryusei_Nako69. "And then you have to turn her over to me."

"Yes Daddy, I know.", said Chloe. "Now just let me have her!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 finally finished fumbling with the lock and threw open the cell door. He greeted Brandy with a wide, menacing smile.

"Miss Brandy, I hope you're feeling alright.", he said. "There's been a slight change of plans."

Brandy chose to say nothing. Instead, she only slightly tensed her muscles, and prepared herself to Dash. Nobody was around. If she could get one good strike on the King's head, it might be enough to kill him.

"You see, my daughter Chloe here has taking quite a liking to you. And as such, you're to be her toy for the next 24 hours. There will be no resistance."

"Wait, is she your daughter?", Brandy asked.

"Yes, she is.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "That's literally what i just said- were you even paying attention?"

"Well,", Brandy said, feeling that the Dash energy had at last built up inside her, "She's not going to be your daughter for long. Because her dad's about to be dead."

The King recoiled, and Brandy let out her characteristic Dash yell. She lunged forward- and stopped. She felt a chilling realization settle onto her, and saw a faint blue tinge run down from her body and into the collar that she only now remembered was there.

Ryusei_Nako69 laughed. "Oh, it appears you've forgotten, Brandy. As long as you're under my power, you cannot Dash. And in case you've forgotten that too…"

He leaned forward, hands behind his back. "You will always be under my power from now on, until your free will ends. Which I guess will be in about 17 hours from now. Might as well enjoy it while you can."

Chloe bounced out from behind him, and grabbed Brandy by the wrists.

"Alright, come with me.", Chloe ordered her.

As much as she despised the idea of being a Princess's "toy", Brandy didn't see any other choice. So she sighed, and started to walk. But then,

An idea began to take hold inside of Brandy's mind as the enthusiastic Princess pulled her towards the stairs. If she was left with Ryusei_Nakao69's daughter unattended, she could be in a real bargaining position. She couldn't kill him, but maybe-

Her thoughts were interrupted by Ryusei_Nakao69 grabbing her hood, and pulling her back. His breath was hot on her neck, and felt slightly dark and mechanical for some reason.

"If you even think about harming my daughter, well... let me put it this way. You're either a toy for a Princess or a toy for the Barbarians. You get that?"

"Yes, I understand.", Brandy said quietly.

"You understand what?"

"I understand, your... your...", Brandy tried to say, but could not bring herself to finish the phrase. She squeezed her eyes shut, and her cheeks slightly flushed.

"Go on. Say it.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 with evil pleasure.

"I understand…", Brandy gritted her teeth, and forced herself to say it. "Your Majesty."

"Good, Miss Brandy, good. You're finally coming around. Now go upstairs." Ryusei_Nakao69 took a different staircase, to a deeper room. He had some explaining to do, to his contractor. Brandy saw him leave out of the corner of her eye as Chloe took her upstairs. She also noticed the Ice Golem was gone, for whatever unknowable reason.

The door to the basement opened, and Chloe bounced out, Brandy in tow. Veronica, chatting with a Dark Prince and a Valkyrie, noticed her and came over.

"Hey, so that's where she ended up.", said Veronica. "Nice. Seems fitting."

"You wanna come play with me, Veronica?", asked Chloe. "I have some Archers up in my room too."

"Oh, not right now, Chloe.", said Veronica. "Me, Valerie, and Edvard were all going to do something. Maybe later, kay?"

"Okay, that's fine.", said Chloe. "I guess you just don't want to play with your little sister, that's all."

Chloe had expected some sort of sympathetic response from Veronica. Maybe a "Hey, cheer up" or a "Oh, don't worry". But what she got was a cruel glare, and a "Listen, Chloe. I'm busy right now. Go away."

"O- okay, Veronica.", said Chloe sadly, then remembered Brandy was still there. "Okay Brandy, let's go!"

But Brandy wasn't listening. She had just been staring at Veronica. Her smug grin. The way she carried herself. And Brandy's thoughts twisted furious. How dare she do this. How dare anyone treat her like this, like she was just some object to be thrown around.

An insane mix of courage and anger took root in Brandy, and her eyes lit up a faint purple. With a ferocious yell, she jumped forward, Dash or no Dash, and swung one fist directly at Veronica's face.

It took not even half a second for Veronica's eyes to widen, and for her to start to fall backwards. And it would have taken only a second for Brandy's fist to satisfyingly crash into Veronica's face, had it not taken exactly half a second for Edvard's black gloved hand to reach out from behind the Princess and catch Brandy's fist.

"Listen, you little _skank._", he spat from behind his helmet. "Nobody hurts Veronica, except maybe me. And not even then."

Veronica put a hand on his side and kissed him on the cheek.

"Come on, Edvard.", she said. "Let's go."

And they did, down the hallway towards the Laboratory. But Valerie still stood there, watching Chloe and Brandy head upstairs, slowly twirling around her axe. She had a feeling that her and Brandy would meet again, somehow. She didn't know when, but she knew it would happen.

As Chloe finally led Brandy through the Gem-encrusted doors of her room, the door locked automatically behind them. Chloe spun around, and sighed happily and deeply.

"Chloe, you're back!", came the voice of an Archer from somewhere inside. "We were wondering where you had gone."

Brandy saw a circle of Archers, all seated around a table. They weren't wearing the regular tunic of Archers, though- no, their clothes were far more fancy, and also very chaotic, a product of Chloe's bizarre fashion sense. Their eyes glowed a faint red, and there seemed to be various papers scattered between them.

"Who's that, Chloe?", asked another. "She looks fun."

"She's a Bandit.", said Chloe with pride. "Her name's Brandy, and we got her last night. Daddy didn't want to give her up, but I got her anyway, cause I'm his favorite. And she hasn't even been hypnotized yet, either!"

"Ooh, a new one.", said one of the Archers. This prompted a ring of excited whispers among them- "We haven't had a new one in ages", "I wonder what she's like", "Who took her", etc.

"Well, bring her over!", said an Archer. "Let's get her comfortable."

Chloe turned to Brandy. "Alright Brandy, let's go."

But Brandy did not move. She just stood there, right in front of the door, staring at Chloe, and staring at the Archers. How casual they were, in the face of such atrocity. How almost surreal it was that Chloe, clearly such an innocent soul, saw nothing wrong with using Troops as mere toys and playthings. A quiet, deep resolve filled Brandy, and she stood slightly taller.

"No.", she said. "I'm not moving."

"You're… not?", asked Chloe slowly, almost as if she didn't believe it.

"No, I'm not, you little brat.", growled Brandy. "You cannot make me. I don't care what you do, I don't care what you say, you or your _kind_ will not control me anymore."

Had Brandy been paying more attention to the events of the last few hours, she might have noticed that every time she tried to fight back, she was almost immediately beaten. But she hadn't been, and so she didn't know. But that pattern was not about to change.

Chloe sighed, and snapped her fingers. "Tim!"

Brandy barely had time to remember that name as oddly familiar, when the huge hand of a Rascal Boy grabbed her waist. And then she remembered where she had heard the name before.

Tim took a few huge steps, and soon reached the Archer table. He dropped her down in a chair, and held her down. And then, to Brandy's horror, she saw Bubble and Gum emerge from behind him. They each held a metal band.

"Oh, hey Brandy.", said Bubble. "Didn't expect to see you again so soon."

"You two?", Brandy said with shock, and the two Rascal Girls each clamped a metal bracelet down on Brandy's wrists, pinning her to the chair. "What happened to you?"

"Easy.", said Gum, and blew a bubble. "Ryusei_Nakao69 was so gracious as to show us the light."

"He didn't show you the light, he hypnotized you! He stole your free will!"

Bubble waved a dismissive hand. "Oh, that's ridiculous. He even told us that someone would try and tell us that."

Brandy could see that there was no good way out of this situation. Come to think of it, there wasn't even a bad way out, either. In fact, there just was no way out, period. There was clearly no point in talking, she couldn't fight, and now, she couldn't even run. So Brandy reluctantly lowered her head and sighed.

"Fine. You win.", she said quietly, and felt her heart sink. "Do what you want with me."

She heard herself speak, but couldn't quite believe it. Was she really saying this? Her?

The Archers got up from the table and surrounded Brandy. One flipped back her hood and ran her fingers through Brandy's hair.

"Ooh, let me do your hair!"

"You know, I bet we could do something real nice with this hood of yours."

"I have some new makeup I wanna test out-"

"You're not doing anything with those gloves, are you?"

"Hey, do you think you could give me some makeup advice?"

The sound reached Brandy's ears, but fell and stuttered there. She purposefully blocked them out, allowing herself only to hear the sound of the blood rushing in her head.

"Leave us.", said Chloe, to the surprise of all the Archers."I want some private time with her."

The Archers were now silent as they filed out of the room, one by one.

"Alright, take off her handcuffs", commanded Chloe to the Rascals. "She can't do what I tell her to if she can't move."

The Rascals removed her restraints, then left as well. And in that instant, Brandy formed a plan. She knew that she had only one shot at this. The way Veronica had treated Chloe earlier gave Brandy a hint that not everything was perfect for the young Princess. There might be a way to reason with her.

Work Here

"Listen, Chloe... why are you doing this? Why is your father doing this?", Brandy blurted out before Chloe could start anything.

Chloe put her finger to her chin.

"Hmmm, well, I do it because it's the only thing I have for entertainment. I'm not old enough to be a field Princess or even a tower Princess yet. And my dad does it because, well... it's fun for him, I guess."

"For fun? He kidnaps people, tortures them, and then brainwashes them for fun?"

"Well, it's the end result that he wants. Once he hypnotizes someone, they like it more here than they ever did at their old castle. Here, I'll show you."

She turned, cupped her hands around her mouth, and hollored.

"Tabitha? Could you come out here again? I need you again."

One of the Archers that had been in the room before walked back into the room, and sat down in the same chair that she had been in just a minute earlier. "Anything I can help you with, Chloe?"

"Oh, I'm just trying to convince Brandy that it's better here.", explained the Princess.

Tabitha nodded. "Right.", she said. She walked over to Brandy and extended her hand. "But from what she was like earlier, I'm not sure you're going to have much success."

Brandy almost said something. She almost, _almost_ grabbed the Archer by the throat, with intent to kill. But something held her back- some sort of odd, almost peaceful reassurance that if she just held herself back, everything would be alright.

Tabitha, her eyes slightly misted over, continued. "But really, life here, under Ryusei_Nakao69 is so much fun! You don't have to think for yourself, or worry about the future- you just do what everyone else tells you to, and you're good! I can't even remember my life before I was brought here. And just the other day, I..."

But Brandy had abandoned thought. And all that crossed her mind was the uncertainty of tomorrow, and the potential unthinkable horror of the day after that. If her clanmates didn't show up in time... she pushed the thought away. It was too horrible to even think about.

"Yeah, she looks like she's in babysitter mode tonight. You're lucky."

"Wait, what?", Brandy asked. "I wasn't listening."

Tabitha grinned. "I was just saying that Chloe typically has three modes. Sometimes she wants a toy, sometimes she wants a servant, and sometimes she just wants someone to take care of her. And it looks like she just wants the third mode for tonight. Lucky."

She stood up. "Well, I'll leave you to it. Have fun."

Tabitha left the room, and Brandy snorted. "Yeah, as if."

Chloe took a big bite of a chocolate muffin she had placed by her bedside and clapped her hands.

"Alright Brandy- actually, can I call you Bailey? I'm going to call you Bailey.", the Princess said.

"Why?"

"She's a Bandit I know. She reads me stories sometimes- hey! Can you read me a story?"

"No. I'm not going to read you a story, kid. And no, you can't call me Bailey.", said Brandy.

Chloe frowned, and reached for a telephone by her bedside. "Hey, Daddy? The Bandit's not cooperati-"

Brandy experienced a momentary surge of panic, and threw out her hands. "Ah! Woah, woah, fine, I'll do it. Just don't call your dad. What... what story do you want?"

Chloe hopped out of her bed and opened a large chest. She sifted through it for a few seconds, then took out a book titled "The Three Mini Pekkas". "I want you to read me this one."

"Okay, Chloe. I will.", said Brandy with a sigh, and took the book from her. "But before I do, I just want to tell you something. Real talk. What you're doing here, what your dad is doing here- it's wrong. It's sick, and twisted, and wrong."

Chloe looked up at her, confusion reflected in her innocent eyes. "Wrong? What do you mean?"

Brandy thought. "Well, have you ever gotten into trouble with your dad before?"

Chloe leaned back, and tapped her chin. "Well, there was that time a big huge mural all over the walls of his Clan Room. You should have seen him. He was furious!"

"Well,", said Brandy, "Take how bad that was, and multiply it by a thousand. And that's not even close to how bad the things are that go on here."

Chloe was still confused. "I still don't get it. What does he do that's wrong?"

Brandy closed her eyes. She didn't want to have to do this, but she saw no other choice if she was to get Chloe to listen. So she leaned in, whispered in Chloe's ear, and told her everything. The way she was kidnapped, the way she was violated, the way she was tortured, the way she was held and treated like an object- all of it. Once she was done, and expression of pure shock crossed Chloe's face.

"Oh. So... this is bad? And... Daddy's bad?"

"Right.", Brandy said with an affirmative nod.

Chloe's eyes narrowed. "Hold on a minute. Why should I trust you?"

Brandy took a deep breath. "Because right here, right now, I have absolutely nothing to gain from tricking you, and every reason to tell you the truth."

"What does that mean?", asked Chloe.

Brandy realized she would need more physical evidence to convince Chloe. So she rolled up the ends of her skirt and showed the Princess the part of her leg where Chad had carved his name into Brandy's skin.

Chloe's mouth formed a perfect "O" of surprise. It took a few seconds for her to come to terms with this, then all traces of it abruptly vanished from her face.

"Now read me the story.", she pouted.

Brandy thought it had worked. But whether it actually had, or it had merely been lost on the complicated mind of youth, still was unknown. So Brandy opened up the book, and began to read. "Once upon a time, there were three Mini Pekkas. They all lived together in..."

In a different part of the castle, there was silence in a darkened room. Silence, except for a sigh. The sigh came from a Musketeer, sitting by her bedside. She had not had a good day. At least Chloe had been nice to her- everyone else had tormented her almost relentlessly. And she guessed that Bowler, Jobe, had been pretty nice too. But everyone else was cruel beyond belief. She was still pretty new- her king had just got her from a Silver Chest a few days ago. He had already unlocked Musketeer, of course, but there could always be a few extra troops. She thought that people were supposed to be nice to new troops, show them around, but that seemed to not be the case for her. Instead, she was harassed constantly. Everyone seemed to always take time out of their day to attack her, in one way or another. And she knew why- her hands. She looked at them- even now, they shook. No one wanted a Musketeer that couldn't aim. She wiped the tear that had fallen down her cheek, and climbed into her bed.

"Going to bed so soon?", came the voice of another Musketeer at the door. She stood leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed, illuminated by the light of the hallway. Another stood behind her, face twisted in a cruel grin.

"But you'll miss the party.", said the second. "Wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"

"Does it matter if she misses the party?", asked a third mockingly. "She's used to it- she already misses everything else."

"Guys, please, leave me alone.", begged the lone Musketeer, but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

The lead Musketeer grabbed her face and dragged her out of bed. "Oh, be a good sport. It's time for your taxes."

The second in command dug through the drawers of their victim, finding all the Gold and Gems that had been hidden away. "Looks like she's got 500 Gold and 15- no, 16- Gems still. She's been stingy on us."

The third grabbed the bullied Musketeer's cape, wrapped it around her face, tied it together, and shoved her back onto the bed. They all walked out of the room, laughing.

"See you later, loser!", the leader said, and made an L on her forehead just before she vanished from sight. And in her bed, the lone Musketeer fell onto her side, tried not to cry, and cried a lot.

"...and so, with the Bowler's help, the three Mini Pekkas defeated the big bad maxed out Dark Prince, and they all lived happily ever after.", said Brandy, and she snapped the book shut. As she moved her arm in doing so, Chloe, who had been leaning up against it, fell onto her, slid for a few seconds, and collapsed onto her bed.

Brandy blinked, and put the book on the shelf without taking her eyes off of Chloe. Was she asleep? Brandy waved her hand over the Princess's face. No reaction. She chuckled softly to herself, and heaved a sigh of relief. The ordeal was over- for now, at least.

Ah well. And then, to her own surprise, Brandy smiled a bit. _But had it been an ordeal? _a rouge thought thought as it crept suddenly into her mind. _After all, _the thought continued, _what bad things even happened?_

Brandy snapped back to attention. She realized her face had been twisted into a bizarre smile, so she turned to a scowl. What bad things had even happened? She had been kidnapped, for one thing. And that was agreed upon in most circles to be bad.

_Very well then., _the foreign influence said. _See you later, Brandy. I'll be waiting._

For a very brief second, Brandy could see the crazed face of a man right in her mind's eye. His skin, his armor, the air surrounding him- all pitch black. His hair was wild, and blew in all directions. His eyes seemed to be staring past hers, past her physical self, past even her soul, and far into something deeper.

_I'll be waiting._

And then, he was gone. Brandy took a moment to try and wipe her memory clean of what she had just seen, with some success. As she did so, she noticed for the first time how truly exhausted she was. And hungry- she hadn't had anything to eat for days. She had spent most of that time unconscious, true, but still she felt famished. There was no food in the room that she could see, however, so Brandy decided to just solve one of her problems. But looking around, she saw no place to sleep. All one of the beds were taken, and it's not like she was going to sleep with Chloe. And of course there weren't any Logs in this room- all Princesses were heavily allergic to them. So, without any other options, Brandy just curled up on the floor and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, far away, just beyond Builder's Workshop, at the Clan Castle of LosDementosCT, Oticat and the rest of the clan were almost ready with their preparations. They were far more eager to help him then he had initially thought they would ever be. But pretty much the entire clan was eager to get back at TheEvilOverLords for cheating in war, and Oticat was generally agreed upon to be a nice member of the clan. Plus, the clan was very tight knit.

So far, they had managed to gather massive hordes of Minions, a whole army of Skeletons, sewing circles of Witches, parties of Wizards, teams of Bowlers, immense flocks of Bats, tons of Battle Ram teams, Rascal gangs, ridiculous amounts of Barbarians, passels of Hog Riders, various forms of Dragons, a battery of Sparkies, and tons more- even a few Lava Hounds. Their leaders for the upcoming assault were Edward, a Prince, his brother Antonio, a Dark Prince, and Yaga, a Night Witch. All of them were not only Level 13, but also Maxed Star Leveled, and trained in the fine arts of out-of-Arena combat. In the middle of the proceedings, ChupilickytwAT wrestled with a Dark Mirror.

Oticat noticed his struggle, and came over to him.

"What are you doing?", asked Oticat.

"I'm trying to get Orfox on the phone.", said ChupilickytwAT. "His help will be sorely needed."

"Who's Orfox?"

"A Barbarian King I met a while back. He still owes me a favor."

"But what's a Barbarian Ki-"

"It's a huge, almost mutant Barbarian from the Clash continent. Now be quiet Oticat, I'm trying to talk."

He had managed to invoke just the right symbols in order to get the Dark Mirror's distance communication skill working, and the fuzzy figure of Orfox came into view.

"What? What is it?", grumbled the Barbarian King in a thick Gaelic accent. "Who in Clash is calling me this late at night?"

He scratched his head, adjusted his one end of the Dark Mirror, and peered closer. "Oh. ChupilickytwAT, me boy. 'Tis you."

"Good to see you, Orfox. The time has come, old friend. I need your help.", said ChupilickytwAT.

"Ah. What do you need me for, lad?"

"There's a Clan that we're attacking. One of our own has been kidnapped, and we're getting her back."

The Barbarian King's immense eyebrows perked up at the mention of an attack. "Oh, an attack! That's wonderful, my boy!", boomed Orfox. "Their Gold and Elixir shall be ours!"

ChupilickytwAT politely coughed."Oh, it- it doesn't actually work like that over here.", he said. "Elixir is a temporary resource over here- you can't steal it. Although I guess you could steal some of their Gold, if we have time. And their Gems."

Orfox's eyes lit up, and he slammed his mighty hand onto the table. "Gems? I can steal their Gems? Ay, that is a mighty offer indeed! I'll do it, Chupilicky! Ye can count on Orfox!"

Orfox waved his hand, and the image faded to black as the call ended. ChupilickytwAT sat back.

"Well. That's nice. Always good to have him on our side.", he said to no one in particular.

As Dan sat by his campfire, he couldn't shake the feeling that despite all their preparation, that despite their vast numbers and determination, that it still wasn't enough. As he took shallow sips of his elixir, Agatha silently walked up behind him.

"Are you worried, Dan?", she asked, concerned. "You seem to be."

Dan was so deep in thought she didn't even surprise him.

"Of course I'm worried. From what Zane's and Jethro's research says, this is one of the strongest clans in the world we're going against. Legendary League, with 48000 Clan Trophies. Can we really stand up to them?"

"You're listening to those two? Zane is the craziest Electro Wizard I've ever met, and Jethro's brain is a little frozen from all the ice he slings. We're gonna do great. Besides, we've got a secret weapon on our side."

Dan glanced up. "Remind me what it is, again? Cause I sure don't remember."

"Operation Tremors."

"Oh, right." A hint of a smile showed on his face. "That."

He glanced over his shoulder, and saw a bottle of Dark Elixir on the stone next to Agatha. Dan knew that he really wasn't supposed to have any, but what was the harm? He slowly and stealthily reached for it, hoping that she wouldn't notice. But inches away from grabbing it, Agatha slapped his hand away.

"You know you're not supposed to have any of that, Dan. Come on."

As if to articulate her point, Larry sneezed and jabbed his leg.

"Aw, man." Dan sighed as the sparks from the campfire rose into the air.


	6. Chapter 6

Inside of a dark cavern, ugly water dripped down the walls. Inside of a dark cavern, evil secrets floated on the stale wind. And inside of a dark cavern, and deep, deep, within the castle of Ryusei_Nakao69, Brandy awoke tied to a chair. Her first instinct was to get up, so she tried to do so. But the ropes holding her were not simply too strong- they quite literally did not even move. It was almost as if she was tied with stone. So Brandy tried to look behind herself, also to no avail. There was clearly nothing to be gained by observation, so she just tried to think.

_How did I get here?, _she wondered. _I was just barely in Chloe's room. Did someone already somehow move me? _

She would have thought more about her situation, but stopped when a huge hand roughly grabbed her shoulder. She yelped in surprise, and cast her eyes upwards. But she immediately wished she hadn't, as Brandy saw the evilly grinning face of Chad was staring down.

He gave a slow, quiet chuckle, lasting for a few seconds. Then it grew louder, and harsher, and his shoulders began to move up and down. Finally, he tossed his head back, and laughed with a torturous sound that seemed to scrape at Brandy's soul.

"Oh, Brandy.", he said, and wiped away a tear of mirth from his eye. "You poor, sweet, in-no-cent Bandit." His voice sounded even more evil than usual, with a certain bizarre quality that Brandy couldn't quite place.

"You thought your clan would come and save you, didn't you? You really, actually thought that a pathetic clan like yours could possibly stand up to our incomparable might? Well, they tried, and they lost. We killed every single one of them, and drank their Elixir.", he said, and took a deep swig from a bottle that was, horribly, labeled Agatha.

"No. No, you're lying.", she said to him. "You couldn't have." And Brandy hoped he was, but she had a deep fear that he wasn't.

"Oh, we're not lying.", said another voice from the shadows, almost as intimidating. Rick stepped out of the darkness and casually spun his sword. "And now, you're going to join them."

Chad put a hand on the chair, and pushed it forward. Brandy could see a massive pit open up in the floor in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere. And then, to her horror, Chad started to tip the chair into it.

A second before he tipped her, she panicked into an idea. "Wait! Wait! Weren't you going to keep me alive?", she said nervously. "To hypnotize me?"

Chad let the chair fall back on the floor, then smiled maliciously. He scoffed quietly. "Seems like you're a little eager for that, aren't you cutie pie?"

"But no.", said Rick. "We decided to save _that_ for someone else. So why don't you come forward?"

A figure stepped out of the darkness. His uniform was stained with dried Elixir, clearly a sign of ferocious battle. Even with barely any light, one could easily see that his eyes glowed a deep red. And as he took another step closer, slammed his hand down onto Brandy's arm, tied to the chair, and looked directly at her, Brandy gasped with unimaginable terror. For that figure was none other than Dan.

Brandy struggled to get her words out. "Dan! Dan! What are you doing?"

Dan leaned in close and whispered in her ear. To the two Elite Barbarians, he seemed to be doing their bidding, but…

"Brandy! I'm fine!", he whispered. "I'm just pretending to be hypnotized!"

Relief flooded Brandy. "Really?", she whispered back.

"Yeah!", Dan said. "They still don't know."

"Okay, that's good, but, is what else they said true?", she said, and looked into his eyes. "Is everyone dead?"

A shadow fell over Dan's face. "Yes. We're the only survivors."

In an instant, Brandy's heart fell apart, and was crushed. Dan didn't lie- she knew that just as much as she knew him. And so that meant that almost everyone she had ever known and loved was dead, and now it was only Dan and her against an entire clan.

"Dan…", she whispered, barely even able to get the words out. "What are we going to do?"

"Do?", said Dan. The tone of his voice had suddenly changed. "Oh, we're not going to _do_ anything."

"What do you mean?", asked Brandy, a hint of suspicion sneaking into her voice. "Dan, what are you talking about?"

Dan withdrew himself from Brandy's ear, and looked towards Chad. "Of course we're not going to do anything, Brandy.", he said as the evil smile crept across his face once again. "I like it here, like this."

Brandy thought that this was just another ruse, that this was another part of the plan. But Chad shut that idea down within mere seconds.

"What, did you tell her that you were just pretending to be hypnotized?", he said.

"Yeah.", said Dan. "Little skank believed me, too."

Any relief that Brandy might have been feeling immediately fell away and was forgotten. She tried to tell herself that Dan was faking it, but she wasn't fooled for even a moment. As she saw Dan's eyes, she knew without a doubt that her lifelong friend was gone, a heartless monster in his place. And perhaps even worse, she knew that now, she was truly, absolutely, alone.

Perhaps, at this point, she should let them push her into the pit. Perhaps, at this point, death was preferable to whatever they had in mind.

Dan placed his hands on her shoulders, and gave a vigorous squeeze.

"You see, Brandy, I used to be just like you. I somehow thought that you were my friend. I even thought Oticat was a good king. Imagine that."

He began to walk in a circle around her. "But now, under Ryusei_Nakao69's tutelage, my eyes have been opened. With these fine gentlemen by my side, I have at last found what I sought after all these years. Perfection. You see, I have been..."

He stopped, and raised his sword into the air. A perfectly timed shaft of crimson light struck the blade from some unknown, evil, source.

"Purified."

The gaping pit in front of her began to darken, to deepen. An indescribable, horrible quality increased in some way. It opened like a maw into Hell, hungry for Brandy's soul. Overcome with terror, she tried to say something, but no sound would come out of her, save a quiet, pitiful whimper. Dan grabbed the back of the chair and gently stroked the back of her head determined to enjoy every bit of her last moments. "Goodbye, Brandy. It was never a pleasure."

Dan pushed the chair forward, and Brandy fell into the abyss.

With a jolt, Brandy awoke. Her eyes were still closed, and she did not move, but the cold cloak of sleep had been removed. She opened her eyes and took a quick glance around- yep, she was still on the floor. She patted herself- yep, fine. Brandy sighed with immense relief. It had only been a nightmare. A very realistic and terrifying nightmare, but a nightmare nonetheless. She wasn't dead, and neither was her clan.

But, Brandy noted with dismay, she was still trapped in an enemy castle with no good means or route of escape, _and _she was scheduled to be hypnotized in just a few hours. So that was still a problem. She looked to her right- Chloe was still sleeping. Brandy thought that she seemed like a pretty good kid at heart, not yet fully corrupted by the motivations of her villainous father. She looked to the left- the door was open.

Brandy laid back down, and tried to fall asleep again. There wasn't much she could do to try and escape at the moment, so she might as well try and get some sleep. Then her thoughts moved to the front of her mind. The door was open. The door was open. _The door was open._

Brandy looked again, and saw that it wasn't just wishful thinking. The thick wooden door, reinforced with steel bars across its width, indeed hung wide open. So she very carefully stood up, making sure not to make any noise, crept silently to the door, and slipped out. But she stopped immediately when she noticed that next to the door's opening, there was a Barbarian standing guard.

As she was still under shadow cover, Brandy was able to take a good look at him. He seemed very thin, and gaunt for a Barbarian. He was also completely absorbed in a small wooden object he held in his hand, tapping it furiously with both hands. His attention was so utterly focused on whatever it was, that he didn't even notice Brandy walk up behind him.

"What's that you've got there?"she asked him, and leaned over his shoulder. She tried to appear as nonchalant as possible, as though she actually belonged there.

"Oh, it's just a little something I picked up on my vacation to a Builder Base.", he said excitedly. "It's a game- you're supposed to get the little Barbarian past the Teslas and have him hit the tower. See, look."

As he spoke, he flipped tiny switches on the object. And as Brandy leaned in to look, she could indeed see that somehow, a tiny wooden Barbarian was running across a tiny Arena, dodging tiny Tesla fire. Fascinating. It seemed the rumors were true- Builder Base science really was the world's finest.

"A vacation, huh?", said Brandy, offhandedly. "Cool. My king could never afford a vacation to somewhere like the Builder Bases."

"Who's your king?", asked the Barbarian, still rather distracted.

Brandy paused for a moment to think. Should she keep going with this charade, or just take him out and run?

But her question was answered when the Barbarian's mind at last kicked into gear, and he looked up at her. "Wait a minute! I'm supposed to be guarding you-"

He was cut off by the sharp crack and impact of Brandy's fist connecting squarely with his jaw. Any further words he might have said were garbled and unintelligible as he fell to the floor. His wooden game rolled out of his hand, around a bench, and out of sight, disturbing a web of latent shadows as it went. "Nice talking to you.", Brandy said. "Very insightful."

Brandy grabbed the sword off of the bench where the Barbarian had left it and bent down, pressing it to the anti-dash collar still around her leg. With a grunt and a swift slashing motion, it was off. The mechanism blinked once as it clinked to the ground, then the red light within it died. The edge of the blade nicked Brandy's skin, and she winced as it drew a drop of blood. But the slight twinge of pain was soon offset by the feeling of her Dash returning to her, like a drink of chilled Elixir on a very hot day. She took a deep breath, savoring the moment.

But things like that could wait, she remembered. There was an evil castle to break out of. So Brandy turned to see that the Barbarian was still asleep. He was. So she stretched, took another deep breath, grabbed his sandwich, took a bite, and ran off into the dark.

Ryusei_Nakao69 kicked his feet back onto the couch in front of the T.V. He stretched in satisfaction, popped his back, and flicked the remote, turning the TV on. Today had been a highly successful day, he thought. His plan that he had been setting up for weeks had at last entered its final stage.

"Welcome to this late, late night broadcast of T.V Royale!", beamed the face of the Villager on his screen. "Or early morning, if you want to be technical." She enjoyed some half-hearted laughter with the other announcer, a Wizard.

"That's right, Trisha!"he said with an exaggerated voice. "But we don't want to waste your time. I'm sure whoever's even still up this late would just love to see the top matches of yesterday, right?"

The Wizard waved his hand, gaining the attention of the Goblin on the studio crew. With a swift click of a button, the screen switched to a video of Legendary Arena. Ryusei_Nakao69 settled down further in his chair, and took a sip of his soda. He was expecting to be able to watch for at least an hour. But his plans were suddenly interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Come in!"he yelled over his shoulder and set down his soda. The door creaked open, and theSenate entered the room.

"Ah, theSenate.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "What brings you here, old friend?"

"I have news, sir.", said theSenate, with his trademark crackle in his delightful voice. He approached the couch where Ryusei_Nakao69 sat, with a hint of trepidation.

"Good, good.", his Leader replied. "What news is it? Is it about Brandy? Did Chloe enjoy her?"

"That's just it, sire,'' said theSenate, and paused for a few long seconds. He finally managed to choke out his next words. "She's escaped."

The words reached Ryusei_Nakao69's ears, but did not register. There seemed to be some sort of miscommunication at central processing. His ears delivered the information, but his brain said no, no, you must have heard wrong. His ears replied that no, they did indeed most definitely hear right, and if there was a problem, that the brain could take it up with central command. The brain replied that it was central command, and told the ears exactly where they could go and boil themselves. The screaming match continued for a few more seconds, until the eyes made an interjection and said that due to theSenate's pose and mannerisms, perhaps there was some truth to what the ears had heard after all? The brain considered this, and finally admitted that okay, perhaps it had been wrong, and that the ears had heard correctly after all.

This entire process happened totally beneath the notice of the two Kings. The only thing that they observed was a brief second of silence, broken only by two words - "The frick?"

"But,- but- but the door was locked.", stammered Ryusei_Nakao69. "I- I locked it myself. And you even left someone guarding Chloe's room, did you not?"

"Yes.", said theSenate slowly. "Yes, I did."

"Although come to think of it, I didn't see who you left there. Who was it?"

"Ratool.", theSenate admitted.

Ryusei_Nakao pursed his lips together, and slightly stiffened. Without making any sound, he slowly stood up and turned off the T.V. He made no noise, no sudden movements, yet he was no less intimidating for it.

"Ratool? You left Ratool there?``, he yelled, and flung his arms upwards. "Ratool couldn't handle a headless Skeleton, much less a Bandit!"

"I apologize, my lord.", theSenate said. "He was just the only one available at the time. And I'm sure she couldn't have gone far."

"Well, when did you find out she had escaped?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69.

"About 15 minutes ago."

"Bandits are fast, you fool. She could be anywhere in the Castle by now. She might not even be in the Castle anymore!"

Ryuesi_Nakao69 quickly shrugged on his coat, and took out his Kingly Communicator that enabled him to instantly reach any Troops he owned. "I'm putting the entire castle on high alert.", Ryusei_Nakao69 growled. "We can't risk letting her get away. And come with me- we might be able to still catch her."

"Ryues, wait.", said theSenate quickly. "I have a better idea."

"Well, what is it? It had better be good.", said Ryusei_Nakao69.

theSenate quietly whispered his plan into Ryusei_Nakao69's ear, then withdrew.

A smile came over Ryusei_Nakao69's face, and he put his Kingly Communicator back into his pocket. "Oh, that _is_ a good plan.", he said. "Very nice, indeed. It's very... you."

Drawing her cloak far over her head to hide her face, Brandy ran as fast as possible down a flight of stairs. She kept a close eye out for any movement, carefully scanning every single inch of her viewpoint. There was no one escorting her, no excuses for being out. She would have to be on full alert, using every bit of her skill in order to escape. Absolutely no mistakes.

Song: Danger Draws Near

The fiery light of torches suddenly lit up the wall in the hallway ahead of Brandy, and the sound of voices reached her ears. She stopped her forward movement, and seemed to almost melt backwards. But as she did so, she seemed to bump into something that hadn't been there just a few seconds ago.

Brandy immediately swept her arm behind her, expecting to hit flesh- but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing at all, save a slight breath of wind. It must have just been her imagination. Brandy remembered the approaching enemies in an instant, and leapt into an outcropping in the wall.

From her hiding spot, Brandy could see a pair of Goblins walk past. They stopped, exchanged a few words in something in Goblin. One winked, then they both laughed, high-fived each other, and then finally left. Brandy couldn't understand Goblin, but if she could, she would have heard the following conversation.

"Ayy, you going to the Clan Party tonight, my dude?"

"Yeah bro, wouldn't miss it. We're gonna play spin the bottle. 1v1 Meg."

"The Musketeer?"

"Yeahaha, mate."

"What makes you think she'll even be there? Meg's never come to anything."

"Oh, she'll _come_, all right. If you… know what I'm saying."

"Aw right, give me some. High four."

Once Brandy was sure they were gone, she slithered from her hiding spot, crouched onto the floor, and looked as far down the hall as she could. Once her eyes adjusted, Brandy could see the faint hint of the door outside. Or, at least she thought it was the door to outside. There was a good chance it wasn't. But if it was...

Hope swelled through Brandy, and she took off running.

But Brandy ran free, without the knowledge that someone had seen her. Down in the murky depths of another abandoned, nearly haunted hallway, someone had seen Brandy. That someone was Meg, the very same Musketeer that the Goblins had been talking about, and the very same Musketeer that had been ruthlessly bullied for days. And when she saw Brandy running away, she saw a chance to prove herself. She grabbed her gun, tiptoed down the hallway, and ducked behind a pillar. She adjusted herself just a second later to avoid rubbing against the huge, very bizarrely placed, almost overly detailed illustration of an extremely muscular man posing in the pillar.

Song: Approach

"Alright Meg, you got this.", she whispered almost internally, trying to give herself a pep talk. "Take her down, and people will like you. You'll be cool. Right."

Meg carefully looked around a pillar, and saw Brandy, silent as death, creeping through the room. Meg had heard about the things this Bandit was capable of, and she knew that she had to be careful. Apparently, she had rounded up the entirety of Kidnap Squad 6, and was seconds away from finishing them off when Chad and Rick had made their heroic entrance- and she had nearly managed to kill them, too. And-

Meg realized that if she thought about it for too long, she was going to miss her chance. Brandy had almost left the room. So Meg raised her gun and aimed, desperately trying to calm her shaking hands. With a cool breath inwards and outwards, Meg fired directly at Brandy's head- and missed by a good 6 feet.

_Oh, shoot_. thought Meg.

Brandy heard the bullet hit the wall behind her, throwing up a small explosion of shattered rock. Her head snapped sideways, and her eyes focused on Meg almost immediately. Meg's hiding spot was not nearly as good as she had originally thought. Meg yelped and fumbled with her gun, nearly dropping it in the process. She tried to take another shot before- no, it was already too late. Brandy Dashed across the room and slammed into Meg, grabbing her by the neck before there was a second. Meg shrieked as Brandy pinned her against the wall, sheer undiluted hatred burning in her eyes.

"Well, looks like someone messed up.", said Brandy, her voice brimming over with uncharacteristic rage. Even she didn't know what had happened to her, or what influence was causing her to act this way. "It'll be the last mistake you ever make, you pathetic little-"

Meg's hands shook until her arms spasmed, and she dropped her gun. It clattered on the stone floor, far out of her reach. "No- stop- please-", she squeaked. "Don't hurt me-"

Brandy just squeezed, harder. Harder, and harder, and harder. She was going to squeeze the life out of this weakling Musketeer. How dare she try to shoot her? Brandy's eyes narrowed, and a purple light began to emanate from her eyes. How dare that little-

_Wait a second. What am I doing?_, thought Brandy. _Am _I _seriously choking her to death? _Me?

Brandy's grip loosened slightly, and her face softened. Brandy didn't know what had suddenly come over, trying to just outright kill someone like that. The Musketeer had done her no real wrong.

"Hey...help...can't...breathe-", Meg choked out, her face turning increasingly red.

"Oh, right. I'm sorry.", Brandy said. She let go completely, and Meg collapsed to the floor. She put her hand to her chest and took a deep, gasping breath.

"I'm- I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me.", Brandy admitted. "I didn't mean to hurt you, really."

But Meg wasn't listening. She continued to mumble, to herself and to Brandy. "Please, don't kill me. I just wanted them to stop hurting me… I just wanted-"

Brandy put a hand on Meg's shoulder. "Woah, hey. I'm not gonna hurt you.

Meg looked up, her eyes wide. "You mean, you don't want to kill me?"

"Of course not.", said Brandy. "If there's anyone I want to kill, it's Ryusei_Nakao69, and those two Elite Barbarians."

"Chad and Rick?", asked Meg. "What did they ever do to you?"  
Brandy told her, and Meg covered her mouth with her hands.

"Oh, my goodness.", she said. "I didn't know. So that's why you're trying to escape?"

"Yeah.", said Brandy, then noticed something odd about Meg. On her shoulder pads, where Musketeers had their level proudly displayed, Brandy noticed a 3. Meg was still only the minimum level.

"Do you mind if I ask you something, um…"

"Meg."

"Meg. Okay, do you mind if I ask you something, Meg?"

"Okay.", said Meg. "You didn't kill me, so I suppose I owe you something."

"Why are you still minimum level?", Brandy asked.

Meg sighed deeply, and the edges of her eyes watered. "Lechris, my king, just never upgraded me .", Meg said, then held up her hands, still shaking. "It's probably because my hands always shake when I'm stressed. Makes it so I can't aim. Really, I'm… I'm kind of a liability." She hung her head in shame.

"Well, we all have our problems.", said Brandy. "There's nothing wrong with that."

"Tell that to everyone else.", said Meg. "Doesn't stop them from abusing me whenever they feel like it."

Brandy looked at Meg, and narrowed her eyes. She was no expert, but Brandy could tell that Meg was clearly suffering from some form of abuse.

"Really?", said Brandy. "So you don't like this clan either, huh? Well, can't say I blame you."

"No.", said Meg. "I hate it. I wish I just get out of here. I wish they wouldn't hurt me anymore."

Meg's face reddened, and her eyes started to water.

"Woah, woah, don't cry.", said Brandy. "What if I told you… there _was _a way?"

Meg wiped her eyes. "What do you mean?"

"Just leave.", said Brandy. "Tomorrow, there's going to be a huge battle. Just run away, and never look back."

"But- but- but I can't do that!", said Meg. "I'm Red. I can never change that."

"Well, why not?", said Brandy. "What's stopping you, Meg? What's really stopping you?"

"Um, nothing, I guess.", said Meg, and for the first time in her short life, hope started to grow within her. She looked up and stared deep into Brandy's eyes.

"You know what, you're right.", she said. Meg grabbed her gun, and slung it over her shoulder. "Tomorrow, I'm going to take back my life."

Brandy lifted her hand for a fistbump, and Meg took the opportunity. Meg turned to leave, when she remembered what she was going to ask Brandy before.

"What's your name, by the way?", Meg asked. Brandy looked over her shoulder, and grinned.

"My name's Brandy.", she said, and turned to leave. But then she looked over her shoulder. "And Meg?"

Brandy saluted. "Arrivederci."

Once Brandy had left Meg behind, gone out of the room, and ran further down the hallway for a bit, she came to a split. Four tunnels, each running their own direction. Strange, she could have sworn there was just a straight path to the door before…

"Well, let's see here.", Brandy said. "From the light patterns on the first hallway, I can tell that's a dead end. So no."

She turned to the second hall. "And that one smells like a laboratory- so no."

She turned to the third hall. "Smells like freshly cut grass? All right."

Without even looking at the fourth hall, she ran down the third hallway. But it didn't matter that Brandy had not investigated the fourth hall- because that one did not, technically, exist.

Brandy had hardly gone a few hundred feet when she instinctively skidded to a stop. Because right there in front of her, lovingly polishing his Hog, was a maxed out Hog Rider, all covered in shining gold. Brandy carefully lifted up one foot from the ground, determined not to make any noise. Silent as the night, she slowly moved backwards- and smacked directly into a decorative vase, which fell to the ground and shattered with unnatural speed. It hit the ground so astonishingly quickly it was almost as if it had been thrown.

But how the vase hit the ground mattered not- all that really mattered was that it did. With the crashing, piercing noise, both Hog and Rider looked up. Brandy met their gaze, and did a little wave.

"Hey…", she said, and attempted a nervous smile.

But the Hog Rider was not fooled for even a second. He stood up, abandoning his cleaning, and patted his Hog on the head.

"Well, would you look at that, ACDC.", he said. "Looks like we've got a real live escapee on our hands."

Brandy briefly considered trying to talk to him, but given her previous track record, decided that that would only end up badly. She also briefly considered trying to fight him, but one look at his massive golden hammer almost forced her to reconsider. She would not stand a chance. So Brandy performed that most ancient of special techniques- she turned around, gave the Hog Rider a rude gesture, and ran.

Ryusei_Nakao69 almost slammed open the door to Chloe's room, but then thought better of it. Instead, he gently eased it open, being careful not to make any sound, and he and theSenate slipped inside.

"There's no need to be quiet, Daddy. I'm already awake."

The voice came from far inside the room, all the way from Chloe in her bed. There she sat, legs tucked up against her, and a blanket pulled up to her knees. Rysuei_Nakao69 heaved a sigh of relief, and hurried to her bedside.

"Oh, Chloe, you're alright.", he said. "I was afraid Brandy might have hurt you."

"No.", said Chloe. "She didn't hurt me. Actually, she told me weird stuff."

Ryusei_Nakao69's brow knitted. "Oh? What did she tell you?"

"She told me that you were evil.", said Chloe innocently. "And that what we do here is wrong."

An almost visible crack appeared down the King's face. "Oh, she did?"

He put one hand on Chloe's shoulder, and tried to plan exactly how to say this.

"Well, Chloe…", he began. He contemplated saying something deep, and complicated, but then remembered he was dealing with a young child here. So he kept it simple.

"She's wrong.", he said. "That may be what she thinks, but we'll bring her thinking around soon enough, alright?"

Chloe looked worried. "Oh. I hope you're not angry I let her out, then."

theSenate looked over Ryusei_Nakao69's shoulder. "Did she just say what I thought she said, sir?", he asked.

"Chloe?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69, and slowly blinked. "Did you just say that it was you who let Brandy out of your room?"

"Yes.", said Chloe, wide-eyed. "What's wrong with that?"

"Well,", said Ryusei_Nakao69, "When I lock a prisoner in a room, it means that I want them to stay there. You got that?"

"Okay, Daddy. I just wanted to see what would happen.", said Chloe, and noticed that the two Kings were leaving. "Daddy? Where are you going?"

"We're going to catch her, of course.", proudly proclaimed theSenate, and the two left.

Chloe almost said "Hope you catch her," or "Good luck", or at least something along those veins. But she didn't.

Song: Imminence

Brandy ran faster and faster down the hallway, trying as hard as she could to escape the Hog Rider. But it was no use- the Hog Rider knew the castle far better than she did. And he was faster. And his Hog could apparently see in the dark, for all the narrow turns he was constantly making without even looking. And she was getting a little winded, while he wasn't even beginning to slow down. And also Hog Riders were the fastest troop known, and while Bandits were fast, Brandy did not even begin to approach her opponent's level of speed.

Brandy jumped a hard right, and vaulted over a fallen chandelier. Surely, the Hog Rider wouldn't try to navigate through all that broken glass. She sneaked a look behind her- no, he had come crashing through like a Battle Ram.

"You can run, but you can't hide!", he shrieked. "No one outspeeds the Hog!"

Brandy ducked behind a pillar, and Dashed to the other side of the room once it looked like the Hog Rider had blinked. Maybe he wouldn't notice. She hoped that perhaps he would run past her. But he pulled up right next to her, and skidded to a stop.

Brandy didn't try for a one-liner. She just Dashed over his head, and landed on the opposite side. Through a door marked _Service, _down the nondescript hall- and right into a dead end. Again. Seeing no other options, Brandy turned around, and faced her foe.

The Hog Rider skidded to a stop, and raised his hammer. "Are you giving up already? I thought we were having fun."

Brandy raised her hand in front of her. "Well. What's your name?"

The Hog Rider frowned. "My name's Vern. Why?"

Brandy smiled. "Well, Vern, you may be faster than me. And stronger than me. And a higher level. And probably more experienced. But I know I can beat you."

Vern didn't get it. "What are you talking about?", he asked in his oddly high voice.

"You see, I still have one last trick up my sleeve.", Brandy said. "The secret weapon that can defeat all Hog Riders, no matter their strength."

An instinctive, almost ancestral fear began to pick up from somewhere deep inside of Vern. He pulled on ACDC's reigns, and pulled his hammer a little closer. "What? What are you going to do?"

Brandy's eyes narrowed. "I'm gonna say the R-word."

Vern's eyes widened in terror, and he withcoiled. "No! Please! You can't say the R-word!"

"Oh, but I can.", said Brandy, and her lips parted slightly. "Ri-"

Vern dropped his hammer, jumped off of ACDC, and fell to the ground in a posture of fear. "Have mercy! Please, anything but that!"

Brandy, to tell the truth, was a little surprised. She knew that apparently, saying the word was supposed to have some sort of effect on Hog Riders, and Ram Riders. But she didn't think that it would be so large to have them on the ground and begging for mercy.

"Alright, I won't.", said Brandy. "But only if you can do a few things first."

Vern silently nodded.

"Alright.", said Brandy. "First, slide your hammer over to me, where you can't touch it."

Vern did so with a slight sniff.

"Okay, now tell your Hog to leave."

Vern met ACDC's eyes, and told him to go around the corner for a bit, using the special telepathy that all linked troops have. But nowhere was it stronger than in the special bond between Hog and Rider. With a snort of seeming indifference, ACDC did so and sat down.

"Now,", Brandy said, "I'm going to leave, and you're going to forget you ever saw me. You got all that?"

Vern nodded. Brandy found that after so much abuse, she quite liked being in a position of power over somebody. She sure could get used to this. In fact-

Brandy blinked, and pushed the thoughts aside. Such evil thoughts had no place being in her mind. She had only one objective- and escaping didn't really need to involve blackmailing people like this. So she walked slowly past Vern, keeping an eye out for any sort of rogue movement.

"Where's the way out, by the way?", she asked.

"Double doors down, to the right, continue for 6 doors, then on your left. Can't miss it, marked Exit.", he squeaked out.

"Thanks for your help.", Brandy said, and went past him.

_Okay Vern, you got this, _thought Vern. _Take her out, and Ryusei_Nakao69 gives you all the rewards you want. We could maybe even get a new saddle!_

Steeled by his resolve, he leaned down, grabbed his shining golden hammer, and turned to face Brandy, Hog or no Hog. But what he found was her looking straight at him, about to say something. He immediately knew what it was, and tried to cover his ears, but it was too late. She was going to say it.

"Rider.", whispered Brandy, just loud enough for Vern to hear.

Almost immediately, Vern's eyes widened. He clutched his hands to his temples as if attempting to drown out the sound, but to no avail. There was a high-pitched scream, and the Hog Rider revealed what effect the word on him. He exploded, and sent a splatter of Elixir against the walls, ceiling, floor, and Brandy.

"Oh.", Brandy remarked to herself. "So that's what happens."

She wiped the Elixir off of her face, and watched it melt into the ground. Vern would reform in about an hour, so she didn't need to worry. But his Hog would still need to be taken care of.

So Brandy rounded the corner to where his Hog was parked, and saw that it was still sitting patiently, just waiting for its master to return.

"Hey, buddy.", said Brandy quietly as so not to scare it, and slowly knelt down. "Hey, ACDC."

The Hog grunted, but otherwise made no discernible response. So Brandy gently put her hand on the Hog's head, and began to scratch. If Hogs could smile, ACDC would certainly be doing so. With just a few more scratches from Brandy, his ears curled, and his eyes closed shut.

"Yeah, that's a good Hog.", said Brandy. "You're not so bad. If your Rider was like this, I wouldn't have had to kill him."

When Brandy said this, she thought that the Hog wouldn't respond, that he couldn't possibly understand. But she had underestimated the special bond between Hog and Rider that no other troop, even linked ones, could ever hope to truly understand. And so when Brandy said those words, they immediately registered in the mind of the Hog, and ACDC's eyes snapped open.

He jumped to his feet, narrowed his eyes, and audibly growled. Brandy backed up, as ACDC walked slowly and menacingly towards her.

"Woah, nice Hog…", Brandy said slowly, but ACDC was beyond that point. His chops frothed, and his eyes gleamed reddish-gold from the fury of the death of his Rider, even if but temporary. Brandy didn't like what she was about to do, but she knew that it had to be done.

With a ferocious growl, ACDC leapt forward, his jaws flung forward and snapping. And in the same moment, Brandy Dashed, one fist outward, right towards the Hog's chest. They met in midair, the force of Brandy's punch blowing the Hog backwards and into the wall, where it fell and lay still.

Brandy took a single step towards it, but stopped when she saw ACDC roll over to one side, already starting to dissolve into Elixir. The Hog's eyes, filled with mindless rage just a few seconds ago, now reflected a mixture of fear, loneliness, and oddly enough, betrayal. Then ACDC melted into purple sludge that spilled across the floor, and was gone.

Brandy watched the entire process. She didn't like killing animals- she never had. Animals, in her opinion, were much less deserving of it than people. But some things just had to be done, and the convenience of a single Hog mattered much less than her freedom. So Brandy continued back down the hallway, in total, utter, silence.

It was not but a minute later when Brandy felt a chill from behind her. She turned to look- and saw a door, barely open just a smidgen, far away across the hall. If there was a chill coming from the door, that meant the door led outside. She had found her path.

Brandy grinned, and looked around. Absolutely nobody was around. Good.

So she crouched, prepared to run, and was suddenly hit with a colossal impact that launched her backwards. Brandy grabbed the floor with her gloves, and managed to finally skid to a

stop.

Brandy didn't get up from her crouch, choosing instead to stay in a good defense position. She looked into the shadows in the direction where she had been hit, and could barely see the outline of a Bandit. Brandy should have known what the receiving end of a Dash felt like. But then she realized that she actually didn't- Brandy had never fought against another Bandit before. She knew exactly what to expect from this opponent- and yet, she knew nothing at all.

The Bandit slowly stepped out from the darkness, and her eyes glinted in the low light. She looked identical to Brandy, of course, as all troops did, except for a single detail- a single red feather sticking up from her hood. The Bandit put her hands on her hips and smiled maliciously.

Song: Clash

"What are you doing, Brandy?", she asked mockingly. "You're not supposed to be escaping."

"You know my name?", Brandy asked.

"Of course I know your name.", the Bandit said. "Everyone does. I was one of the first ones to see the video that Chad and Rick sent out."

A chill ran up Brandy's spine. "You don't mean…"

"Oh, I do.", said the Red Bandit. "Hey Bailey, look at this, Valeyrie said, and showed me. Boy, you were great. Really playing up the whole helpless, screaming act."

Brandy knew that Bailey was just trying to demoralize her. But she would not have it.

"Listen, Bailey, you of all people should be helping me out here.", Brandy said.

"Why? Because I'm a Bandit like you?", Bailey chuckled. "I'd hardly call that a reason."

Brandy shifted her arms up, and Bailey took a stance as well. Their eyes bored into each other, carefully scouting for any and all weaknesses. It was odd- they knew each other in some primal way, yet they had never met before today. They both took a stance, and sized each other up, slowly circling. Brandy slowly took a step to the right, and Bailey one to the left. The two Bandits circled each other, totally identical, except for the feather.

Bailey's foot twitched, and she Dashed. Her aim was to strike Brandy off guard, and hopefully incapacitate her quickly. Maybe, if she did this right, theSenate would give her an allowance raise.

But Brandy had seen her prepare to Dash, and knew exactly what was coming. She ducked, pushed herself off of the floor, and Dashed as well. The two unstoppable forces met each other in the dead center of the room, sending out a blast of wind that blew away the dust and shook the ancient bookshelves. The fact slightly rattled Brandy- they had been standing in a hallway just moments before. What had happened?

The thought didn't distract her, though, and she leapt backwards. Bailey did the same.

"So you can Dash. Adorable.", Bailey said. "What's next?"

"Next?", said Brandy. "Next, you'll probably say "You don't stand a chance against me" or something like that."

"You don't stand a chance against me-", Bailey said, then stopped in shock. "What? How did you know what I was going to say?"

"I don't know.", said Brandy. "How did I?"

"Are you mocking me?", sneered Bailey.

"Oh, maybe-", Brandy began, but was cut off by Bailey Dashing right at her. Brandy, in an instant, ducked and threw her shoulder upwards in an effort to throw Bailey. But Bailey had anticipated the move. She struck Brandy's shoulder with her palm, launching herself upwards and Brandy down.

Bailey hit the wall, and her Dash ended. She immediately spun around and leapt towards Brandy, only to find that Brandy had rolled away. Rolled away, and right behind her. Brandy struck out with her right hand, smacking right into the fist of Bailey, extended right behind her.

Bailey turned around, and both Bandits let their hands drop.

"What's the matter, Brandy? Can't hit me?", smiled Bailey.

"Looks like you can't hit me either.", Brandy said.

"That may be true.", Bailey admitted, then tensed. "But I do have one advantage over you."

"Really? What?"

"I'm a higher level."

And with that, Bailey vanished. Brandy spun around, anticipating what she thought would be her move, but she wasn't behind. Brandy looked up- not there either. She turned in every direction, but there was no sign of her foe. Brandy strained her ears, trying to listen for any sound that would give away Bailey's position, but there was nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

Ryusei_Nakao69 slunk out from the pillar with the man on it, and motioned for theSenate to follow him.

"Why are you signaling?", whispered theSenate. "I am right here."

"Oh, sorry.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Just habit, I guess."

"Habit from what-", his friend started to say, but he was cut off.

"Look.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and gestured frantically forward. "Do you see that?"

He was pointing towards a crumpled shape on the ground, barely defined by a cape and the barrel of a gun.

"We must be on her trail.", he said. "Come on, there's not a moment to lose.

Brandy felt, right behind her, just the slightest breath of wind.

She registered it in her mind, and began to turn. But before she could, a powerful force slammed into her from behind, skidded them both across the floor, and pushed Brandy into the ground. Bailey put one foot on Brandy's back and held her there.

"How... how did you-", Brandy started to say, but her face was forced into the floor.

"You think I'm going to tell you what it took me months of training to figure out?", sneered Bailey, gallons of utter contempt in her voice. "Not likely."

Bailey grabbed Brandy's legs, yanked them underneath her own, and snatched the back of Brandy's hood, pulling her head backwards. Brandy tried to maneuver her arms into striking position, but she could not.

"Although, now that I think about it, I might end up teaching you. Once you're ours."

With a slightly over dramatic flourish, Bailey drew back her cloak, and started looking around for something. Brandy couldn't see what was going on, with her face still to the ground.

She grunted, and pushed harder, trying as hard as she could to rise. Brandy moved slightly, and Bailey almost shifted.

"Why are you still trying, Brandy?", said Bailey. "There's no point now. I defeated you."

Bailey, having finally found what she was looking for, slipped a syringe out of her cloak and into her hand. She held it up maliciously over Brandy, and clicked the needle into place. A single drop of thick green liquid dripped from the tip, and onto the stone floor. It sizzled.

"You like it?", she said. "Poison X-367Z. Got it from my buddy Hauter the Dart Goblin. This'll put you to sleep in no time."

Bailey grinned, and her teeth glinted, even in the low light. "And then, the real fun begins."

She clicked the needle one more time, jabbed it down at Brandy in a lightning fast motion- and missed. Bailey had missed.

The tip of the needle broke on the hard floor, poison spreading across it.

Bailey had aimed for what looked like Brandy's arm, but it was just, in reality, an oddly shaped fold in her cloak. Brandy saw this, and decided to take the opportunity that now so clearly presented itself. She cried out, stiffened, trembled, and finally went limp. "No...", was the only word that escaped from her lips.

Bailey sat up, adjusted her hood, and looked down at Brandy's limp form. She didn't bother to retrieve the needle. "Huh. That was easy.", she said. "From all the things I heard about you and all your all your tricks, I thought you would put up more of a fight."

She grabbed Brandy, one hand lifting her by the hood and the other hand lifting her legs. Bailey brought Brandy off of the ground, and right in front of her, grunting from the effort. "Oh well.", she laughed. "I'm not complaining. She'll make a good servant."

Bailey turned to leave, and take the pathway towards theSenate's room. As soon as she did so, Brandy opened her eyes again- and struck. For a brief second, everything seemed to go into slow motion for her.

Brandy lashed out with her right fist, straight as an Archer's arrow, aiming for the spot behind Bailey's head. It only took a split second for Bailey to notice and recoil- but it took far less than that for Brandy's punch to reach Bailey's face, plow far into her, and keep on going. Her head snapped back, she dropped Brandy, and she fell to the ground. An arc of blood trailed in the air behind her. Brandy hit the ground in a crouch.

"Ow...", Bailey groaned, cradling her now-broken nose in her hands. A steady trail of blood ran between her fingers, dripping onto the stone floor. Her eyes quavered with tears. A shadow fell over her, and she looked up.

Brandy towered over her. Her eyes burned with hatred. "Well?", she whispered. "Is that more of a fight for you?"

Bailey tried to put her nose back into place, failed, and just dragged herself to her feet. "Well.", she panted. "If you want a good fight, then-"

Brandy did not wait for her to finish her sentence. She didn't wait for anything- she just leaped, one fist outward. Bailey startled, and threw her hands up to protect herself. Brandy didn't even slow down. As soon as she reached Brandy, they both seemed to stop in midair. Yet somehow, Brandy had enough time to whisper a few words in Bailey's ear.

"Good grief.", she whispered. "What a pain."

Brandy used one arm to move Bailey's hands upwards, and the other to grab Bailey's cape. With a massive effort, she spun the Red Bandit around. Around, around, and into one of the bookshelves that lined the walls of the room. Bailey skidded down one, and then jumped into the air.

_She's tougher than I thought,_ thought Bailey. _It's almost like she knows what I'm going to do right before I do it…_

Bailey stopped, and landed in a tight crouch atop the peak of one of the bookshelves. Brandy merely stood there, and watched her think.

_So if she knows all my strategies…,_ thought Bailey, _I guess I just have to fight without them! Time for something weird!_

Bailey charged up her Dash, and leapt into the air. She hung there for a few seconds, then her Dash activated, and she rocketed back down. Bailey gathered up a fist, and aimed for Brandy.

Brandy saw her fall, and did nothing. She had already seen the major flaw in Bailey's plan. Or, total lack of any plan whatsoever, as the case actually was. So when Bailey came within reach of Brandy, Bailey swung her fist, right as her Dash ran out.

Brandy could see the realization on Bailey's face the second she felt her Dash fade. But she could do nothing about it. Nothing but fall. Brandy gave a mighty yell, and rammed her own fist as hard as she possibly could into Bailey's stomach.

The force crashed into Bailey like a meteor, creating a miniature shockwave that kept on going, rattling the shelves that lined the walls. Bailey's face contorted in shock and immense pain, and she fell noiselessly off of Brandy's fist, hitting the ground.

She struggled to keep herself formed, to keep herself from turning into Elixir. But as Bailey saw her own arm begin to drip right in front of her, she knew it was a lost cause.

"Do you know why you lost, Bailey?", whispered Brandy, and leaned in close.

"Because you called me a great servant. And that really made me mad.", she said, and plucked the feather from Bailey's hood.

"In other words, you lost for one reason. You really pissed me off."

As Brandy turned to walk away, Bailey finally blacked out from the immense pain, and crumpled. The edges of her body started to slowly bleed into Elixir, but she did not fully fade yet.

As an afterthought, Brandy grabbed Bailey's communicator from her back pocket. She wasn't entirely sure why, but she just knew it would come in handy later. But as Brandy slid it into her own pocket, what she didn't notice was Bailey slowly getting up off of the ground. The Red Bandit, barely keeping herself together, pulled a knife from out of her sleeve, and lunged towards Brandy.

Brandy didn't have time to react. The knife hit her right in the side, sliding deep through her skin and out the other side. Fortunately, Bailey had not been able to aim due to her heavily weakened state, and so she had hit no vital spots, or really any part that would cause any damage. But it did hurt- a lot. And so Brandy gritted her teeth, spun around with a fist, and punched Bailey again, right in the jaw. And this time, there was no slow, melting transition. This time, she just splattered into Elixir all across the floor.

Brandy pulled her hood closer over her face, and slid the feather into the soft fabric. Hopefully, her disguise would hold. Hopefully, she wouldn't need to run anymore. Hopefully, she could find the exit door again. So Brandy ran off, hopefully, into the dark.

"Come on, let's keep moving. The sun will be up in just a few hours."

This came from Oticat, riding in the front seat of his cart. The cart belonged to a massive caravan, made up of all the forces from LosDementosCT and Orfox's group. The Barbarian King had made sure to bring along some troops that weren't native to the Royale continent, in order to give the element of surprise. These included Healers, Dragons, and even a huge Siege Machine- a Stone Slammer, to be exact. The plan was to surround TheEvilOverLords' castle with a variety of different attack strategies- GoWiPe on the south, HoIgEr on the west, LaLoonIon on the east, etc. Of course, these were just the strategies that Oticat had been informed of. There were many, many different Kings all taking part in this attack, and information had been distributed to them strictly on a need-to-know basis. Their three troop leaders would all strike as part of Attack Group A, right through the front door.

"In a few hours? It's the middle of the night."

This came from Dan, walking right next to him. Mostly, he was worried. Worried about what was going to happen in that castle, and also what had already happened. What had they done to Brandy? Were they going to just hold her for ransom, or did they have something far more sinister in mind? Was she even still alive? If- when, he reminded himself, _when_ they found her, would she be changed in some way?

"Yes, Oticat. Perhaps you should check the time again."

This almost snide comment came from Agatha, acting as co-driver. For her, there was no worry. For her, there was only hatred. A deep-seated hatred, that smoldered within her like magma. Unlike Dan, she knew exactly what they had done to Brandy. Before the battle, she had put a small, magical tracker onto Brandy's person. It was unaffected by anything that had happened, because it was ethereal. And Agatha had seen everything, from the moment that Brandy had first arrived at TheEvilOverLord's castle. She ran her fingers up and down her staff, tracing the arcane patterns, and plotting exactly how she was going to kill every single troop that they had. Brandy had always been like a daughter to Agatha, and now her maternal rage coursed like a blazing river of gold.

Randy sat on Oticat's head, staring directly at the road ahead. But he said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit. What he did do was tumble head over feet off of Oticat's crown, onto his lap, and almost off of the cart, before Agatha reached out a hand and caught him by an icicle. The fall had come from a jolt, and the jolt had come from the cart's sudden stop.

"What's going on? Why did we stop?", Dan asked, and craned his neck to look.

"I'm not sure.", said Oticat. "It doesn't look like there's anything in the road. Just Orfox, looking around."

Oticat stood up. "What did we stop for?", he shouted.

"Quiet, Oticat.", rumbled Orfox. "I'm trying to listen."

The massive Barbarian King strained his ears, trying to find what had disturbed them earlier. It had sounded like the creaking of metal, and the loading of a round of bullets. He had a sneaking suspicion that he knew what it was, but that's all it was. A suspicion. He didn't really know. He was about to dismiss it as nothing, and give the order to continue, when he heard it again. It was closer this time, and louder. Bolder, more aggressive. Orfox slowly drew his sword, and stared into the bushes by the side of the path.

A massive hail of shotgun bullets erupted without warning, a cacophony of shrieks echoing around the bushes they had come from. Orfox swung his sword in a protective circle that blocked nearly all of them, but a few slipped through. They hit his skin, but failed to penetrate, leaving only miniscule red marks. Orfox growled, and jumped off of the wagon. He hit the ground with a boom, and spread his arms open wide.

"Who goes there?", he yelled. "Who dares to attack us?"

As if to respond to him, a figure leaped out of the bushes, aimed her shotgun right at Orfox's head- and stopped. Her eyes widened, and she stopped in midair, falling gently to the ground. She raised one hand and put it behind her head in a silent apology.

"Ah, sorry Orfox.", she said in a heavy accent. "I didn't know it was you, _mi amigo._"

"Shelly.", said Orfox. "I should have known."

Shelly slung her gun onto her back and smartly saluted. "What brings you to the continent of Royale, Orfox?"

"I could ask the same of you, Shelly.", said Orfox. "I'm here on a favor to my friend ChupilickytwaCT."

"Oh really?", mused Shelly. "Tell me more."

The two continued to talk, Orfox explaining the situation. He had almost gotten to the part where they had gathered the troops when ChupilickytwaCT hopped down from his cart, marched up to Orfox, and demanded to know what was going on.

"Orfox, what's going on?", were his exact words. "Who is this woman that is almost like, but not entirely like, a Musketeer?"

Orfox turned around. "Oh, this is Shelly. She's an old friend of mine. A Brawler, from the Brawl Desert. She's here to help us."

"Ah.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "Good."

Brandy tiptoed down the nearly pitch-black hallway, silent as a ghost. Her eyes and ears carefully scanned for any signs of anything, but there was nothing. She came to an immense flight of stairs, crimson colored torches lining the walls. Their light was not enough, however, to illuminate the stairs- they led down farther than she could see, into more darkness. The walls seemed soft somehow, almost like foam. Brandy thought about how huge and bizarre this castle was. It was nothing like Oticat's castle. There, the halls were large and open, everything made sense, it was difficult for even Goblins to get lost, and things didn't change. Here, however, there were mazes of empty rooms, seemingly pointless hallways, and Brandy could swear that the walls around her shifted nearly constantly into different formations.

Brandy leapt into the air, spun once in a frontflip, and Dashed down the stairs. The mysterious, unknown material that they were made of bent and swirled as Brandy passed in a blur, and reformed just as quickly. Once Brandy landed at the bottom, her eyes adjusted to the darkness and she saw a door. The door was huge, and thick, but strangely shoddy. Brandy could hear extremely faint voices coming from the other side. She decided to put one eye to the keyhole, and check what was inside.

"Yeah, so I have a 16 of Princesses."

"Wha- 16 of Princesses? Dave, what are you talking about?"

Dave tried to point to his card, and instead slid out of his chair and onto the floor. "See look. Right there. Right where I'm pointing. Right where…. Bees."

"Dave, the number cards only go up to 10.", said Phil. "And Princess isn't a suite."

These was the simply stimulating conversation coming from the five Barbarians known locally as Kidnap Squad 6- George, Dave, Phil, Joe, and Ed. They were right in the middle of a heated match of their favorite pastime- a card game they called BS. It, along with other card games, were their only non-battling, non-kidnapping, pastimes, really.

"Dave, if you're not going to play by the rules, you don't get to play.", said George, without even looking up from the newspaper he was reading.

Ed plucked the empty 2-liter bottle of Elixir from Dave's limp hand, and shook it. "I think he's just drunk, George. Does he get a pass?"

"I don't know.", said Ed. "Does he?"

"No one asked you, Ed.", said Joe.

Song: The Kakero the Bluff

Brandy recoiled from the door. She recognized these Barbarians- they were the ones who had tried to kidnap her. They seemed rather incompetent, but well-meaning. Well, about as well-meaning as anyone who kidnapped people could possibly be. Brandy thought about just sneaking- no, just walking past them. She was in the disguise of Bailey, after all, and she looked similar enough to the other Bandit to even fool herself. She tried to assume a smug expression- yep. Just like Bailey, down to the exact detail. So she put her eyes to the keyhole one last time, just to look around, and was immediately glad she did. Because Brandy saw that there was also a yawning Baby Dragon right in the middle of the room.

Brandy reg had to change her plans. Even if the Barbarians didn't notice that she wasn't their Bandit, which they probably wouldn't, given their current state and all, the Baby Dragon had a highly developed sense of smell. It would smell the Blue on her. Brandy thought about her options. Maybe, if she bust open the door, Dashed off the wall, brought down the chandelier, and…

Brandy shook her head. Who was she kidding? Even if she fought as hard as she could, there was nothing that she could do against 5 Barbarians and a Baby Dragon. If only there was something she could do- wait. Of course. It was so simple. She didn't have to go through the door at all. There were tons of other ways through this absolute labyrinth of a castle. Brandy turned around to go back up the stairs- only to see that the flight had been replaced by a dead end. As well as every other wall in the room. Wonderful.

Well, in that case, there was just one thing to do. She figured that there was a reason why she had taken Bailey's communicator, and this was it. Brandy withdrew the small device from within the folds of her cloak and tunic, and turned it on, flipping the setting to call. She scrolled through the caller ID until she saw what she was looking for- George. Or, more accurately, George with a small picture of a heart next to it. _Interesting_, thought Brandy. _I was just going to ask him to move the Baby Dragon, but maybe I can do something a little more fun. _

George's communicator vibrated in his pocket, awakening him from his reading-induced stupor.

_Vocal percussion on a whole 'nother level…,_ it sang. _Coming from my mind…_

He groped randomly for it, grabbed the communicator in his hand, and saw that he had a text from Bailey. His heart jumped a bit.

_I've been a naughty girl, come punish me please. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)_, it read. George's eyebrows raised. He had always had a suspicion that Bailey wanted him, but she had never been so blatantly upfront like that. Oh well. He certainly wasn't about to let a golden opportunity like this go to waste.

_Where are you?_, he texted back.

_I'm in my room. Right on my bed._

_Your room? You don't live here._

_Right, I meant my King's room. _

_theSenate?_

_Yeah, theSenate. Come quick, and bring all your friends. _

_On our way. _

George stood up, and slammed his hand down onto the table with a dramatic flourish, as he was often prone to do.

"Hey, what was that for?", Dave mumbled. "I had a winning hand here!"

"One: No, you didn't.", said George. "You had a 2 and a 7. Two: Bailey just told us all to go… "punish" her. Right now."

Dave sat up, suddenly stone-cold sober. "What? Like, right now?"

George showed him his communicator, and his conversation that he had had just a few seconds ago.

"Well, alright!", said Dave. "Let's go!"

"Kidnap Squad 6…", shouted George, and they all struck a group pose. "Away!"

As Brandy, watching through the door, saw them all run away, she could not help but giggle.

She worked open the lock on the door, and slowly swung the monolith open. The Baby Dragon sat up immediately, and fixed his eyes on the strange-smelling Bandit that had just entered his territory. He was confused- did his eyes or his nose deceive him? She was definitely wearing a Red uniform, but the smell of Blue on her was quite strong. He decided to get a little bit closer, just to investigate.

"Hey, uh…", Brandy said as the Baby Dragon kept closer, than noticed the name on his collar. "Rex. Hey, Rex."

Rex tilted his head. She knew his name, which was good. But then why did still seem so unfamiliar? There had to be some explanation for this, he knew it. And Rex was going to get to the bottom of this, straight away. He started to sniff Brandy all over, ignoring her efforts to push him away. The smell of Blue was still on her. He sat back on his haunches, confused, then noticed her eyes. Unlike his own, and everyone else's in the castle, they were ever-so-slightly tinted blue. That settled it, then, in his mind. She, a Blue spy, must have somehow snuck into his territory. She had fooled everyone else, but she wouldn't fool him! She had to be stopped.

Rex growled, and fire began to build in his throat.

Brandy could very clearly see the thought process on Rex's face. First the curiosity, then the confusion, then the "deep thought", then the anger. Brandy sighed, and readied her Dash. She didn't want to have to fight another animal, especially one as innocent seeming as this Baby Dragon, but she really had no other choice. So ss soon as the ball of fire left Rex's throat, Brandy Dashed right through it and landed a ferocious blow right in the soft spot of his neck.

Rex's eyes went wide with confusion, and he slowly, awkwardly stumbled back. He tried to burp another fireball, but Brandy's precise blow had temporarily disabled his sparkbox.

"Real sorry I had to do that to you, Rex.", said Brandy apologetically, and winced. "But if you just let me pass, I don't have to finish you off."

Rex shook his head and growled. Let this invader pass? Never! Even though she had somehow figured out how to take away his fire, he still had his teeth and claws. He lunged forward, with jaws wide open- and stopped, Brandy's fist planted quite firmly right through his throat. Her eyes were squeezed shut, and her head turned away. Rex gurgled once, and collapsed into a flood of Elixir that spread across the carpet, lingered for a few seconds, and dissolved into the ground.

Brandy wiped her hands on her skirt, and sighed. How many enemies had she beaten now? 3? She counted- Ratool was one. Meg was another, but Brandy had let her go. Bailey she had killed, that was three. So if she didn't include the Barbarians, which she really thought that she shouldn't, that was four now with Rex. Nice, having a 4-4 record like that.

Brandy made her way through the rest of the room, noting the incredibly lush artwork hanging on the walls. There was a tapestry of an immense red Dragon on one side of the wall, and an even larger painting depicting a truly titanic Golem on another. Upon closer inspection, one could see that he appeared to actually be constructing the Arenas. But Brandy didn't have that kind of time. She left the room as quickly as she had entered- but not before noticing one other piece of artwork. This one seemed rather new, perhaps only just a few weeks old. It showed a heavily stylized King, bowing before a shapeless black mass holding a basket of Gems in one hand, and a wispy red shape in the other.

Brandy looked over the mysterious painting. It didn't seem to resemble anything she had ever seen, so it bore no further interest to her. She took off running, out the hallway- and stopped. She remembered that there was no need to run now. She still had the feather in her cap. As long as she was disguised as Bailey, surely nobody would try to stop her. So Brandy started to walk again, but this time casually and slowly, looking as if she didn't have a care in the world.

A Goblin Gang sprinted out suddenly from an adjoining hallway, carrying doubtlessly stolen Gold, and stopped. A pulse emanated from Brandy's heart, and she tried her best to stop it. But instead of attacking her, as so many other troops had done, they merely looked at Brandy, gave her a slight nod, and continued to run off.

Brandy silently sighed with relief. _See,_ she thought to herself, _there's nothing to worry about. Absolutely nothing at all._ _Surely, they're not going to stop their own Bandit from just taking a step outside really quick, just to get some fresh night air?_

And with that thought, Brandy walked, not ran, further into the dark, and hopefully, further towards the door. Too bad she couldn't just ask for directions…

Bailey didn't know how long she drifted. She didn't know exactly how long it was that she spun, head over heels over head, in the infinite darkness that was the limbo after temporary death. But she did know that when she finally came to, and felt her Elixir slowly pooling back together into the familiar shape of a Bandit's form, she could feel something touching her. Bailey's eyes fluttered open, and she saw the welcome sight of theSenate slowly shaking her awake.

"What…", she moaned. "What's going on?"

"Bailey, where did she go?", asked theSenate quickly. "Did you see where Brandy went?"

"No…", Bailey murmured, still only half-awake. "She killed me before she left."

Bailey tried to stand up, then fell. theSenate caught her. "No, don't move.", he said. "You're still broken."

"But don't worry, Miss Bailey. She will pay for what she's done.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and intricately ran his fingers down the scars that ran down his cheeks. They had begun to ache from the events of the night. "She will pay."

Brandy swung open a door with a flourish, and saw a Prince leaning against the wall. He held a small device that seemed similar to the one Ratool had been playing with. When he heard the door open, he looked up and saw Brandy.

"Hey.", he said, and raised one eyebrow. "I'm Kurizas. Want to see my lance?"

"Um… no thanks.", said Brandy, raising her hands in front of her. "I'm good."

Kurizas put away his device, and sauntered over to Brandy. "Are you sure? It'll only take a second…"

"Really, I'm good.", said Brandy. "I can use your help with something, though."

Kurizas folded his arms. "You don't want to? That's what they all say."

He bounced his eyebrows, and flashed a wry grin. "We can just go back to my room…"

Brandy's nerves tightened, and she resisted the urge to punch Kurizas in the face. She so very much wanted to just deck him, but she knew it would only end up badly. There was simply no way she could take on a Prince, particularly one this high level. Kuriza's armor glinted, and soft golden particles gently floated off of him.

"Really.", Brandy said, making her voice as menacing as possible. "I'm good. But I could use your help."

"Oh, fine.", said Kurizas. "My help with what?"

"Would you happen to know where a girl can get some fresh air?", Brandy asked, trying to calm her heartbeat. "I cannot manage to find the way outside tonight for some reason."

"Oh, that's easy.", said Kurizas with a winning smile. "You see, where we are now, that's the secondary off-galley auxiliary hallway. Now, what you need to do is go down these stairs, off this room, up this elevator, and…"

Kuriza's explanation continued for a full half a minute. By the time he was done, Brandy had forgotten most of what he had said, and her head was spinning so badly she wasn't even sure that she could have remembered if she had tried.

"...and then you should be just outside the southwest exit door.", Kurizas finally finished, and looked up. "Did you get all that?"

"You know what?", Brandy sighed. "Maybe I'll just find my own way out."

She started to walk around Kurizas, when he grabbed her shoulder. "Maybe I could show you the way?"  
"No!", Brandy shouted, then stopped, seeing Kurizas's surprised expression. "I mean, you probably have lots of stuff to do, and what I really need is just some alone time. You know?"

Kurizas frowned. "Oh, right. But you're sure you don't want to see my lance before we part ways?"

"Yes. I am.", Brandy said, and left.

Kurizas opened the door to one of his stable rooms, which was right next to where he was, looked at his little pony, and sighed. He took a lance off of the wall and looked at it.

"Nobody wants to see my lance.", he said morosely. "And I just painted it, too…"

Further down in the Clan Castle, in somewhere approaching the middle, or whatever could be called the middle in such a crazy, noisy, bizarre Castle, there was a large room. All the lights were off in that room, and if one were to stand just outside, they could hear moans and grunts of pleasure coming from within. A sign on the door, crudely nailed, read "Chad and Rick's room, don't enter if you want to remain the way you currently are, which is most likely in good health".

Finally, after several minutes of this, there was a wavering cry, and the lights flicked on. The door creaked open, and a Valkyrie walked out. Her bright red hair was frizzled and lay crooked. Her clothes struggled to contain her generous curves, large even for a Valkyrie. Various points of jewelry adorned her, in such places as her ears, her fingers, and her navel. She adjusted her top, wiped a bead of sweat off her brow, and turned to the room's interior.

"Hey, there's a soft alert for the prisoner.", she said. "She just barely escaped. Thought you should know."

"Thanks, Valeyrie.", said a gruff voice from somewhere inside of the room. "I'll be on the lookout. See you later, babe."

"See you later, Chad.", said Valeyrie, and closed the door. She continued out into the hallway, thinking about where she should go now. Perhaps she should help with party setup- it was only just a few hours away. Or maybe she should just take a walk. But Veronica seemed to be heading some sort of seance in the basement, that sounded fun. Or perhaps, Valeyrie thought coyly, maybe she should just go back into the bedroom for round 6 with Chad…

She saw a red Bandit walk quickly past her, and noticed the familiar feather in her hood. "Hey Bailey.", she said offhandedly.

Brandy just kept on walking. _Okay, I think I'm getting closer to the exit now, _she thought. _Just a few hundred more feet, and I'll be free. Just another- _

She stopped walking. _Wait. Was I supposed to say something? Shoot, I was supposed to respond! I'm supposed to be Bailey!_

Brandy felt a hand roughly grab her on the shoulder, and she flinched. She was suddenly spun around, to find herself staring right into the frown of a very angry Valkyrie, hands on her hips and leaning right into Brandy's face.

"Alright everyone, we're stopping here."

Orfox raised a huge hand into the air, and the caravan train stopped. ChupilickytwaCT looked up in puzzlement. "Why? What's going on?"

"It's always a good idea to take a small break every few hours.", said Orfox. "We rest 10 minutes, and then continue onwards."

"I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not sure we have enough time.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "Every moment we're not attacking their castle is a moment wasted, as far as I'm concerned."

"Yes, but good luck attacking anything if you're winded from the journey.", said Orfox cheerfully. "Trust me. I do this kind of thing every day."

"Well, if you say so.", said ChupilickytwaCT, and turned to the rest of the train. "Alright everyone, take a break. Food, Elixir, just to stretch, whatever you need."

"Ah, finally.", said Dan, and stopped walking. His legs had been killing him for the last 8 miles or so, and a rest stop was greatly appreciated. He leaned back and stretched, then popped his arms and swung them in a circle to limber up. He grunted and popped his bottle of Elixir from his belt, taking a deep, refreshing swig.

"My, you seem oddly cheerful.", said Agatha. "What's got into you?"

"Do I seem cheerful?", Dan asked. "Because I'm not. Not really."

"Yeah, didn't think so.", Agatha nodded as she pursed her lips together. "How are you feeling, then?"

"Mad.", Dan said. "I'm mostly just feeling mad."

"Me too, Dan.", said Agatha quietly, and again stroked her staff. "Me too."

Song: Bouryaku no Hate

"Yes, rage.", came the authoritative sounding voice of Bowza from somewhere behind them. "A powerful stimulant, to be sure, but useless without the proper training."

Dan turned to see Bowza hovering several feet in the air, arms and legs crossed, his arrow of magical light floating just over his hands. "What are you saying, Bowza?"

"Exactly what it sounded like.", Bowza replied mysteriously. "You must learn to harness your feelings, or they are all but worthless."

"And I suppose you're going to teach me to do so?", Dan asked. Usually, Bowza didn't actually help with anything he prescribed, choosing instead to sit quietly and watch.

"Yes.", said Bowza, to Dan's surprise. "I will."

He slid back down onto the ground, and sheathed his bow and arrow. "Dan, it's time you learned."

"Learned what?", Dan asked slowly.

Bowza was silent for a few seconds, then made a slight gesture towards a nearby river. "Come. Follow me."

Dan did so, walking behind the silent Magic Archer. As they walked, Dan tried to guess what was going to happen based on Bowza's expression and manner. But they did not or barely changed, as per the usual. Finally, they arrived at the river, and Bowza suddenly stopped. Dan lurched to a halt just behind him. Bowza was silent, until he spoke.

"There is a power, Dan, that is not understood by most.", he began. "A mysterious power that flows through everything, brought by the magic of the sun, the stars, and even life itself."

"What are you talking about?", Dan asked. He had never heard of anything like this.

"It has many names, depending on where you are.", Bowza continued, seemingly oblivious to hearing Dan. "The Force, the Ripple, the Wind- but for now, you can simply call it-

Bowza breathed in, and Dan could swear that he saw a faint flicker of golden light enter Bowza's mouth. Then, he breathed out, and the exhaled breath multiplied exponentially into a rush of wind that bent the grass.

"The Star!", Bowza shouted, and slammed his fist right into a turtle that lay sleeping on a rock. Dan cried out, but was abruptly silenced when the force of Bowza's blow somehow continued on past the turtle, breaking the rock and dissipating as ripples in the water. Bowza turned, and slightly smiled at Dan's shocked expression.

"Would you like to learn, Dan?", he said. "I foresee that in your current state, you will be insufficient for what you plan to do."

Dan outstretched his arms. "Teach me."

"Yo. Bailey. What's your deal?", said Valeyrie, with a slight tinge of anger on the edge of her voice. One finger aimlessly ran down the side of her axe, tracing some design in the blade.

"Um, hey?", Brandy squeaked nervously, hoping her disguise would hold under such harsh scrutiny.

"Hey, what?", Valeyrie spat in annoyance.

"Hey... how you doing?", Brandy managed to say, tilted backwards as the menacing Valkyrie leaned backwards.

"What? Did you forget my name or something?", Valeyrie demanded. "Honestly Bailey, you've always been a bit of an airhead, but this is just a whole new level."

"What? No, I didn't forget your name.", said Brandy, and scratched the back of her neck. "Of- of course not…"

"Really? Then what is it?"

Brandy had already been trying to remember. She _had_ seen this Valkyrie before, she knew it. She just could not quite remember where. Somewhere else in the castle? No. In Chloe's room? No. In the dungeons? No. And then, Brandy remembered. She had been with Veronica and her apparent boyfriend. Veronica had said her name- but Brandy could not quite remember it. It was right on the tip of her tongue, it was almost said, it was- it was- it was-

"Valeyrie.", Brandy burst out. "I know your name's Valeyrie."

Valeyrie just snorted. The entire thought process had taken less than a second, so there was no reason for her to be suspicious. But even still, something about who seemed to be Bailey's composure was off. Perhaps it was in the way she carried herself, or the way she spoke. Or maybe her movements. It was certainly something, however. Valeyrie silently cursed Bandits' almost total lack of distinguishing features. Valkyries, such as herself, had different hair colors. Goblins decorated themselves almost to the point of indulgence. Even Royal Recruits usually had something to tell them apart- a badge, or some sort of mark scratched into their armor. But Bandits had nothing- save for the feather that Bailey always wore proudly. And it was most certainly there.

"Well, good.", said Valeyrie. "Nice to see you still know your place, Bailey. Now step aside, I've got places to be."

Valeyrie moved one arm to shove Brandy aside. But she did not move. Instead, she stood there, a silent fire slightly lit in her eyes.

Valeyrie tried again, slightly harder, but with mostly the same result. "Bailey, what are you doing?"

"Did you just tell me…", Brandy said slowly, "to learn my place?"

She shakily raised a fist into the air, right in front of her face. "I don't think you know this, Valeyrie, but…

Her eyes flashed, and sparks of purple floated off of her skin. "I know my place. And it sure isn't below people like you."

Valeyrie started to say something. Perhaps it was an outburst of indignity. Or perhaps a question of what exactly Bailey was going on about. But whatever it was, she never got a chance to say it. Because when Valeyrie saw Brandy's eyes, she saw that they were shining a very, very light blue. Valeyrie leaned back, and moved her hands to grab her axe.

"Hold on a minute.", she said. "You're not Bailey. You're the prisoner, aren't you."

What she said was not a question. They both already knew the answer. Brandy, too, took a step back. She shifted into a battle stance, already searching for Valeyrie's weaknesses. She searched for all the obvious ones- head. Blocked by one of her axe blades. Shoulders and hips- Cleverly protected by arm placements. Heart- covered by her axe's pole. Perhaps she would have some more luck in the less obvious ones.

"So what are you doing out, Brandy?", Valeyrie asked. "Oh, don't look surprised. Of course I already know your name."

But Brandy didn't look surprised- she hadn't even heard what Valeyrie was saying. For she was focused on one thing, and one thing only- getting out. There were more weak points to study. Feet- no, those boots looked rather tough. Midsection- ah, there it was. A diamond stud adorned her navel. If Brandy ripped it out, she imagined that it would be quite painful. Brandy looked up, and prepared to fight. But to her surprise, Valkyrie didn't attack. Instead, she just chuckled, and slammed her axe into the ground.

"You know Brandy, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Valeyrie, the Valkyrie. Level 12, gonna be level 13 in just a few days. I'm also kind of the Princess behind Princess around here. Most people will do what I say. I'm also Chad's girl- I'm sure you're familiar with him?"

"More than I'd like to be.", said Brandy, and took a stance. "Far more."

"Really? All he did was kidnap you.", said Valeyrie. "You must have been only conscious for just a few minutes."

"Oh, he didn't just kidnap me.", said Brandy. "He did something far worse."

Valeyrie's eyebrow raised. "Oh? What?"

"I'm sure you know.", Brandy hissed. "I don't think he's as faithful of a boyfriend as you think."

Valeyrie's expression remained motionless for several seconds, then the corners of her mouth cracked upwards in a smile. To Brandy's surprise, Valeyrie threw back her head and laughed. "Oh, dearest! Do you not know what an open relationship is? We'd already agreed on this- if either Chad or me wants to fool around, it's okay."

"How disgusting.", Brandy said. "What do you even see in a monster like that?"

_And don't call me dearest,_ Brandy thought but did not say. She didn't think it was really that good of an idea to antagonize Valeyrie any further.

"Oh, lots of things.", Valeyrie said. "He always brings home tons of new servants like you, he gets me almost more presents than I know what to do with, and he's the only one I know who can handle this much thicc."

Valeyrie curled her arm and kissed her bicep. "See, look at these muscles Brandy. I can practically taste your jealousy. Jealous of how I'm all big and strong, and you're just so small and fragile."

"Not really.", said Brandy. "Honestly, I don't really want muscles. They just slow you down, you know?"

She crouched backwards on one foot, preparing herself to Dash. The more she could catch Valeyrie off guard, the better.

"Oh- I suppose you haven't introduced yourself yet.", said Valeyrie with mock concern. "But don't bother your little head with it- I'll just do it for you."

Valeyrie tilted her head, and pointed at Brandy. "Let's see, you're a scared little Bandit, only level 9, oh my, somehow managed to sneak this far in the castle without anyone noticing, unwilling to accept fate, and all in all, just a little wimp, with nowhere to run."

"Oh? Is that what you think?", Brandy asked, although she already knew the answer. "I guess we're just going to ignore usage rates then. 20% for me, and a measly 7% for you. I'm more popular than you could ever be."

"Really?", asked Valeyrie. "More popular? Is that why you have no friends?"

She started to return her axe to her shoulder, and Brandy could sense that she was about to strike. "Perhaps you need to be taught a little lesson, naughty girl."

"What are you talking about? I have friends,", Brandy said. "Lots of them."

"Oh really? And where are they now? Saving you? No? I didn't think so.", Valeyrie said, and shifted into a battle stance, ready to strike.

"By the way,", Brandy said, determined to get in the last lick. She probably shouldn't have said this, in retrospect, but it just felt so good. "There's no such thing as thicc. It's just fat."

Valeyrie's eye twitched, and Brandy instinctively leaped backwards.

She was immediately glad she did, for Valeyrie swung her axe in an enormous circle, almost too quickly for Brandy to keep up. The axe sang as its gleaming edge cut through the air, slicing off a bit of stone from the wall, and swung back into Valeyrie's hands.

"Come here, you little twerp!", she screamed. "I'm gonna beat you to a pulp!"

Song: Decisive Battle

Apparently, Brandy's insult had touched a deeper nerve, causing Valeyrie to all but abandon her previous calm demeanor. This was good- Brandy would gladly take any advantage she could get, and keeping Valeyrie off-kilter was most certainly one of them.

But as soon as Valeyrie had her axe back in hand, she attacked again- this time swinging down. Brandy rolled to one side, spinning on her hands and just narrowly dodging the enormous weapon. The axe's golden edge stuck in the stone of the floor, and stayed there.

"You know, I've been called a lot of things.", Brandy said. "But until now, twerp has not been one of them."

"What are you blathering about?", Valeyrie grunted as she tried without success to wrench her stuck axe out of the stone floor.

"Oh, nothing.", said Brandy. "Just distracting you."

Then, for just a second, Brandy vanished- and reappeared as a blur of speed that flashed across the room in a second and planted her foot right into Valeyrie's face. Brandy had landed a solid hit, and Valeyrie didn't block it at all. So surely that had done some significant damage, right?

But it hadn't- not really. Valeyrie grabbed Brandy's foot and yanked it aside, revealing her reddened face of anger. With a mighty yell, Valeyrie swung Brandy into the floor, sending her skidding. She managed to right herself just before she hit the wall, looking up to see Valeyrie finally dislodge her axe from the floor. Valeyrie rushed forward, and spun herself into a red tornado that gleamed with the glint of deadly metal.

Brandy prepared herself to Dash once again, although it appeared to Valeyrie that she was just standing there. Distracted and blinded by anger as she was, she could not see the subtle vibrations that accompanied the pre-process. So Valeyrie swung her axe in a diagonal, aiming for maximum damage- and Brandy Dashed. As she did so, she aimed for a patch of the ground right behind Valeyrie, phasing right through her intangibly, and spun to a stop. But Valyerie had somehow predicted that Brandy would try something like this. She quickly pivoted around, and wasting no time, she threw her axe.

Brandy wasn't ready for such a move- she hadn't expected for Valeyrie to do such a thing. Valkyries didn't throw their axes- it just wasn't a thing that they did. Unless Valeyrie had been taking lessons from an Executioner or something, but that did not seem very likely. Executioners were typically introverts, not likely to get along with a Troop as outgoing as a Valkyrie. So Brandy's eyes widened and she yelped in surprise, just barely managing to dodge out of the way and Dash upwards, into the ring of storage space that ringed the room.

Valeyrie's eyes scanned the storage space, looking for any sign of movement that would betray Brandy's position. But Brandy held as still as a statue, and Valeyrie saw nothing.

"Come on down from there, Brandy.", she said, slowly and menacingly. "I won't hurt you...much."

Almost in opposition to what she had said, Valeyrie slowly swung her axe. Brandy decided this was a good time to start moving.

"You know, you sure seem to take a lot of pride in that axe of yours.", Brandy said, trying to project her voice as much as possible. She started to slide around the elevated edges of the round room, in order to not give away her position if she had to. "I wonder how much you could do with it."

"You really wanna see what I can do with it?", Valeyrie said. "Just you wait. Just hold on a second…"

Valeyrie aimed her axe, trying to pinpoint Brandy's position. Just one more solid throw would decide this match. That much Valeyrie knew. After all, she was a big, strong, high-level Valkyrie, and Brandy was just a small, weak, never-been-upgraded Bandit. Right?

"You can do a lot of stuff with it.", Brandy continued, and started to break off loose bits of sharp stone from the ancient, crumbling walls around her. "Chop things, stab things, even throw it. But I wonder, how well can you deflect things with it?"  
Valeyrie brought her axe up into a defensive position, and Brandy threw her makeshift knife, carved out of the rock she had been breaking. It sailed through the air, and was almost immediately smacked aside by the flat end of Valeyrie's axe. It hit the wall, and shattered into pieces. Valeyrie slowly put her axe down, and Brandy continued to move.

"Oh, was that it?", Valeyrie asked. "Looks like my deflecting game's pretty nice."

"Yes, for just one knife.", said Brandy, and worked faster, almost at a fever pace. Each blow to the oddly fragile wall made a new shard of stone, a new knife, a new weapon, and Brandy was throwing a lot of blows. Within just seconds, there was a circle of ready to throw blades positioned around the top of the storage space. "But I wonder if even you will be able to deflect so many knives when I throw them all at once?"

"All at once, huh?", Valeyrie whispered. "Come on then. Throw her handful."

In an instant, Brandy Dashed. She managed to spin her way all around the circle, grabbing each knife where it lay and threw it right at Valeyrie. A storm of stone surrounded the Valkyrie, and she swung her own weapon. It swung and sang through the air, scattering, blasting, and smashing knives aside by the dozen. But even Valeyrie, with all her strength and all her speed, could not deflect them all, and two razor sharp slices of stone slipped through and stabbed her in the chest. A spurt of blood came from both the impact point and Valeyrie's mouth, and she collapsed on one knee.

_Gotcha!,_ Brandy thought excitedly, being able to see from her hiding place. _That's another enemy down, just who knows how many more to go._

But to Brandy's surprise, Valeyrie did not fall, or splash into the sweet purple of Elixir. Instead, she drew a knife from her chest, licked off the blood, and flung it directly at Brandy's position. Brandy just barely managed to yank her head to one side, and the knife continued on past her, scratching her cheek hard to enough to cut through the skin and landing buried deep inside of a clay jar. However, the knife did not stay buried for long, because the jar exploded within a second, sending a rain of Elixir down from Brandy's hiding spot and onto Valeyrie's face.

"Oh.", said Valeyrie, after a moment of thought. "I killed her."

Then she realized exactly what this meant. Despite all that they had done to her, Brandy was still very much Blue. Which meant that in this Red territory, she wouldn't respawn. Which meant that Ryusei_Nakao69 had just lost the Bandit he had been trying to get after for weeks. Even worse- Valeyrie belonged to him, so she had to tell him what had happened. She slapped her hands to her cheeks.

"Oh shoot!", she whispered. "What do I do now? What do I do?"

Valeyrie was so caught up in her own thoughts that she failed to notice the slight sounds of Brandy creeping up from her hiding spot, over the railing, and preparing to leap. She did not notice the shadow that loomed overhead, nor the small blue sparks that spat from Brandy's feet as she built up a charge.

"Maybe I should just say that she committed suicide.", Valeyrie mumbled to herself. "Yeah, that's it. No, he'll see right through it. Maybe if I go up there and gather up all her Elixir, we might be able to reconstitute her? Maybe… maybe…"

Valeyrie squinched her eyes shut to think, and Brandy took the moment. She leapt off of the railing, towards Valeyrie, and Dashed all in the same moment, slamming into Valeyrie's back with a force strong enough to break through stone. A startled cry flew from the Valkyrie, as the force of Brandy's kick propelled them both into the wall, where the stone broke with a satisfying crunch. Brandy jumped back, and took another stance.

Even though her face was hidden from view, Brandy could still see the sheer anger practically steaming from Valeyrie. She flexed her muscles, and the stone around her broke. As she turned around, she wiped a trail of blood from her forehead and sneered. "You…"

Brandy shrugged. It looked like despite the stats gap, the level gap, and the probable experience gap, she was somehow winning this fight. "What?"

"Looks like you didn't die back there after all.", said Valeyrie, and lifted her axe. "But you're sure gonna wish you had."

Brandy prepared herself. Or so she thought she had. But faster than she could move, almost faster than she could see, Valeyrie jumped forward, and threw her axe. Brandy dropped to her knees, and the axe shone as it flew just over her head, striking the opposite wall. Brandy tried to slide to her feet again- but Valeyrie's knee collided with her undefended face, sending a wave of pain through her nose and slamming her backwards again. There was another hard blow to her left shoulder, one that sent a resonant _pop_ throughout the room. There was worryingly little pain.

Brandy half-jumped, half-staggered to the back wall. Her breathing was heavy, and her left arm hung uselessly by her side- now dislocated. But she still had one good arm left, and Valeyrie was a wide open target without her axe. Brandy was not quite sure why she had thrown it. So Brandy grabbed one of her fallen knives, raised it into the air, aimed, and-

Valeyrie's axe, having bounced off of the wall, spun into the air, hung there for a second, and then finally bounced off of a different wall, came soaring through the air and knocked the knife right out of Brandy's hand, returning to Valeyrie's grip like the thrown axe of an Executioner. It appeared that she had been taking lessons after all. Brandy dropped her hand, and stared Valeyrie dead in the eye.

"Where'd you pick that up fro- ooph!", Brandy said, as her sentence was interrupted by a hard elbow to the gut. Valeyrie didn't even wait until Brandy had hit the floor- she grabbed her by the face and slammed her into the ground first, a loud crack coming from the impact of skull against stone. Brandy cried out in pain, and Valeyrie flipped her over.

Brandy planted her hand onto the stone floor, and tried to push herself up, but Valeyrie slammed her heel into Brandy's hand, pinning her down. "Stay.", she whispered, and drew back her other leg. Brandy's eyes widened, and she tried to roll away, but there was no escape. Valeyrie's boot slammed into Brandy's stomach in a vicious kick, and pain spread throughout her body. Then there was another. And another, and another. Valeyrie had Brandy helplessly pinned to the ground, and was kicking the life out of her.

"What's the matter, you little twerp?", Valeyrie growled as she continued her savage beating.  
"Don't have any one liners to say? Nothing clever? Come on Brandy, don't disappoint me now."

Valeyrie hit Brandy's chest with a particularly vicious kick, and Brandy coughed in pain. There was blood among the cough, blood that came flying out and landed on Valeyrie's leather boots.

"Aw, look at that.", said Valeyrie. "You got blood all over my boots."

She withdrew the foot that was keeping Brandy pinned down, and kicked once more- this time as hard as she could. The blow flipped Brandy over again, and she could hear a sharp crack. Only once the immense pain started to flood into her chest did Brandy realize that it was one of her own ribs that had been broken by the attack.

"That's it, then.", Valeyrie said, as she loomed triumphant over Brandy, a beaten and bloody heap on the floor. "I win. You're coming with me."

She reached down to pluck Brandy off the floor. But right then, something happened. Brandy's eyes opened, and stared directly into Valeyrie's. Determination filled her, driving away the fear and pain. Remarkably, she jumped up, and sprang backwards on one foot. She still bled from the mouth, but the trail of blood was rapidly slowing.

"Huh. Could have sworn that would finish you.", Valeyrie mumbled. "It's not often you see a Bandit with your determination. Probably why Rysuei_Nakao69 picked you."

"He picked me?", Brandy asked, trying her best to sound confused. She had already known this, but anything to keep Valeyrie talking while Brandy charged up her Dash was something good.

"Oh, yeah.", said Valeyrie. "Of course he did. He was after you for weeks. Took even a genius like him to formulate a plan this utterly foolproof."

"I don't think it's as foolproof as you think it is.", Brandy said. "You see, my Clan's coming to rescue me in just a few hours."

"Oh, they are?", Valeyrie said. "Yeah, that's not going to go well for them. Just like last time."

"Last time?", Brandy said with alarm. "What do you mean, last time?"

"Last time a Clan tried to rescue a Troop that we took.", Valeyrie explained. "They just didn't stand a chance against our might. Their clan was tougher than yours, too- a lot tougher. Took only a few minutes to finish them off- and then we slapped a good old protocol B on that Princess that we took."

"Protocol A?", Brandy mumbled. That sure sounded suspicious. She hoped she wasn't protocol B. "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, nobody's told you yet, have they?", Valeyrie mused, and smiled. "You see, we have a bit of a system around here. Whenever we steal someone, we usually have three options on what to do with them. There's Protocol A, the most common one. We just send a little letter to their King, telling him what we've done, and that he'll get his oh-so-precious Troop back if he just pays a little ransom. You know, nothing much, really only around a million Gold or so. If he doesn't pay up, or we decide we don't want ransom, we do Protocol B. We hypnotize them, and they become part of us. Willingly, and forever."

"I see.", Brandy noted. She wasn't sure she even wanted to know Protocol C. "So I guess I'm Protocol B, then?"

"Oh no, no, no.", said Valeyrie with a knowing grin. "You're Protocol C."

"And that is?"

"Well first, we hypnotize you. Then we sell you to the highest bidder and they can do what they want. Then all traces that you ever existed are destroyed, and we remove everyone who could have possibly known you from the world. Personally, I like to call it the Redacted Protocol."

"How many?", Brandy said quietly, and noted the state of her Dash. Soon, it would be ready. But not quite yet- she still needed to stall Valeyrie for just a little while longer.

"What?", Valeyrie asked. "How many what?"

"How many people have you taken?", Brandy said, slightly louder this time. "How many innocent Troops have you bent to your will? How many lives have you destroyed?"

"You know, Ryusei_Nakao69 actually has an official statement on that.", Valeyrie said.

_Of course_, Brandy thought.

"Yes, let me just try and remember it-", Valeyrie said, then her eyes lit up as she remembered it. "Ah, yes."

She pointed one finger into the air. "He says: _Oh, be honest. Do you remember every cup of Elixir you've ever drunk?_"

Brandy nodded. "I see."

She mentally tested her Super-Dash. Yep, it was ready. "Well, you can bet he's gonna remember me.", she growled. "For better, or for worse."

Song: Fight to Antagonize

And with that, she unleashed all of her built up momentum, and charged.

Valeyrie crossed her axe in front of her chest- but was too slow for Brandy's overwhelming speed. Faster than even the near-max Valkyrie could respond, Brandy swung her leg and kicked the axe, knocking it the axe to one side. She drew her fists forward, and could see the surprise and shock reflected in Valeyrie's eyes. With her target wide open, Brandy attacked.

"Doraoraoraoraora!", she roared, and threw a barrage of punches so fast they blurred. A shockwave appeared on Valeyrie's skin every time Brandy struck. She hit various parts of Valeyrie's body- her chest, her arms, her face- connecting squarely each time. Finally, Brandy drew her fist underneath her legs, and lashed upwards with a ferocious, mighty blow that snapped Valeyrie's head back and launched the evil Valkyrie backwards into the wall. "Dorra!"

Valeyrie hit the wall, and fell to the ground. Her axe hit the ground next to her, spun around, and fell. A trail of blood started to flow from her forehead, and another from her nose and mouth. Brandy hit the floor, and also collapsed, her breathing heavy. That last Super-Dash rush had taken almost everything out of her, but it had been worth it in order to beat Valeyrie. Yep. Totally worth it. Good thing Valeyrie was beaten, though. Just, she hadn't turned into Elixir yet. Brandy was sure she was about to, just about to, just about to-

Valeyrie trembled, and slowly stood up. "Frick.", whispered Brandy under her breath. So did Valeyrie, only she said a different word.

At this point, Brandy couldn't do a whole lot. Valeyrie had taken everything she had, and was even now still going. And Brandy knew she for sure could not take everything Valeyrie could dish out, especially with that axe.

"Well, well.", said Valeyrie. "It looks like you're all out of options."

Brandy slowly raised an arm to fight, but it fell. She could feel the last of her energy start to run out, and knew she had to conserve it. So she lay still, and let Valeyrie approach.

"This was a lot harder of a battle than I expected, but it looks like I'm still the winner.", Valeyrie said. "Too bad for you."

Then she did something Brandy did not expect. Of course, it was not the sort of _Oh my, you're going to turn against your King and help me _sort of thing, or _Oh no, looks like you used the last of your energy too and so now you're going to collapse and I can make my escape _sort of thing, either. No, it was something far different from that.

Valeyrie leapt onto Brandy, covering her much smaller frame, and leering right into her face. She slowly licked Brandy's cheek, her eyes becoming more bloodshot as she did so. "That…", she hissed, "is the taste of a loser, Brandy."

Brandy tried to say something. She wasn't sure what- just anything, really. But Valeyrie slapped a hand over her mouth. "Shh. Shh, Brandy. Don't say anything. You don't deserve to. But you will, once we fix you up. Yeah, we're gonna just wipe your mind a little bit, and then we'll get you all situated. Maybe give you a nice piercing or two, just right where it counts.

Then she jumped up, spun around, slammed her axe down into the ground, and slammed herself down onto Brandy's face. Brandy coughed from the surprising impact, but there was nowhere for the cough to go. Valeyrie covered Brandy's face completely. With a grunt, Valeyrie pushed Brandy's head further into the floor. "Come on. Take it, wimp!"

Brandy felt like her face was going to pop. The constant pressure as Valeyrie moved up and down beat a brutal tattoo on her skin, and the total lack of air wasn't helping, either. Brandy's hands scrabbled against the stone, trying to find something, anything, to use against Valeyrie, but there was nothing. And even as she tried, Brandy could feel her hand start to slow due to lack of oxygen. Soon, she wouldn't be able to move it at all. So after just a few seconds, Brandy stopped fighting.

Valeyrie stopped her assault as well. She peered over her shoulder, and saw Brandy's listless eyes shut as her hand rolled to one side. "Huh. Looks like the little twerp couldn't handle it. That's fine.", said Valeyrie, and got up. Brandy continued to not move.

Valeyrie chuckled, and took out her communicator. She selected the Camera function, and held it up in front of her, making sure Brandy's broken body was in the shot. Valeyrie made a V sign with her fingers, stuck out her tongue, and snapped a photo. _Just totally owned some twerp, _she wrote as the caption. _I think someone wants to come and claim her, right? Any takers?_

She chuckled in satisfaction as she sent the picture, then put away her communicator.

Brandy could feel her heart beat. She could hear the dull thud of the castle's rhythm, and her ears lay pressed against the floor. She could taste the dull, metallic blood in her mouth, and just barely see Valeyrie strutting in front of her camera, so proud of her victory.

Just like they had been. Exactly how Chad had behaved, and what Rick had done. In an instant, memories of the canyon filled her brain, every horrible moment etched into Brandy's vision. Yet, oddly, they did not scare her as much as they should have. They were the echoes of unspeakable torment, yet Brandy felt no fear. She could only feel the boiling throes of pure, abject, rage.

"You know what we're going to do now, Brandy?", Valeyrie asked, and of course she got no response. "We're gonna play a little game. It's called go to the park. Ever played that one?" Again, she got no answer.

"Yeah, it's where I put a collar on you and make you my bi-"

She almost finished her sentence, but stopped. Because Valeyrie saw, out of the corner of her eye, Brandy stir. She started to turn around, and Brandy's eyes opened. The stone around her broke in a circle, bits of dust flying into the air. Her eyes, normally a very light shade of blue, turned purple, a faint glow coming from somewhere within. She slammed her hand to the ground, and slowly pushed herself up. As she did so, particles of purple light rose around her, and if one were to look closely, they could see a faint vestige of a purple flame around her body.

Valeyrie took a slight step back. She had no idea what was going on. First Brandy had been utterly defeated, just a barely conscious heap lying on the floor, totally submitted to Valeyrie's will. Now, she stood again, surrounded by what looked like Rage. But that was impossible. Things like Bandits summoning Rage out of nowhere just didn't happen. They didn't. So until Valeyrie knew what was going on, she just decided to try and bluff her way out of this situation. She put her hands on her hips, and laughed.

"Well, Brandy. This I truly did not expect," she said with a heartless smile. "I didn't think you could possibly get up after I actually start to begin to try. Nice job."

She would have said more, but Brandy did not wait. With a ferocious roar born of pure hatred, Brandy Dashed, one fist outstretched, right at Valeyrie's head. Brandy's vision blurred, the sides of it turning to a tunnel, focusing only on her target, intent to split it to pieces. As she drew closer, all in the fraction between a second, Valeyrie raised her one hand in defense, and-

She caught it. Valeyrie caught the punch that Brandy had put everything into, and grinned. Granted, the sheer force of the blow pushed her back a little bit, and maybe strained her muscles some, but for the most part, Valeyrie had caught the attack with ease.

"Huh? Wha… no. No.", Brandy mumbled. "No." The purple aura surrounding her faded. She dropped to the ground, and Valeyrie pushed her further in. Whatever power Brandy had temporarily been gifted with left, and she fell to the floor. Valeyrie leaned in close, even closer than she had been before, and stared right into Brandy's eyes, a cruel look upon her face.

"You're cute, Brandy.", she said. "I like you."

In that instant, an idea formed inside of Brandy's mind. It was a remarkably stupid idea, and one that had practically no chance of working, but it was an idea nonetheless- and that was exactly what Brandy needed right now.

"Wait a minute.", she coughed out. "What you just said. That I'm cute, and that you like me."

Valeyrie slowly grabbed her axe, and spit to one side. "Yeah? What about it?"

"Well, you said all those things, and you licked my cheek, and you sat on my face.", said Brandy. "So Valeyrie, wouldn't that make you…"

Brandy's eyes lit up, and she managed to pull herself together just long enough to barely sit up. "Gay?"

Now, normally, that had absolutely no chance of working. Had it been any other troop but Valeyrie, they would have just laughed it off, and then finished Brandy off. But Valeyrie actually had had some trouble with that in the past. Until she had met and formed a relationship with Chad, everyone had just naturally thought she was into girls. She had always said that just because she preferred subjugating them over guys didn't mean anything, but no one had ever believed or listened to her. Now, once Brandy had reminded her of those "dark times", everything that Valeyrie had forgotten, every memory she had intentionally blocked out, came flooding back, and it was simply too much for her already tilted mind to take.

"No…", Valeyrie said, starting to shake. She unceremoniously dropped Brandy onto the ground, and her skin started to dissolve purple. "No!", she screamed, and briefly turned stone-grey for a moment before bursting into a shower of Elixir that covered Brandy's front and still managed to get most of the ground.

Brandy blinked. In all honesty, she hadn't known what was going to happen. Probably just a distraction, long enough for Brandy to escape, or maybe fight back. Probably nothing. Certainly not that. But it was a victory, in any case, and that was good enough for her. So Brandy, still hurting from wounds and bruises all over, lay down to just rest for a little bit.

As Brandy's labored breathing grew longer and slowly deeper, she could feel her eyes start to close. Perhaps she could rest here for a little while. Maybe fall asleep for a few hours, and then continue her escape again. Perhaps she could-

Brandy shook off the thought. No. She had to keep going. She was so close to the blessed outside, she could almost taste it. If Brandy stopped to rest now, she was sure that she would be caught. The entire castle had to be on high alert by now, and her fight with Valeyrie had left her utterly exhausted. At this point, Brandy probably couldn't even win a fight with a Dart Goblin. Even so, she decided to lay there for a few more seconds, eyes closed, back against the wall, arms slowly trickling blood, before she hoisted herself to her feet, and started back down the hallway.

She went in a sort of a half-run, half-hobble- her legs couldn't really handle anything else. She still felt the immense pain of Valeyrie's savage beating, the dull aching throb issuing out from her stomach with every step. Her torn muscles ached, and she could feel the wet trail of blood in various parts of her. A palpable chill ran down the length of her body, and she shivered.

But she had won. Brandy, despite such overpowering odds, had won. She had fought her way through everything that had been thrown at her, and she had won. A Barbarian, a Musketeer, a Hog Rider, a Bandit, a Baby Dragon, a Prince, a Valkyrie- she had managed to overcome all of them, one way or another. Her spirit lifted, and her heart swelled with hope, as it beat ever faster. And then, she saw something. A door hung slightly ajar, moonlight streaming through. And Brandy could just barely manage to see the blessed sight of grass just beyond. She had found the way out.

There was nothing between her and the door. Absolutely nothing at all. No traps, no Troops, no hallways, no false doors, nothing but a pure, blessed, clear path to the outside. So Brandy wasted no time. She took one long, ragged step, then another, and another. Almost to the door. Just 15 more feet. 13 more feet. 11 more feet. 9 more feet. 7 more feet. 5 more. 3 more. 1 more foot to freedom.

Brandy pushed the last of her energy reserves through her exhausted body, and-

Dan expelled all the air that was within him, pushing his lungs to the very limit of emptiness. His mind followed suit, ready to learn more of Bowza's teachings.

"Good, Dan, good.", Bowza said firmly. "Now breath in. Fill your lungs with the blessed air of The Star."

Dan did so, arching his back as his lungs filled to full capacity.  
"Excellent. Now take the latent energy that you have gathered, and concentrate it in your arm."

Dan could feel the tingle of some mysterious force exit his lungs, and gather in the muscles of his shoulder. He pushed the sensation downwards, through his arm, into his tightly clenched fist, and then further onto the blade of his sword. As he did so, a soft silver and gold light appeared around the steel, sparking with raw power.

"Good.", Bowza smiled. "Now strike with the power of The Star, and with your overdrive of strength you now wield. Be sure to say something while you do it."

"Like this?", Dan asked, and swung his sword downward into the ground. "Shining Silver Overdrive!"

The ground burst open in a sudden explosion at the force of the blow, chunks of grass and dirt flying in all directions. Dan recoiled and stumbled a few steps backwards from the sheer force of his own attack, covering his face with his other hand. Flecks and spirals of golden light sparked through the ground, heading away from the impact point before disappearing.

Bowza slapped a hand on Dan's shoulder, his eyes twinkling while his smile slightly grew. "That, Dan, will do nicely."

As Brandy leapt out into the cool night air, she felt like shouting for joy. She felt like dancing, or breaking out in song. But most of all, she felt like running home, burying herself in her room, and not coming out for several days, then spending as much time as possible with everyone she knew. Especially Dan. Especially him, the perfect friend. When she got home- she silently rejoiced in the fact that it was no longer just an if, but a perfect, glorious _when- _she would never complain about anything again. She would embrace life with a passion that she would never let go of, and never lose.

But as excited as she was, Brandy didn't get to do any of those things. Because as soon as she leapt out into that cool night air, and thought about all those things, a ghostly, immaterial hand fastened around her throat and pulled her back inside, the door closing with the tormented peals of a funeral bell.

Song: Unwinnable Battle

Brandy felt herself get yanked away from the door, and away from her freedom. The door suddenly closed in front of her, and she was thrown back onto the cold stone floor into a prone position. She rolled violently, the blunt force aggravating her already aching body. She noticed a cold trickle of blood begin to fall from her forehead- she must have cut her head during the fall. Brandy looked around, but could see no one, or nothing that could have done this. She felt only a chill in the air, and a haunting sort of presence around her.

She tried to gather her strength, what little of it she had left, and Dash out the door, but she could not. The fights had just taken too much out of her, and Dashing was currently out of the question. So she just took another step towards the door- and felt a hard chop directly to the neck and a blow to the chest that knocked her back onto the ground. She groaned, and her eyes started to involuntarily close. Brandy realized that she might actually _die _right here.

But she had to keep going. She didn't know what it was that was doing these things, but none of that would matter once she was outside. Once she was outside, everything would stop. Everything would end, and she could go home. That is what spun in her mind.

So she pulled herself to her feet, ignoring the heavy damage that practically every part of her had taken, and took one single step.

In an instant, a ghostly hand fastened around her throat, lifting her off the ground and into the air. She gasped, and the air flew from her lungs. The hand squeezed tighter, and Brandy raised her hand in a fist. She tried to beat on whatever was holding her, but her blows were weak and ineffectual. She had simply exerted herself too much, and now she was paying the price.

Brandy's face started to turn red, even as her limbs started to turn white. Her arm dropped, seemingly of its own accord, and she could see the hand appear in front of her. It was covered in chainmail, much like the hand of a Knight or Prince, but it gave off an ethereal red glow. The hand expanded into an arm, then a shoulder. And then, once the head revealed itself, Brandy realized just what she was up against. For she found herself staring directly into the dead, lifeless eyes of a Royal Ghost.

Gratefully, inexplicably, he let go of Brandy's throat, and dropped her onto the ground. She coughed, and inhaled a deep breath of blessed oxygen. She breathed for a few seconds, the Royal Ghost just floating in front of her for some reason.

"Come on, you wanna fight?", she mumbled. "Let's go. I can take you on."

Brandy knew without a doubt that this Royal Ghost truly was the last obstacle. For real this time. If she won right here, she would have earned her freedom. After being denied it so suddenly, she was now ready for round two.

The Royal Ghost simply sighed. "Sitten putoat.", he said, and vanished again.

Brandy took what was supposed to be a calculated shot to the neck, but instead turned into a wild swing that left her stumbling across the floor. She almost fell to the ground, but managed to right herself just in time. She spun around, and struck out randomly into the air.

The Royal Ghost suddenly became visible again, clutching his eye. Brandy's fist had, against all odds, somehow found its mark. But the menacing spirit wasn't disabled for long. With one swift movement, he moved forward and grabbed Brandy's forearm, bringing it up high.

"Tama paattyy.", he whispered, and brought Brandy's arm down onto his knee with all the force he could muster.

There was a sharp crack. Brandy could hear it, even before she felt the pain. But when she felt it, she felt it. A wave of red-hot, searing agony quickly radiated outward from the Royal Ghost's attack, and Brandy's arm fell useless by her side. She knew it had been broken. Brandy barely even had time to gasp in pain before the Royal Ghost planted his knee in her back, sending her sprawling again across the floor.

For several long seconds, she lay there. Brandy wasn't sure if she was even going to live or not. The pain kept on growing worse, and her previous injuries hurt only worse. She thought about just giving up now, and letting her soul drift away. But she knew, deep down, that that was simply not an option. She _had _to win here. She _had _to survive. And Brandy _had _to get back home. There was simply no other option.

Pure determination flashed through her, and with it, a spark of energy. She definitely raised one fist into the air, and somehow gave a slow chuckle. "Is that… all you got?", she whispered, although she tried to shout. Her lungs were damaged just as badly as the rest of her. "Come on, Ghost. I've fought harder things than you in… in… my sleep."

She shakily pointed one finger at the evil figure. "And I swear I will beat you, and get out of here. Or my name's not Brandy the Bandit!"

The Royal Ghost's eyes narrowed. "Ei.", he said. "Nimesi ei ole bändi Brandy. Se ei ole kukaan, orja."

He lunged forward, and grabbed her foot. Without even a grunt, the Royal Ghost tossed her up into the air. Brandy spun, her eyesight blurring from the motion and the pain, and then she fell back down again right into the Ghost's other hand. He caught her broken arm, and spun her around his head. The pain, already nightmarish in scope, increased exponentially as the fragments of bone in Brandy's arm were crushed into powder by the friction. She screamed instinctively, even knowing that it would alert dozens of enemies.

Then, the Royal Ghost grabbed her leg, stopping her spinning, and looked her straight in the eye. His piercing gaze seemed to penetrate all the way deep into Brandy's soul. "Se on ohi.", he said. "Olet kadottanut."

And with that, the Royal Ghost swung Brandy over his head one last time, and dashed her against the solid rock of the floor.

There was another loud crack, and a flash of red seared through Brandy's mind. She could see it just as clearly as she could feel it- one of her ribs had been shattered to bits. The pain of two crushed bones was unbelievably intense. Brandy fought to maintain consciousness, hoping against hope that she could still somehow make it out of such an impossible situation. She tried to get up, but the most that Brandy could achieve was to flip herself over onto her back. And even that very nearly finished her off.

But then, she saw the worst sight she could imagine. The sight of a now oddly familiar pair of dark red boots. And another, next to it, very nearly the same make and model. She moaned, and tried to cover her eyes with her arm. But one arm was shattered to pieces and the other wouldn't respond- it was a hopeless struggle. So she could do absolutely nothing as Ryusei_Nakao69 leaned over her broken body, and smiled directly in her face.

"Hello, Miss Brandy.", he said. "I do hope you're feeling alright."

George slapped his knee, throwing his sword onto the ground. He leaned his head back against the brick wall, and groaned. "Man, where even _is _Bailey?", he moaned.

He and the rest of his brothers had followed Brandy's summons as quickly as they could, never even suspecting that it wasn't actually Bailey who had sent the message. So they were just waiting in front of her room, expecting something that might never arrive.

"I don't know.", said Phil. "Maybe she got lost."

"Got lost?", said George. "How?"

Phil shrugged. "It's a big castle."

"Yeah, but Bailey can find her way around.", George said. "She's smart."

Ed looked up from sharpening his sword, and startled as he saw who was at the end of the hallway. "You guys! Look! There she is!"

Bailey limped down the hall, still holding her aching stomach. Even after she had reformed, the colossal might of Brandy's blow still left a phantom pain. And Bailey wanted nothing more at the moment than to just crawl into her bed and sleep for a bit- 1, 2, maybe 16 hours. So when she saw 5 Barbarians all waiting for her at the entrance to her room, it surprised her a little bit.

"George?", she wheezed. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Well, I, you, I mean-", George started, then stopped. "You're the one that wanted us to come here."

"What?", Bailey said, bewildered. "I never…"

"But look!", said George, worried he might lose this opportunity. "I have the message right here!"

He dug his communicator out of his pocket, called up the appropriate conversation, and showed it to a confused Bailey. She read it, looked up into the faces of the eager Barbarians, then read it again. She sighed a bit, internally.

_Brandy must have written this, _she thought. _I knew she didn't just take my communicator just to steal it. She took it to steal it _and _to sneak her way past these guys. Well, I guess I need to somehow break it to these guys that I'm not going to-_

Then a thought occurred to her. The only thing that she had really wanted was to climb into bed. So really, when it came right down to it, what exactly was the difference between getting into bed by herself and getting into bed with 5 guys? It would probably be pretty fun. Probably distract her from the pain, too. Definitely, in fact. Very fun, indeed...

Bailey managed to crack a grin, and looked slyly into George's eyes. "George, I didn't send that message."

George's face fell. "Oh, you didn't? But- but- but I- we-"

She pressed a finger across his lips. "Shh…", she said, almost giggling. "Don't say anything yet. Just hold on."

Bailey licked her hand seductively, and grabbed the doorknob. "No, I didn't send that message. But now that I think about it, it might just be exactly what I need."

And with that, she walked into her door, and all the Barbarians followed her inside.

Song: Dark Rebirth

Brandy felt like she was going to die. Her ferocious fighting spirit had all but left her, stamped out by the overwhelming assault of the Royal Ghost. Without it, Brandy could feel the strange tingling sensation of her fingertips slowly starting to turn into Elixir.

She closed her eyes, and tried to fight it, but the pain was too strong. Brandy could feel the tingling spread from her fingertips, to her palms- and then it stopped.

Brandy opened her eyes again, and saw a soft golden light dripping onto her chest. She followed the stream upwards, seeing that it came from a Heal Spell held by Ryusei_Nakao69.

The magic of the Heal started to knit her wounds shut, and heal her broken bones. There was a brief flash of red pain in her arm as the bone powder solidified, and then it was gone. Brandy experimentally moved her arm- it worked, just as it had before.

She felt theSenate pull her to her feet, and heard the empty bottle being cast aside into a recycle bin built into the walls.

Brandy blinked, and rubbed her eyes. The image of the two Kings in front of her slowly came into view, as well as Valeyrie and Kurizas standing behind them. Valeyrie looked furious, and Kurizas only looked a bit confused.

"What… why?", Brandy mumbled. "Why are you helping me?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled warmly. "It looked like you were in rather bad shape. I'm sorry if Morgan was a little too hard on you, I really am. I just don't want anything to happen to your body. Your mind, I don't care about all that much."

"Of course.", Brandy said. She took note of her surroundings. Valeyrie and Kurizas could both easily stop her, but they were behind Ryusei_Nakao69, not in a good spot to attack from. Morgan floated behind him as well.

"Morgan, thank you for your help.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 with a wave of his hand. "You are dismissed."

"Kiitos, heranni.", said Morgan, and turned invisible once more. Brandy could no longer see him, but she could detect the dust of the hallway floor stir as he floated away. Well, that was one problem taken care of.

"Alright, theSenate.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "I can take her from here. And might I add- it's been a pleasure hunting her with you. We haven't done that for ages."

theSenate stepped closer, still not letting go of Brandy. "Agreed, old friend."

The two shook hands. And in that moment, theSenate temporarily let go of Brandy's shoulder.

Brandy didn't wait even a full second. She immediately charged up her Dash, and aimed for the door. With all or at least most of her strength restored by the Heal, busting through it would be no problem. Valeyrie was the first to notice. She tried to stretch out a hand to catch Brandy- but she was too fast.

Brandy Dashed away from the two Kings, still engrossed in conversation, and hit the door to the outside. The ancient wood splintered and gave way, and finally burst open in a shower of broken metal and rotting lumber. Brandy burst forth into the cool night air- and hit a wall.

Brandy fell backwards onto her back. Her mind tried to wrap its way around what had just happened. She had ran outside, then hit a wall where there wasn't one. Was there an invisible wall? Had Ryusei_Nakao69 gained some Shield technology? Brandy wasn't sure, but she knew she had to break through. So she stood up, once more.

Ryusei_Nakao69 appeared in the doorway. "Ah, miss Brandy. I see you've discovered our interior courtyard."

Brandy turned around. "What?"

The King gave a low chuckle. "Oh, come now. Did you really think that you had come even close to escaping? No. You never even got anywhere near to the outside. We knew where you were all along."

"You… you did?"

"Yes, of course. Why else do you think nobody tried to stop you, even in the midst of battle? We were merely using your escape attempt to calibrate our systems against better ones. So I suppose I have to thank you, Brandy. You were most helpful to me."

Deep inside of her, Brandy felt something break at his words. Something shattered, at this new knowledge. Some fighting spirit, wherever it was in her, fell at last to the truth. Ryusei_Nakao69 had planned all this from the very beginning. He had had complete control over her from the start.

Brandy collapsed to her knees, and stared at the floor. What could she do now, she wondered. Brandy searched her mind for any plan, any idea, and any way to get out of this. But even as she did, she knew that there was nothing. The feeling of Ryusei_Nakao69 grabbing her neck only reinforced that fact.

"Ah, it appears she's taken off her Power Suppressor.", said the King. "Kurizas, my boy, could you put on a new one? And make sure it's around her neck this time."

"Of course, father.", said the Prince, and began to grab a new one from the pouch on his belt. He approached Brandy while doing so, but was suddenly shoved aside by Valeyrie, sheer annoyance written on her face. She stomped over to Brandy, grabbed her by the cheeks, and held the defeated Bandit's face to her own.

"You trying to take Bailey's trademark, huh?", she growled, and grabbed the feather out of Brandy's hood. "Yeah, no."

She yanked it away, and spat on Brandy's face in disgust. "I'm taking this back where it belongs.", she muttered, and pulled out her communicator. "Let's see, where is she now?"

She typed a few words- _where are you, bailey? I have your feather- _, and waited for a response. Within seconds, she got one in the form of a picture- one that showed, in explicit detail, exactly what Bailey was up to at the moment. Valeyrie stared at the image for a few seconds, then put away her communicator and stared into the wall.

Brandy felt the Power Suppressor tighten around her neck as Kurizas snapped it into place, then turned it on. The Red light washed across her body, her eyes becoming a light shade of purple, and her skin slightly tingling. She felt the power to Dash once again leave her, and knew that there was no point in struggling anymore. It was over. She had lost.

Song: Irreversible Sadness

"Miss Brandy.", came the voice of Ryusei_Nakao69 from somewhere behind her. theSenate and Kurizas had already left, leaving the two completely alone. "Now that if appears you've truly given up, I have a special job for you."

"What?", she replied, so quietly she almost couldn't even be heard.

The King smiled. "The second day of the Clan party is almost upon us. I'm going to need you to be our main waitress. Do you think you're up for it?"

Brandy scowled, although no one could see it but her. "Forget it.", she said, pure anger tainting the edges of her voice.

"Oh, don't be like that.", he said, and started to walk behind her. "I think you'll quite take a liking to it. Waiting tables is an honorable first position as a slave."

"I'm not your slave.", she growled, still refusing to look behind her, choosing only to stare into the cold, hard, ground.

"Oh, miss Brandy.", the King said. "Don't say things like that. You are, and there is nothing you can do about it."

He leaned closer, and spoke directly into her ear. "In fact, by the time the Grand Feast is over, by the time the first light of dawn comes through the windows, you will be begging to be my slave willingly."

Each word he spoke was perfectly punctuated, separated from each other- but no less smooth and elegant. "I promise you that."

Brandy chose to say nothing.

"Or, if you like, you can simply spin The Wheel.", he said slyly. "Why don't you take a look."

He waved his fingers, and a red wooden wheel appeared out of the shadows as if by magic.

Brandy slightly tilted her head to look at what she was sure was some infernal contraption- but it was just a simple wheel, one that wouldn't look out of place at a festival or a carnival.

"Why don't you read those options out loud, miss Brandy.", said the King. "See if there's anything you like."

Brandy took in the words written all along the slices of the wheel, trying not to think of what they meant.

"Dragon Food. Deepest Dungeons. Experimentation. Body Swap. Elixicles. Free Use. The Machine.", she listed off, and went silent. Those options, whatever they meant, seemed worse. But then, she saw a very thin slice of the wheel at the bottom, painted white. _Freedom_, it read, in bright golden letters. Brandy's heart jumped, and her eyes widened.

"Ah, I see you've noticed the freedom option.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Yes, very rarely does anyone land on that one. But it does happen- lost many a fine Troop that way. I had to let them go."

"Re- really?", asked Brandy softly. "If I land on it, you'll actually let me go?"

"Yes.", said the King. "I swear on my very existence."

He gestured towards the wheel. "Now, would you care to spin?"

Brandy's heart raced. If she pulled this off, she would be out of here, no questions asked. She put a hand on the wheel, prepared herself to spin- and then, she stopped.

_Is this really worth it?, _she thought. _All these options look even worse than what I have now, and Freedom's so small. Do I really want to do this?_

As she was pondering, she saw something on the wheel that solidified her decision. A very small, simple, carving of a Knight. And she remembered- her Clan was still coming.

Brandy let her hand fall from the wheel without spinning, and she sighed. Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. "Ah, you're willingly giving up your only chance at freedom. That's very good, Miss Brandy- we'll make a good slave of you yet."

He grabbed her roughly by the neck, and hoisted her up onto her feet. "Come now. Let's go get you ready."

And so it was that Brandy allowed herself to be led away, into the darkness. For even though she had been utterly beaten, she still held on to some phantom hope that her Clan would arrive.

Ratool slumped against the hallway just outside Bailey's room, and cracked a grin.

_I can't believe I actually got Kidnap Squad 6 to make me their honorary 6th member, _h_e _thought. _They just told me to wait here until they were ready for me…_

He got up, tired of waiting.

"Well, if I'm going to be sitting around for 30 minutes, I've got nothing better to do.", he said to nobody in particular. "It looks like the best place to wait is…"

He sneaked over to the locked entrance to Bailey's room. "Right outside Bailey's door."

He looked around to see if no one was watching. Nobody was, so he leaned closer. "And if my eye just so happens to wander near the keyhole…"

He planted his eye right on the keyhole, and stared through. His heart almost ruptured as he saw exactly what was happening in the room, in full detail. Ratool couldn't believe his luck again- he had been waiting for a sight like this for years.

He withdrew, and crossed his arms across his chest. "Nice!"

A bush cracked, and fell. The leaves burned apart under a wave of golden light, and the entire plant turned into a shimmering Gem. Moments later, it was snatched up and hidden by a random Goblin in a place only they know.

Bowza nodded appreciatively. "Good, good. That's very good, Dan. You're definitely growing."

Dan turned to the Magic Archer, still slightly huffing from the exertion. "You think I'm ready to take him on?"  
Bowza thought for a moment. "No, not yet. You see, there's still one more thing I have to teach you."

He got up, and twirled his bow. "You see, true mastery of The Star is not only energy use. For there is known to its disciples - myself included - a certain battle cry. One that will increase your strength exponentially, with every punch you throw."

Dan perked up. "Really? What is it?"

It took Bowza several seconds to respond. He was feeling even more terribly mysterious than normal today, and that was reflected in his behaviour. "The battle cry is… ora."

"...Ora?", Dan asked. "That's it?"

"Yes, but repeated.", said Bowza. "Over and over again, and said while you punch."

He gave a small gesture. "Go ahead, try it."

"Well, okay.", said Dan, and closed his eyes. He raised one fist behind him and breathed in, gathering the latent energy from the air and the sunlight within him. Finally, he concentrated it in his now-glowing fist, and opened his eyes. He selected his target- a large Stone just 3 feet away from him. An easy distance for his Star-enhanced limbs to cover.

"Ora!", Dan shouted, and punched. Once his fist hit the rock, there was a tremendous crack. A tiny fissure had appeared in the Stone with just one blow.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan yelled, and continued his flurry of blows. Each felt even more powerful than the last, and his fists seemed to speed up as well. With each devastating punch Dan landed on his target, the hard Stone split and fractured. Within mere seconds of attacking, the Stone barely held together.

"Oraaa!", Dan roared, and gave one last, especially powerful blow. The rock shook at the force of it, and at last collapsed into a pile. The chunks of rock were absorbed into the ground, leaving behind only some small traces of rubble and another small pile of Gems, almost immediately snatched up by another Goblin. Or it might have been the same one- there wasn't really any way to tell with how fast he ran.

Dan stood there for a second. He looked at his armored fists, practically smoking.

_All _that _came out of me?_, he thought. _Seriously? _

He clenched his fist and looked up into the sky. _Awesome!_

Dan heard a slow clap behind him. He turned around, still heavily breathing, to see Bowza slowly applauding. "Very nice indeed, Dan.", he said. "I think you're ready."

An hour passed.

The door to Chloe's room slowly creaked open. A shaft of yellow light flew from the hall and crept across the floor, only slightly illuminating the young Princess's bed.

"Chloe?", came the impeccabley evil voice of Ryusei_Nakao69 from the hall. "It's time to wake up."

Chloe sat up in her bed. "I'm already awake, Daddy.", she said.

Ryusei_Nakao69 entered the room, and drew closer to Chloe. "Ah, so you are. What kept you awake?"

Chloe drew her knees to her chest. "I don't know. What happened last night, I guess."

"What happened last night?", the King asked. "Why, what happ- oh. Right. You're thinking about Brandy, aren't you?"

"Yes.", Chloe admitted. "I thought she was nice."

Ryusei_Nakao69 sighed deeply, and put his hand on Chloe's shoulder. "I know that's how she was acting. But in reality, things could not be any farther from the truth."

"What?", Chloe asked, and looked up into her father's eyes. "But- but-"

"I can see how you would be fooled by her clever pretense.", the King said. "But do you know what she did, once she managed to escape from your room?"  
Chloe shook her head.

"I thought not. You really shouldn't be concerning yourself with these things, but I guess I have to tell you anyway. You know Bailey, right? And Ratool?"

Chloe nodded. "Yeah. They're my friends."

"Well, the very first thing Brandy did upon escaping was incapacitate Ratool, and steal his most prized possessions. Then, after knocking some random Musketeer unconscious and killing Vern, she killed Bailey. Then she killed Rex the Baby Dragon- you remember him, don't you? - and then even managed to kill Valeyrie. In the end, only Morgan could stop her murderous rampage."

Chloe's mouth dropped open in shock. "Oh.", she said. "I didn't know."

"Of course you didn't, Chloe.", said the King. "That's why I told you."

He got back up again, and turned to leave. "Now get ready. The feast is going to start soon."

"Already?", Chloe asked. "But it's early morning."

Ryusei_Nakao69 pulled at his collar, slightly nervously. "Yes, well… we rescheduled. Don't ask why."

He had almost left the room, and was about to close the door, when Chloe spoke up one last time. "Daddy?"

He turned. "Yes, Chloe?"

"I let her out. It was me that unlocked the door."

The King's face twisted slightly. Not enough for anyone to see, but twist it did. "I see.", he said, and left the room.

Another hour passed.

"Hold still, Brandy.", grunted a Dark Prince. "Just hold still."

"I am holding still.", said Brandy quietly. Her "training" - so called because most of it was just being yelled at by an increasingly frustrated Dark Prince - had taken several hours, and had also taken a lot out of her. It was only slightly her fault that the Dark Prince was frustrated with her. Actually, it was a lot her fault- she had been the one to manage to steal his shield while he was distracted, and sneak an ice cube down his armor without him noticing. She smiled internally- every little bit counted, when she was getting back at TheEvilOverLords.

"Well, hold still harder.", he growled, and continued to fumble with the name tag. "Ah! There we go!"

He finally managed to pin the tag on- it was rather hard with thick metal-covered fingers- and stood back to admire his handiwork. He also took a brief second to squeeze Brandy's chest, just because he could.

"Now remember.", he said. "You are only the waitress. You ask them what you want, and that's it. No mischief, no funny stuff, no anything. You got that?"

"Yes, I have it.", Brandy sighed. She visualized her ripping the Dark Prince's helmet off and spitting down his throat to help her restrain herself.

"Yes I have it, what?", he asked.

"I don't know.", Brandy said. "What?"

The Dark Prince's eyebrows furrowed. The action would have been easier to see, if he wasn't wearing a thick metal helmet. But he was, and so nobody noticed.

"Sir.", he barked. "You're supposed to say sir. And to any King or Princess, say Master and Mistress. Remember?"

"I remember…", Brandy said coldly, and spat out her words. "Sir."

The Dark Prince crossed his right arm across his chest. "Good. That's much better. Now get to the kitchen. You'll meet your partner."

He gave her a huge shove on the back, and Brandy stumbled. She caught herself just before she hit the ground, nearly scraping her hands in the process. She didn't look back, but she did scowl.

"Come on, get off of the floor.", the Dark Prince said one last time. "And just remember-"

The Dark Prince hissed his next words, trying to be as haunting as possible. "We already won."

Brandy opened a layer of doors- there certainly were a lot of them in the castle- and saw a bustling kitchen. It was mostly staffed with Goblins and Skeletons, although there were a few other Troops.

A chaos of Goblins stabbed a large slab of meat over and over, under the pretense of "tenderizing" it. A yard of Skeletons danced on bars over an immense vat of pasta, each kick of their bony feet spreading more cheese across the mixture. A small team of Villagers worked on cutting boards, slicing vegetables into tiny pieces and tossing them up into the air. Every chunk was almost immediately grabbed by a Bat or a Minion, and dropped onto a plate. There were several Builders hard at work, busy upgrading various kitchen equipment. Above it all, almost obnoxiously loud rock music blasted from apparently hidden speakers, and a mysterious individual stood at the front of the room, delicately preparing a single meal.

Even if this Clan was practically the epitome of evil, Brandy almost admired their efficiency. Despite the apparent chaos, things all seemed to be in order. And she was almost glad she had been selected for the food team, instead of some _other _job.

"Hey, Max, she's here.", grunted a Villager, and jerked her head to indicate Brandy.

"Thank you, Trisha.", said the mysterious figure kindly. "Gorge, bring her here."

A Builder nodded. "Okay, sir. I will."

He stuck out a hand towards Brandy, inviting her to follow. She shook her head. "I can find my way myself, thank you."

She made her way to the figure, dodging a giant pot swung haphazardly overhead by a flying Mega Minion, and just managing to step her way over a sprinting trio of Fire Spirits. They were chased by a long, armored creature, legs sticking out of it every few inches. It chittered softly as it went. Brandy thought it just looked… unnatural.

But she at last arrived at the figure, and placed her hands on the counter. "Alright, I'm here. What do you want?"

The figure turned to her, revealing a pale, young looking face. He had a shock of blond, unkept hair, and a kind look in his eyes. Brandy had never seen anyone, or anything, that looked like him before.

"Pardon me,", Brandy asked almost timidly, "but what are you? I've never seen anything like you before."

He smiled. "Oh yes- I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"

He stuck out a hand, and Brandy slowly shook it. "You see, my name is Maximillion, but you can just call me Max. I'm the Senior Chef around here, cook meals for all the top Troops and Kings. And I was also a Dark Prince."

"A… Dark Prince?", Brandy asked. "Then where's your helmet?"

"Oh, they took it away.", Max said. "LeChris personally was curious to see what a Dark Prince looks like without his helmet- did you know he doesn't actually have one?"  
"No…", said Brandy.

"Yeah, he actually doesn't.", Max continued. "I guess I just kind of know useless stuff like that."

He returned to preparing the food, mixing a glass of red wine with a mysterious, slightly glowing substance. It appeared to be some form of Elixir, but Brandy had never seen Elixir like it before. It was thick, and poured with the consistency of barbecue sauce. It was a dark red, and almost appeared to be slightly glowing.

"So, you're our new waitress?"

"Yeah, I guess I am.", Brandy admitted. "But don't get the wrong idea. I'm not here for long. My Clan's coming to get me in just a few hours."

Max sliced a carrot in half and pushed it to the side. "Oh, yeah. That's what they all say. What I said, too. When they caught me, I thought my Clan would come and save me."

"What… what happened?", Brandy asked, not entirely sure if she wanted to know the answer.

"They did come.", Max said. "But they didn't stand a chance. TheEvilOverLords are used to this sort of thing- my clan was all killed within minutes."

Brandy felt her throat catch a bit. "Well… that's not gonna happen with me. You'll see."

"And that's exactly what I thought.", said Max, and gestured behind him. "Yo Rex, get me another bottle of BE."

A Builder tossed Max another bottle of the strange red substance, and Max stirred it into a thick white mixture. "But to be honest, I'm fine with working here. I never did like the battling- it was too much stress. Too much noise. I like cooking more."

"But Max…", Brandy said. "Don't you miss it? Don't you miss the thrill of it? The roar of the crowds? The rush of battle? The excitement of winning?"

She slammed her hands down onto the counter, and looked into his eyes. "Don't you miss that at all? How are you okay with this?"

Max calmly wiped down a knife with a damp cloth, then tossed it onto a plate. He looked downwards, purposely avoiding Brandy's gaze. "No. No, I don't, and I'm perfectly fine with it. Now go deliver these."

He handed Brandy a huge tray, with several dishes loaded onto it. "They say who they're going to on each one. And don't worry, you'll know who's who."

He gave her one last look before Brandy headed out the door. "And good luck out there. You'll need it."

Brandy, struggling a bit under the weight of the tray, turned to leave. Max watched her go. He did indeed genuinely enjoy cooking here, but what she said gave him just a little bit of pause.

"Hey, Max.", said a Builder. "You stopped cooking. You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, Rex.", said Max. "Just a little thinking."

A leaf crunched underfoot, the weight of Dan's foot pressing down onto it. He looked up, trying to make out the distance shapes through the treeline. The light of dawn showed hints of beginning to creep over the horizon.

"What do you see, Dan?", asked Agatha. "Anything?"

Dan frowned. "No, not anything yet. It looks like we've still got a while to go until we- huh?"

He had stepped on something odd. He leaned down, and plucked the strange object off of the ground. It was a small rectangle, covered with dirt. He held it up, and wiped the dirt off of its surface- to reveal a Card.

The small plastic rectangle was tinted orange, and a display of an Ice Golem was mounted somewhere within. Dan watched the light catch it, seeing patterns swirl around.

_Brandy would have loved to find this,_ he thought. _She would have loved to steal it._

He mentally chided himself for using such language in his thoughts. He couldn't think of Brandy in the past tense like that. Agatha could tell she was still alive, with her special Witch-type magic, or something. Dan didn't really understand any of it, but he did know that Brandy was still alive- no, _is_ still alive. No, wait. Was actually was more grammatically appropriate.

But to Dan, keeping a positive mindset on the state of his best friend was far more important than proper mental grammar. Is it was, then.

He tucked the Card into his pocket to give to Brandy later, and looked up.

"Never mind.", he said. "We've got to be close."

Brandy swung open the heavy double doors to the Grand Ballroom, the rich crimson velvet glinting in the light of the massive overhead chandelier. As soon as she entered the immense room, Brandy could feel it.

A weighty sense of pure opulessence covered the room like a choking mold, and the red light only added to the sensation. Brandy could smell the raw evil, and taste the darkness. She could see the pride and lust that permeated the atmosphere, and feel the overwhelming corruption the entire Clan was doused in.

A Valkyrie pole-danced against a far wall. Overwhelmingly loud, aggressive-sounding music echoed as she spun around the metal pole, gazing into the audience of Barbarians with a look of false longing. She turned to face the wall, and backstage, then tore her top off and threw it into the cheering crowd. She rotated her head, blew a kiss, then strutted offstage.

Multiple gangs of Goblins crowded around a betting table, half or all drunk on tons of Elixir. A Goblin Brawler sat in the middle, shuffling betting chips from one hand to the other.

"I bet 500 Gold on the red!", shouted a Goblin, slurring his words. "And I want the Archer!"

"Hey, no fair!", moaned another. "I wanted her!"

The two erupted into a fistfight, right in front of the terrified Archer. She was tied to a board, behind the Goblin Brawler. She had been Kidnap Squad 6's next target, after Brandy.

That was how it worked, for the Clan. As soon as one target was stolen, another was chosen. And even though Brandy had been a struggle, they had subdued her. Just as they had subdued everyone. She wasn't anything special, to most of them. Just another job, in an endless series.

Brandy turned her head from these proceedings, and looked instead at her first delivery. It was a huge barbecue platter, set to be delivered to Kidnap Squad 8. Okay, then. It also said that they were a group of Sneaky Archers, usually found sitting at Table 68. Fortunately, that just so happened to be right next to Brandy.

Wordlessly, she took the plate off of the tray, and placed it on the table. One of the Sneaky Archers took notice, and looked up, but nothing more. Merely a raised eyebrow, and a slight movement of the hand. Brandy didn't stick around to see if they would take it or not- she just walked away, and looked at her next assignment.

This one was for a Mega Knight and a Royal Giant, that were supposed to be sitting at Table 17. Brandy didn't fancy walking all the way there, but she supposed she had no choice.

A figure sitting at a table across the room took a sip of his tea, and peered over the edge of his newspaper. His snow-blue, piercing eyes took in Brandy, and he read her plight. He knew he could only help her a little bit for now, but a little bit for him could be quite a lot.

He flicked his finger, and space contracted. With one step, Brandy felt the world fall around her. There was a roar in her ears, a snap of feeling against her skin, and then she was at the other edge of the room, right on Table 17.

Brandy looked over herself. _What was that?,_ she wondered. It felt almost like a Dash, but… wasn't. _I definitely did not do that. _

But, seeing no good explanation, she just chalked it up to some sort of experiment, and moved on. She had a table to serve.

There sat a Mega Knight and a Royal Giant, just like the card had promised. The Royal Giant seemed utterly engrossed with himself, staring deeply into a handheld mirror and murmuring things Brandy couldn't quite hear.

The Mega Knight, on the other hand, wasn't doing anything. Or saying anything, or even really looking at anything. He just stared straight ahead, seemingly lost in thought. Brandy could feel the power coming from him. It felt almost unnatural, a very menacing aura.

"Uh, sirs?", Brandy squeaked. "Here are your dinners that you ordered."

She waited a few seconds for an answer, but none came. Neither of them spoke, looked at her, or even really acknowledged that Brandy was there. So she just slid the huge plate of steak and fish onto the table, and looked up.

A Goblin tapped her on the shoulder, and Brandy turned. "Just leave it.", he said, as he chewed loudly on both some barbecue wings and gum. At the same time. "They're never gonna hear you."

"Uh, okay.", Brandy said. "Well, that's that, I gue-"

She started to return to the kitchen, but a Royal Recruit blocked her way.

"Waitress, you need to take orders now.", he said. "Not just bring food. There is a pen and paper tucked into your pockets- I believe they will prove most useful."

Meg stabbed her spaghetti with her fork, swirling it around on her plate. The red sauce glistened in the bright lights shining from overhead, lit by a hundred Teslas.

"Hey Meg, I'm gonna sit here.", came a voice from in front of her, on the other end of the table. "That alright with you?"

Meg looked up in shock. As long as she had lived, almost a week now, nobody had ever asked to sit with her before. "Wha-"

"Okay then, guess it's alright.", said Bailey, as she sat down. She held a plate full of antipasto, the rich red and green colors matching her uniform. She withdrew a special Gold-plated fork from her sleeve and began to eat.

"Isn't that fork Daniel's?", Meg asked, referring to a Prince. "Where did you get that?"

"Stole it.", said Bailey through a mouthful of food, then swallowed. "What did you think?"

"Oh.", said Meg. "So, why did you sit here?"

"I don't know. Just thought I should. You seem pretty lonely."

"Oh.", said Meg again, then took another look at Bailey. "Are you alright, Bailey? You seem a little off. You know, if- if you don't mind me asking."

"No, no, I'm fi-", Bailey started, then stopped. "No. You know what- I'm not fine. I always pretend I am, but I'm not."

She stiffened in her chair, and pushed her plate to one side, side-arming in the face a Goblin that tried to steal it. "You know something, Meg? Can I tell you something?"

"Uh, sure, I guess?", Meg said. "I mean, no one's ever really as-"

Bailey ignored her, and kept on talking. "I just feel bad about it, you know? The prisoners. Stopping them, I mean. Like, they all escape, and I stop them almost every time, but I just feel worse and worse about it each time. They always look so desperate- these last few times have been really getting to me."

Meg slowly put another forkful of pasta into her mouth. "I… guess I know what you mean. I- I- I almost- I mean-"

"Just spit it out, Meg.", said Bailey. "Come on, you can do it."

Meg shook her head, and started again. "I mean, everyone always says that the best thing to do is what your King says, but… well…"

Meg looked up. "Can I tell you a secret?"

Bailey nodded, and leaned closer over the tables. Meg drew close to the Bandit's ear, and opened her mouth to speak.

"_I don't want to be Red anymore._", Meg whispered, and Bailey drew back in shock.

"Meg… what are you saying?", Bailey hissed. "Here I am just not wanting to be as cruel anymore, and then here you are plotting… well… plotting full on betrayal!"

Meg leaned back in her chair, and spread her hands out. "Woah, not betrayal, no. Just maybe I could sneak away, and maybe go join a Blue King. You know, maybe. With a capital M."

Bailey massaged her forehead. "Meg, that _is_ full on betrayal! You can't just-"

There was a cough from somewhere behind them. Bailey stopped talking, and looked up. "Okay, to be continued."

To her mild surprise, she saw Brandy standing there, pen and paper in hand.

"Good morning.", she said sadly. "Is there anything I can get you?"

"Oh, no,", began Meg. "Sorry, but we just ate-"

Bailey waved her hand to silence her, and Meg dutifully obeyed the gesture. "Hold on. I want to talk with Brandy for a bit."

Bailey looked up at Brandy. "So. You seem pretty capable."

"Oh, I wouldn't say that.", Brandy said quietly.

Bailey leaned back a bit in surprise. The last time she had seen Brandy was just after she had beaten Bailey in single combat. She had managed to overcome the level difference, merely through pure skill and talent. Bailey knew it was possible, but she hadn't expected it to happen to her.

"What are you talking about?", Bailey said. "You're strong."

She motioned for Brandy to lean closer, and she did so. "In fact, I have a little offer for you. I'm putting together a little strike force- one to rob places all around the world. Not just the Royale Islands- I'm talking the Hay Day Farms, the Boom Beaches- everywhere. After the dinner, we can recruit you. What do you say?"

Brandy just shook her head sadly. "No. I can't."

"No?", Bailey said. "What do you mean, no? I'm giving you the offer of a lifetime, and you're throwing it away?"  
"I'm sorry,", Brandy said, "but it seems your group is only for exceptional people. And I'm not exceptional. I'm nothing. I'm nobody."

Brandy left the table, leaving Bailey in a state of confusion and almost fear. Brandy had been such a proud, strong-willed warrior when they last fought. Bailey shuddered just thinking about what had been done to her to reduce her to such a willing servant.

But in fact, nothing had been done. Brandy still fought on, silently. She had come up with a plan- one to make everyone think she had been broken. But once the time was right, she would strike. She would strike, and bring down the whole Clan at once. All it would take was one single, precise, perfect blow.

But for now, there was still the dinner to attend to. And part of that dinner was taking the orders of a table of Bowlers.

"Good morning, sirs.", Brandy said. "Very early morning. What would you like?"

A Bowler looked up from staring into nothing long enough to take in Brandy. Even though his eyesight was blurred and his mind even more so, he could still comprehend Brandy as a waitress.

"Yeah, can I get a… a… uhhhh...", the Bowler said, struggling to remain consciousness. He had had a very long night, and the massive amounts of Dark Elixir he had already drunk didn't help. "Boneless Dark Elixir?"

"Oh, shut up Jobe.", said one of the others, and slapped the table. "You're drunk."

_Jobe, Jobe… where have I heard that name before?_, Brandy wondered, then suddenly remembered. Jobe was the name of Webert's clone!

She took a closer look at the huge Bowler draped across the table- sure enough, he had a pale blue tint to his skin and a magnificent beard. This was her friend.

"Is your food already coming?", she asked him, hoping he was lucid enough to get her hint. "If so, when will it arrive?"

Fortunately, Webert was mostly faking his drunkenness, and he understood Brandy's message almost immediately. "Oh, it's coming alright.", he said, and gave a big fat blue wink. "Probably just around 15 minutes before it gets here."

Brandy's heart jumped in her chest. 15 _minutes_? That was hardly any time at all! Just a bit more stalling, and then she would be out of here! But she contained her excitement, and politely bowed to Webert. "Alright, sir.", she said. "Thank you for the information."

Ryusei_Nakao69 pulled back his chair with a long screech, and sat down. He groaned as his old, tired legs were finally allowed to rest, and leveled his gaze to peer out on the entire room at once. He smiled in satisfaction.

All of his plans for that day were complete. Brandy had finally been subdued, the Clan Party was going off without a hitch, he had just gotten a Mega Lightning Chest that morning, and his benefactor wasn't expecting payment for a few weeks. Yes indeed, life was good to him.

Chloe sat down next to him, followed by Veronica and Stacy. The two older Princesses cast a slight look of disgust at their younger sister- even more so than the look of revulsion they wore pretty much all the time.

Ryusei_Nakao69 clapped his hands, and a Barley appeared as if by magic. It wasn't his, of course- it had been stolen. Right from the closet where it had been sleeping, deep in the heart of the Brawl Desert. He was quite proud of that job, seeing as it was one he had actually done himself. Once the Barley was captured, it had been a simple matter to reprogram it. It already wanted to serve by instinct- it was just a matter of telling it who to do so to.

"Your wine list is ready, sire.", said the Barley in a clean, proper voice, only slightly ringing of its metallic origins. "Shall I show you?"

"Yes.", said the King. "That would be lovely."

"Excellent.", said the Barley. "Here it is."

He unfurled an old-looking scroll from his hand, and let it roll across the table. Ryusei_Nakao69, without even looking, picked one at random. Truth be told, he didn't care much for wine. He would much rather just drink a simple soda- but he did have appearances to keep up. So wine it was.

"Ah, the Crimson Heart Wine.", said the Barley. "That one's hard to beat."

The robot laughed internally at his own joke, then turned to address Chloe. "And what would you like, young miss?"

"I wanna 3-Crown Cola.", she said.

"What flavor?", the Barley responded.

"Um...Blueberry Bandit.", Chloe said.

If one were to look closely, they could have seen Ryusei_Nakao69's and Veronica's face slightly twitch in unison.

The Barley dispensed a small can, and Chloe eagerly reached for it. But before she could pop it open, a huge form slammed into the seat beside her, almost causing her to drop the can onto the floor.

"Sorry I'm late.", said Chad, and leaned back. "I was, uh, doing stuff."

Valeyrie sat down in the seat next to him, and drew her finger across his shoulder. "I'm stuff."

"Wait, wha-", Chad started, but was interrupted by Rysuei_Nakao69's laugh. "Chad, your girlfriend is awesome."

The group's missing member, Rick, spun out a chair next to Valeyrie and sat down. In his hand was a single black envelope. "Mail's here."

"Really?", mused the King, and took it. "I wasn't expecting anything."

He sliced open the envelope with a small blade on one of his pointer fingers, and held the pitch-black paper up to the light. He didn't see anything at first, but upon tilting the paper back and forth, he was able to make out some shining letters.

Song: Un'altra Persona

Expect me, they read. Ryusei_Nakao69 felt a shiver run down his back.

He turned the letter over, and saw more letters seemingly appear out of nowhere. Expect me like you expect the sun to rise.

The King turned the letter over again, but saw nothing else. He was about to drop the letter onto the table, when he saw the surface of the letter stir. The sight was only for him- nobody else sitting at the table had any inkling it was happening.

He saw the paper twist into an evil-looking face, its glowing eyes staring directly into his.

So expect me, _mortal_, it said through spiked teeth, eyes bursting with flame with every syllable. I'm coming.

And then it was gone. Not just the face, but the entire letter. The envelope had vanished too.

Ryusei_Nakao69 thumped himself on the chest, and breathed out. "Well then.", he said under his breath. "I might have to hurry up."

"Daddy?", came the worried voice of Chloe. "What was that?"

"Yo, Dad.", said Stacy. "What was that thing all about?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 waved his hand to silence them. "Nothing. It was nobody. Which reminds me, I have to go speak to theSenate."

"How does that remind you-, Veronica started, but her father's piercing glare stopped her from finishing the sentence. But behind the regular authority, there was something she had never seen before. Fear. In the eyes of Ryusei_Nakao69, there was real fear.

"Good morning, sir.", said Brandy. "What would you like?"

"Oh, I'll have the Triple Elixir platter. And the Spell Valley special.", said the Hog Rider she was talking to. Mercifully, it was a different one than the one she had fought earlier. Brandy was pretty sure the Hog would attack her on sight- she would. and Baconator Jr. here will have the scraps.", he said, and petted his Hog. "And Baconator Jr. here will have the scraps."

"Understood. Will that be all?", Brandy asked.

"Yeah.", he smiled. "But don't forget the cheese."

_Alrighty, _Brandy thought. _Guess I should report back to the kitchen now…_ _if I should even bother. I mean, Clan's coming in 15 minutes. No, wait…_

Brandy stopped right in the middle of the aisle. _Webert said that, like, 15 minutes ago._

She looked at one of the clocks surrounding the walls. It had, in fact, been 14 minutes and 50 seconds since Webert had given her the time. Brandy's heart swelled. Only 10 more seconds. Only 9 more seconds. Only 8 more seconds. Only 7. Only 6. Only 5...4...3…

theSenate and LeChris looked up from their respective meals.

"Do you hear something?", theSenate said.

LeChris looked up, and frowned. "No.", he said. "Why?"

"Oh, just wondering. I do think I heard something.", theSenate said, and the two Kings went back to their meal.  
_2 more seconds, _Brandy thought. _1 more second. And…_

Nothing happened. Brandy looked around expectantly, but nobody appeared. No walls were demolished, no Clanmates swooped in to dish out justice. Brandy started to get a little worried.

"Where are they?", she whispered underneath her breath. "Why aren't they already here?"

Horrible possibilities flickered through her mind. Were they dead? Were they lost? Was Webert wildly off, and they wouldn't arrive for 15 more _hours_?

The worst one of all briefly flashed across Brandy's consciousness- that they were never even coming in the first place. That Brandy really was worthless to them, and Webert's Clone was only there on accident. That perhaps, nobody cared about Brandy, and that she really was destined to stay here.

But that thought died quickly, as Brandy remembered that Webert had said that it would be about 15 minutes before they got here. Not exactly. There was a little bit of margin of error. So in the meantime, it was to be that she reported back to the kitchen.

Brandy looked to the side of the room. She started to walk, then stopped. Because two tables down, there was a… a…

Brandy didn't know what he was. He didn't appear to be any sort of troop she knew of, and he certainly didn't look like a king, either. He wore a long brown leather coat, accented with various pockets of various sizes and light tan lines running down the seams. He was wearing a top hat over his light hair, which couldn't seem to make up its mind whether it wanted to be white, blond, or light brown. Two black gloves, much like Brandy's own, covered his hands. His face was worn and weathered, but he didn't seem old at all- the way he carried himself, he actually seemed quite young. A powerful, mysterious aura of sheer mystery surrounded him- Brandy could almost make out the shapes of flame dancing around his table. Upon seeing Brandy, he put down the immense book that he was reading, and turned to face her.

"Ah, Brandy.", he said. "There you are. I knew you would come around here eventually."

As soon as his voice his Brandy's ears, her heart glowed, just a little bit. He sounded bright, yet cool. Exhilarating, yet calming. He just felt… right.

Brandy didn't really know what to say to such an individual. "Um… can I get you anything? Sir?", wasn't quite right, but that's what slipped out.

"Oh, no.", he said softly. "I wouldn't want you to work any harder than you already are."

Brandy was quite taken aback by him. He seemed utterly calm here, despite the overwhelming evil. "Excuse me, but... who are you?", she asked, curious, and swallowed hard.

"That's not important right now.", he said, "Don't worry about it. He then lifted his hand, and seemed to address some unknown, unseen individual. "Charlie, put it on pause for a little bit, would you?"

Almost instantly, the roar of the people in the room came to a halt. The frantic movement of the dancers, the revelers- they all came to a close. Any and all sound and activity halted, Brandy and the stranger suddenly becoming the only signs of life. The man, whoever he was, had just stopped time.

Brandy was about to ask how he could have possibly done such a thing, when she realized one thing. This was her chance. This man, whoever he was, had just freed her. With time stopped, she could escape at her leisure. Absolutely nothing could stop her.

Brandy jumped away- yet remained in the same spot. Even though her muscles strained, Brandy could not move either.

"You can't move in stopped time, Brandy. Don't try it.", he said, and poured himself some tea.

"Just hear out my message."

Brandy let herself stop trying to move, and resigned herself to listening.

"I know things look pretty bad right now.", he said, and blew on his tea. "But really, they're not. You might think your clanmates aren't coming. But they're practically here. You might think there's no way out of this. But there are many. But most of all-"

He put down his tea, and stared directly into Brandy's eyes.

"You might think you will never forgive. But you will. And it's always darkest before the dawn."

And with that, the man set down his tea, snapped his fingers, and vanished.

Time resumed, and Brandy vanished too. But instead of vanishing to some higher realm, as He had certainly done, Brandy merely vanished and reappeared inside of the kitchen.

"Ah, theSenate.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Just the person I was looking for."

He sat down at theSenate's and LeChris's table, in the sort of way one would sit down in a sort-of, but not quite a, hurry.

"Did you wish to speak to me about anything in particular, Ryusei_Nakao69?", theSenate replied.  
"I just wanted to congratulate you on what a great plan you had earlier.", his friend replied.

"Which plan?", asked theSenate. "The one where even though we had lost Brandy somewhere in the castle, and had practically no idea where she had gone, we told her we knew all this time and were just using her to find out our weaknesses?"

"Ah, yes, that's the one.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and the two Kings laughed. LeChris laughed too, although not as much. It was really more of a chuckle.

Dan put his hand to his forehead to block out the sun, and peered over the treeline. He could see a massive, dark crimson shape in the forest of deadwood- the Clan Castle of TheEvilOverLords.

Even from here, he could feel the sheer darkness from within. He shuddered to think of what had happened to Brandy while she was in there, and almost hoped he would never find out.

He clenched his fist tightly, and sparks of pure Star Energy flew up and down his armor. He knew without a single doubt that this was going to be the hardest fight of his life- much, much harder than anything the Arenas possibly had to offer.

His main target was Chad. He was the one that had defiled Brandy, so he was the one that Dan had to kill first. After that, it was Rick. He hadn't done as much, but he had still abused her plenty.

"Dan, are we there?", asked Oticat. But he already knew the answer. He, too, could feel it in his blood.

"Yes.", said Dan with an air of pure, grim determination. He set down his hand, and stared directly towards the monolith of corruption that was the Clan Castle. "We're here."

"Yes, Veronica simply must come over and meet my Tanya.", said theSenate. "I think they'd get along just- oh?"

His Kingly Communicator was buzzing. "Hold on one moment, I have to take this.", he said to the other Kings, and took it from his pocket to his ear. "Hello, TheEvilOverLords, dirty deeds done dirt cheap, may I help you?"

"No.", said the voice of ChupilickytwaCT on the other end. "But we might be just about to help you."

Then there was the buzz of a dial tone, and theSenate slowly set down the communicator. He felt a slight tremor run through his feet, and up his legs. He looked around. Judging from the looks on the faces of LeChris and Ryusei_Nakao69, they could feel it too.

"Ah, you're back.", Max said to Brandy. "Just in time, too. Here."

He handed her an elegently done up plate, tender meat and cheeses dripped in a dark red liquid. "This one is going to the King."

"The King?", Brandy asked. She really already knew the answer, but she was hoping that she was wrong.

"Why, Ryusei_Nakao69, of course.", Max said with a smile. "This is his special blood plate."

Brandy looked once more at the mysterious sauce covering the entree, and hoped that the dark red liquid wasn't what she thought it was. Although knowing Ryusei_Nakao69, it probably was.

"Do I have to it?", Brandy asked, slightly nervously. "I don't really want to."

Max raised his eyebrows. "Yes. You have to. But you can do it, Brandy- come on. You're brave."

He pushed the plate into her hands. "Now go."

Brandy was about to protest once more, when she realized that this actually was the best chance. Once everyone came, and the battle started, being close to Ryusei_Nakao69 was the best place for an assassination.

Brandy pulled her hood closer over her face, and took the plate with confidence. "Alright, then Max.", she said, and started to walk. "I'm about to end this man's whole career."

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up. "Do you feel that?"

"I do.", said LeChris. "Do you think it's somehow related to that call you got?"

"Perhaps.", said theSenate. "I think it might be some stolen Troop's Clan."

Ryusei_Nakao69 massaged his forehead. "Brandy…", he muttered from under his breath. "You really are proving a hassle. Those one million Gems I'm selling you for had better be worth it."

There was a loud thud, and the three Kings looked up. They all saw Kurizas, almost out of breath. His vizor was flipped up, and he dripped with sweat.

"Kurizas, what is it?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "Tell me, quickly."

Kurizas swallowed, and looked up. "Father, we're under attack!"

Brandy swiftly strode through the tables, making her way to the table where Ryusei_Nakao69 sat. Her thoughts filled with all the ways she could possibly kill him. Once the wall fell, maybe she would grab a weapon from a nearby troop and stab him with it. There were lots of Royal Recruits around, a spear from them would do nicely. Or she could just jump onto his back, triangle-hold him into submission, and then punch him until his soul left his body. Or-

A sudden arm thrown out into the middle of the aisle blocked Brandy's way. She stopped with a huff, making sure not to spill anything.

"Aw, where are you going, little Bandit?", said a Barbarian slowly. He was very clearly drunk, his slow speech and unarticulated movements a clear testament. "I think you gotta stay."

"Excuse me sir, but I need to get through.", she said. "I have food to deliver."

Even though Brandy looked calm on the outside, her heart was racing. If she couldn't get to the King before her Clan appeared, the best chance for his death would be gone. She needed to get past this Barbarian. _It shouldn't be too hard…_, she thought.

But the Barbarian had other ideas. He leaned over in his chair, almost seeming to ooze. Brandy noticed with a shock that his eyes were pitch black, and without features. He extended an arm, and draped it over Brandy's shoulder. "Come here little Bandit… you don't need to go over there…"

Brandy ducked under his arm, and tried to move past him. But one of his friends blocked the way. "You don't need anything…"

Brandy's breathing started to speed up, and her brow started to sweat. The whole scene was all too terrifyingly familiar. She knew what would happen next. It wouldn't be stopped- it would probably just be encouraged. Encouraged, and seen by everyone in the room. It would probably be filmed, and cheered on.

One of the Barbarians eyed Brandy's torso. "You don't need this."

With an unnaturally fast blur of motion, he slashed his hand across Brandy's waist. A narrow strip of cloth came with his hand, exposing Brandy's midriff. She yelped, and stumbled backwards.

The other three Barbarians seemed to tower over her. The air behind them seemed to turn red, and all their eyes were black. They chuckled infernally, and started to move in.

Brandy tried to cover her bare skin with her cloak, but is was ineffectual. She tried to look for a way out, but there was none. It was going to happen again, in front of thousands of people, and there was nothing that Brandy could do to stop it.

"Please, no.", she whispered. "Not again."

The lead Barbarian drew a knife, with intent to cut through cloth.

In that moment, a gaze focused on Brandy from far across eternity. It was the gaze of a certain man, one wearing a monocle, a hat, and a brown leather coat. He did not approve of the activities taking place at the moment very much at all.

In that moment, the knife flew from the Barbarian's hand as if punched. His addled mind took a second to process this, until it too was struck. He flew from the chair as if hit by a Rocket, and landed unconscious on the ground. A thin flow of blood dripped from his jaw where he had been hit.

The other Barbarians stared at their fallen leader, slack-jawed. Until one fell to the ground with unnatural speed. Then another crumpled, and another was slammed to the floor with his jaw broken. The last one looked around, confused, and then tried to fall as well. But something stopped him.

If one were to look very, very closely at that moment, they could almost see a single, tiny, flash of what looked like the edge of a silver fist collide with the Barbarian's skull, crushing it nearly flat. But nobody was looking that hard, and so the strange phenomenon went unnoticed.

Brandy stared in shock at the phantom violence that she had just witnessed. She could hear a faint voice in her ear- one that whispered something that sounded like "Mota."

But whatever it was had vanished, and the Barbarians had been taken care of. So Brandy stood up, brushed herself off, and continued her way towards the table.

"Yes, so I told Kurizas to take all of his finest allies and defend.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, hurriedly explaining the situation to all the troops sitting at his table. "Against all of his elite, they shouldn't stand a chance."

"Is that why he's not sitting with us, Daddy?", asked Chloe, amid a sip of her soda. She had gotten Blueberry Bandit, as requested.

"Yes, it is.", replied the King. "I hope he'll be alright.", he said, and ate a slice of cheese off of the appetizer plate. "It's been, like, 6 whole minutes already.", said Chad. "That's enough time for a battle, right?"

"Yeah sure, in an Arena.", Valeyrie replied. "I don't know how long this one'll take though."

They all felt someone approach the table. Rick looked up. "Ah. There she is."

Song: Stardust Requiem

Brandy stood there, the still undisturbed plate in her hands. Oddly enough, as she stared right at the troops that had caused her incredible suffering, she seemed very calm.

"Good morning.", she said. "Here is your meal, Ryusei_Nakao69."

She bowed, and placed the plate upon the table. The King took it slowly, and looked it around. His mechanically and magically enhanced senses could find no trouble with it- it had not been poisoned or tampered with in any way, save the stray hair of a Barbarian that had fallen onto the edge of the plate. The only substance that could even be considered suspicious was his secret sauce, but that was by his order. No harm was done.

He slowly placed a slice of meat and a slice of cheese into his mouth. "You know, Brandy, you're doing quite well." He swallowed, and his veins bulged. His skin turned a shade redder, and his menacing aura seemed to grow more powerful. "You've taken to being my slave well."

But Brandy wasn't listening. She was already picking out the best way to take a spear from a Royal Recruit standing next to her. Approach from the right, duck underneath, kick to the knee, grab, lunge, and then- stab, right through the heart of Ryusei_Nakao69. She grinned slightly in anticipation. All she had to do was wait for her Clan to arrive. And they should get here any second now…

A door slammed open at the far end of the room. The deafening sound echoed throughout the entire chamber, and all the Troops and Kings turned to look. A single wounded figure walked through. Brandy couldn't quite make out who, or even what it was, but it seemed to part the crowd. Was it some King that was running from her friends? She sure hoped it was…

But then, the crowd in front of the table parted, and the smiling figure of Kurizas strode up. He put his elbow on the table and flashed his teeth.

"Father, I did it.", he said. "They're all defeated."

"Really?", said Ryusei_Nakao69 in surprise. "That easily?"

"Yes, I was a little surprised as well. They went down almost shockingly easily. But…"

He gestured to the sky. "The Clan of LosDementosCT is no more!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 cast a haunting look at Brandy. "Well, would you look at that. Your Clan isn't coming to save you after all.

Brandy heard his words, but did not process them at first. It took a few runs through her mind, but then she understood what he meant.

Her heart snapped in two. An icy chill ran through her body, followed by the hot fire of sheer, absolute panic. A thick, choking wave of darkness spread throughout her soul, drowning out all light and leaving her in sorrow. Brandy felt like she was going to throw up. She felt like crying. She felt like she was going to die.

But even more than that, she felt an odd determination well up from within her. Because she also knew that in this moment, she was free. In this moment, she had only one thing left to do. In this moment, she no longer had anything to lose. Even if she was now doomed to live a life of slavery, she could make sure it wouldn't happen to anyone else.

As if to bolster her insane courage, a boost of wild rage flowed up from her beating heart. Brandy's skin flushed purple, and her eyes glowed. She roared, and with supernatural strength and speed, grabbed the sides of her anti-dash collar. She strained at the hard metal, her arms bulging with the effort.

Song: Virtuous Pope

"What is she doing?", Chad yelled. "Is she breaking free?"

With a powerful grunt, Brandy ripped her collar in two, and flung the pieces aside. They slammed against two Guards that had ran up to stop her, ripping through them and scattering them apart. Her arms burned from the effort, but she no longer cared. She no longer cared about anything but death. Both Ryusei_Nakao69's, and perhaps her own.

Now free to use her full strength, Brandy Dashed to the side of Royal Recruit. She hit him with a barrage of punches so powerful his armor was punched into bits, and his torso was torn to bits, shredded all at once. Her battle cry while she did so was so fierce, it didn't even sound like a troop- almost like a volcanic eruption.

Chad moved to intercept her, but he was in slow motion compared to Brandy's speed. She saw everything like it was happening at leisure, almost like a memory. She snatched the spear of the swiftly dying Recruit, and leapt forward, straight at the King.

Chad tried to block the blow. Rick attempted to intercept it as well. Valeyrie tried to swing her axe to cut the spear before it hit her King. The three Princesses ducked, thinking only of their own safety. Only Ryusei_Nakao69 was calm, sitting there elegantly, his hands folded together. The only expression on his face was one of pure joy.

But Brandy didn't care. Even though everyone she knew was dead, she almost felt peaceful. Because she knew that she was going to go out avenging them, killing the sick bastard that had brought unspeakable pain to the lives of so many Troops, so many Kings that had never seen their favorite Troop return home. So much unspeakable darkness, all concentrated in this single individual, that now sat totally vulnerable.

Everything seemed frozen around her. She met the King's smug gaze with a ferocious, raging glare. "Die, Ryusei_Nakao69!", she screamed. With a mighty roar, and with a clear path, Brandy stabbed Ryusei_Nakao69 in the heart with the Royal Recruit's spear, pressing all the way through, coming out the other end, and hitting the floor, the tip breaking on the cold hard stone.

For a brief, glorious moment, there was nearly absolute silence. No sound at all, save her heavy breathing, and the sound of the blood of the King slowly dripping out onto the floor. Every Troop, every King in the room stared motionless at their leader, stabbed through the heart.

"I did it.", Brandy whispered. "I killed him."

She collapsed to her knees, and looked down at the floor.

"I'm sorry, everyone.", she said underneath her breath. "I'm sorry for getting you all into this. I'm sorry for making you all die."

And Brandy wept. Tears partially born of sorrow, and tears partially born of victory, flowed from her eyes and onto the ground. Because she knew that there was no winner in this battle. Just one Clan destroyed, another leaderless, and she herself about to be left to whatever fate the universe decided.

Song: Golden Frieza theme

"Brandy, what are you crying for?", came a dark voice. It was too familiar. A jolt ran through Brandy's heart. No. It couldn't be. It couldn't.

Brandy looked up, and saw Ryusei_Nakao69 staring back at her, still very much alive.

"Come now, Brandy.", he said, and grabbed the spear. "Did you really think-"

He yanked the spear out of his chest, and tossed it aside. Brandy could see the pitch-black cut almost glowing with red energy slowly sew itself shut. "-that you could kill I, the great Ryusei_Nakao69, inside my own castle? With such a meager weapon?"

He lowered a finger towards Brandy. "Guards… you know what to do."

Brandy just stared at him in shock, as the Guards restrained her exhausted limbs. "How?", she asked. "I stabbed you right through the heart… how did you survive? You're not a normal King."

"Well, of course I'm not.", he said with a wicked leer. "I have ascended far above that station. And now, I have power running through my veins other Kings would kill for."

He affixed his stare upon Brandy, and she could feel an unnatural chill run through her. "And as for you…"

Ryusei_Nakao69 slowly stood up. He made his way towards Brandy, his hard boots clicking against the stone floor. When he reached her, he grabbed her cheeks, and stared right into her eyes.

"You were doing so well.", he said with a slow shake of his head. "I thought you had accepted your place as my slave. And then, you had to go and throw it all away."

He let go of her cheeks, and put his finger against her forehead. Brandy could instantly feel some dark, evil presence groping through her consciousness, reading every thought, exploring every cranny, taking notes of her most inner mind.

"Well, it seems as though you'll never accept my rule willfully.", he said, and stood up once more. "I do think it would be quite fun to slowly break you, but I'm a busy man, and I frankly don't have time for that. Forced hypnotism it is, then. Yaga?"

As if by magic, a Witch appeared at his side. "Yes, my lord?"

"Prepare your most potent mind magics. We have a resister here."

The Witch bowed. "Understood, my lord. Rest assured, her free will will be drained within a moment's notice."

She left, presumably to gather ingredients.

Song: Dark Rebirth

"Drain… my will?", Brandy repeated to herself. The words felt alien coming out of her mouth, like they didn't belong. "No. You can't do that. That's not possible."

"Really?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69 in mild amusement. "Than what do you call what we've been doing? What do you call all of our successful patients? What do you call… this?"

He snapped his fingers again, and another figure appeared next to him, out of a sudden dark umbra. This one was a Bandit, a totally blank stare upon her face.

Brandy instinctively jerked back. This one seemed too real to her. The others had been merely frightening, but to see an example made of your own Troop type was just too much.

"Miss Julia, why don't you show Brandy what you can do?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked politely.

"What do you mean, your Highness?", the empty shell of a Bandit responded.

"Hmmm, how about telling me you serve?", the King asked.

"I serve you, great Ryusei_Nakao69, master.", Julia said, completely devoid of emotion.

"Mmm, good.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "Now tell me, do you have any free will at all?"

"None at all, sire.", Julia said, almost robotically. "I am merely a tool for my master to use. I am no longer a person, merely an object to fulfill your wishes."

"Very nice.", said the King, and snapped his fingers again. Julia vanished back into the dark umbra, which also disappeared.

"Now do you see, Brandy?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "You are nothing to me. You are nothing to anyone. You are merely a bargaining chip between me and my debtor. Now know your place."

Brandy started to panic. Even if it meant willingly becoming a slave for the rest of her life, she couldn't lose her free will. She couldn't end up like that… that… _thing_ Ryusei_Nakao69 had brought out.

"Fine.", she said. The King looked down at her in mild surprise. "I'll do it. I'll be your slave."

Her shoulders heaved, and her eyes squinted shut. "Do whatever you want to me, just don't take away my free will. I beg you, let me be your slave willingly."

Then, the curtains stirred in some unseen breeze. The first light of dawn came floating in through the windows, and Brandy realized what she had said.

Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. "I told you.", he said. "I told you, by the first light of dawn, you would be begging for it."

He waved his hand. "But, that time has already passed. You had your chance, Brandy- and you ignored it. Your mind will be erased- whether you like it or not."

He pressed a button on his throne, and the entire seating area rose up on a huge platform, high enough so that everyone in the seating area could see.

"This is it, Brandy.", the King said, and the Witch from earlier appeared next to him. "Say goodbye to your will."

The Witch bent down, and moved the tip of her staff closer to Brandy's forehead.

A tiny alarm sounded in Ryusei_Nakao69's ear. "Wait.", he said. "I have to take this."

He pressed the device. "Yes?"

"Actually, sir, I've been thinking.", said the voice of Max on the other side.

Brandy's heart leapt. Max? Had he come to her rescue?

"What if we just removed her memories, like we did last time?", he continued. "Wouldn't that work just as well? Then you could actually have a Bandit to use."

Ryusei_Nakao69 thought about this. Despite how good it would feel when he finally destroyed the mind of the Bandit that had caused him so much trouble over the last few days, Max did have a point. When he had first taken this job, he had been mostly in it because it would finally get him a Bandit of his own. Not to mention, Chloe had seemed to want her as a caretaker permanently, and that would be very difficult for someone who was really little more than a mindless doll.

"You know, Max, you're right.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "I guess I keep you around for more than just your cooking."

He raised his hand. "Yaga, cancel that order. Just go for a memory wipe instead of the whole mind."

"Understood, sire.", said Yaga. "I'm going in."

She reached out with her hand, and grabbed the edge of Brandy's mask. "But first, I'm just going to find out what a Bandit looks like without her mask. I've always wondered…"

Yaga yanked on Brandy's mask, to no result. She did it again, but still nothing.

"It doesn't come off.", Brandy said. "Believe me, I've tried. It's just part of my skin."

The Witch frowned. "Hmph. Well then, let's begin."

Yaga touched her staff to Brandy's forehead, and their mental duel began.

In an instant, the voices pierced Brandy's mind. They swirled and howled as a black mist, filling her mind with like a dark shadow. The things they said radiated of evil, yet Brandy could not help but hear them. And there was another sound, too- a deep, pulsing, distorted thrum that shook Brandy's head.

_Join us, _a voice hissed. _You know you want to._

_Your life will be better here, _another spat. _You have to accept that._

_You've already been defeated. Face it, _one roared, malice dripping off of its voice.

Brandy gritted her teeth, and tried not to listen.

_This is what you deserve, _one said menacingly. _You brought all your friends to their doom- you should get yours. _

_Ever since you got here, this is what you've been dreaming of._

_You want to lose. You want to lose all your memories, to start totally anew._

_There is only one path to take here. Give in. _

_Bow to your master, Brandy. Know him, and revere him._

Finally, Yaga herself stared deep into Brandy's soul. "Give in to me, Brandy. And I promise that when we rule the world, you will be at Ryusei_Nakao69's side."

Song: Cornered

Brandy snarled. "Fat chance.", she whispered, and spat in Yaga's eye.

The Witch screeched and jerked back, providing enough time for Brandy to break away from her spell. She fought to remove all traces of the hypnotism from her mind, while Yaga wiped away Brandy's saliva from her face.

"Yaga, are you alright?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69. "What happened?"

"The little brat spat in my eye, that's what happened.", growled Yaga. "She's not going down as easily as I thought. She's got a very strong will."

Then she smiled, and gripped her staff tighter. "It will be a pleasure to break her."

She looked into Brandy's eyes. "Brandy, it seems this isn't working. Perhaps, if I just show you what awaits you…"

Images began to flicker across Brandy's mind. Images of what supposedly awaited her, once she gave in.

She saw herself, in a grand hall, surrounded by Troops that she assumed were her friends. She saw herself reading a story to Chloe, then tucking her into bed. She saw herself on a mission with Bailey, stealing a Loot Cart as best friends. She saw herself whistling with happiness as she prepared food alongside Max, then give him a loving kiss on the cheek. Brandy almost wished such things would come to pass- almost. But she knew she had to stay strong.

The scenes changed to those of battle. Brandy saw herself in the Arena, all maxed out and shimmering gold. She saw herself as part of a Bridge Spam deck, fighting alongside Chad, Rick, and Valeyrie. And then, she saw herself after a Three Crown, head back to the castle, and willingly climb into bed with them.

That image was enough. Any trace of acceptance she might have had vanished in an instant, replaced only by a blinding rage. She opened her eyes again, and audibly growled at Yaga.

But Yaga didn't even flinch. She didn't even say anything, having fully expected this. Yaga just ran her fingers up her staff, flicking a switch that read "Persuasion" to one that read "Combat."

_Oh great_, Brandy thought. _Here we go again. _

"You may be strong, Bandit.", Yaga said. "But I doubt you've ever been trained in mental combat."

She touched the staff to Brandy's forehead, and their second duel began.

Bailey whistled appreciatively. "Dang.", she said. "Yaga's really doing a number on her. Hope she'll be alright- I could really use her in my gang."

"Your… gang?", Meg asked shyly.

"Sure.", Bailey said. "We're called the Passion. We do stuff. You wanna join?"

Meg's face flushed. "Oh- um, yes. Yes, I'd love to!"

"Great to hear it.", said Bailey. "Now zip it and watch."

Yaga awoke in a blank yellow field. Traces of blue zipped around it, and thin blue lines adorned the sides. A tunnel in the far back led to blackness, and parts unknown. _Ah, her mind,_ she thought. _Not a very developed place, is it?_

In the center of the area, Yaga could see a glowing box. It looked almost, but not quite like, a Legendary Chest. It had a dragon and a sword decorating its outside, and grey and blue ribbons fell from its lid.

_Hmm, her mind's bounty is quite open, _thought Yaga. _No defenses of any kind. Once I get in there, it will be a simple matter to just remove her memories and be on my way._

She pushed off of the ground, and floated slowly towards the box. She reached out a hand to grab it and-

And it was suddenly crushed from above by a vicious flying kick. Yaga screeched and withdrew, seeing with shock Brandy land in front of her.

"You thought I couldn't use mental combat, hmm?", Brandy said. "Well, looks like today's not your lucky day."

"You…", Yaga hissed, and leapt forward. Brandy charged up her Dash- she could use it inside of her mind. The Power Suppressor only had an effect on her physical body.

Brandy met Yaga's staff with a powerful kick that knocked the Witch backwards. She grunted and hit the floor of Brandy's mind, then slowly got to her feet. Brandy had disappeared.

Yaga looked around, and saw nothing. Absolutely nothing at all- until the bottom of Brandy's boot collided with her face in a sharp crack.

Song: Virtuous Pope

It was, in a way, satisfying for Brandy. To hear such a solid blow connect, and to see such a hated enemy beaten decisively. Yaga may have been powerful, but she was in Brandy's mind. The home arena advantage, coupled with the mental training that Agatha and Bowza had taught her, would surely yield her the fight. She had not seen the point in the training before, but now Brandy was glad it had taken place.

"Impudent, willful little girl…", Yaga growled. "You're just like all the others. So sure you can win, so confident in your abilities."

Brandy conjured up a phantasmal stick, similar to the one that she would normally fight with, and threw it at Yaga's head. The Witch's hand struck out as fast as lightning, caught the weapon, and broke it into bits. Her eyes glinted with evil intent.

"But…", she said. "I have never lost!"

With a wave of her staff, 6 more Yagas appeared. They swirled into a circle around Brandy, and slammed their staffs into the floor as one.

Brandy tried to remember what to do in this situation. If an enemy has you surrounded, you need to create a… a…

The Yagas all closed in on Brandy at once. She still could not remember.

Ryusei_Nakao69 had been watching the proceedings with mild concern. They had both been under for a few minutes now, and it was beginning to become disconcerting. Both Brandy's and Yaga's eyes had rolled back into their heads, showing the blue and red whites. He had no understanding of mental combat; it wasn't his area of expertise.

"Yaga, what's going on?", he asked. "Is everything alright?"  
Upon hearing no answer, he gently touched Yaga on the shoulder.

One of the Yagas struck Brandy's knees from behind, forcing her to the ground. Another jabbed her staff into Brandy's ribs, keeping her pinned there. And yet another placed her hand over Brandy's mouth and covered her eyes. Against only one Witch, Brandy had been winning. But against 7, she simply stood no chance.

"Shh, don't fight it, Brandy.", Yaga said. "Just let it happen. Just let it happen."

Another Yaga leisurely made her way over to the mind box. She placed one finger on the lid.

"I knew you couldn't resist, Brandy.", she said. "I knew it."

Brandy's heart beat. A pulse of pure rage flowed through her. Those were the exact same things that Chad had said to her, in that canyon, on that fateful night.

Her eyes glowed purple, and a thin laser streaked from them, through one of the Yaga's hands, and through the arm of the Yaga touching the mind box.

"Why, you-", Yaga began, but then was quickly cut short. She felt a physical intrusion, and was immediately yanked out of her trance.

"Ah, there you are, Yaga.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 with a friendly smile. "I was just a little concerned."

"You fool!", she screamed, surprising everyone in the room. "You've broken my concentration! I have to get back in now."

Her eyes narrowed, and her eyes rolled back in her head. She went back into her trance, and all traces of the physical fell away.

Once she re-entered Brandy's mind, Yaga was disappointed to see that her clones had vanished. Usually, they would stick around- but then again, Brandy was not a usual victim.

Yaga looked around for any sign of Brandy- and then she found one. Hovering above the mind box, in the dead center of the room, was a feedback loop orb. It was the only defense against mind cloning, and Brandy had managed to build one. Certainly, it wasn't a particularly hard move to pull off, but Yaga was surprised that Brandy had managed to do it so quickly.

"Come down from there, Brandy.", said Yaga. "Come down, and meet your fate."

"Come down?", echoed Brandy's voice from all directions. "I believe I already have."

A savage kick collided with Yaga's back, sending her spinning head over heels further towards the center of the room. Brandy had never been in the feedback loop orb- she had been waiting in the corner of her mind, ready to strike.

Yaga tumbled over herself, dropping her staff in the process. She skidded facedown to a stop- right next to Brandy's mind box.

Brandy noticed first. Yaga's position was dangerously close. With just one perfect move, she could wipe out all of Brandy's memories in an instant. She had to strike down the Witch immediately.

Yaga noticed soon after. Partially from Brandy's panicked run towards her, and her own taking note of her position. Brandy ran as fast as she could, but to no avail. Yaga flipped open the lid to Brandy's mind box, and reached her hand inside.

"Stop running!", Yaga yelled. "Or you lose your entire mind!"

Brandy reluctantly stopped running. She gritted her teeth, knowing that Yaga had the upper hand here.

"I win, Brandy.", Yaga hissed. "Your mind is mine. You just forgot to keep it guarded."

"Maybe so.", Brandy said. "But you forgot one other thing."

"Really?", Yaga asked. "And what is that?"

"I did."

Yaga looked down, and saw what Brandy meant. A small, blinking Mine had attached itself to Yaga's arm, having crawled out from the open box. She hardly had time for her eyes to widen before the Mine exploded, blowing the Witch's mental arm to bits.

Yaga screamed, and fell away from the box. She looked up, right at the moment that Brandy caught up to her. There was the noise of a savage punch, and Yaga was blown away to the side of the room once more.

"You're 3-0, Yaga.", said Brandy. "Looks like I win."

"Oh, do you now?", asked a voice behind her.

Brandy stiffened and turned around, but not quickly enough. Three different staffs all slammed into her, landing a solid blow on her forehead, ribs, and leg. She fell back, but caught herself before she hit the ground. In front of her stood even more clones of Yaga than last time- there had to be at least 12.

"You forgot to maintain your feedback loop, Brandy.", they all said at once. "And now, you won't have a chance to set them back up again. It was only Ryusei_Nakao69's foolishness that spared you last time- and that will not happen again."

As one, they all banged their staffs on the floor. As one, there was a familiar sound. And as one, a horde of 36 Skeletons all crawled to the surface.

_Shoot, _Brandy thought. _What can I do now?_

The sound of her thoughts echoed around the room, and Yaga laughed. "Your innermost thoughts reveal themselves, Brandy! I do indeed have you trapped!"

_And I can now access your thoughts,_ the Witch then broadcasted. _Soon, my control will be complete!_

Brandy tried to take a step, but the vast, still-increasing Army of Skeletons kept her at bay. She knew she had only one chance to win here, or at least force a draw.

"You are indeed a tricky one, Brandy.", said Yaga as she made her way once more to Brandy's mind box. "But you're all out of tricks now. I win."

She grabbed the lid and flung it open. "I am… unavoidable."

But Brandy was not out of tricks. She still had one more left. And in the split second between Yaga opening her box and her reaching inside, Brandy scraped her hand against a Skeleton's hand at Dash speed. The leather on her gloves caught fire from the friction, and she held up her hand.

"And I…", she said. "Am on fire."

She stuck her burning finger inside of her mouth. The flame was extinguished, but the heat, and more importantly the _idea_ of the heat, carried through to her brain.

Yaga flinched, as a roar built up in the dark tunnel at the back of the room. She hurriedly tried to plunge her hand into Brandy's mind box, but something lunged out and bit her. She cursed and tried to grab it again, but it was far too late.

Yaga screamed as a vast sheet of flame roared into Brandy's mind, and pure heat devoured her, her clones, and the entire Army of Skeletons. Brandy collapsed to her knees, among the great blaze, and her mind avatar vanished.

Yaga's physical body recoiled in immense pain as she snapped back to reality, and her eyes returned to normal. Her hands flew to her face, and she screamed.

Brandy, too, returned to normal. But instead of resting, as she probably should have, she leaned forward, and laughed. She laughed at Yaga, aggressive and triumphant.

"Yeah!", she yelled. "Suck on it!"

Yaga hid her face from view, and Ryusei_Nakao69 put his fingers together. "Interesting.", he said. "You seem to somehow be able to resist Yaga's methods. I simply must study you further."

He snapped his fingers. "Yaga, hold off on her. Chad, Rick, take her to the dungeons. Or to your rooms, I don't care. Her mind is clearly worthy of further study."

Song: Unwinnable Battle

Upon hearing this, Brandy slightly relaxed. She instinctively figured that Yaga had given up, and that she could rest her mind now.

But as Brandy learned just one second later, she was wrong.

In an instant, Ryusei_Nakao69 barked an order. In an instant, Yaga swirled around once again, and pressed her staff to Brandy's forehead.

Brandy had not been prepared for the attack. The force of Yaga's enraged mind swept through her own like a firestorm. She tried to defend, but Yaga had reached her memories before she knew it.

She could feel the Witch's full force bearing down on her. She fought desperately to keep her most precious memories- those of her family, her King. She was Blue, she was Blue, she was Blue- she had to remember that most of all.

But even as she thought of them, she thought how utterly hopeless it seemed to remember them. They were all dead now, anyway. There was no point in thinking of them anymore. Maybe she should just join this Clan, where there was a bright future ahead of her-

No. No, she couldn't. That was Yaga talking, and Brandy knew it. She pushed back, as strong as she possibly could. Every single ounce of her mental strength, and every final bit of fortitude she had within her went towards one single, final, last push. And she could see it- the blue and gold fist of her will, pushing against the red and black tidal wave of Yaga's.

"It's over now, brat.", Yaga hissed. "Give in!"

Yet she knew that Brandy's will was intensely strong, and Yaga might actually not be able to defeat it. So she abandoned any semblance of fighting fair. Yaga smiled, drew back her fist, and punched Brandy in the gut.

That blow was all it took. Brandy spat, and lost her concentration. The storm of Yaga's will poured over Brandy, forcing her down into the abyss. She tried to still push, but it was too late. Yaga's force surrounded her like some infernal tentacle, wrapping around Brandy's mind, pulling her down into oblivion, and-

Brandy's head jerked upwards with a painful cry, then she fell limp. Her eyes closed, and her chin lay upon her chest. Yaga smiled, took Brandy's chin in her hand, and held it up to her face.

"There... no isn't that better?", she said. "Now that you've finally given up?"

"Better... better...", Brandy mumbled.

The corners of Ryusei_Nakao69's mouth turned up in a grin, then a smile, then a full-blown, insane wound. He threw back his head and laughed, an all-powerful _ohohohohoho _that echoed off the walls. All had gone exactly according to plan, minus maybe a few small kinks here and there. He was happy, his benefactor would be happy, and now he would have a brand new Bandit.

"Who are you?", Yaga asked, just as a last minute test. She knew without a doubt that her spell had finally worked, erasing Brandy's memories and leaving nothing but a clean slate. But just to gloat, she would do this.

"Who… am I?", Brandy mumbled. "Who am I…"

So it had worked then, beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yaga started to stand up, when Brandy said one more thing.

"I'll tell you who I am."

Everyone on the podium looked down in shock. "What?", they all said, or at least thought.

Brandy continued. "My name is Brandy the Bandit. My King is Oticat. My Clan is LosDementosCT. And you can never, ever, take that from me."

She looked up, and everyone could see the sheer hatred that came from her. A faint purple glow surrounded her body as she spoke.

"Why, Brandy?", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Why would abandon such a good life with us, choosing instead to side yourself with those you know are dead?"

"I think you already know.", said Brandy. "But I will tell you. It is because I, at my very inner heart, am a fighter. I am loyal to those I love. And I'll tell you right now- you might as well just give up with trying to make me yours. Because I will never, ever-"

Yaga performed a quick remote check on Brandy's mind again, and gasped. She saw two glorious, glowing images imprinted on Brandy's soul- one was of a mysterious figure in heavy armor, and the other was of a man in a brown leather coat.

"-stop fighting!", Brandy yelled. "And I will never, ever, let you win!"

Ryusei_Nakao69's face twisted into a harsh grimace. "Well,", he said, "I suppose he really only wanted her soul. Her body was just a bonus."

Chad and Rick both heard these mutterings, and looked at each other. "Uh, sir?", said Chad. "What are you doing?"

The King's face was a mask of sheer rage. "Vladimir!", he roared. "Do your duty."

On his command, a previously unseen figure rose from the seat at the edge of the platform. It was a menacing-looking Executioner, a hood covering his face.

Brandy saw him stand, and her blood ran cold.

"Sir, don't!", Rick shouted. "I thought you needed her alive!"

"Not anymore!", Ryusei_Nakao69 bellowed. "Finish her, Vlad!"

The Executioner thrust out his arm, and took an enormous step to where Brandy was still restrained. A massive axe, leaning on the wall on the other side of the room, vibrated and then flew through the crowd and into his hands with a metallic thrum, cutting skin along the way.

Song: Roundabout

"You, Brandy, have been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day you arrived.", growled Ryusei_Nakao69. "I frankly don't even see why He wanted you specifically. But I do know this-"

Vladimir raised his axe, far above Brandy's head, ready to strike. "It will be a pleasure to finally be rid of you."

Ignoring the protests from the crowd and the Elite Barbarians, the axe fell, aiming directly for Brandy's head.

Yet even as it did, Brandy was not afraid. Instead, her thoughts were of peace. For she could die happily, knowing that in the end, even their strongest efforts had been unable to break her.

She closed her eyes, and the last thing Brandy saw was Meg, far across the room, staring at her in pain.

And the last thing she heard was the indescribable, yet unmistakable sound, of a Clone spell sliding into place.


	7. Chapter 7

**North of TheEvilOverLord's Clan Castle, one hour earlier**

ChupilickytwaCT brought a pair of binoculars up to his face, and peered through. He could see, off in the distance, the menacing dark red Clan Castle of TheEvilOverLords. The entire structure simply radiated evil- he could almost see it.

"Well, there it is.", he said, and put the binoculars down. "It looks heavily guarded."

"By what?", asked Oticat. "I don't see anything."

"Ah, but that's because you're only looking with your eyes, my boy.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "You need to look with your spirit."

"You're starting to sound like a Magic Archer there, Chup.", said Oticat. "What do you mean?"

ChupilickytwaCT simply waved his hand over Oticat's face. "Here. Look again."

Immediately, Oticat could see far more. A thin layer of blue covered his vision, and he could see small shapes of Troops surrounding the castle that had previously been hidden by the treeline.

"Wha- what was that?", asked Oticat. "What did you do to me?"

"That's Co-Leader vision, my boy.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "I just promoted you."

Oticat sputtered with a mix of confusion, gratitude, and pride before finally spitting out his next sentence. "You mean, all Co-Leaders can do that?"

"Of course.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "And a lot of other things, besides. And that's nothing compared to the powers of a true Leader… but that's best to be explained some other time. For now, let's talk strategies."

He stood up. "Co-Leaders! Meeting!"

At once, several Kings materialized next to him- Gameremix, Stankyleg, Aurora, Digb, getusomeofthat!, Lord Farcuash, and Rockerc. They were all in various states of wakefulness, with Rockerc and Digb on wide alert and Aurora almost asleep. It was still extremely early in the morning, and the sun had not yet risen. It would not for another hour or so.

"Welp, guess I'd better go.", said Oticat. "Leave you Co's to it- wait! No!"

He had gotten up to leave, but then quickly sat back down. "I am a Co-Leader now. Right."

"Alright,", said ChupilickytwaCT, and pressed his hands together. "We need to talk strategy. Right now, if we just charge in there without a plan, we'd get destroyed."

"I have a plan.", said Rockerc. "But its a weird one."

"Weird's alright.", said Stankyleg. "What is it?"

Rockerc's face became animated, and he started to gesture wildly with his hands. "Okay, what if we traveled to the bottom of the ocean, found a pillar of the gods, and-"

ChupilickytwaCT raised his hand to stop him. "Too crazy. And also too time-consuming. We need something different."

"I have a suggestion.", said Digb. "And I guarantee you, it's not as bizarre as that one."

"I'm listening.", said their Leader.

"Well,", said Digb, "I know from reports and my own research that this Clan does a lot of… experimentation. We won't be up against just regular Troops, I can tell you that. We need a scouting mission, something to see what exactly it is that we're fighting."

ChupilickytwaCT stroked his chin. "I see… unfortunately, that would give away the element of surprise. And that just so happens to be our greatest weapon."

"That is a problem.", said Lord Farcuash. "Yes, if only there was some way to have a reconnaissance mission while simultaneously keeping the effect of total surprise. If only…"

Oticat couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not- it was always quite hard to tell with Lord Farcuash. But he happened to have the perfect idea, and so Oticat spoke up anyway.

"Well, what if we Cloned a batch of our troops and sent them in? That way we can force at least some response, and we trick them into thinking we lost already."

He had said it quietly, but it had gotten everyone's attention.

"Why, I think that's a great idea, Oticat.", said getusomeofthat!, a puff of smoke coming out of his pipe. "We get information and weaken their defenses, and then we can strike with even more surprise."

He stood up, adjusted his pipe, and spread his arms. "I see this as an absolute win!"

ChupilickytwaCT stood as well. "Well then, it's settled.", he said. "Everyone, discuss among your own troops which ones will be Cloned. In exactly 20 minutes, we send everyone in. Once the Clones are destroyed, we will adjust our strategies according to information gleaned, and then take these buggers out."

"And rescue Brandy, right?", Oticat asked.

ChupilickytwaCT smiled. "Of course.", he said, and then snapped his fingers. Or he was about to, when he was distracted by a very odd sound coming from above. "Hog Gliiiiider!", came a distant call.

"What the…", the King mumbled. "What are those?"  
"I heard you're going up against some pretty weird troops.", said a voice he had not heard in months. It seemed to come from behind the trees.

"So we brought some of our own.", said another. ChupilickytwaCT strained to place the two voices. They seemed so familiar, yet he couldn't quite remember who they belonged to.

But then, when the two stepped out into the light, his memory was jogged.

"Vin-Vinsent?", he gasped. "DestinedChild? You two came back?"

Vinsent and DestinedChild used to be dedicated Co-Leaders, but had both left the Clan for their own reasons. ChupilickytwaCT couldn't believe they had come back.

The two Kings both posed on each other. "Yes! We are!", shouted Vinsent.

"And we brought help, from far across the sea!", said DestinedChild, and pointed up. The assembled Co-Leaders looked up, and saw a flight of Hog Gliders flying overhead, as well as several Dropships and Healers. "The likes of which you have never before seen!"

"Well, I guess I haven't.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "But I'm sure they'll help."

Then, he snapped his fingers, and the rest of the Co-Leaders were instantly teleported back to their respective tent-wagons. He had some things he wanted to talk about to DestinedChild and Vinsent.

Oticat felt himself dissolve, be remade, and then dissolve again as he was teleported. It was quite a disorienting feeling. _Huh, _he thought. _I wonder if this is how Troops feel when they die in the Arena. _

As a matter of fact, it was the exact same feeling minus the slight pain Troops underwent, but that fact was unknown to him. All he knew was that it felt very odd.

Once the effects had subsided, however, Oticat found himself facing all of his Troops in his tent-wagon, looking up at him expectantly.

"Well? What's the plan?", shouted Kars. "Come on, tell us!"

Oticat took a deep breath, and clapped his hands together. "Well. Who wants to get Cloned first?"

Brandy felt an odd sensation, tingling through her entire body. It felt like an Arena death- no, it felt like being played- no. It felt like… like… a Clone.

She opened her eyes, and saw the last remnants of a shattered blue body fade into the floor. But even as it went, Brandy could make out the shape of two things: a mask, and a hood. Someone had Cloned her.

She looked up, and saw the Executioner staring at his axe in bewilderment. She had been Cloned at the exact same moment that the weapon fell, and the short-lived copy had been the one to receive the death blow instead of her.

_Good thing Clones don't usually have feelings, _Brandy thought, _Or I might feel kind of guilty about this. _

"What happened?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "Vladamir, what was that?"

"I- I don't know, your majesty.", said Vladamir. "It looked like a Clone, but… there's no one around who would cast it."

The King's eyes narrowed, the long black scars underneath them furrowing. "Indeed. It does seem to be a Blue spell. But who…"

He cast his furious gaze over the room. "Who cast this? Who dares disturb my commands?"

Nobody answered, awkward glances being exchanged. Nobody dared to say a thing. But Rick, in his seat so very close to Brandy, began to lean forward. He spun his sword, adjusting so that the flat of the blade would come down on the swing.

"Well then, do it again, Vladamir.", Ryusei_Nakao69 growled. "Its got to be a fluke- and a fluke won't happen twice."

Brandy racked her mind for anything that could have caused the Clone spell. Could it have been Webert? No, there was no way he could cast spells. Could it have been the man in the brown coat? Perhaps, but he had already left the room. Perhaps, could it have been-

She stopped. _Could it have been her Clan?_

_No, _the more rational part of her brain replied. _Kurizas said they were all dead. _

_But what if they weren't?, _she thought back. _I'm sure Oticat could have come up with something to trick Kurizas. He does not seem like a smart Prince. _

_Yes, but there were others with him. Even if Kurizas is not the sharpest tool in the shed, one simple trick could not have fooled everyone._

_Ah, yes, _Brandy thought, _but you are forgetting the most important thing. _

_What?_

_That stranger? The one in the brown coat? He said everything would be alright._

_And you trust him?_

_Yes. Yes I do._

"Very well, your Majesty.", said Vladamir, and raised his axe again. "This time, I won't miss."

He put down Brandy's hood, in order to get a cleaner target, and his eyes lit up in glee, at the thought of a satisfying kill. But then Vladimir's gaze met Brandy, and he saw something he couldn't quite comprehend.

Brandy was smiling. Here she was, literally seconds away from a painful death with no regeneration, and she was smiling.

_Oh well, _thought Vladamir. _Not my problem._

He scoffed, and let his axe start to fall.

Song: The Hand Theme

Right then, in that moment, several things happened.

One was that Vladamir's axe fell, slicing through the air like a hurricane right towards the top of Brandy's exposed head.

One was that the entire North wall shook in a massive explosion, hurtling chunks of ornate masonwork outwards into the assembled crowd, turning several dozen weaker troops into puddles of Elixir instantly.

Another was the aforementioned explosion knocked dozens of other troops off of their feet, including everyone on the makeshift sacrificial altar that Brandy was. To Brandy's relief, Vladamir's axe flew out of his hands, and stuck in the stone floor.

Another was that a thin line of Blue started to creep across the floor, through the now panicking audience, and began to make its way towards Ryusei_Nakao69. He could see it, one of his many powers as a Leader. His eyes grew wide.

And finally, the last thing that happened within that space of a few seconds was that a charged up shot from a Max Level Sparky blasted through the massive hole in the wall that even more Wall Breakers were still pouring out of, streaked over the heads of the crowd, and detonated with a titanic explosion right at the base of the altar. Everyone on it- Ryusei_Nakao69, Vladamir, Chad, Rick, Chloe, Kurizas, Yaga, Stacy, Veronica, theSenate, Odurawaz, LeChris, and Brandy- were all thrown in a dozen different directions, skidding across the floor from the force of the attack.

But even as Brandy hit her head on the stone, she was ecstatic. Because she knew that she had finally managed to hold out long enough, and that she had been right all this time. Brandy knew that her beloved Clan, LosDementosCT, had arrived at last.

Ryusei_Nakao69 coughed, and looked up through the dust. He could just barely see a trio of Sparkies roll through the hole in his castle's wall, dozens of Battle Ram teams right behind them.

"What is this?", he growled to himself. "What happened? Who are those people?"

He made some dark gesture with his right hand, and a Wizard appeared by his side.

"Give me answers, Timothy,'' he said. "Now."

The nervous Wizard fumbled with his glasses, and stared at the invading Blue army. He made a few quick calculations in his head- he was good at numbers, but very little else.

"Well, sire,", he said. "Those troops seem to belong to a Clan known as LosDementosCT. The very same Clan, if I may mention, as the Bandit you stole recently."

Ryusei_Nakao69 clenched his fist. He had no idea how they were still alive. Kurizas, his own son, had promised him that they had all died. He knew Kurizas well- the Prince was far too unintelligent to lie.

He debated trying to figure out how such a thing could have happened, but decided against it. Far too much was happening for him to focus on such trivial pursuits. Instead, he just decided to gain some information.

"Timothy!", he yelled. "What's our current odds of winning this encounter?"

Brandy sprang up from the floor like she had been shot from a Cannon. Then her vision was overcome by a field of blackness, and she fell back down again, because she had stood up too fast and was rather dizzy. But then she stood up again, this time for real.

"Hey!", she shouted, and jumped up and down, hoping that someone she knew would catch a glimpse of her. "I'm over here! Guys, I'm over here! Over he-"

Then she went silent, as the side of a blade smacked her on the side of the head with immense force and Brandy was knocked out instantly.

Rick scooped her up in his arms, and started looking for the best way upstairs. It wasn't easy to pick one out, with half the Troops in the room running around randomly, and the other half actively trying to destroy everything they saw.

"Rick!", shouted Chad. "What are you doing? We gotta go fight!"

"I'm looking for a secure place to take Brandy!", Rick yelled back, trying to be heard over the immense din. "We'll hide her until after this is over!"

"Why?", Chad hollered back. "She's just a Bandit, Rick! Why are you so concerned about her?"

Rick thought about telling his brother why, but decided against it. He had his own reasons, very good ones, for keeping her safe, but they were too complicated to share now. "Just follow me!", he yelled. "Valeyrie, you come too!"

"Okay!", Chad said. "But this had better be good!"

So Chad, Rick, and Valeyrie all ran upstairs, picking a path through the crowd. Then they're going got a little tough, and they smashed their way through the crowd. Then they at last reached the back staircase and ran up as fast as they could, vanishing into the upper recesses of the Clan Castle.

A wave of Hog Riders entered the breach, with a line of Ice Golems heralding their approach. They shouted their signature battle cry all as one, and charged.

"We got em, Riders!", shouted Vern, one of the leads. "Just keep on pushing!"

The Ice Golem in front of him said nothing. Most likely because it was an Ice Golem, and Ice Golems didn't talk. Or do anything, really.

Chuck smashed his hammer into the head of a Goblin, which exploded into Elixir. A dozen Skeletons all tried to sink their swords into his Hog, but were blocked by the Ice Golem's formidable bulk.

ChupilickytwaCT appeared at the edge of the breach, riding his Baby Dragon. Oticat and Dan were on opposite sides of him.

"I'll meet you lads once this is all over!", ChupilickytwaCT said with a jaunty salute, and took off into the middle of the room. "Let's ride!"

"Dan, where's Brandy?", asked Oticat. "Do you see her?"

Dan quickly scanned the room. "Yes.", he said. "I see her. Right against the back wall. Being carried up those stairs."

His voice was filled with sheer rage, as it had every right to be. But there was more to his inflection- it was bursting with cold hatred, with dark justice.

"Good, go ge-", Oticat started to say, but Dan was already gone. He had practically jumped into the fray, already slashing and hacking his way towards the back wall and the stairs.

"Um, well, your Majesty,", said Timothy, "let me think. We were taken by total and complete surprise, but I think that has just about worn off by now."

He was right- the Troops of TheEvilOverLords were no longer gripped in mindless panic. They had responded to the attack, and were now counterpushing in full force. LosDementosCT had already started to take some losses.

"So right now, I'd say 86%.", Timothy finished. "Of course, that's really just a rough estimate, but-"

Explosions rocked the room, and Ryusei_Nakao69 stumbled. He looked up, and his enhanced eyesight kicked in automatically. He could see the dust coming from the ceiling, almost certainly a by-product of something happening in the upper levels.

"What's going on up there?", he barked. "Timothy?"

Timothy checked his communicator, and his face paled a shade. "Sir, its not just a ground invasion! They're attacking with Balloons, Lava Hounds, Minions- you name it up there! And there's also this other thing- I can't quite make it out- its a-"

"Hog Glider!", shouted a Hog Glider as he flew in majestically through a stained glass window, punching it to bits in the process.

"Yes, that.", said Timothy. "But my point is that this isn't just a random invasion- these are real field tactics, orchestrated by someone with real experience in these sorts of things. Our chances of winning just dropped down to- to 81%!"

"Hmph.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Who cares? That's still an optimal percentage."

"Yes,", said Timothy timidly, "But it appears we won't hold that percentage for much longer. Look!"

They both turned their attentions to the front of the room. The Troops under Ryusei_Nakao69's rule had organized by now, and were beginning to fight back. There were Golems crashing against Giants, Ram Riders ensnaring each other constantly, Electro Wizards electrifying Pekkas, Knights vs Barbarians, and dozens of other battlefronts and duels opening up across the entire front of the room. And true to Timothy's word, the attacking force of LosDementosCT did seem to be slowly, but surely, gaining the upper hand.

But despite this, Ryusei_Nakao69 merely closed his eyes, and chuckled to himself. "Oh, Timothy. Did you really think I had not prepared for such an attack? Behold!"  
He swept his arms out. "Golems! Defense formation C!"

The Golems had been all up against the back of the wall before the attack had started, so they were currently the ones making up most of the front. Upon hearing Ryusei_Nakao69's cry with their almost, but not quite non-existent ears, they took up formations as one, and stopped.

A solid wall of rock now blocked the entrance to the room.

"There, that'll certainly buy us some time.", said the King. "What's our percentage now?"

"Um, well, it's-", started Timothy, but he never got the chance to answer. Neither King nor Wizard had been paying attention to the sounds of battle- if they had, they would have heard a slow, high-pitched whine begin to build, growing stronger and stronger until-

A huge torrent of shotgun bullets ripped through one of the Golems, spraying chunks of fractured stone in all directions. The hit Golem was destroyed almost instantly, splitting into two Golemnites, which were also turned into Elixir by the storm of sheer firepower.

Shelly strode through the gap in the Golem wall, and repumped her shotgun.

Song: Second Bomb

"Let's go!", she yelled, and took aim at a Dark Prince charging towards her.

Ryusei_Nakao69's eyes widened. "Good Se'th, is that… a Brawler?"

"It would appear so, sire.", said Timothy. "One of very high level, as well. Our chances of winning just dropped to 72%."

_Oh, that's not good. Not good at all,_ thought Ryusei_Nakao69, then raised his arm into the air. "Concentrate all power on that Shelly!", he roared. "I want her destroyed immediately!"

But then, something came through the breach that not only worried the King, but actually scared him. He felt it, really, before the massive presence even came into his sight.

A group of Archers all lowered their bows, about to all fire at Shelly simultaneously, when a huge hand, covered in golden armor, fell from above. The immense blow shook the ground, leaving a crater- and splattered the Elixir of the Archers for several dozen meters with the sheer force of the attack.

Orfox walked through the wall. He didn't walk through the hole that was already there- he actually walked _through_ it, crashing through the thick stone and mortar that had taken a dozen Wall Breakers to penetrate. But he didn't even seem to notice, as he merely leaned down to address Shelly.

"Ay, saw ye were in a bit of trouble there, Shelly.", he boomed, his massive voice echoing across the room.

"No I wasn't.", Shelly said. "I was fine. Those Archers were about to become tortilla soup."

"Well, if ye insist.", said Orfox, and stood back up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some bloody business to attend to."

His eyes seemed to light on fire, and the power and fury of his voice flowed across the wreckage of the Grand Ballroom like an angry tidal wave. "Who's in charge here?", he roared. "Come and fight me, ya wee coward! I'll break yer bones to nothing, and drink your Elixir raw!"

"Don't say it.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, quietly, so only Timothy could hear him. "Don't-"

"Um, 50, sir.", Timothy said.

"Our those our chances of winning?", the King asked. "For your own sake, Timothy, they had better not be."

"Oh, no.", Timothy said. "Of course not. That's the level of that Barbarian King, sire."

"So what are our chances, then? Hmm?"

"49%, sir.", said the Wizard even quieter. "Those are our chances of winning."

Ryusei_Nakao69 blinked. He looked at the chaos unfolding in his Castle, then considered his options. If he stayed here, he would almost certainly be killed. If he fought, even with his new personal guard alongside him, he would still fall to that _thing _besieging them. At this point, there was really one thing he could do.

"Timothy,", he said. "Wait here."

"Sire, where are you going?", Timothy said.

"To use that thing my benefactor gave me."

Timothy gasped. "But sire, surely, you couldn't possibly mean-"

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked the Wizard straight in the eye. He was determined to win, and if that meant potentially damaging the fabric of all reality, then so be it. "I do. I mean the Scrambler."

And with that, Ryusei_Nakao69 took off from the shattered head table, and towards a small, decorative pillar in the back of the room that glowed with malevolent light.

theSenate pushed the wreckage of a table off of himself, and erupted into a violent coughing fit that lasted for several seconds. Once it was over, he looked around for any of his troops.

"Hello? Is anyone around me?", he asked. "Could someone carry me away? I believe I hurt my foot quite badly."

After several seconds of silence, a slice of broken rooftop was pushed off of a makeshift shelter. Bailey rose up from within. "I'm here, theSenate."

"Ah, Bailey. I knew you would be here.", said theSenate. "Could you help me? I can't quite move."

Meg stood up from the last-second shelter. "I can help… I think. Here, let me take a look at it."

"Bailey, who is this?", theSenate asked. "I've never seen her around before."

"There really isn't a lot of time to explain, I'm afraid.", said Bailey as, with a massive exertion, managed to lift her King up onto her shoulder. "But this is Meg. She's LeChris's, and she's my friend now. Now let's go. This is a dangerous place."

Bailey and Meg both ran towards the back of the room, frantically searching for a way out, theSenate in tow.

Max stood in the middle of his kitchen, pondering. Even though it was mostly untouched at the moment, Max knew that the main heat of the battle would soon find its way here. And once it did, everything in it, everything that he had worked for, everything that he had worked so hard to preserve, would be gone. That old photo he had of his old life, that he kept secret in a locked drawer he claimed was full of "secret ingredients"? Gone. His mace, that he kept for absolute emergencies? Gone. He could not allow that to happen.

So he did the simplest, yet most effective thing he could have done in that situation. He flipped the sign on the outside window from "Yes, we're Open" to "Sorry, we're closed", shut all the lights off, calmly selected a knife from the drawer, and began to chop vegetables as if nothing was going on.

ChupilickytwaCT lashed out with a borrowed sword, tearing a Guard's head clean from its shoulders. A Goblin took a flying leap and tried to land on his Baby Dragon, but a swift blast of fire took care of it almost instantly.

He wiped the sweat from his kingly brow, and saw something alarming. He saw, at the very back of the room, Ryusei_Nakao69 grasp the sides of a menacing-looking stone pillar, and begin to make strange movements- no doubt some sort of incantation.

"Edward!", he shouted to his son, fighting below him. "I'm going after their Leader! Cover me!"

Edward smartly saluted. "Understood, father!", he said. "I will fight ever the harder!"

King and Prince smiled at each other warmly. Then King took off on his Baby Dragon, and Prince pulled down his vizor, and charged. Or he was about to, before a shape crossed his path. The shape of a Prince. The shape of Kurizas.

The two Princes instinctively began to circle each other, looking for any weaknesses in the other's armor or stance. But both found none- they were both very good Princes, of very high level.

"I can sense it in you.", said Edward, ever gracious. "You know not what you do. Stand aside, and you may yet be spared."

"On the contrary.", Kurizas countered. "I know full well what I do now. I defend my Clan, I defend my father, and I defend the honor of Red."

"Hmph.", Edward said. "Ones that call themselves Red have no honor to speak of. Only cheap tactics, and underhanded trickery."

Kuriza's arm stiffened, and he adjusted the grip on his lance. "I'll make you regret those words, fiend."

"The only thing I'll be regretting,", said Edward as he armed his own weapon, "Is that you will be such a short battle, and totally without enjoyment."

Kurizas didn't have much of a comeback for that one. He wasn't really all that smart. So he just lowered his lance, flipped shut his vizor, and charged. Edward charged as well.

The two Princes streaked towards each other, all the sights and sounds of the intense battle fading to nothing around them. This was a proper joust, a Prince's sacred territory, and nothing would interrupt it.

In their eyes, as they charged towards each other, both Edward and Kurizas could see no fear, or hatred. Only pride, and ferocity. They smiled underneath their vizor, both knowing that their opponent was one they would most likely very much like to meet someday, when they were not too busy hacking each other apart in a kidnapping-induced feud.

The two Princes met each other in a huge crash of steel, edge of spinning lance against rounded plate. The sheer force behind such a charge was one that would knock down a Giant, and it sent both combatants for a loop. Edward and Kurizas both fell off of their horses, rolled across the floor, and dropped their lances. They lay there for a few seconds, and breathed.

Edward could feel the hole in his chest, that was even know growing wider. The edges slowly became Elixir, his lifeblood draining away onto the floor. Fortunately, due to his father's plan, there was enough Blue presence here in order to designate the Castle, however temporarily, as neutral territory. Everyone that died here would regenerate.

He looked up, and saw Kurizas with the same wound, looking right at him. Edward gave him a thumbs up. "Well done.", he said.

Kurizas repeated the gesture. "You too.", he said.

And with that, both Princes dissolved into Elixir and into the floor.

Rick made one last lunge, and reached the top of the stairs. Almost out of breath, he handed Brandy's unconscious body to Chad. "Here, hold her. She's getting heavy."

"Why did you even bring her?", Chad grumbled. "Ryusei_Nakao69 needs her, not us."

"I have my own reasons, Chad.", said Rick. "Just trust me."

"You say that, but you haven't actually told me why.", Chad replied. "Why do you want her so badly?"

Rick started to say something, held up a finger, then stopped. "Okay, can I talk to you for a moment? In private?"

Chad nodded. "Here. Valeyrie. Hold her.", he said, and handed Brandy off to Valeyrie, who awkwardly scooped her up.

Brandy's eyelids started to flutter open. "Wha-", she said, and then Valeyrie smacked her in the face with the flat of her axe, knocking her once more into unconsciousness. "Stay out, you little twerp."

Chad and Rick reached the far side of the room. "Okay.", said Chad. "We're here, in private. What do you have to tell me?"

"Okay.", said Rick. "I'm not sure you'll understand quite where I'm coming from, since you have Valeyrie. But me? I have nobody. I want someone. Therefore, if I just take Brandy for my own, I can finally have a girlfriend."

"Oh.", said Chad. "Well, if that's what you wanted, then why didn't you just tell me, bro?"

"I dunno.", said Rick. "I thought that you would think it was stupid."

"Nah.", said Chad. "You're good."

They bumped fists, smiled, and turned back towards Valeyrie. The first thing they noticed was that Brandy was no longer with her.

"Uh, Valeyrie?", asked Chad. "Where's Brandy?"

Valeyrie picked her teeth with one long fingernail. "Huh? Oh, her. Yeah, I just dumped her in a closet somewhere. Door's locked, so you don't have to worry about that."

"You what?", Rick shouted.

Song: Third Bomb

ChupilickytwaCT flew as fast as he could on his Baby Dragon, towards the back of the room. The wind whipped at his face, and his crown almost blew off, but he refused to slow down now. Whatever Ryusei_Nakao69 was trying to do with his dark arts, it would almost certainly spell doom for LosDementosCT.

Ryusei_Nakao69 finished performing the unlocking ritual to the Darksafe, and his eyes lit up with maniacal glee. He reached in, and took out a long metal rod. It was the Scrambler, a mysterious otherworldly device given to him by his mysterious, otherworldly benefactor. Ryusei_Nakao69 wasn't quite sure exactly what it did, but he was sure it would help him here.

He reached for the top of the rod, flipping back the glass lid as he did so, and saw a large red button.

But he was interrupted by the feeling of something landing behind him, shaking the floor. He turned ever so slightly, and saw ChupilickytwaCT. He jumped off his Baby Dragon, drew his sword, and pointed it at Ryusei_Nakao69. "Drop the device.", he said. "You're cornered."

Dan swung his sword with a mighty flourish, taking a Goblin's head clean off and sending it flying across the room. He was almost to the stairs, just a few more feet to go. He could almost taste the blood of Chad on his blade, almost see the fear in the Elite Barbarian's eyes. Almost. He just had to get there first, to wherever in the Castle those scum had taken Brandy, had taken his best friend. With a pounding heart and burning will, he knew he had to follow through. As he flexed his muscles, and the Star activated, every pulse rippled through his very soul. His veins overflowed with bravery. He was ready to rise, free of doubt, and accept fate.

But then, a Giant stepped in front of him, just as he was about to go onto the stairs.

"Hey, little guy.", said the Giant. "What do you think you're doing?"

Dan didn't waste a second. He breathed in deeply, concentrating the latent energy in the air. It was tainted by the overpowering presence of Red, but it would still do. Once the particles were gathered, he moved them down to his fist, and it began to sparkle with pure energy.

"My heart burns… with the force of a raging Inferno!", he shouted, and brought his fist behind his back. Flames started to grow around it, but he did not burn.

"Wait, wha-", said the Giant, but Dan didn't let him finish.

"Raging Crimson Overdrive!", he shouted, and plunged his Star-infused fist right into the Giant's leg. Powerful spasms of energy traveled through skin, muscle, and bone, igniting the Giant's body as they went. The arcane power of the Star overwhelmed the titan in mere seconds, and he burst into Elixir with a wail.

The purple liquid splashed against Dan, and he growled. _Next time_, he thought. _Next time, it will be him. _

And Dan ran up the stairs to finally rescue his best friend.

"Oh, am I?", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "It certainly doesn't look that way."

He held up the rod, and it glowed black under the overpowering red light.

"You see, in my hands, I hold a weapon.", he continued. "I don't know exactly what it does, or where it came from, or even who made it. But I can find out one of those things."

"You're a madman.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "You have no idea what that thing could do. You could kill us all."  
"And if I don't use it, I'll die anyway.", said the Red King. "That is a risk I'm willing to take."

ChupilickytwaCT flinched. Such a statement was a twisted version of his own personal philosophy, that there was never any good reason to quit. Because if you quit, you lost for sure. But if you didn't quit, there was still a chance that you might win.

It was that philosophy that drove him now, trying to reason with such an insane individual.

"But who says you'll die?", he said carefully. "If you just turn yourself in now, you'll only go to jail. No death."

Ryusei_Nakao69 was silent for a few seconds, until he finally spoke. "Are you trying to reason with me?"

"Perhaps.", said his opponent. "That really just depends on whether or not you respond well to being reasoned with."

But ChupilickytwaCT could see in Ryusei_Naka69's eyes that it was impossible. There quite simply was no reason in reasoning with the reasonless. So he lunged with his sword, aiming straight for Ryusei_Nakao69's head- and was stopped.

The Red King held up a single hand, making a single evil gesture. A dark wave of force held ChupilickytwaCT in place, courtesy of Ryusei_Nakao69's nearly demonic powers.

"A bold attempt, mortal.", he said, with a voice larger than himself. "But my plans will not be so easily thwarted!"

On the other side of the platform, Kars the Lumberjack jumped into view. He was soaked with blood and Elixir, although most of it was not his own. He saw exactly what was going on, and charged right for the rod. He didn't know what it was, but it looked extremely dangerous.

Ryusei_Nakao69 noticed Kars sprinting towards him at the speed of Rage, and raised an eyebrow.

"You're too late, Lumberjack!", he shouted. "Though you and your King have made indeed a valiant effort, there's no longer anything you can do!"

He flipped back the lid on the rod once more, revealing the big red button. ChupilickytwaCT strained as hard as he could to escape the darkness- and noticed a crack in the shield. Kars put on an additional burst of speed, and got ever closer to Ryusei_Nakao69.

"This is it!", shouted the Red King triumphant. "I'm pushing it… now!"

His thumb clicked down on the button.

There was a clap of thunder, and the entire Castle began to move. Rooms flew through one another, staircases rearranged themselves, hallways disappeared and were made. Entire sections of the Castle teleported, and the Grand Ballroom was completely scattered. Ryusei_Nakao69 caught a passing beam, and flew off into the chaos.

"I- I did it!", he shouted. "It activated!"

Sadie and Elizabeth had been fighting near the entrance, using their Field Longbows to snipe foes with bursts of flaming arrows from across the entire room. But now, once the torrent of confusion had concluded, and the room stopped shaking and moving, they knew not where they found themselves.

"Um, Sadie?", asked Elizabeth. "Where are we? Where did Dad go?"

Sadie pushed her sunglasses up her face. "I don't know. We know not where we find ourselves, remember?"

"What?"

"Never mind. But look, we need to find out what happe-"

Sadie's words were cut short by the sound of scrabbling bones, and chuckling Goblins. She motioned for Elizabeth to get down, and the two Princesses dropped down to the ground, behind a stack of boxes.

"There's not much room in here, Elizabeth.", Sadie said. "We'll probably have to change weapons."

"Right.", said Elizabeth. They both slung their Longbows onto their backs, and withdrew instead their Tower Shortbows.

"We won't have any splash.", Sadie muttered. "Good thing the fire rate can make up for it though… I hope."

Elizabeth knocked an arrow in her bow, and peeked out over the edge of the boxes. A horde of Skeletons and Goblins were pouring through a hole in the wall, and coming straight for them.

Kars fell out of the air and landed directly onto the already smashed ruins of a table, scattering the pieces even further. He looked around, and scratched his head. It sure didn't look like any place he had ever seen- just hallways stretching into total darkness on either direction, bookshelves lining the walls. Traces of dried blood lined certain parts of the floor, and signs of many, many struggles were evident as well. This was clearly a dangerous part of the Castle- but Kars did not care. Lumberjacks were all insane, really, but Kars especially so. He didn't just not fear danger, but actually relished in it.

"Hey!", he shouted, as he shouted everything he said, even when he was whispering. "Anyone there? Foe, I'll tear you to bits! Friend, we can go _find_ someone to tear to bits! Yee ha!"

But as he shouted, he did not notice a mysterious, ominent shadow sneak up behind him, and raise its sword into the air.

Agatha swirled out of her protective bubble, cast at the very last moment. It had been a hasty protective measures against the surely demonic powers of the mysterious object that had warped the Castle so, and seemed to offer at least some physical armor as well. She put her hand to her ear, tapping twice to access the communicator that an Electro Wizard had given her before the journey. It enabled her to speak with everyone else that wore one- about 50 other Troops.

"Hello?", she said. "Can anyone hear me?"

There was no answer. "Hello? Anyone at all? Oticat? Dan? Shelly? Orfox? Kars?"

But still, there was no answer. The power of the Scrambler had cut off all remote communication.

"Blasted thing… won't even work.", she frowned, and turned the device off. It was fortunate that she did, because in that exact moment, Agatha could see a dark shape loom out of the darkness ahead of her, thrusting aside broken bits of stone, and rise to its feet.

"I can smell your mind from here, Agatha.", said the figure. "It smells…"

Yaga leaned forward into the light, and smiled an unnatural grin that almost seemed to spread from one ear to the other. The sight was repulsive, exactly as it had been precisely calculated to be. "Delicious…"

Yaga hobbled forward, and Agatha could very clearly see that her leg had been damaged in the fight. But her staff and eyes glowed ever the stronger for it.

Agatha took a stance. "You... ", she growled. "You're the one that tried to erase Brandy's mind. I saw it."

"Oh, did you now?", Yaga smugly mused. "Well then, I'm sure you're familiar with the process. It will be a simple matter to erase yours."

Agatha's staff lit up, and a trio of Skeletons magically appeared around her. Yaga seemed to be almost totally inexperienced in out of arena combat, judging from her paltry stance- but Agatha could not be too careful. Everything in a Clan like this was considered a trick.

"Mmm,,,", said Yaga as she moved closer, and licked her lips. "I've never had another Witch as my pet before… I wonder what it's like."

Agatha clenched her staff tighter, pulled her cloak around herself, and approached Yaga with fury in her step, and menace in her eyes.

"You think you stand a chance against me?", she asked. "You couldn't even break Brandy."

Yaga slightly flinched. "What do you know about that?"

"I trained her.", Agatha said. "She may be strong in mental combat, but I am even her superior."

Yaga muttered something to herself, then stabbed her staff into the ground. With a familiar sound, a trio of Skeletons clawed their way out of the ground and stood to face Agatha.

"Perhaps.", Yaga said. "But one thing is certain-"

She held up a single finger in front of her face. "I am one level _your _superior."

Song: Overdrive

Bowza sat, cross legged, in the ruins of what looked like it used to be somebody's bedroom. There was a crushed bed in one corner- that would be a strong indication. But Bowza could never be sure for sure. After all, to him, many things were seen that were not necessarily there to others, and many things understood only by him. Perhaps he was merely imagining the bed, and he was in fact in the quiet wreckage of a library. Either way, however, he was doing something very important.

He was waiting. Waiting for someone to come along, maybe. Waiting for the signal to be given so that he could finally unleash the process that would instigate Operation Tremors, most certainly indeed.

Soon, one of those things did come along. But it was not a signal, it was someone. And that someone was a Troop, and that Troop was an enemy Troop, and that enemy Troop was a Giant, one of particularly high level.

The Giant shuffled forward, close to the ground, his small eyes trying to pick out any foes.

"Hey, anyone here?", he asked slowly. "Cause if there are, come on out. I wanna hurt you real bad."

Bowza felt another presence behind him, simultaneously scrambling and creeping across the rocks. With an icy chill that proceeded it, Bowza could tell it was their own Ice Spirit, Randy.

"Randy.", Bowza whispered in Spirit. "There is a very strong Giant just up ahead. Once I tell you to, I need you to jump directly into its eyes. You got that?"

Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit. But he nodded, because deep in his ice block of a brain, he understood.

"Good.", said Bowza. "Now let's go."

He floated back down to the ground, out of his cross legged hovering position, and drew back his bow. The Giant was only mere meters away from him.

The bulk turned, in midst of throwing a rock against the wall, and smiled a grin of sadistic glee. "Aw look, there's the tiny person! Hello, tiny person!"

Bowza took aim, without moving any part of his body. The Giant's ear seemed to be inflamed, most likely because of another previous attack. It would be the best place to attack- if he wanted to only annoy the Giant. No matter how badly such a spot was injured, it would only cause superficial damage at most. So he looked other places- and saw the perfect target. Over the Giant's chest, there was a ripped spot in his tunic, and a swollen bit of skin beyond.

_Perfect, _thought Bowza, and aimed.

As the Giant lunged, Bowza fired the arrow of light precisely at the point where it would hurt most.

Sadie nocked another arrow. She gritted her teeth, poked her upper body above the boxes they were hiding behind, and fired randomly into the horde. She heard the cry of a Goblin fall, be trampled under his fellows, and get flattened into Elixir. She shuddered a bit. Even if these Troops were evil, destroying them forever was a horrible thing to do.

"Sadie, pay attention!", Elizabeth said. "There's still more of them coming!"

She fired an arrow through a hole in their makeshift wall, and pierced a Skeleton right through the ribcage. It shattered from the force, and vanished almost instantly.

But for every foe the sisters struck down, there were a half-dozen more still coming. The rip in the wall that they poured through seemed to have almost no limits to its capacity, nor the source of the tide of enemies.

Sadie dared a longer look over their wall. She slowly raised her head above the rim, and yelped in surprise. Before, there had been almost 100 feet between them and the wall. Now, the nearest rushing Goblin was only about 8 feet away.

She knew there was no time to run away, or space. She also knew that even if they kept firing to the end, it would have no dent on the massive amounts of Troops. There was only one thing they could do.

Sadie swallowed hard, and turned to Elizabeth. "Elizabeth, they're here.", she said. "There's only one thing we can do."

"What?', Elizabeth asked. She almost didn't want to know the answer.

"We have to surrender.", Sadie said. "Surrender, and hope they don't hurt us until someone comes."

She stood up over the box wall, and put her hands into the air. "Hey! Hey! We surrender! We give up."

Elizabeth slowly nocked another arrow, until Sadie shot her a look. Then she dropped the bow, and stood up as well. "Uh, yeah. We don't have any weapons, so I guess you can just leave us alone. Go fight someone else."

_Nice touch, _Sadie's eyes seemed to say.

_Hey, thanks, _was Elizabeth's silent reply.

Their plan worked, in their heads. The horde of troops would see that the two Princesses were now no longer a threat, and leave them alone. Then they could escape, and rejoin the fight somewhere else.

But they had underestimated their foe. The Troops of TheEvilOverLords didn't know mercy, or decency. They only knew victory- the crueler, the better. And they were notorious for doing things to defenseless girls who gave themselves up.

The Goblins grinned, and extended their arms forwards. Their eyes glinted with a hungry glee, and drool came from the corner of their mouths.

Elizabeth noticed first. "Uh, Sadie?", she said. "I don't think-"

"-that this plan worked?", Elizabeth finished. "Yeah, I don't think so either."

The Goblins in the front of the group leaped towards them. The Princesses grabbed each other, and couldn't help but scream.

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

A wave of yellow energy rushed across the front of the Goblin ranks, burning their skin. They fell back, screeching, but were quickly dissolved by the rush of Star. The two Princesses looked up, and saw the glowing figure of Dan in the doorway, illuminated by the bright energy coming from his body.

The lead Goblin, a large Goblin Brawler, hissed at him. "Get him!", he screamed. "They're defenseless, he's the main threat!"

The horde started to run towards them, and Dan did nothing but close his eyes. Close his eyes, and breathe in.

He felt the latent energy of the room, increased by the heat of battle, fill his body. "My body swells…"

He concentrated on the force of the Star, and directed it to his hands. "With pure, unyielding light!"

As one, the horde rose up to attack him, crazed eyes and crazier screams filling the doorway. Dan opened his eyes, and thrust his hands outward. "Storming Yellow Overdrive!"

A huge flash of energy blasted the front fist of the tidal wave, turning the Goblins and Skeletons into purple splatters within the space of a second. It continued, never slowing down, burning the rest of the army like paper in an Inferno. Finally, it reached the Goblin Brawler, who was trying to get away as fast as he could. But it burned over him just as easily as it did all the others, and he, too, dissolved in a flash of yellow Star.

Sadie and Elizabeth watched in shock, then cheered. "Dan!", they said in unison. "What _was_ that?"

"That?", Dan said. "Oh, that was the Star. Bowza taught it to me. Did you two not see that?"

"No…", giggled Sadie. "But maybe you could show us some more."

"Yeah.", said Elizabeth. "Show us some more."

"Maybe some other time.", said Dan. "Right now, I've got to find Brandy-"

He stopped. He looked up, and sniffed the air. He could smell the scent of true evil, not that far away. "He's near.", Dan said. "You two, hide. Right now."

The two Princesses also felt something was wrong. They simultaneously ducked underneath their line of boxes, and both got quiet. They didn't know who "he" was, but from the way Dan said it, they could tell he was someone bad.

Song: Shoot Towards the Decisive Battle

The door on the right side of the room swung open. An invisible, almost imperceptible dark wind blew from it, Dan's senses picking it up almost immediately. A single horned figure stepped through, followed by another. Dan's body bristled. It was _him._

"Yo, what was that?", Chad grumbled, as he brushed debris off of his arm."It was like a frickin Earthquake, only way bigger."

"I bet he used the Scrambler.", said Rick. "Don't know what else could have caused it."  
"You think?", said Chad. "Cause I sure don't-"

He looked up, and saw Dan, standing in the middle of the room. "Oh. Hello.", said Chad.

Dan had no doubt. This was the one in the picture. This was the- the _thing _that had taken and violated Brandy. He was sure of it.

"Where's Brandy?", Dan said.

"Brandy- oh.", said Chad, and chuckled. "You're him, then. Dan. The one she was begging for, the whole time."

"Where is she?", Dan screamed, and Chad moved back.

"Woah there.", he said. "Easy, now. We just put her to rest a bit. She'll be fine in a few minutes."

"You'll be dead by then.", Dan growled, and raised a fist. Star faintly swirled around the metal gauntlets. "With the power of the Star, I will-"

"Wait, Star?", said Rick. "The frick is that?"

"With the power of the Star, I can kill Giants and Skeletons Armies with but a single blow.", Dan continued. "I will make short work of you."

Chad smiled. "Oh, come now Dan. We both know that the Star is exponentially more powerful the larger and more numerous your enemies are. I'm only about your size, and there's only one of me. It won't be that strong. I, on the other hand…"

He curled his arms, showing off his prodigious muscles. "I am Chad the Destroyer, finest of all Ryusei_Nakao69's Troops. With one mighty hand, I can hold back Pekkas, and with the other, bring down towers in seconds. Many have tried to face me, to avenge their precious friends, but all have failed. I've killed all of them, and forced the ones they tried to help to drink their Elixir. I've taken stronger opponents than you hundreds of times. I know full well that now won't be any different."

Dan didn't even wait a moment. He didn't really listen to what Chad was saying. Instead, he just started a slow, intense walk towards Chad. This took the Elite Barbarian rather by surprise.  
"Oh?", he said. "You're approaching me? Even after all I said? Rather than running away, you're coming closer?"

"I can't kill you without coming any closer.", said Dan simply.

Chad chuckled. "Oh ho! Come as close as you like, then."

Chad took a step towards Dan, and Dan took a step towards Chad. The fire reflected off their eyes, and focused into each other's hearts. Their souls met for a moment, and pushed off of each other again. This meant little to Chad, but Dan had been pushing himself towards this moment for days without rest. This meant everything to him.

Finally, the two met in the middle of the room, right up next to each other.

"Do you have anything to say before we begin?", asked Chad.

"I do.", said Dan quietly. "My name is Dan the Knight, of King Oticat, of Clan LosDementosCT. You kidnapped and raped my best friend. Prepare to die."

Kars stepped up onto a destroyed wall, and stopped. He carefully scanned the area for any sign on any enemy, but found none. Any yet, he could still feel the danger that surrounded him.

Morgan slowly floated towards Kars, approaching him from the back. He was utterly confident in the knowledge that only Kings could see a Royal Ghost once invisible. The Lumberjack had no chance of stopping his assault.

"Where should I go?", Kars shouted to himself. "Maybe I should just go to the front, where all the action is."

Morgan hovered over the rubble, and up to Kars. He slowly raised his sword, over the head of his victim, light glinting off of the edge of the blade.

"Or maybe I should just run around in the back, see what I can find.", Kars hollored thoughtfully, and brought his axe up to his head to help him think.

Morgan brought his ghostly blade down with a mighty slash. It cut through the air with a mighty swing, and hit Kar's axe, which had been accidentally raised to block, with a mighty thunk. The sword bounced off and slid across the ground, just out of Morgan's immediate reach.

Song: Stardust Crusaders

Once Morgan had attacked, he became again visible, much to his slight embarrassment. Nobody had ever been able to block his first strike, or get the drop on him- and now, this Lumberjack had done both sheerly by pure luck.

Kars turned his head all the way around, slow as curiosity, and saw Morgan blinking back at him. And he smiled, a crazed grin that said "hey buddy, I'm just as crazy as you are."

"Hee ha!", shouted Kars, and slashed forward with his hatchet, slashing downwards across Morgan's face. The Royal Ghost screamed in agony, and retreated, holding his face in his hands. Morgan's mind reeled with confusion- how did this Lumberjack deflect his strike so effortlessly? How did just one attack cause him so much damage? And where was this bizarre _music_ coming from?

Kars wasted no time. Almost instantly upon seeing Morgan retreat, Kars advanced. He grabbed his axe and made another swipe, slicing open the ethereal fabric of Morgan's tunic.

Morgan scowled, and held out his hand. Magically, the blade that had been knocked out of his hand vanished, and reformed in his grip. He swung his sword at Kars- but he was just far too slow. Kars ducked out of the way and slashed again, this time targeting Morgan's lower torso.

Morgan's face twisted from the attack, and swung around. This time, he managed to catch Kars by the leg, and send him sprawling across the floor.

But within a second, Kars pushed against the stone ground and sprung back up onto his feet. He spun his hatchet around in his hand, and gave a maniacal laugh.

Morgan decided it was time to disappear. This battle wasn't going too well, and he needed a little bit of time to readjust himself. So he thought of emptiness, of nothing, and of the cold stone of the dark hallways that he spent so much time in. Within seconds, all visual traces of his physical, Elixir-fueled body had vanished, leaving only his ethereal soul.

Kars carefully scanned the room, looking for any signs of Morgan. The Lumberjack was practically a battle genius, and knew all the telltale signs of a hidden enemy. Usually, there was some sort of trace- dust on the floor being disturbed, the smell of life moving around, the ever so faint echoes of footsteps, trying their best to not exist. But for Morgan, he could find none of these.

Morgan carefully considered his next course of action. It would be foolish, of course, to continue the attack. Kars's raw physical might was on a whole different level from Morgan, and seemed to be far too much in a fight. He would have to escape, obviously- but from where?

The north door was too obvious- everyone expected you to flee north. It was the direction the loser King always went; going north for Morgan would practically be instinct. Going west was out as well, because there was a huge rock collapse that was blocking the area. Going east was impossible, because there was no east exit, and Morgan didn't think he could make one. That left only one way- north. There was just one small problem. Kars was standing right in the middle of the north doorway, gleaming axe in one hand, clenched fist at his side.

Morgan knew that he stood no chance against Kars in an open battle. But he also knew that if he just managed to take him by surprise, then it would be a bit more even. It had only been a fluke last time that Kars had managed to block, a complete accident. And, as Morgan thought as he drew closer to Kars, drawing his sword, _A fluke won't happen twice. _

Kars had no idea that Morgan was coming. There was literally no way that he could detect the Royal Ghost. Not only that, but the strength of Morgan's blows far outclassed those of Kars's. Just one shot to the head to finish it. Just one clean strike, and the Lumberjack would be no more.

So when Morgan raised his sword to strike, his surprise when Kar's fist suddenly streaked forward and slammed into Morgan's cheek was immense. The blow was clean, the line of impact clear and defined. A crack appeared in Morgan's cheek, and he staggered backwards through the air, suddenly again very much visible.

"Millä tavalla…", he gurgled. "Miten lakko maa?"

Kars grinned. "I just took a random shot.", he admitted. "How nice of you to wander right into it!"

Morgan stopped moving, and his eyes narrowed in sheer hatred. How dare this upstart Lumberjack deliver such pain unto him? How dare he attack him so randomly, and receive such luck? How was he, the great guardian of the halls, going to be bested by some Arena-only Troop?

Morgan yelled in fury, and dug his sword out of the ground. He swung it at Kars, only for Kars to totally sidestep the blade, and dig his axe into Morgan's shoulder. Morgan swung again, upwards this time, intending to cleave Kars right in half, only for him to parry the blow with a skillful swipe of his hatchet and fling the weapon aside.

Morgan stretched out his hand again, trying to recall his sword, not even stopping to realize what an open target that made him. Kars did, however, and his eyes twinkled with jolly, murderous intent as he spun his axe around in his hands, and thrust downward.

Their eyes met, for just half a second. _Oh, I've really messed up this time, haven't I?, _Morgan's seemed to say.

_Yep, _replied Kars. _I think you have._

The razor-sharp axe blade sliced directly through Morgan's arm, separating it from the rest of his body with barely even a whisper. The detached arm flopped onto the ground and melted, yet Morgan did not yet become Elixir. He gasped at such a massive injury, and he pulled his arm closer. But even as he did so, even as he cradled his stump in his arm, he could see the menacing shadow of Kars fall over him.

"Vara ... varaa minut ... Juoksin vain pois ja piilotan jossakin täällä linnassa.", gasped Morgan. "Sinun ei tarvitse murehtia minua vastaan, lupaan. Ole hyvä, älä tappaa minua."

"Oh, please,", said Kars, and dropped his axe. What he was about to do required both hands. "I've seen what you did to people."

He leaned closer, and Morgan's eyes grew wide with fear. "Did you really think such a fate…"

Morgan saw his chance, and he took it. He slashed at Kars's face with his extra long fingernails- and they shattered into bits upon contact with just Kars's cheek. The Lumberjack didn't even flinch- he just kept on talking. "...awaited scum like you?"

"Sinä - olet hirviö!", Morgan shouted, and tried again to stab Kars with what he had available- nothing more than just a broken piece of rock that he had found on the ground.

"Chop chop!", Kars bellowed, and hit Morgan with two punches, both at lightning speed. They hurt, but it was just a taste of what was going to happen next.

"Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop!", Kars roared, and flung a torrent of punches. Each one hit Morgan on either the face or the chest, each one flinging him around like a sack of potatoes.

"Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop!", Kars yelled, and pummeled Morgan again, this time alternating strikes on each side of the head, with both fists. Blood sprayed from the Royal Ghost's mouth as his jawbone and skull were shattered, but Kars was not even close to being done.

"Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop!", Kars screamed, and directed his punches towards Morgan's chest. Every few punches, the smack of the hard blows was accompanied by the harsh crack of another rib being broken.

Kars paused for only a second to collect himself, and take a deep breath, before jumping back in. "Chopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchopchop!", he roared, slamming wild fists onto Morgan's already shattered body with reckless abandonment. He knew that the Royal Ghost had no chance whatsoever of surviving this, but he wanted to be absolutely sure.

Kars grabbed Morgan by whatever mangled hunk of flesh counted as his hand at this point, and threw him up into the air. "TIIIIMMMMMBBBEEEERRR!", he shouted as he barraged Morgan's collapsed and shattered torso with yet more punches, each faster and more enthusiastic than the last.

Once Morgan was launched into the rafters, Kars jumped up after him. He grabbed the front of the broken Ghost's shirt, flung him down with Kars actually riding on top, and resumed his barrage.

"ChopchopchopchopchopChopchopchopchopchopChopchopchopchopchopChopchopchopchopchopChopchopchopchopchopChopchopchopchopchop!", he yelled, anger tinting his blows, each strike propelling both him and Morgan downwards, then through the floor and onto the level below, right next to a large stone column that looked an awful lot like a Crusher.

"Hee ha!", Kars screamed one last time, and delivered one final punch to Morgan, using up the last of his ferocious energy for now to do so. The mangled near-corpse of the Royal Ghost flew towards the Crusher, various holes across his body and streaming ribbons of blood, and landed right in it. The stone pillar fell with a mighty crack, and the body of Morgan sprayed into nothing but purple rain across the entire room.

Kars dropped to his knees, and breathed in and out. His colossal attack rush had taken a lot out of him. He put his hand out to his side- his axe would come flying to him, soon enough. In the meantime, he could just take a deep, refreshing drink from his bottle of Rage, and he would be all ready to go again. Just as soon as he took a drink. But before that, he thought he would close his eyes a bit. Just to rest…

Song: Throwing

Shelly leaped off of an overturned bookcase, loading her gun with a fresh round of bullets as she did so. Once she landed, a door fell in front of her, split down the middle. The one glowing eye of a Mini Pekka illuminated the dark room with an eerie red light. "PAN. CAKES.", it said metallically.

"Yeah, you're not getting any.", said Shelly, and lowered her gun. "Maybe next time, though."

The Mini Pekka raised its sword as it clamped closer. As soon as it was within striking distance, Shelly pulled the trigger on her shotgun, and fired. A hail of bullets blasted from the barrel and ripped through the air, slicing right through the metal of the Mini Pekka's skin. It screamed in all the agony it could feel, them fell to the ground.

"PAN. CAKES….", it said sadly, then fell apart and dropped through a fracture on the ground, just a flow of purple liquid.

Shelly pumped her fist in victory. "Yes!", she said with excitement. "That makes 50! I can't wait to tell Orfox, he'll freak!"

She swung her gun up to her shoulder, preparing to run. A bolt of pure electricity suddenly arced from behind a crushed doorway and struck Shelly in the face, sending a sharp bolt of pain through her and sending her backwards a couple of feet.

Hastily, Shelly redound her bearings, and drew herself to her feet. With a quick scan of the room's crumbled interior, it soon became apparent that there was something hiding behind the door frame. She couldn't actually tell what it was- but she would find out soon enough. She just needed to reload her gun, then blast the door open, then kill whoever was behind it, then make another list of things to do. Shelly liked lists.

She pulled back the bolt action on her giant shotgun, born of her half-Hunter heritage. A chamber opened deep within, and another load of bullets would have ratcheted neatly into the firing chamber had twin bolts of lightning not fired from the wall and into her gun, resetting the entire process completely.

"You…", Shelly spat. "What are you?"

Unknown to her, there was a chamber behind the door that was just barely large enough for one person. Inside it was Ryusei_Nakao69's own Level 11Electro Wizard, Tsarsus. He had his hands placed on some torn wiring, able to fire bolts of thunder anywhere in the room. With another devilish grin, his hands pulsed white, and two more electric charges hit Shelly in the arm.

But even though it hurt to do so, Shelly raised her gun, and swept her vision across the room. She couldn't see anything, or anyone, that moved. Her life's experience had taught her to be wary of any sign of danger, but there was nothing. Nothing at all, except…

Except for a faint yellow light, coming from somewhere next to the door. Even though this castle was indeed very odd, Shelly reckoned that a glow like that had to come from a complex source. And whatever source was complex enough almost certainly was whatever was attacking.

Shelly raised her gun again to fire, but it's loading process was interrupted once again by Tsarsus's electric interference. Soft, maniacal laughter echoed from somewhere unmarkable, maddingly just outside Shelly's reach.

"You think you've got me trapped, huh?", Shelly said, and raised her gun. Tsarsus quickly reset the loading- but Shelly wasn't going for shooting this time. Instead, she swung her gun around like a club, smashing a hole in the drywall and exposing the spot where Tsarsus lay in ambush. Upon seeing her, the grin on his face vanished, replaced with the slowly dawning face of regret.

Bowza's arrow pierced through the Giant, right in the middle of his lower stomach. It roared in pain, and staggered backwards. The middle of a Giant's lower stomach was notoriously sensitive, and having a burning arrow of light stuck in the middle wasn't probably helping much.

"You dare hurt Fred?", he bellowed. "Fred no like being hurt! Fred smash you!"

Bowza leaped backwards, just over the top of Randy's head. "Unusually stupid, isn't he, Randy? Even for a Giant."

Randy said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit. But he nodded in agreement, and fixed his eyes on Fred's head. He had only one shot, and he knew it. He knew it as a spirit.

"Remember Randy,", said Bowza, "hitting the right spot it absolutely key. Without it, our whole plan falls apart."

Randy laughed.

"It's not funny, Randy.", said Bowza. "Really, its not that funny at all."

He nocked another arrow, because Fred had recovered from the blow and was now coming closer. "Fred beat you to a pulp!", he bellowed, face red from the sheer animalistic fury. "Fred rip you into tiny bits!"

"Sure, buddy.", Bowza said, and prepared to fire. "Sure you will."

He let loose his magical bowstring, and the arrow of light shot forward and pierced straight through the Giant, leaving a hole about the size of a coin. Fred's face tightened in pain, and he lashed out. He didn't care that he was not even remotely within range of Bowza, he just wanted to attack.

But even though he was still around 30 feet away, the sheer force of Fred's mighty blow still had an effect. The ground rippled as if hit by an Earthquake, and the vibrations reached all the way to Bowza. He jumped up into the air to avoid the strike, and landed on a broken windowsill that led out into open air.

He took another look at the Giant. Now that Bowza thought about it, Fred certainly didn't look like a regular Giant. His muscles bulged with unnatural force, and what appeared to be small pistons and wires adorned certain parts of his body. He must have been subject to some of Ryusei_Nakao69's bizarre Troop experiments.

"Crush you!", Fred screamed, and turned a small knob on his chest all the way to the right.

_Oh, that can't be good, _thought Bowza. And he was right.

As soon as Fred stopped turning the knob, a pulse of red flowed out from it, covering his entire body. His muscles swelled to even further proportions, and his eyes glowed with sheer, uncontained Rage.

"Uuuurrraaahh!", Fred bellowed, being unable to even form words at that point. The pure adrenaline flowing through his body was too much to contain. He leapt straight for Bowza, one hand outstretched in a colossal fist.

Bowza watched him grow closer, each mighty step pushing him further along the floor. Craters formed with each step, and a fire broke out mysteriously from somewhere behind him.

_Closer…, _Bowza thought. _Closer… come on…_

Finally, Fred was within mere meters of Bowza. He roared something incomprehensible and threw his fist straight at Bowza's head.

"Randy, now!", shouted Bowza, and ducked to the side. Randy appeared from behind his cloak and hopped right into Fred's eyes. There was a confused bellow, and Fred grabbed his eyes. But they were already frozen, and Fred's vision had been temporarily stolen. Still storming ahead, he crashed through the spot where Bowza had been just moments earlier, groping randomly for him, only to break through the window behind, slip through, and fall screaming out into open air.

Bowza listened to the bellow of confusion and pain as Fred fell seven stories, then smashed into the ground. When he heard the wet slap of an Elixir splash, he was sure his foe had died.

Bowza turned, closed his eyes, and pushed out his hand into the air. "Good job, Randy.", he said. "Once I get back home, I will give you my personal congratulations."

He turned to leave, and go to the next room. But he never got the chance.

At the bottom of the fall, Fred lay, still very much alive. The Elixir pop had come from an unfortunate bundle of Archers that he had landed upon, crushing them all to splatters instantly. His head pounded from the fall, and blinding rage still refused him judgement. He couldn't even control himself at that point- one arm just randomly lashed out, slamming into and across the wall. The blow shook the foundations of the tower, and the walls began to crumble.

Bowza felt the room shake, and he looked out the window. He saw Fred bash the wall again, and slowly start to get up.

_How did he live?, _Bowza thought. _I heard him die. Such a thing seems quite bizarre…_

But there was no time to just sit around and think. Fred still needed to be killed.

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Tsarsus raised his hands in defense, and conjured up a beam of electric force. It slammed into Shelly, and almost sent he reeling backwards. But with sheer force of willpower, Shelly managed to stand her ground. "You know, Electro Wizard...l-" she began, "Really don't think that you thought this through."

Tsarsus took a visible step backwards. His fingers ran with electrical energy, sparks flying off nervously. "Oh?", he asked, in a voice that seemed damaged by electrical force.

"Yeah.", Shelly said. "You see, even though you can reset my gun, you can only do it every few seconds. Which means that if I just set it to rapid-fire mode, there's nothing you can do."

Thinking quickly, Tsarsus launched a blast of electricity at Shelly's blaster. But unlike before, nothing happened. _What?, _he thought.

Shelly pointed her gun right at Tsarsus's face. "Wondering when I could do it, Are you? Yeah, I already have."

Tsarsus realized, in that half-second, that of all the things he could have done, Random Sniping Crew was most likely not the most important.

"Arrriariariariariariariariariariari!", Shelly shouted as she squeezed her guns's trigger, sending a cyclone of bullets directly into Tsarsus's chest. He screamed, and started to fall apart. "Ari!", yelled Shelly one last time, and fired a particularly vicious blast that split Tsarsus wide open, sending his Elixir splatting against the walls. His scream of pain hung temporarily in the air before fading into total oblivion.

Shelly Set her gun on the floor and leaned up against it, stopping to take a breath. After such a loud, enthusiastic barrage of attacks, a good rest was in order. "I wonder how Orfox is doing.", she thought. "He's probably doing pretty well."

She waited for several more seconds before silently getting her gun into battle position and running off again, into the darkness that was Ryusei_Nakao69's Castle.

Agatha locked eyes with Yaga. "You think that matters?", she said quietly. "You boast about your higher level, when I have an advantage that matters far more?"

"Oh? What?", Yaga asked.

"There's a Lumberjack right behind you.", she said. "And he wants to kill you."

Yaga spun her head around, and saw, running at top speed right at her- nothing. There was nobody there. No Lumberjack, and certainly not one that wanted to kill her.

"Oh, I don't think so-", she started to say, then stopped, as she immediately smacked in the cheek by the head of Agatha's staff. The blow forced her to stagger backwards a few steps.

"Oh, you think you're tricky?", she snarled, and lowered her own weapon. A blast of purple, more red than blue, shot out from it and connected right with Agatha's own shot, which was more blue than red.

"I am tricky.", Agatha said. "I have far more tricks up my sleeves than you can possibly handle."

She spun her staff, shooting a small storm of miniature bullets of magic. They smacked against Yaga, tearing small rips in her clothes and skin.

"You think tricks matter to my power?", Yaga growled. "Take a good taste of this!"

She spun her staff around, and smacked it against the ground. Normally, such an action would have summoned only three Skeletons, but this was not a normal battle, and Yaga was not an ordinary Witch. Her special technique, honed from years of practice, summoned a horde of 6 Skeletons instead. "Take a good taste!"

"Yaga, do you really think that I would be bothered by mere Skeletons?", Agatha asked. "Watch."

She fired a few quick blasts from her hands that streaked into the bony ranks, destroying all of them at once. Then she gave her own staff a twirl, and summoned her own trio.

"It's the same to me.", said Yaga. "I don't care about your little buggers, either."

She flicked her hands, and shot just one thin beam that broke all of Agatha's Skeletons to bits, their Elixir vanishing instead of just seeping into the ground.

"Well then.", said Agatha, and raised her hands in front of her. Light purple lightning began to accumulate within them. "Let's settle this like real Witches."

Yaga raised her own hands, and dark purple lightning began to crackle around her.  
"Yes. Let's."

They both paused for a moment, taking in as much energy as they could. Then they shouted angrily simultaneously, and fired.

Song: Virtuous Pope

Dust rained down from the low, narrow ceilings, right onto Meg. She peered ahead through the smoky darkness, but couldn't really see anything. She squinted her eyes- still nothing, save some random sparks from a cut wire.

"Meg, you see anything?", came the voice of Bailey from behind her. In a Dash and a flash, the Bandit appeared, still holding theSenate. "Any way out of here at all?"

"Uh, no, I'm afraid.", Meg admitted. "I don't really see much of anything at all, besides just dust and smoke…"

Bailey squinted her eyes, and moved up closer. Meg awkwardly got out of her way, and Bailey leaned theSenate up against a broken dresser. He groaned, and almost fell over.

"Don't worry, he's just unconscious.", said Bailey. "He's fine. Let me see…"

She stared through the darkness, looking for anything that might be important. Bandits had very keen eyesight, especially in dark places and when looking for anything shiny. So the shine of an Outside doorknob, through a haze of smoke in a dark hallway should have been easy for Bailey.

And it was- through the purple haze, she could see a door to Outside.

"Okay, I found one.", she said, and pointed forward. "Meg, grab him. Let's move."

Meg tried to hoist theSenate into her arms, but she was far too nervous. Her hands shook like there was an Earthquake, and she couldn't quite grab hold.

"Meg, let's go!", Bailey shouted, exasperation in her voice.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", Meg shouted back, but she wasn't really getting anywhere. The more she tried to hold on to theSenate, the more nervous she got, and the more her hands shook. It was clear that she could not do it.

"Meg, you're useless.", said Bailey harshly. "Let me do it."

Meg recoiled, and Bailey could see the hurt etched on her face. The Bandit immediately regretted her choice of words.

"Hold on, I didn't- I didn't mean it like that-", Bailey said, but she could see Meg's eyes already watering up. "Hold on, you're fine-"

"No, no, you're right.", said Meg. "I am useless. I can't shoot, I can't fight, I can't even pick something up right!" Her face reddened, and Bailey winced.  
She pulled her helmet on tighter, and slapped her gun against her chest. She looked up, and tried not to cry. "Bailey, go on without me. I'll just fight until I die."

Bailey grabbed Meg's gun, and set theSenate aside. "No, no, hold on. You're not useless. You're my friend, remember?"

"I… I am?", Meg asked. Her fragile countenance struggled between breaking and holding, and her fingers started to tremble. "Really? But I'm so useless…"  
Bailey stared Meg right in the eyes. "Meg, listen to me. I want you to listen to these words, and really listen to them."  
"I'm listening.", said Meg, and met Bailey's eyes. Her heart started to beat faster, as she stared deep into the green and slight red.

"You. Are. Not. Useless.", said Bailey, making sure to carefully enunciate every word. "You are valuable, and you are appreciated. Now let's get out of here."

Meg's face turned slightly redder, and a small grin crept up her face. "Okay."

Bailey let go of Meg, and grabbed theSenate. "Let's move!"

Meg saluted sharply. "Yes, ma'am.", she said, and started to run after her friend.

The two sprinted as fast as they could through the rapidly collapsing hallway, only narrowly managing to avoid chunks of falling stone and twisted metal. A Goblin fell screaming out of a broken window, and splattered into Elixir right in front of them. Shouts of battle echoed from all around them, each indistinguishable against the general chaos and noise. Finally, they reached the door, and Bailey grabbed the doorknob. She took a moment to breathe, just to rest.

She turned to Meg, and grinned maniacally. "Well Meg, we did it. We're saf-"

But Bailey never got the chance to finish her sentence. Because as she was talking, both she and Meg forgot to keep a close eye on their surroundings. A huge chunk of stone had come loose from its bearings with a mighty crack, and came down directly onto Bailey and theSenate with an equally mighty thoom, killing them both instantly.

It took Meg just a moment to comprehend what happened. Here, her friend that even though she had only known for a few hours, was already feeling like a sibling to her, had been crushed and killed. Completely out of the blue, right in the middle of her sentence, just as they had been about to escape. And Meg knew that TheEvilOverLords was losing this battle. Their influence would be destroyed, and Bailey would be gone forever.

Meg kneeled before the huge chunk of stone that had stolen her friend's life. "Bailey…", she whispered hoarsely. "No…"

She slammed her hand against the stone, and screamed. "Bailey!"

Meg screamed her heart out, until her lungs were exhausted. And then, the tears started to flow. Thick, ugly tears that ran down her heaving face, and dripped upon the floor. They mixed with the flowing Elixir that was once her best friend, ran down the leaning ground, and poured off into parts unknown. And Meg covered her face with her hands, and sobbed on the grave, as sparks flew around her, and battle continued, not caring about her sorrow.

Dan and Chad stared at each other, for several long seconds. Pure hatred poured from Dan's eyes, unmatched in its fury across the entire planet. Chad stared back, a massive force of sheer evil, a cruel uncaring gaze dancing across Dan. Finally, he spoke.

"So, are we gonna do this or wha-", Chad began, but was swiftly cut off. Dan's sword cut upwards, slicing towards Chad's face. He quickly brought up his own, and blocked the blow. The ring of silver steel rolled across the room, shaking the windows. Dan growled, and pushed upwards, slowly forcing back the Elite Barbarian's blade.

"You disgraced a maiden's honor, beast.", Dan spat. "For that, you will be erased."

"All I did was work.", Chad said back. "Any delusions of a Bandit's maidenhood are yours and yours alone."

Chad lunged back and swiped upwards, sending Dan back. He swung his sword in a circle and brought it up near his face, and Chad did the same. Both of their fighting styles seemed to be equally matched- but Dan had not yet even begun to fight.

"My sword is burning…", he said, and breathed in. The Star filled him once more, and a soft blue and gold light started to stream into him from all directions. "With the force of a thousand raging suns!"

Chad cast a sideways glance at Rick. He wasn't sure exactly how this battle was going to go, and if he needed Rick to step in, he had to tell him now, before things got too out of hand.

_Yo, Rick, _he said with his eyes. _If I give the signal, you and Valeyrie help me._

_Really, bro?, _Rick blinked back. _You, need help against just a little Knight? He's not even level 10!_

_Yes, but…, _thought Chad, _that Star of his certainly seems formidable. I'm not sure _what _it is, exactly, but it doesn't seem like anything I'd like to mess with. _

"May the gods and the Star guide my blade,", Dan finished up, "and bring me victory today!"

The Star that he had been building up flowed into his sword, and it glowed a brilliant gold, flooding the room in holy light. He swung it into an attack position, and shot a fierce glare at Chad. "Let's begin.", he said.

Chad slowly approached him, swinging his own blade by the base of the hilt. "Your powers may be impressive, Dan.", he said, trying to intimidate his opponent. "But you are still just a Knight, one with 50% less HP than before. And I am an Elite Barbarian, the strongest of the strong, the quickest of the quick. Do you really think you can fight me, Dan? Can an insect ever fight a man?"

Dan concentrated power in his arm, preparing to strike. A bead of sweat dripped down his brow, as the heat from his Star-infused blade reached him. "My Star training has pushed me far past the limit of any normal Knight, Chad. I have even managed to overcome the nerf you mentioned. You are the insect here."

Chad smiled. The two had reached each other once again. "Really? Do you really think your meager training could help you? The product of a few short days, while I have had a lifetime to perfect my strength and skill in combat? Your Star training is useless! It's useless, useless, useless!"

They sized each other up once again, trying to look for any weaknesses. But upon finding none, they both swung into attack.

Song: Virtuous Pope, KiraraMagic remix

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan yelled, and swung his sword in a flurry of movements that would have confounded even a Lumberjack with their strength and speed.

"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless!", Chad roared in return, swinging his much longer, heavier blade in order to block Dan's attacks.

The two masters of combat threw their blows at each other with such incredible force that shockwaves began to be produced. Strength far beyond what they would have in any mere Arena collided with the other, silver swords clashing in a flurry of angry steel. Yet through the storm, they stared at each other's eyes. One was still filled with hatred, and the other with mere evil glee.

Sadie and Elizabeth could feel the power surging from the center of the room, but they did not dare to look. They could sense that if they drew any attention to themselves whatsoever, bad things would happen. Very bad things.

"Should we help him?", Elizabeth whispered. "Does he need it?"

Sadie put out an arm to stop her sister from doing anything potentially rash. "No. There's still two more people out there. Remember, we sense that if we draw any attention to ourselves whatsoever, very bad things will happen, right?"

Elizabeth gave Sadie a confused look. "What?"

"Eh, just forget it.", waved Sadie. "We should really just shut up and watch."

Dan was the first to break off his attack rush. He backflipped onto a broken bed, and raised his sword into the air. A deep sound came from his throat- not quite a yell, not a roar, not a scream- it was something else. The Star started to cycle around his sword, off of the blade, and into his fist. Veins of yellow became visible in his arm, and his eyes glowed with sheer strength.

Chad tried to run towards him, but he wasn't quite fast enough, and he didn't get too far. By the time he had reached the bed, Dan already had a fist pointed at him, and ready to fire.

"The Star runs through me, like a river of blood!", Dan shouted, and his hand glowed. "Cannon Fist-"

Chad grabbed Dan's hand, and yanked him off of the bed. Without letting go, he smashed the Knight into a pillar, sending bits of wood flying across the room, then slammed him onto his back onto the ground.

"You shouldn't make such big speeches while you're fighting, _boy_.", said Chad. "It leaves you vulnerable-"

Then he noticed something. Even though he had just slammed and threw Dan around like a sack of potatoes, Dan still had a grip on his arm, and his own arm was still glowing. And he was also still conscious, even barely hurt, and looking up at Chad.

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

"Overdrive!", Dan yelled, and directed the energy outwards from his palm. It slammed directly into Chad's arm with a crack, sending painful waves of energy through the rapidly burning flesh. Intense pain shot through Chad, and he groaned unwillingly. Smoke rose from his arm, now half cooked. "Why, you little-", Chad spat through blood, and swung his sword. It connected firmly with Dan's own, brought up just in time to block the blow.

"Metal is a perfect conductor!", he said, and narrowed his eyes. "The Star flows through me, through your blade… and right into you! Metal Silver Overdrive!"

In a flash, even before Chad could blink, pure energy rippled outwards from Dan's body, through their touching swords, and into Chad's unburned arm. The skin on it ripped, bits lifting off and turning to ash. Other parts melted into boiling flesh, sizzling as they fell to the floor.

Chad yanked his arm back and howled in agony. His mind swirled as he thought of how this could have happened. Dan was just a Knight, and an underleveled one at that. The Star seemed easy enough to avoid, yet still Chad had just been hit by two equally devastating blows.

But the why and how aside, it was clear that Chad couldn't win this fight honestly- so it was time to do exactly what he did best, and cheat.

"You know, you're pretty strong.", he said through gasps to Dan. "Do you think… that maybe… after this is all over… you could just join us?"

Dan snarled, repulsed at the very thought. "How dare you even suggest such a thing?", he roared, and slashed the air in front of him. "I would never join a dead man's side!"

"The only dead man here, Dan…", said Chad slyly, "is you!"

He grabbed a half dozen bottles of Elixir from a smashed open cupboard, and flung them at Dan. Dan spun his sword, smashing the bottles to bits, but this was exactly what Chad wanted. The magical liquid within them was freed by the destruction of its container, and splattered all over Dan's face. It got in his eyes more than any other place, forcing them closed and useless.

"How do you like being blinded by Elixir?", Chad shouted, and lunged forward. He could still use his burnt arms, although it was very painful to do so. "I've won! Die!"

He swung his sword right at Dan, aiming for the heart. Dan somehow managed to raise his sword in the exact right place to partially block the blow, turning Chad's sword so the flat of the blade would knock him backwards instead of the edge cutting him open.

Dan staggered backwards, and fell against the wall. The trail of Elixir from the spilled bottles reached all the way to Chad in a thin purple ribbon across the floor.

"Look at all that Elixir, wasted.", Chad said. "Just like you. You tried so hard to get me."

Dan raised his sword in defense, and slowly stood up. "Elixir…", he said.

Then, despite the ferocious sting of the Elixir, he opened his eyes, and glared at Chad with all the force he could muster. "Elixir is a perfect conductor!"

Dan plunged his hand into the pool of Elixir by his side, and it lit up gold. "Elixir Purple Overdrive!", he yelled, and channeled as much energy as he could muster.

_Oh great, not again,_ thought Chad. It was an oddly calm thought, despite the circumstances.

The flood of Star energy punched through Chad's foot like a Spear, then continued up his body. It affected everywhere that had been covered by the Elixir, burning away the skin and damaging the raw tissue underneath. Chad roared in pain, and collapsed to his knees. His eyes flew shut, and his muscles clenched in agony.

Dan got up, and heaved a huge breath. Using so much Star energy in such a short time had taken a lot out of him- maybe he could take some more lessons from Bowza later. Right after he rescued Brandy- come to think of it, where was Brandy? He had come up here because he had seen Chad take her, but now, she was nowhere to be found.

_Okay, are you sure you don't want help?, _thought Rick. _Because it really looks like you do._

_Oh, don't worry bro, _thought Chad. _Believe me, I got him on the ropes._

Rick looked at Dan, heavily winded but otherwise fine. Then he looked at Chad, approximately 3/4th of his skin burned off and blood dripping from his entire body. He didn't think Chad had the situation even remotely under control, but Rick did trust his brother with his life. So he would stay back, and just see what happened.

Dan slowly walked up to Chad, gathering some more Star energy in his hand. He had almost been out with that last attack- he would not make the same attack again. Once he reached his foe, he grabbed Chad by the neck and leaned down to look in his face. "Where…", he hissed, making sure to inject each word with as much menace as possible, "Is... Brandy?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 landed on his knees on a floor of burnt ash, sliding backwards among the dust. There was no sound around him, no movement, and nearly no light- no evidence of battle of any kind. And yet, he could sense the chaos going on in his castle. He could see within him dark mind's eye dozens of separate fronts opening up, all across the entirety of the property, and several outside as well. But that small fact didn't bother him- no, what did was that somehow, the forces of Red seemed to be losing.

"This is certainly a situation…", he muttered to himself, and stood up. He brushed the ash off his sleeves, and peered ahead into the darkness. "I wonder if I can get anyone on my communicator."

He checked his Kingly device, quickly pulling up the contacts of all his co-leaders. The communicator had a function in which it told him the current status of all his contacts, ranging from active to dead.

_theSenate- Dead_

_LeChris - Currently unavailable_

_Odurawaz - Currently unavailable_

_Thebaldbalancer- Currently on vacation_

Ryusei_Nakao69 cursed inwardly, and outwards as well. He scrolled down the list to see his Elders, hoping that perhaps one of them could be reached.

_JohngotHurt - Dead_

_Markhammak - Dead_

_TImeERaser- Currently unavailable_

_WLIAS - Currently unavailable_

_PerfectCell - Dead_

_Scarred Iron - Currently unavailable_

_BlackPhantom - Dead_

Ryusei_Nakao69 scraped his hands across his face in frustration, leaving a thin trail of blood. He almost couldn't believe that all of his co-leaders and all of his elders were unreachable all at once. Then again, he almost couldn't believe that his castle was being invaded by a Clan several thousand trophies lower than them- and losing to the invaders. These certainly were strange times…

He was about to scroll down to his Members, when he saw one of the readouts change. He cast his eyes upwards- LeChris was currently online and available.

Hurriedly, he scrolled back upwards, positioned his thumb over the area, and was about to press- when he saw a flash of movement out of the upper corner of his vision. He looked up, and saw a Baby Dragon touch down. ChupilickytwaCT hopped off of its side, drew a sword, and charged.

Veronica drew back her bowstring until it was taut, took aim, and released. The arrow flew straight and true, right through a hanging sheet, underneath the arm of a Giant, and hit a Barbarian right in the face. He groaned and fell over, then dissolved.

"Alright, sister!", Stacy said, and they high-fived. "That's one down, only around… a lot more to go."

"Less talk, more firing!", snapped Veronica, and Stacy's encouraging smile faded. They both started to shoot again, in silence.

Then Veronica saw a Bowler stumble down a staircase behind them, and look around in semi-drunken confusion. She quickly checked the rocks on his ball- he was Red. That was good.

"You there! Bowler!", she shouted, and waved her hand towards herself in a kind of _come here_ gesture. "Get over here and support us, you useless idiot!"

Webert glanced at the two Princesses, currently sniping down from a spotlight lookout and down onto a huge room, filled with clashing Troops. He looked down at his ball, then back at the Princesses, then he grinned.

"Quite right, your Majesty!", he bellowed. He saluted smartly, picked up his ball, took a massive step towards them, hoisted the huge boulder up into the air, and then let it fall, crushing them both into flat puddles of Elixir.

"Hey, you guys!", he whispered, not quite sure why he was doing so. "It's safe to come out now."

An Archer peeked around the corner, scanned the area, then turned back to her newfound friends. "Let's go.", she said, and a bunch of different Troops, all in various states of disarray, sneaked out of the door that Webert had just come from. They had been prisoners just until a half hour ago, when Ryusei_Nakao69 had activated his Scrambler and thrown the entire Clan Castle into utter chaos.

There was, in addition to the previously mentioned Archer, a Hunter, a pair of Rascal Girls, an Ice Golem, a very tired Barbarian, several Ice and Fire Spirits, a single Dart Goblin, and a Mini Pekka. But behind all of these was a familiar Musketeer, cloak drawn over her tear-stained face, and her helmet abandoned long ago.

Brenda put her finger to her earpiece, and squinted, trying to see ahead in the dark. She was a level 12 Bandit, belonging to SpaceKrakenX, one of LosDementosCT's Elders. He was renowned, or at least known, for his near-constant tech experiments, and Brenda's earpiece was no exception.

"This is Brenda.", she said quietly. "I have a visual on the target."

"Subarashii.", said SpaceKrakenX through the communications channel. "Is anyone guarding it?"

"No, sir.", she said. "It appears to be completely left alone- emphasis on appears."

"Good.", said her King. "Approach with caution."

"Understood, sir.", she said, and began to creep forward. She knew without a doubt, just from her instincts as a Bandit, that the floor and walls were absolutely littered with traps. Fortunately, due to those same instincts, she also knew just how to avoid them.

Giant Bomb to her left- just a quick step over could avoid setting it off. Trio of Bombs just in front of her? A swift Dash across the trigger point, and they never even got a chance to explode. A Spring Trap? That one was particularly easy- just step on the edge and allow its spring to propel you even further forward. A Push Trap, trying to fling her into a wall of spikes? Its push may have been strong, but it couldn't even come close to the force of her Dashing in the opposite direction. There were many traps, but none of them could outwit Brenda's intense training.

After the course of traps had been beaten, Brenda found herself in the center of the room. A golden altar rested under a pillar of golden light. There was gold trim on the stone, soft flecks of gold floated through the air- really, there was just a lot of Gold.

_Ryusei_Nakao69 must have spent a fortune on this, _she thought. _I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I relieved him of some of it…_

She stabbed her stick into a soft-looking hunk of Gold on the pillar, and broke it off with a grunt. WIth a single motion, it had been deposited into one of the dozens of pockets that lined the insides of her dress. Brenda smiled to herself, thinking of what such a chunk of Gold would be worth on the open market. 20000? 25000? She wasn't sure, but it was almost certainly far more than she needed for a new coat.

Song: Overdrive

Then she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. A single floorboard was shoved aside, and a dark brown coffin rose out of it. The lid banged open, and a trio of Skeletons danced out from within.

_Oh, I can handle this, _Brenda thought. _Just a trio of-_

Then another Skeleton Trap activated just to the right of the original, then another, then another, and finally another. They all deposited three Skeletons, all eager to try and rip Brenda to shreds.

Brenda bit her lip, and looked around nervously. Three Skeletons- she knew she could handle those. Six Skeletons- maybe, if they weren't too high level. But an entire Skeleton Army? There was no way… or was there?

As the Skeletons closed in, their tiny bones chittering and waving their swords, Brenda touched her earpiece. "Sir?", she said, hoping her King was still online. "What do I do here?"

"Brenda,", said SpaceKrakenX through the line, "I thought you knew. Remember what I taught you? The Steel Wind maneuver?"

Brenda grinned. "Quite right, your Majesty.", she said as she remembered. "Really, I don't know how I forgot."

She smartly saluted, and affixed the Skeletons with an unapproachable glare. "You fools.", she said with pride. "My King's training is truly the finest in the entire world! There is no equal!"

The Skeletons all jumped for her at once. Brenda closed her eyes, breathed in, and the entire world seemed to slow down. Once she opened them again, all the Skeletons seemed to be frozen in time.

Brenda backflipped away from the Skeletons, and reached into one of her many pockets. She pulled out a storm of knives, around a dozen in each hand. With a deep breath, and the Skeletons still near-frozen, she threw the knives in a steel wind.

The Skeletons had never seen it coming. One second, the Bandit was right underneath them, and the next, she had Dashed away, launched a barrage of knives, and then Dashed in front of them, all within the space of far less than a second. Once they realized what was happening, the knives had already sliced into all of them, cutting them apart as they fell to bare Elixir.

Brenda hummed a tune as she stepped over the ruins of the Skeleton Traps, which she had made sure to break, just in case. She placed her hands on the glass box that held her target, and, using the custom Sticky Fingers technology woven into her gloves, lifted it without a noise. There it was, resting on a scarlet pillow, all hers to take. Well, all hers to take, and all SpaceKrakenX's to own. But that was for another time- all that mattered to this Bandit, at this moment, was the thrill of the steal.

Brenda took out a 34/257th weight from her pocket grid, one of the many tools of her trade. Then with a single Dash-infused moment, she switched the weight and the prize, put back the glass, and started sprinting away.

"Did you get it?", asked Norbert, her Executioner friend through the communications channel.

"Was the operation successful?", asked SpaceKrakenX.

"Yes.", said Brenda, and smiled, looking at the soft golden slip of fabric and paper she held in her hand. She had heard a lot about these, and it certainly looked impressive enough. Quite the valuable prize, indeed. "I got his Pass."

The blue rope of Agatha's magical force twisted around and against Yaga's red, in a brilliant show of force that spat like a wounded flame. Sparks of purple flew off of their midair collision, lighting up the room as it slowly began to burn.

"My my, Agatha.", mused Yaga. "Looks like you're starting to tire."

She cackled maniacally, and pushed ever harder. Agatha was forced slightly backwards, and she grit her teeth in frustration.

"Are you sure about that, Yaga?", she asked. "Because it looks to me like I've barely begun."

Yaga chortled to herself. "Oh really? Then why am I…"

She took a step forward, and Agatha was forced backwards again.

"Beating you back so easily?", Yaga continued. "There's no way you can win, you second rate, under leveled, fool of a wimp!"

With an added burst of effort, Yaga practically threw herself at her foe. The additional surge of energy knocked Agatha off of her feet, and onto the shattered floor.

Agatha raised her staff in defense, and threw up a light blue shield in defense. Yaga's sadistic eyes flowed red, and she slammed the head of her own staff downwards. The two fields of Magic met with a sharp crack, and a small shockwave spread throughout the room.

"It's over, Agatha.", Yaga hissed. "Once I break through your shield, I'll bring you down instantly- and you're certainly in no position to launch a counterattack!"

"Well, Yaga,", Agatha managed to grunt out, "I know something you don't know."

"Ho?", Yaga asked. "And just what, pray tell, is that?"

Agatha chuckled, and narrowed her eyes in defiance. "There's a Lumberjack behind you."

For a few seconds, there was nothing but the sound of silence. Well, that and the sounds of the two Witch's magical forces hitting each other in a ferocious, purple particle storm, and the general noise and chaos of the castle under siege and generally just falling apart around them. But other than that, there was no noise at all. Until, of course, Yaga burst out laughing.

"Oh, please.", she started to say. "Do you really think I'm going to fall for that old on-"

She would have finished her sentence, and then gone on to finish Agatha, had the razor- sharp axe of a Lumberjack not come speeding through the air, leaving a ferocious yell behind it, and sliced her arm clean off.

Song: Propaganda

For a second, Yaga's eyes shot wide open in immense pain, but no sound came out. Her concentration was utterly shattered, and her assault upon Agatha's energy sphere was as well. And then, about a second after that, she dropped her staff, clutched the stump of her arm, and fell to the floor. And then, the screaming started.

Agatha looked to where the axe had come flying in from, and saw an aggressively posing Lumberjack.

"Kars!", she said. "You got my message!"

The Lumberjack ceased his excellent posing, and walked down the stairs. "Kars? I'm not Kars!", he shouted happily. "I'm Lars!"

Agatha shot a brilliant blue blast at Yaga, hitting her directly in the head and knocking her over into the floor. "Oh. I thought you were Kars. You look exactly like him."

Lars put his hands on his hips and smiled proudly. "Nope! We may look alike, but I assure you, I do not enjoy dubstep anywhere near as much as he does. I tell you, he is not okay."

But as they talked, Yaga wasn't quite finished yet. She gathered all of what little energy remained in her, and yanked herself upwards to a sitting position. She put all of her power into her staff, not even caring that her body was dissolving by the second.

"Looks like you came just in time, Lars.", Agatha continued. "That spellhoarder was about to-"

Yaga shrieked in near-animalistic fury, flinging her crackling staff forward like a sword, aimed directly for Agatha's heart. Both she and Kars, upon noticing the surprise attack, tried to stop it, but it was already too late. Even as the last of her body turned to purple liquid scattered across the floor, Yaga stabbed Agatha right through the chest, sending tons of destructive power along with it.

Blood spurted out of Agatha's mouth, and she cursed with vigor and vim. Her eyes widened in shock, and her gaze turned to Yaga's arm, the last of her body as it fell to liquid.

"You…", Agatha mumbled. "You're clever…"

Then she saluted Lars with a grim expression, as one professional does to another, and fell to puddles of purple among the Elixir-stained stones.

"You're…", she managed to spit just before death. "You're a clever one…"

Shelly wiped a bead of sweat from her brow, and jumped through a broken window. But unknown to her, the glass that the window had held had been a freshly made batch straight from the Laboratory, and whatever had broken it had unleashed its strange magical properties. She landed on the other side in a crimson parlor room- and bolt of electricity shot from an open interior window and hit Shelley directly in the back, sending her flying with a sharp cry of pain. She managed to twirl back onto her feet again, but not before traveling several meters.

Shelly spat onto the floor, and reloaded her gun. "Come on, who was that?", she shouted into the seemingly empty room. "You wanna come out here and fight?

As if to answer her summons, a shining Electro Wizard stepped out from behind a broken door. His eyes twitched with fury, and lightning coiled around his fingertips like high-voltage snakes. He had actually moved so he could get a better shot, but he would pretend that he had been brave enough to meet Shelly's summons. In truth, Tsarsus the Electro Wizard was a bit of a coward.

"It is I, Tsarsus, who meet your summons, uh…"

He stared at Shelly in confusion. She didn't resemble any troop he had ever seen. With her purple hair, shotgun, and strange clothing, Tsarsus thought she resembled some odd cross between a Musketeer and a Hunter. He was right, but neither of them knew this.

"You again?", Shelly said, and lowered the barrel of her gun to directly face Tsarsus. "I killed you."

"Well, Yes, but actually no.", Tsarsus said. "Something happened very recently to rewind time for my personage. I'm not sure what it was, but I am glad for it."

Tsarsus grinned, and fired. Twin bolts of lightning shot from his hands and hit Shelly's gun, resetting the charge. "And this time, I will not be so careless in our fight. For although you may possess great qualities of sheer destructive strength, I can also see that your gun takes a bit of time to charge up. I can make sure that it never will."

Shelly tried to fire again, only for Tsarsus to reset it again. "Yes,", she said, "But you can only hit either me or the gun. Eventually, you'll tire out."

"Yes.", said Tsarsus. Even though he could fire two bolts at once, it took the power of both to keep Shelly's gun in check. "However, this is my home, which you are so rudely intruding upon. In this Castle, in this place, my stamina is unlimited."

"I see.", Shelly grimaced. "Then tell me, how good are you at head protection?"

The devious smile vanished off of Tsarsus's face. "What?"

Shelly got up from the floor and charged at Tsarsus, holding her gun like a shield. "Because you're about to need it!"

Instantly, Tsarsus switched targets. His lightning flowed not into the gun, but into Shelly herself. She grunted in pain, but managed to suddenly drop to a crouch.

"You know,", she said. "I thought Electro Wizards were supposed to be smart."

For a second, Tsarusus wondered what she meant by that. Then he noticed that although Shelly had stopped her forward charge, she had managed to get enough charge on her gun to fire, and was actually doing it right then.

And it was at that moment that Tsarsus knew. He knew that he had messed up.

Shelly pulled the trigger. A firestorm of metal erupted from the end of her gun, tearing Tsarsus into bits. He screamed as he died, and spread all across the stone floor.

Shelly blew the smoke off of the barrel of her gun, and set it on the ground. She took a moment to rest, leaning on her weapon, and wiped her sweaty brow. "And another enemy falls.", she said, "To the wit and might of Shelly."

She looked up, and looked around."I wonder how everyone else is doing right now."

Bowza backflipped onto another rock. He drew back his bowstring, and aimed towards the rampaging hulk that was even now making his way towards him. Red burned all around them in sparkling flames, almost a nightmare as the castle continued its collapse. Fred loomed humongous in the shadows, his muscles bulging almost to bursting point. His eyes boiled over with sheer, primal fury, and his teeth almost seemed to be growing longer.

"Crush you!", Fred bellowed, or so he seemed to say. His words had started to slur together into a massive roar, continually sustained. "Fred strongest there is!"

Bowza knew that Fred had to be stopped. Given his current rate of growth, it was only time before he became too strong for anyone to handle. Whatever dark, evil experiment had been done on him, it was clearly a good one.

Bowza also knew that his ordinary arrows wouldn't work on the enormous beast. He had to use the Star. Even though his abilities in it were less combat oriented and leaned more towards special operations, the force behind such techniques could still most likely bring Fred down.

Bowza slowly breathed in, calm even as Fred barreled towards him like an avalanche. Concentrating all the energy he had collected from the air in his magical arrow of light, he aimed straight for Fred's forehead. A clean shot to the brain would be most effective.

"Focused Piercing-", Bowza started to say, then stopped. He sensed that Dan was about to need as much Star energy as he could get, and fast.

Chad coughed, and managed a weak smile. "Where? Why, she's exactly where you're about to be…"

In a flash, his arm flew to his side, and grabbed his sword. Dan raised his own, anticipating the attack, and snarled.

"Exactly where I want you!", Chad roared, and swung his blade in a powerful arc that seemed to cut the very air. Even though his arms looked burned to dust, he was using them as easily as he had done before the fight had even begun.

"You think you had me beaten, didn't you?", Chad bellowed, as he spun around, flashing his sword around and around in a blur of silver steel. Dan, being forced backwards, only just barely managed to block his fearsome blows. "But no one can truly defeat me. You were a fool, Dan, to challenge me on my own turf!"

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Dan breathed in, his breath short from the fighting. But it didn't matter, he would take what he could get. As the particles of energy collected into his lungs, he-

"Oh no!", Chad shouted, and kicked him in the chest. "Oh no you don't! I'm not going through that crap again!"

Dan flew backwards, propelled by Chad's mighty kick to the chest, and landed among a heap of boxes. They crumbled around him, collapsing onto and covering his torso. He coughed, and a few drops of blood came out.

He looked up, and saw Chad slowly coming towards him, menacingly swinging his sword side to side. His face seemed to simply radiate evil, and the burns on the rest of his body only added to the look. "I told you, Dan! Your feeble attempts make no difference! They're useless, useless, useless, useless!"

"As long…", Dan groaned, and curled his hand into a fist. It started to glow, with whatever stored Star energy was left within him. "As long as there is breath in me, I swear-"

He pushed himself off of the stack of boxes with a massive effort, and stared right into Chad's face. The sheer rage contained within the gaze was enough to give even the Elite Barbarian pause. "I swear, I will make you pay for everything you've ever done!"

He breathed in again, and felt the Star, even more powerful now, pour into his body. He raised his fist, and it started to glow a brilliant gold, as yellow as the sun. "My heart resonates…"

But Chad wasn't about to let that happen again. Quick as a flash, he dropped to his knees and swiped his sword across Dan's legs, opening a thin long cut. Then he lashed out with his foot and caught Dan right in the knees, sending him sprawling backwards, back onto the boxes. Pain rushed through Dan's body, but he wasn't down yet. "Heat enough to burn…"

"I've got you now!", Chad yelled, and threw his hand over Dan's face, covering his nose and mouth. "You need air to use your Star! If I cover your face, you can't breathe in! I win!"

Dan tried to breathe in, but the rough skin of the Elite Barbarian stopped him from doing so. He tried to attack with his sword, but there was no good angle of attack, with Chad pinning him down to the boxes. He tried to get free, but the pin position was too good. There was no way to counterattack. He tried to say something, in order to continue the Star technique, but he couldn't- it only came out as mumbles.

Dan's face grew red with rage, and his muscles strained to escape Chad's grip. Here he was, helpless to fight against the villain that had taken Brandy's honor, and was about to take Dan's own life. He had been training almost non-stop for days on end, but it was not enough, in the end.

"Aw look, he's gonna cry!", Chad said, fake worry oozing over the edges of his voice. "Guys, look!"

From across the room, Rick and Valeyrie put their heads in their hands. "Awww!", they said in unison.

Dan tried to say something again, but it was mumbled. Chad frowned and put his hand to his ear. "What was that, Dan? I'm afraid I can't hear you. You'll have to speak up."

Dan screamed his words, and this time they finally made it through the Elite Barbarian's armored hand. "My blood's beat is razor sharp!"

Chad almost sighed. "Okay, why do you keep on doing that? Saying some big, dramatic speech before you start attacking? Its weird. Seriously, who does that?"

He looked around, and raised his arm for approval. "I mean, really, who does that?"

Dan was about to try again. He was about to put in one last attempt to break free of Chad's monstrous grip, but something stopped him. And that something was an image of Bowza, floating right in front of his head. _Bowza?_, he thought. _Wha-_

_I can see you need help, Dan, _the image of Bowza said silently. _So I'm giving you my Star. Take it!_

Bowza reached out his hand, and Dan grasped it in his mind. At once, he felt all of the Star energy of Bowza flood into him, like the gates of a dimension of pure light bursting open in glorious song.

Bowza felt the last of his energy drain away from him, put to a far better use- he hoped. If Dan couldn't defeat Chad, then it would have all been for nothing. He looked up, and saw Fred almost on top of him. Bowza stood shakily back up, and drew back his bow.

"Come on, you big bugger!", he yelled, and fired. "Let's finish this!"

The arrow pierced straight through Fred's chest, hitting and exploding upon the rock wall directly behind him. Then another, and another, and then many more, as Bowza hurried to unleash a storm of silver fire.

But Fred merely laughed, and raised his fists, joining them together. "Your arrows no hurt Fred!", he bellowed. "Fred strongest! Fred is the fricking strong!"

Bowza fired one last arrow, looked up, and smiled. "Your move, big guy.", he said, a mere moment before Fred's joined fists came crashing down onto where he stood, splattering the Magic Archer into a puddle of purple that spread across the entire room, miniscule droplets covering everything.

"Huh huh huh… I got him.", Fred chuckled to himself. "I got little magic man!"

But then, he heard a crack, and a creaking sound behind him. He turned around, and his tiny, Hog-like eyes turned wide. Every single one of Bowza's shots had had a definite effect- just not on Fred. No, they had been instead meant to disturb the massive statue of an Executioner just behind him, that was even bigger than Fred was. Bowza's attempts to lure the fight to the Hall of Primals had been for a reason. Everything he had done in the entire fight had been perfectly calculated- and none more so than this. What Bowza had lacked in strength, he had more than made up for in perfect planning and wit.

Fred shrieked, and tried to cover himself with his hands as the immense statue, at least 60 feet tall, fell towards him with axe in front. But such a defense failed, as it would, and the axe sliced into him, cutting a deep gash from head to foot. The Giant berserker fell to the ground with a mighty thud, and began to die. But even as he did so, he had just one thought running through his head- _Why? Why hurt Fred? Why did rock Vlad hurt Fred…._

And that was the last thing going through his head at Fred's moment of death. Except for, of course, the actual humongous stone axe.

Dan's face heated up- and not in the regular sort of embarrassed way. It heated up with a fire born of rage and the Star, but mostly the Star. A ruddy red and gold glow emanated from Dan as Bowza's energy was added to his own. And his face got very, _very _hot- hot, in fact, to the point where Chad instinctively let go of Dan's mouth and nose with a yelp, and whipped his hand behind his back.

There was a brief moment of silence, as the realization of what he had just done sank into Chad, and the magnificent golden light surrounding Dan multiplied ten-fold. He raised his fist, poured almost every last scrap of Star into it, and attacked.

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

"SUNLIGHT YELLOW OVERDRIVE!", Dan yelled, and immediately struck Chad with such a powerful barrage of blows that even a Pekka would be impressed. Each and every punch was precisely, automatically calculated to cause the maximum amount of damage possible, all striking Chad in several vital areas simultaneously. Each attack moved almost faster than the eye could see, all compounded by Dan's ferocious Oraoraoras. The huge barrage of punches continued for 6 long seconds, with Dan screaming in righteous fury and Chad roaring in pain.

Then with one last, supreme blow, Dan struck Chad right in the sternum, snapping it in two and sending the evil Elite Barbarian flying against the wall and into a closet, crashing through the wooden door and landing in a bloody heap.

Song: The Hand

Ryusei_Nakao stared down his opponent. What did he know about this King, ChupilickytwaCT? Besides, of course, the obvious- that he had a sword, and was his enemy, and was currently coming straight for him.

"You dare to face me, mortal?", bellowed Ryusei_Nakao69, and raised his hand. "In my own Castle, on my own turf, my own terms? Such a foolish action will indeed be your doom!"

With a single dark gesture, he fired a bolt of black Lightning that struck ChupilickytwaCT's sword, shattering it to bits. The shards of metal flew out of his hand, and stuck into the broken ground. But the Blue King did not falter.

"It is you who is the fool, Ryusei_Nakao69!", he shouted nobelly. "For you thought my sword was my weapon."

He spread his hands, revealing what seemed to be a holographic display full of cards. They were all spells, not a single troop or building among them. "Come, foul one. Let's settle this like Kings!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. "Fine then. I'd gladly fulfill a dying man's last wish."

With an exaggerated gesture, he too summoned a board full of spells in front of him. The two Kings looked up, met each other's eyes, and got ready to Clash.

Brandy found herself awakening. Her eyes slowly opened, encrusted with dried blood and bled Elixir. There was a foul taste in her mouth, and her movements still seemed slowed. Where was she…

Then, once her vision stabilized, and her eyes began to adjust to the dark in which she now found herself, she found out. Sort of. It looked like a closet that she was in, a very dark and full one.

"Um, hello?", Brandy asked to no one in particular, hoping someone was there to hear her. "Is anyone there?"

But there was no sound, save for a seemingly omnipresent low rumble. Brandy was totally alone. Whoever had tossed her in this closet had chosen its location well.

_Well then, guess I'll just get myself out, _Brandy thought, and slowly, shakily stood up. Fortunately, there was no rope or chain around her, and her limbs were beginning to wake up again. Very soon, she would be able to move freely again. She started to look for a weak spot in the door, somewhere to break through without hurting herself too much in the process.

There! There was a small area, just below the doorknob, where the wood seemed to have been splintered some time previously. That was perfect. Brandy drew back her fist, positioned it to hit right behind the splintered wood, and-

The door swung open, much to Brandy's surprise. She managed to stumble backwards again, and do a sort of half-Dash to back inside the closet, barely staying on her feet from all of her unspent forwards momentum. Then she looked up, and gasped. There, in the doorway, stood the titanic figure of Orfox, frowning down at her. He scratched his head, then grinned and drew his sword.

"I found another hider!", he yelled, and brought his massive iron sword above his head to smite Brandy off of the face of the world.

Panic surged through Brandy, and she frantically gestured for him to stop. "Wait!", she shrieked. "Stop! It's me! I'm Brandy! I'm the one you're looking for!"

Orfox stopped, and his face scrunched up in confusion. "But… you're wearing a Red uniform. You can't be her." Then he swung his sword, right at her with force that could level a building.

Brandy jumped into the air, Dashing over the blade and right next to Orfox's feet. "Listen, you big idiot! I'm Brandy! You have to believe me!"

Orfox turned his gaze downwards to look at her. "Really? I'd expect tricks coming from a Red Bandit like you. All tricky ones." He raised his immense Iron Fist, ready to crush her to a pulp.

Brandy Dashed again, this time to the front of the closet, out of the range of Orfox's blows. Dashing twice within just seconds of each other so soon after waking up was tiring her, and she didn't know how many Dashes she had left. Maybe none at all. "But I _am_ Brandy! They just put me in this uniform because they tried…to make me their own."

Her voice quieted, and she stood still. Orfox was given pause at this, and set his sword down on the ground. "Very well then, I think I believe you. But in order to make sure…"

With a flourish, Orfox pulled a large scroll out of his belt. "You must first answer this questionnaire!"

"What?", Brandy said. "Are you serious?"

"Look!", said Orfox, and pointed to a small line of print near the top. "It's written by your friend Dan himself."

Brandy felt her heart race faster. "Dan? Where is he? Is he alright?"  
"Well, I don't know.", Orfox said. "I saw him run up the stairs about, I don't know, maybe half an hour ago?"

Brandy's eyebrows reached a point where, if not for the laws of both hair and physics, would have gone flying off of her face. "Okay, okay, whatever. Just give me the questionnaire, and we can be out of here."

Orfox straightened the scroll, squinted at the small writing so he could see better, and began to read.

"Alright, question one: What is your full name?", said Orfox. "Just to begin."

"Brandy the Bandit.", said Brandy. "Are we done?"

"Good. And no.", said Orfox. "Okay, question two: Who is your King, and what is your Clan?"

"Oticat, of LosDementosCT.", said Brandy. "Okay, that's all the information you need, right?"

Orfox held up one finger. "No, not yet. You see, that's all just basic, surface information. But this next question- now, that will truly determine whether you're Brandy or not. Now, for your third and final question- what is the... Mustache Incident?"

Brandy was a little taken aback by this one. She was, frankly, shocked that Dan would tell about the Mustache Incident to anyone, let alone some Barbarian King. But if she was to get out of here alive, and not underneath the crushing force of Orfox's siege blade, she would have to tell him.

So she did.

Orfox's eyes widened, and he laughed. "So that's the Mustache Incident, eh? Fancy! Well…", he said as he wrapped up the scroll and threw it into his belt again, "... that does indeed match the result we got from everyone involved. Looks like you're really her."

He took a small communicator from his belt, and held it up to his ear. "Everyone, this is Orfox. I found her."

"What?", the device squawked. "Orfox, I can't quite hear you."

The Barbarian King sighed, and put the communicator to his mouth. "Everyone, this is Orfox.", he said a little louder. "Brandy has been found, and is currently safe with me. I repeat, Brandy has been found."

"Good work, Orfox.", said whoever was on the other side. "Now, commence operation-"

Orfox shut off the device with a click, and gave it to Brandy. "Here, you take this.", he said. "I don't like it that much."

"Uh, shouldn't you be doing operation whatever?", Brandy said, stashing the device in one of her many pockets. "I mean, thank you for finding me and all, but that sounded important."

Orfox shook his head, then drew his sword. "Nope, we've got no time, and more important things to do. Now come on-"

Brandy got ready to run, and Orfox's eyes narrowed, eagerly anticipating the bloodshed that was about to be unleashed. "Let's go save your friend."

Dan stood there, his breathing heavy from the exertion, one arm hanging by his side, and covered in many places with blood. Most of wasn't his. He stared at the entrance to the closet, mentally daring Chad to come out of where Dan had punched him, but really wishing he wouldn't. _10….9...8...7… come on..., _he thought. _Don't get up…._

But sure enough, the Elite Barbarian's seemingly impossible strength and durability won out. There was a small flash of red light, and Chad rose from the crash site.

"My my, Dan.", he said. "That was quite a powerful strike there. Sunlight Yellow Overdrive, you called it?"

Dan stared at him, not quite sure what Chad was getting at. But he began to concentrate energy in his lungs, just in case.

"But…", Chad continued deviously, "... no matter your strength, you cannot beat me on my own turf. It is impossible!"

He opened his eyes, and smirked. With a slap of his hand against the side of the wall, Dan's side of the room seemed to come to life.

Song: Virtuous Pope

Sharp spikes of metal erupted out of the floorboards, stabbing Dan in the foot. The bricks opened up, and started dispensing dozens of miniscule darts. They didn't quite manage to get through Dan's armor, but they were starting to. Dan tried to rush Chad, sword outstretched, but a pair of flailing metal pipes blocked his way, thrashing madly around.

Dan growled, and slashed ferociously through them. The two pipes fell to the floor and shattered, but 4 more appeared within moments. The metal spikes finally burst through Dan's shoe, and pierced his skin. The corners of his mouth pulled downwards in pain, as he tried to fight off the hydra-like pipes that were still coming.

Chad laughed. "Oh, how pitiful! You spend so much time trying to come after me, training to become… what? Some sort of ultimate warrior? And then you can't even get past some training drones! What happened to your Star?"

Dan would have thrown back some sort of witty comeback, but he couldn't. He couldn't think of one, and he couldn't waste breath. He was currently concentrating as much Star as possible in the back of his arm, for when that one final strike came.

But as the nearly endless pipes closed in, he thought he might need it…

"So this is how it ends.", said Chad, with an air of smug certainty. "You fail, just barely before you finish. But meanwhile I, Chad, will continue to have whoever I want, whenever I want, for the rest of my long, happy life. Whether its girls like Valeyrie or cheap trash like your precious Brandy, my wishes cannot be denied!"

The words Chad spoke reached Dan's ears. He stopped fighting for just a moment, as the phrase _cheap trash like your precious Brandy_ found their way into his brain, and were comprehended. Then his grip tightened hard enough to crack stone, his eyes practically lit up with hatred, and he turned to face Chad. A pipe dived for him, but one of Dan's fists shot out without any thought at all and crushed it to bits.

"And come to think of it, Dan?", Chad said, and raised his finger. "Even though Brandy was just some trash, she was good at one thing." He ran his finger down his cheek, as if crying. "She was just so good at sobbing."

Dan felt his mind snap. Pure Rage, mixed with all the Star that he had concentrated, rushed through him like a boiling river, and he roared. With a mighty sweep of his arms, he threw aside all the pipes that surrounded him, and they shattered like onion skin glass.

He pushed power to his legs and fists, and jumped. Scraping across the ceiling of the room, he almost looked like a fabled Mega Knight, soaring like a holy meteor about to do justice.

_Oh, _thought Chad. _I think that was the wrong thing to say. _

Dan landed near the Elite Barbarian, creating a small shockwave that almost blew Chad off of his feet. But even as soon as he touched down, he came out swinging. The force of his sword stroke collided with Chad's like an avalanche collides with a dead tree, and the Elite Barbarian's blade shattered into a thousand pieces.

"You dare defile her?", Dan screamed, and his sword lit up with the force of the Star. The metal screamed from the heat, sheer energy radiating from it. "Take this, Chad! In the name of all the Star…"

Chad tried an underhand kick to the chest, but the attack actually bounced off of Dan's armor. It looked to both of them as if nothing could stop Dan's rampage. But that didn't mean Dan would waste time- no. He was not like that. Quite the opposite, in fact.

"I, Dan the Knight, for the honor of Brandy…."

Dan grabbed both of Chad's arms in the space of less than half a second, and threw them upwards. The shock and terror on Chad's face was eminent, a total opposite to the blinding rage on Dan's. He swung out his sword behind him, and it glowed with the fury of a thousand suns.

"Strike you down!", Dan roared, and swung his sword upwards. Chad had no way to block the blow, and it sliced through his neck, severing his head from his body.

Chad's head rolled away for a few seconds, the helmet still staying on. The body fell backwards, and dissolved into chunks of Elixir. The head persisted for a few more seconds, until it, too, vanished. Only the helmet remained, the last reminder of the monster that Dan had slain.

Dan dropped to his knees, and breathed a sigh of relief. He had done it. All of his training had finally paid off. It had been a long, hard battle, but Chad was dead. Brandy had been avenged.

His gaze wandered upwards, to Rick and Valeyrie leaning against the side of the wall. They almost seemed to be… laughing. That was odd, Dan thought. Even though he knew them to be monsters, certainly even they would be horrified by their friend and brother's death. There had to be something more going on here…

And then, Dan saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye, and everything made sense.

ChupilickytwaCT and Ryusei_Nakao69 carefully sized each other up, making sure not to make the first move. Neither knew exactly what the other would be using- although Chup could guess that his Red foe had some pretty underhanded tactics up his sleeve. He was right.

Ryusei_Nakao69 flicked one hand, that spun with the purple of Elixir, and the red of him. A card vanished from the magical display in front of him, and reappeared in the air- a Tornado.

Then it vanished again, and the air began to move. It spun around, concentrating into a grey whirlwind between them.

"How odd of you.", remarked ChupilickytwaCT. "Playing that Tornado, when there's no troops around. Did you mean to play tha-"

A swarm of Blue Bats flew in through a nearby window, and saw Ryusei_Nakao69. They chirruped as one, flew to attack, and immediately burst upon the flawless prediction Tornado.

"In response to your question, Chupilicky…", Ryusei_Nakao69 said as he smiled evilly. "Yes. Yes I did."

ChupilickytwaCT gulped, and prepared his own card. Here was an opponent that didn't seem normal. No. He didn't just not seem normal, he wasn't normal. There was something far too sinister about Ryusei_Nakao69 that Chup wanted to get to the bottom of- but he couldn't. Because after this battle, the Red King would be dead… with any luck.

Cooly, Chup selected a Fireball from his own display, and held up his hand. The flame began to concentrate in his hand, sweat beading on his brow from the heat.

"Oh, using a Fireball, are we?", Ryusei_Nakao69 mused, and selected another card. "Fortunately, I have a little number here that will-"

He was going to say "put that right out." He had a Freeze in his hand, and was ready to play it, but ChupilickytwaCT put a small wrench into those plans by not actually launching the Fireball. Instead, he flicked his other wrist out with a small burst of electricity, shooting a high-level Zap that smacked into Ryusei_Nakao69's leg. He grunted in surprise and dropped his Freeze.

"-will do nothing!", Chup shouted. With a wave of his hand, the Fireball changed into a bottle of Lightning, and he chucked it at the Red King.

Ryusei_Nakao69 winced, and crossed his arms. The holographic board folded up to match his actions, and a pair of black wings appeared across his front. The Lightning hit in three devastating bolts, but they were absorbed by whatever Darkness Ryusei_Nakao69 was using in order to protect himself. "How feeble…", he whispered, and uncrossed his arms, the board going back to normal. "I was expecting more than just a cheap trick."

"A cheap trick, you say?", ChupilickytwaCT said. "That wasn't a cheap trick- this is a cheap trick!"

With a great flourish, he pulled a card from his row and flung it at Ryusei_Nakao69. He braced himself for impact- but nothing happened. Slightly curious, he peered down to where the card had fallen, and saw nothing printed. The card, upon closer inspection, was just a slip of paper.

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up, annoyed at being tricked in such a manner, and saw ChuplickytwaCT laughing. "How's that for cheap tricks?", said the Blue King. "You should have seen the look on your face."

Song: Third Bomb

Ryusei_Nakao69 growled, and clenched his fist so hard it began to bleed. He cast aside his board of cards, and placed one hand upon his chest. ChupilickytwaCT's eyes grew wide.

"It seems you are nothing but, ChupilickytwaCT.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Some leader you are."

His hand suddenly burst into swirling black energy, and he gasped in pain. "It does not matter what strategy you throw at me, for my dark power is unrivaled. I will beat you."

ChupilickytwaCT merely smiled. "Oh, don't go counting on that just yet. You see, I do still have one trick left."

"And what is that?", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, and thrust his hand into the air. A new board of cards, some that had never before been seen by anyone, appeared in front of him. "A prediction Rocket? Multiple cards played at once? Bringing in troops? What? For you, it can't be very good…"

ChupilickytwaCT waved his hand in dismissel. "No, no, none of those.", he said, and narrowed his eyes. "Cheddar."

"Cheddar?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "What does cheese have anything to do with-"

But his question was answered when something just sort of appeared behind ChupilickytwaCT. Although it wore the standard uniform of a King, it wasn't quite one. The silver skin and highlights gave that much away. And he realized that when he said cheddar, he wasn't talking about cheese.

"Apprehend this one for me, will you?", ChupilickytwaCT asked. "I've got to go."

The robotic figure stepped forward and cracked his knuckles. "Certainly, sire.", it said with a metallic voice. "He will be defeated. All who stand before I, Trainer Cheddar 3, always will be."

ChupilickytwaCT gave a short whistle, and his Baby Dragon ran up to him. With a jump, he was on, and flying away. Ryusei_Nakao69 tried to bring up a card with his Dark Elixir, but Trainer Cheddar 3 had already summoned a half-dozen maxed out Troops, all ready to attack. There was a Bandit, a Mega Knight, a Night Witch, a Sparky, a Lava Hound, and a Lumberjack- all robots, just like him.

Trainer Cheddar 3 had never really felt emotion before. He was a robot, after all- all the Trainers were. But now, as he was finally about to use his raw, unmatched power outside of a Training Camp, where he was about to do something with actual consequences, he felt something resembling happiness creeping up inside of him. And as the steel fist of his robotic, maxed Lumberjack connected squarely with Ryusei_Nakao69's face, the curve of a smile began to creep up his face.

Dan spun, bringing his sword up to protect his face, and Chad leapt out from where he had been hiding. The real Chad, not his cleverly deployed Clone that he had made after Dan's Sunlight Yellow Overdrive. It had been quite a good play, and Dan had only figured it out at the very last second.

"Hey Rick, Rage me!", Chad shouted, and swung downwards. Dan swung upwards, and their swords met in the middle, sending the peal of colliding steel through the room like the ripple of a bell. Dan growled, and his hands started to glow. "Chad… you…", he muttered, and breathed in.

"Sure thing, bro!", Rick yelled in response to Chad's request. He dug through what little pockets he had, and grabbed a bottle of Rage. "Watch this.", he said to Valeyrie. "It's gonna be good."

With a small grunt of exertion, he tossed the bottle in Chad's direction.

"My might pushes…", Dan said, building up for another overdrive. "With strength unparalleled, towards your heart!"

His arms and sword lit up with a golden glow, and Dan's strength instantly doubled. With a ferocious expression on his face, he pushed downwards, slowly forcing Chad down to the ground. Either he would end up on the ground, where he was vulnerable, or his sword would slip, leaving him wide open. Either way, Chad was dead- or so Dan thought.

But as soon as the Rage thrown by Rick hit the ground, it flowed into Chad's body. He gasped in what seemed like pleasure as his muscles grew larger, and his skin glowed purple. And Dan watched in horror as Chad slowly pushed off his sword, and flung Dan backwards. The Star fled from his arms, and back into the air.

Song: Cornered

"You thought you were enough, didn't you?", Chad asked, and swung his sword in a circle, slicing off part of the floor. "You thought your Star and your training was enough to beat me, didn't you? Well, it was…"

He ran his sword down his arm, slicing open a thin cut that dripped blood. He licked the blood off of the sword, and stared Dan in the eye with a gaze that defied sanity. "Until I started trying."

"You-", Dan said, and rushed forward. Chad raised his sword to block the blow, Dan's movements seemingly in slow motion compared to the Rage-fueled Elite Barbarian's.

"I what?", Chad said, and flicked his blade in such a way that spun Dan back. "I win? I'm better than you? I'm about to end your miserable little life? Because all of those are true, but…"

He raised his sword above his head, and Dan raised his blade to block. "Metal…", he said, "Metal is a perfect conductor! Metal Silver-"

Chad swung downwards, and Dan attacked up. But at the very last second, just before the two swords hit, Chad withdrew for just a second, pulling back his blade. Dan's stroke continued upwards, missing Chad's head, and sending Dan falling back. The unspent Star energy flew into the rafters of the room, lighting up the wood with a golden flame. Chad scoffed, and slashed his sword across Dan's chest. Dan grunted in pain, and brought his hand up to the cut. He winced, and gave a low, ragged breath.

Chad threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, how the mighty have fallen. What fancy words and shiny tricks will you try now, Dan? Or will you accept the inevitable, and die?"

His words were punctuated by another slash, this time across the arms. Dan growled, and glared at Chad as hard as he could. _I swear, _he thought. _I swear, beast, I will bring you down!_

He yelled, and gathered all the energy he could in his arms. Even though he was bleeding from multiple places, he still found the strength to fight on at his fullest. He swung his sword upwards, right towards Chad's smug face.

"Chad!", Dan roared. "You may be stronger. You may be quicker. You may be more experienced. But I will-"

With a single lightning-fast, lightning-strong blow, Chad swung his sword underneath Dan's. The blades met in an instant- and with a horrible sound of screaming metal, the entire top half of Dan's blade shattered into a thousand pieces.

Dan staggered backwards, and stared at his sword in disbelief. It had served him dozens of battles in the Arena- he didn't think anything could actually break it. But Chad's raw power had managed to do what even direct clashes with Pekkas could not.

"Your sword is broken, Dan.", Chad said. "What will you do now?"

He leapt forward, and Dan shifted into a defensive stance. But with half of his sword missing, it didn't do much. Chad slammed a hard elbow into Dan's chest, sending him sprawling backwards onto a broken dresser. The wood dug into Dan's arms, a thousand tiny cuts all sending twinges of pain through his body. Chad smiled evilly, and raised his sword. "This ends here.", he said. "Consider yourself lucky. You won't have to see what happens afterward."

He swung his sword downwards, intending to cleave off Dan's head.

But the heroic Knight wasn't finished yet. Even with half a sword, he still managed to match Chad's assault, their metal clashing with a mighty clang and flash of sparks.

But even though Dan was struggling mightily, Chad's raw strength was still massive and overwhelming. And with the Rage boost on top of that, he was simply far too much to handle. He pressed downwards, advancing slightly further every second, getting closer to slicing Dan in half.

Beads of sweat dripped off of Dan's brow, mixing with the blood that still flowed. There was no air in his lungs, nothing to use The Star with. Chad was stronger than him, more experienced, and didn't even seem to have been winded by Dan's strongest attacks. And then, Dan realized something.

He was going to die. Right here, right now, there was no way for him to get out of this situation. In mere seconds, his grip would falter, or the rest of his sword would break, or something, and Chad would kill him. But that was alright. He would just respawn back at Oticat's castle. His life didn't matter- all that did in this operation was Brandy. And Dan knew, somehow, that someone had already rescued her. So even if he died, Dan would be happy. But that didn't mean he still wasn't going to fight, as hard as he possibly could.

Chad pressed harder in a sudden burst of energy, and Dan felt his sword start to press against his chest. This was it.

"I must congratulate you, Dan.", said Chad with a false warmth. "You've given me the best fight I've had in ages. Nobody has ever before put up this kind of resistance- not your precious Brandy, not anyone. So, thanks."

_Thanks?, _Dan thought. _I'll show you thanks, you sadistic, callous, basta-_

A trio of flaming arrows hit Chad directly in his unprotected shoulder, sending him for a loop and off of Dan. A shocked expression hit everyone's face, and Chad growled. "Who the-"

Dan didn't waste a moment. He saw that Chad had finally let his guard down, and so he seized the golden opportunity.

"ORA!", he yelled, and stabbed the remnants of his blade into Chad's exposed stomach, as deep as it would go. Blood spurted from Chad's mouth, as his eyes widened in shock. His hand flew to the wound, and he tried to move backwards. But Dan's sword still stayed in him, and did not let him escape.

Rick and Valeyrie turned to where the arrows had come from, and saw Sadie, a defiant expression on her face, with a now empty bow. At the very last second, she knew what had to be done, and had overcome her usually timid nature.

But now, as she saw an Elite Barbarian and a Valkyrie looking at her, anger etched on their faces, she thought perhaps she should have ducked down again after firing, instead of posing dramatically like Elizabeth had told her to do. _Intimidation my bowstring, _she thought. _I should have hid. _

Song: Shoot towards the Decisive Battle

Dan swung his arm around, dislodging Chad and sending him flying. The Elite Barbarian lay bleeding on the ground, one arm to his stomach, one eye closed in pain.

"I tell you Dan,", he groaned, "that right there? That's a lot more damage than your girlfriend ever did."

"She's not my girlfriend.", Dan spat, and prepared to strike again.

"Really?", Chad asked. "Cause that is one fine piece of meat you're missing out on, let me tell you."

Dan roared in anger, and rushed forward. Although Dan couldn't see it, Chad smiled to himself. He had played Dan right into his trap like a record. As soon as Dan reached him, and swung with his broken sword, Chad struck out with his own, sending Dan's blade spinning away.

It flew out of sight, past a hole in the wall, and fell into the inferno that was the war-torn castle below.

Dan barely had time to react before Chad reached out and grabbed his arm, yanking him to the ground. Dan tried to raise an arm in defense, but Chad stomped on his hand and pushed him into the floor. Even though Chad had been beaten down repeatedly and was bleeding from the stomach, he still managed through some unholy power to keep on fighting like he was fresh. "Rick!", he shouted. "There's a couple of Princesses over in the corner! Bag them and save them for later!"

"Already on it, bro!", Rick shouted back, as he strode casually towards Elizabeth and Sadie, now trapped in the corner. "Nice of them to show up to the party."

"I think I hear bones outside.", Valeyrie said. "I'll go check it out."

Chad gave her a thumbs up, and Valeyrie ran off. If somebody had sent a Skeleton Army to stop them, Valeyrie could take care of it easily. "You do that, babe.", he said, then looked down at Dan. "Now, for you…", he said.

Sadie drew back her bow, and Elizabeth fired a volley of arrows right at Rick, but they had little effect. He was ready for the attacks, and brushed them aside like paper. Sadie fired, but the arrows missed. She was too scared to fire, focusing only on what would happen to her and Elizabeth next.

"Come on girls, don't fight it.", said Rick slowly. "Just give in, come with me. We'll have a little fun…"

Dan, although pressed against the floor, tried to take a deep breath, to gain some Star. But his lungs were ripped, and flattened against the ground. He couldn't take more than a few ragged gulps of air. Chad grabbed his face, and twisted it upwards to see Rick grab Sadie by the collar and lift her into the air. Elizabeth tried to run, but Rick grabbed her too.

"Look what you've done, Dan.", Chad whispered. "If you hadn't tried to fight me, perhaps you might still be alive. Perhaps those two Princesses wouldn't have to meet this fate."

"You…", Dan mumbled. "How? How are you… so strong? It doesn't make any… any sense..."

Chad raised an eyebrow. "You want to know? Really? Well then, seeing as how this is the end of your life, I'll tell you."

He drew his blade along his tongue, and a black blood dripped out, pooling on the floor in front of Dan. "I'm not just a normal Elite Barbarian anymore, Dan. I rejected my humanity long ago, along with my King. Now, we are far more. The power of Him flows through my veins like Elixir."

He stomped on Dan's head once more, pushing his face into the ground and away from the sight of Rick tying the two Princesses together and hanging them on the wall, then snapping their bows in half.

"But you know what, Dan?", Chad said with a cruel glow in his eyes. "I think I'll keep you alive. Your Star has many secrets that I'd like to know for myself, and the only way to know how it works is to torture it out of you."

Chad looked down at Dan. Even though his eyes were closing, and blood dripped from his mouth, his hand still twitched in the direction of the door. "Brandy…", he mumbled, almost too quiet for Chad to hear. "Brandy… be safe…"

"Oh, you're worried about Brandy?", Chad asked. "Don't worry about her, she's alive. We want to keep her in good _physical _condition, you know? And you know what?"

Chad leaned in close to Dan's head, making sure he heard every word of what Chad was about to say. "Once this is all over, we'll be sure to make her very, very happy tonight. And if you're good, you might even get to watch. Who knows? Maybe one day, we'll even let you help."

Chad whispered diabolically into Dan's ear. "You're not a virgin, are you? Don't worry if you are- we can fix that right now."

Dan's mind snapped. His anger was too much to hold- but sadly, this time, it did not help. Even though sheer rage pulsed through him like air in a gale, his body was too devastated to even move. The only thing he could do was scream. Scream, as Chad pressed down on his skull. Scream, as Rick slowly started to pull apart Sadie's clothes. Scream, as-

Scream as the door slammed open, and the snapped off handle of a Valkeyrie's axe flew in, slamming into Chad and sending him slamming into the ground. And not even a second afterwards, the axe itself came spinning towards Rick, sending a deep gash up his back.

Song: Jonathan Joestar Theme

There, in the doorway, stood the enormous figure of Orfox. He held Valeyrie in one huge hand, and his sword in the other. His eyes lit up with purple fury, and he gave a tremendous roar that seemed to shake the room.

"Chad…", Valeyrie whispered, naked terror in her eyes. "Help."

"Valeyrie?", Chad said as he got up from the collapsed wall that he had been launched into. "Valeyrie!"

"Holy Se'th.", Rick said, and turned from the Princesses. "What is that? What the frick is that?"

Orfox snarled, and squeezed tighter on Valeyrie. She screamed as thousands of pounds of pressure slammed into her on all sides, and then- she popped. Valeyrie popped like a big, Elixir-filled Balloon, spraying everything around Orfox with droplets of the stuff.

Chad roared, and swung his sword. "You're gonna die for that, you-"

But even Chad was nothing compared to the towering titan that was Orfox. In one swift motion, he grabbed Chad with his iron-plated gauntlet, snatched Rick with his other, and held them both up to his face. "Daniel, my boy.", he said. "Are you hurt?"

"Hurt?", Dan groaned. "What do you think?", he said, as he barely managed to roll himself over.

"You dare restrain us like this?", Chad yelled, and pushed as hard as he could. "Just watch. Within mere seconds, you will-"

Orfox looked both Chad and Rick straight in the eyes, and they stopped. Stopped moving, stopped talking, just stopped everything. "Impudent gnats…", he growled. "Begone!"

And with that, he squeezed harder, and the two Elite Barbarians popped into pure Elixir.

Dan smiled weakly. The work was done. Chad and Rick were dead. And there was the Valkyrie, too, but she didn't matter as much. Brandy had been avenged at last, for real this time. As he saw the purplish-red of the floor change to a brilliant, beautiful blue, he knew that all Red presence in the room had been truly eliminated.

He coughed up blood, and rolled over on his side. He was still dying of his injuries- that was bad.

Brandy appeared from behind Orfox. "Did you do it?", she asked timidly. "Are they de-"

Then she saw Dan, almost dead on the floor. "Dan!", she yelled, and Dashed over to him. She put her head on his chest, relieved to see that his heart was still maintaining a healthy beat. "Dan, are you alright?", she asked frantically. "What happened? Oh, Dan…"

Dan opened his eyes, and turned his head to look at her. "Br- Brandy?", he asked woozilly. "You're alright…"

"Dan, we did it.", she said. "We're winning. We're forcing them back."

"Oh… good.", Dan said, and his eyes started to shut again.

"Dan! Dan! Stay awake!", Brandy said, and shook him. "Dan, Orfox is going to Heal you. Hold on."

A second later, a steady stream of Heal came down onto Dan. He felt the golden light as his dire wounds were knit shut and reversed, but many cuts, bruises, and burns still remained. But to Brandy's immense relief, he managed to stand up. He saw Brandy- cut, bruised, a black eye, burned in at least one place, exhausted, covered in dirt, sweat, grime, and who knew what else- but alive. Brandy saw Dan- and exactly the same.

Brandy pitched forward and hugged him, wrapping her arms around as tight as she possibly could. "Dan, you're alright…", she said. "Brandy, you're okay…", he said. The two hugged each other for several more seconds, not wanting to let go.

"Brandy,", Dan said, "I'm- I'm sorry. I couldn't save you. I wasn't strong enough."

"No.", Brandy said. "It's alright, Dan. You're strong enough for me, and that's all that matters."

Orfox watched them for a few more seconds. But once the time hit 8 seconds, he decided that the standard limit for heartfelt, emotional reunions was over, and that it was time to get back to business. "Right!", he said, and clapped his hands. "Let's go."

He clenched his massive Iron Fist, and a purple light roared out from within him. At once, a team of Barbarians popped into existence, and saluted him. "Sir, Orfox, Sir!", one of them shouted. "Orders, sir!"

Orfox pointed to Sadie and Elizabeth, still tied up and hanging from the wall in one corner of the room. "You lads see those two? Free and secure them at once."

"Sir, yes, Sir!", the group of Barbarians shouted as one, and ran off. Once they reached the two, they immediately began untying, distributing Heals, repairing weapons, and admistiring jackets to compensate for torn and destroyed clothing.

Orfox pointed to a shattered window, leading out into a hallway. "You two, head outside.", he said. "Brandy, Chuck and Brenda be waiting to pick ye up. Dan, head with and protect."

Slowly, Dan and Brandy broke off their embrace. "Well, let's go.", Brandy said.

"Yes,", said Dan. "Let's."

They both ran towards the window, and leapt out towards freedom.

Brenda slid down a banister standing up, aiming right for the group of Skeletons bunched at the bottom. They were a swarm, yes, but if she had just enough momentum- and she thought she did, based off of some random last second calculations that she was even now doing in her head- then she could take them all out at once. Her earpiece beeped, and she put one finger to it.

"Brenda, I'm in trouble.", came the voice of SpaceKrakenX from the other side of the line. "Got in a little over my head, and they have a Dragon. Not a Baby, an actual, full grown Dragon. Deliver Brandy to Chuck at once. Go."

"Wait, wh-", Brenda said, but the line went dead. She turned off the device, and turned her attention to the Skeletons below. Tucking Ryusei_Nakao69's stolen Pass in her pocket, she leaned further in, waiting until the very last second, and-

She Dashed while leaping off of the banister, surfing across the Skeleton ranks like a Fish on a wave, knocking them all apart. They dissolved behind her, and soaked into the floor. She rolled to a stop, then stood up again. _Deliver Brandy to Chuck, hmm?_, she thought. _Well, I know where Chuck is, so Brandy should be somewhere near there. I hope…_

Taking a quick look at her pocket compass, she saw that she was currently facing North. Chuck was to the West of her, so she turned and started to run.

It was a good thing that Brenda just so happened to be very observant and quick-thinking, even for a Bandit. Because had she not seen the glint of gunmetal poking out from behind a fractured door, the avalanche of shotgun bullets that followed might have killed her, and the events of the next few minutes would have played out quite differently. But as it was, she did notice, and Dashed to the side just as the hidden Hunter behind the door unleashed his attack from point-blank range, reducing the wood to bits and tearing a few small holes in Brenda's cape.

Brenda stopped sliding, now able to take a good look at her foe. From the looks of him, the Hunter appeared to be only level 9, far below Brenda's level of 12. An easy target.

She drew her club, and prepared to attack.

Dan and Brandy landed on a fragile catwalk, suspended over a blazing fire that consumed an entire grand ballroom. The heat from the blaze reached them, almost an Inferno in its intensity.

"Brandy!", Dan said. "What do we do?"

"Do?", Brandy asked. "Well, we just walk across it. Look."

She started to walk out on the narrow beam, but Dan held back. He looked at the raging fire down below, then back up at Brandy. "I'm too heavy.", he said. "It can't hold me."

"Oh, come on.", Brandy said. "How much do you weigh?"

"280.", said Dan. "Same as always, and 180 more than you. I can't make it."

Brandy hopped backwards. "No, look. Just follow my steps."

She slowly walked forwards, across the catwalk, Dan carefully copying her every move. "See, just nice and slow, take it nice and easy-"

Up ahead, the board cracked. A column of sparks rose up from it, and the wood started to snap. Brandy's eyes widened, as she saw the structure of the entire beam weaken. It was going to fall, with them still on it.

"Dan, hold on.", she said. "I've never done this before, and I'm not sure it'll work."

"Wait, done what-", Dan started to say, but his sentence was cut off by a huge burst of air. Brandy dashed from the board they were on just as it fell into the blaze, Dan in tow, and landed on the one next to it. The rush of energy had been quite unlike anything Dan had ever experienced. Brandy had also not ever carried anyone with her when she Dashed before- good thing it had worked.

"What made it break?", Dan asked. "It looked fine when we got on it." He wiped the sweat and blood from his brow, then looked forward into a dark maze of rafters.

"I don't know.", said Brandy. "It did look fine…"

Then she saw it. A vicious-looking pair of glowing red eyes loomed out from the darkness, and a low rumble sounded from in front of them. A chill of primal fear ran down Brandy's spine.

"Oh, what is that?", Dan said to himself. But once the beast moved forward, he got his answer.

A fully grown, adult Dragon heaved itself forward, the specialized glimmer lines of on the side of its body full of flame. An evil look gleamed in it's eyes, and it's teeth dripped with drool and Elixir.

"Holy frick.", Brandy said. "Is that a-"

"Yeah.", Dan said, and gulped. "I think it is."

The Dragon pushed itself further out of the scaffolding, and pulled back its head. The scales on its belly began to glow red, signaling that it was about to breathe fire. Dan held up his shattered sword, and Brandy a piece of wood she had found, but both of them knew that there was no point in trying to block a flood of plasma.

"Dan, do you have anything that could help us out?", Brandy said. "Because I know I don't have anything."

Dan breathed in, the bleeding in his throat making the task tough. But he still managed to collect enough energy from the air surrounding him to work, and Star glowed from within him. "You know…", he said, "I think I do."

The visible base of the Dragon's neck turned orange and red, as the fire came closer. "With one final breath…", Dan said. "What are you talking about?", Brandy hissed. "Whose final breath?"

"My heart rings, and space bends.", Dan continued, and closed his eyes. He held Brandy tight, not wanting to take any risk of losing her on the way. She stared up at him in confusion. " Dan, what's going on?"

The Dragon moved the fire up to his mouth, and closed his eyes in preparation to attack. The huge burst of flame would turn all the beams in the area to dust, leaving anyone on them to fall to their almost-certain deaths. Almost certain, because Fire Spirits would still survive.

"For the honor of the fallen!", Dan said, as he completed his Overdrive Verse. "I whisk away, to a safer place."

The Dragon unleashed his attack, white-hot flame flying over every surface at higher speed than it was possible to run away from. Brandy closed her eyes, and held on to Dan tighter. "Secret Technique Overdrive!", Dan yelled, and both he and Brandy vanished in a twinkling of golden light.

The Hunter pulled a small switch on his giant shotgun, and a roll of bullets slotted into their chambers. He closed one eye and aimed right for Brenda. But she was already crouching, steam rising from her body as she prepared to Dash. The two faced each other, knowing that it would all come down to who attacked first. If the Hunter fired, then Brenda could activate her Dash in response and easily take him down. But if Brenda attacked first, then the Hunter could attack, leaving her heavily injured if not actually dead. It was quite an RNG matchup.

"My, nice mustache you've got there.", Brenda suddenly blurted out. "Do you wax it?"

"What-", the Hunter grunted, and his grip on the trigger of his gun relaxed for just a second. That was all Brenda needed. In less time than it took the Hunter to realize his mistake, Brenda Dashed, bursting through the rubble on the floor, and straight for him.

The Hunter hurriedly adjusted his grip and took a haphazard shot, the bullets flying just to the right of Brenda. A few of them did manage to hit her, but they were destroyed upon contact with her Dash Field. Brenda slid underneath the broken doorframe between them, and slammed a foot right into the Hunter's stomach. He grunted in pain, and almost dropped his gun. He tried to reload again, knowing that a direct shot from this distance would deal immense damage to Brenda. But he never got the chance- instead, he got his skull smashed in by a quick axe kick, and he dissolved.

Brenda looked up. It had taken her exactly 13 second to dispose of the Hunter- 13 seconds wasted. 13 precious seconds that could have been used to get into position. And if she knew anything from her many battles, it was that timing was everything.

"Chuck!", she said into her earpiece. "I'm gonna be a bit late! Is everything going alright on your end?"

Chuck the Hog Rider stared dreamily off into space. His fingers absentmindedly stirred themselves around in his pot of ink, and his quill pen tapped out random patterns on the back of his Hog. "Let's see, what rhymes with flower?", he thought, and stood a little straighter. "Maybe… power? Yeah, power."

"Chuck!", Brenda suddenly yelled in his ear, and he snapped out of his stupor. He very nearly dropped his equipment, but managed to keep it all on Trigger's back. Fingers still shaking from the shock, he put one finger to his earpiece. "Uh, yeah, I'm here.", he said. "And I am most definitely ready, yes ma'am."

"Good.", said Brenda as she strode quickly through a burning hallway. "Get ready. I'll be with you in just a few seconds."

Dan and Brandy reappeared in a quiet corner of an attic. There was a thick dust that covered everything, and looked as though it had not been disturbed in years. A detailed illustration of a massive red Dragon covered the floor, and the walls were decorated in old, faded papers.

"Dan?", Brandy asked, looking around. "Where are we?"

"Exactly where we needed to be.", said Dan, panting from the exhaustive effort of teleporting both Brandy and himself. "Just a little… off."

He pointed to a section of wall. "They're expecting us, just on the other side. We'll have to break through."

Brandy nodded, and raised her fists. "Right. Just punching?"

Dan breathed in, and his hands glowed with golden light. "Right."

The two both paused for a second to gather strength, then attacked.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan shouted, pummeling the stone wall with a barrage of high-intensity, Star-fueled punches that cracked the rock.

"Doraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Brandy yelled, lashing out with weaker, but more precise blows that further fractured whatever Dan broke.

The combined attack of both of them soon caused the wall to crumble, revealing the open air beyond. Brandy had almost started to jump through instinctively, but Dan caught her by the cloak and she managed to pull back.

"What- what?", Brandy asked. "Are we just supposed to jump?"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "But don't worry, there's someone waiting to catch us. This is the plan, I went over it with them like a thousand times."

Brandy looked through the hole, trying to catch a glimpse of the ground, but the angle was too tight. She couldn't see anything. "You can't tell if there's anyone down there.", she said. "What if there's not?"

Dan just smiled. "Don't worry, Brandy.", he said. "Just jump. Its a leap of faith."

He grabbed Brandy's hand. To her surprise, he jumped right out the window, and she fell after him.

Song: Third Bomb

Orfox grabbed his earpiece, almost yelling into it. "Oy, Bowza!", he roared. "It's time! Activate Operation Tremors!"

There was no answer, because Bowza was dead at the moment. It would still be a few more minutes before he reformed, in his room, back at Oticat's castle.

"Bowza? Bowza!", yelled Orfox, but there was still no answer. He growled in frustration and punched a few buttons, trying to change the communication channel to All, but his fingers were too big. The small, fragile device broke and fell to the floor. Orfox growled in frustration, and slammed his fist into the wall. It broke.

"Curse it…", he mumbled to himself. "Bowza went and got himself killed. Who's gonna set off Tremors now?"

Inside of the room where Fred and Bowza had killed each other, there was quiet. A few shreds of blue cape and red glass stirred in the hot wind, but that was it. No movement at all, until a Battle Ram burst into the room from outside, and a loud crack echoed throughout the whole space. The Ratzo Brothers fell from their now broken Ram, and stumbled into the room.

"Where's Bowza?", one of them said as he scratched his head. "He was supposed to meet us here."

"I dunno.", said the other. "But I found this weird button, next to this random cape."

He held up a flashing blue button, labeled Operation Tremors. It also said "WARNING! DO NOT TRIGGER UNLESS SITUATION DIRE!"

"Cool.", said one of the Ratzo Brothers. "What does it say? I can't read."

"Shoot, neither can I.", said his brother. "I'm gonna push it."

His brother gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, and the Barbarian pushed down on the button.

As Brandy fell, she could see Chuck scrambling to put away what looked like a set of stationary. That was odd. She could also see a streak of blue, blazing at top speed towards where it looked like they would land. That was good, she guessed. But what was it?

Dan pulled her tighter to him, and she knew there wasn't much time to find out. They were going to hit the ground in just a few seconds. Just in enough time to look up Dan, and ask him exactly what he thought he was doing, and why he had decided to fling them both to their deaths.

But as it turned out, there actually wasn't enough time to even that. Brandy and Dan covered the last few feet to the surface of the earth, and landed in somebody's arms.

Brandy opened her eyes. She had closed them, because that is the standard thing to do before you hit the ground while falling. And she saw, looking down at her, the face of Brenda, maniac energy radiating from her.

Song: Killer

"Whew.", she said. "Looks l caught you just in time, my thief."

"Heh, yeah.", Brandy said, and groaned. "How did you do that? Catch us, I mean."

Brenda gently set them both down, and shrugged. "Just a neat trick with my Dash I thought up. Maybe I could teach you sometime. That'd be cool."

"Yeah.", said Brandy. "It would."

"Thief?", Dan asked, confused. "Why did you call her that?"

Both Brandy and Brenda looked awkwardly at each other, then at Dan. "Well, thief's sort of our word.", said Brenda. "But you can say…", Brandy said, trying to think of some sort of abbreviation for it, but gave up after a few seconds. "You know what? You can say it."

Dan slowly nodded. "Um, thanks. I guess."

Brenda pointed to Chuck, who was making some last minute preparations to Trigger. "Brandy, go get onto Trigger with Chuck. He'll take you home. Dan, can you still fight? You look like you're in pretty bad shape."

Dan tried to roll his arm, to show that he was fine, but it caught in a weird position and he winced in pain. "Yeah, I'm- ow. Okay, maybe I'm not okay."

"I think you should come with me.", said Brandy. "You've done enough."

The two got onto Trigger, and Chuck scratched the Hog's cheek. "Alright, old boy, ready to run?", he said. "Because you gotta run like you've never run before."

Trigger snorted, and pawed the dirt with his hoof in agreement. He was ready.

"Come on, you two.", said Chuck. "Let's get you home."

And so it was, that as the four rode off into the distance, that Brandy the once-innocent Bandit, covered in blood, sweat, tears, and sorrow, finally headed back towards home.

And Dan put his head on her shoulder and fell asleep, knowing that he had at last brought the ones who had taken her to justice.

And Chuck swung his hammer and yelled "Hog Rideeerrrr!", at random intervals. Because that is who he was.

LeChris wiped the Elixir from his eyes, and pointed through the haze. With Ryusei_Nakao69 currently missing and presumed dead, he had taken the lead. "My warriors!", he shouted, trying to spur on what Troops he had remaining. "They think they've beaten us, but they do not know the true glory of TheEvilOverLords! They attack us through trickery and deception, but our power is overwhelming! We shall defeat them today!"

The Troops he was speaking to gave a cry of aggression, and charged forward. He could not actually see what they were, because of the thick, choking smoke that filled the entirety of the room. The fight, although it had spread to practically every inch of the Castle, had not left the Grand Ballroom- indeed, that was where the fighting was thickest. A layer of Elixir coated the floor like water in a wetland, troops slipping and slogging through it, not caring about anything but killing.

ChupilickytwaCT put his hand to his eyes, trying to peer through the gloom. After leaving Trainer Cheddar 3 to deal with Ryusei_Nakao69, he had come back here to lead his troops. "Come on, guys!", he shouted to try and rally everyone around him. "Just hold them back for a little while longer! We're trying to get Operation Tremors online!"

The Kings behind him, including Oticat, sheltered themselves from the onslaught of dusty wind. "We can't, Chup!", shouted Stankyleg, another Co-Leader and ChupilickytwaCT's closest friend. "The chosen instigator is dead!"

Oticat turned to him in shock. "Bowza's dead?", he asked. "What happened?"

"Well, I don't know.", said Stankyleg. "He probably fell victim to some abomination just roaming around this place."

Oticat's earpiece suddenly rang, and he swiped it to answer. "Yes? Hello?", he said.  
"Hey, boss!", shouted one of the Ratzo brothers at the top of his lungs. "We found this weird blue button, and we pressed it! What do you think will happen?"

As if in response to his question, a Giant Skeleton briefly became visible through the gloom. He threw a Goblin off of his face, and stomped on a Musketeer, then a harness on his chest suddenly blinked. A hatch opened in the middle, and a half-dozen Clone spells fell out and hit the floor. Almost instantly, six Clones of the Giant Skeleton appeared next to the original.

ChupilickytwaCT saw it, and grinned. That meant that somehow, they had done it. The fact that it was happening right in front of him meant that it was happening all over the Castle. Operation Tremors had started.

There was an audible echoing screech that could be heard from everywhere in the Castle as hundreds of Clone spells all triggered more or less simultaneously, creating many hundreds of Giant Skeletons- or more importantly, their Bombs, all ready to explode at the slightest touch.

"Everyone, fall back!", ChupilickytwaCT said into his earpiece. "If all goes right, the whole Castle's about to collapse, and nobody wants to be inside!"

Everyone that had an earpiece on- all the Kings, all the Troops fighting, Kars, Webert, the Ratzo Brothers, Orfox, Brenda, Trainer Cheddar 3, everyone- all heard his warning. And they all, no matter their condition, pressed a special button on their harnesses. With a soft _pop, _the bizarre technology wired to them activated, and they all just teleported away. This left many enemy Troops very confused.

LeChris punched the air, and cheered. "We've done it!", he cried triumphantly. "They're leaving! We've won! Everyone except those pesky Giant Skeletons…"

Ryusei_Nakao69 had been mere seconds away from being flattened by a robotic Mega Knight. When the stroke did not fall, he opened his eyes in curiosity, and saw that all of Trainer Cheddar 3's Troops had oddly vanished. But instead of celebrating, he knew instinctively that there was something going on. So he opened up his Kingly Communicator, and opened a direct chat with LeChris. "LeChris!", he barked. "What's going on?"

"You're alright, my lord!", said LeChris happily. "We won! They all left, except for a few Giant Skeletons. But don't worry, we'll get those cleaned up right away…"

A surge of alarm pulsed through Ryusei_Nakao69's heart. Even if LeChris, for some strange reason, had forgotten how Giant Skeletons worked, old Ryus had not. "LeChris, wait!", he yelled. "Don't attack them! Don't even touch them!"

"Why not?", LeChris asked.

"Have you forgotten, you idiot?", Ryusei_Nakao69 practically screamed at him through the communicator. "Giant Skeletons explode!"

"Oh, right.", said LeChris, silently but frantically motioning for his Troops to stop whatever they were doing and stay absolutely still, and especially not to attack the Giant Skeletons. "How silly of me. I seem to have forgotten-"

And then, he saw it. Everyone saw it. A single boulder slowly rolled across the room, as fast as a Golem taking its evening stroll, but no less devastating- it popped each and every Giant Skeleton Clone in the entire Grand Ballroom. All eyes followed to where it had come from, and they saw Webert's Clone, still maintained. "Jobe!", shrieked LeChris. "Why?"

Slowly and methodically, though still in the space of just a few seconds, Webert's Clone took off his makeup, and cast aside his false beard. He shrugged, and grinned. "Oops.", he said.

In the second that followed, everyone tried to escape. But in the second that followed that one, the timer on the Bombs had already expired. And in the second that followed, the Bombs exploded with a blast of near-volcanic proportions, utterly destroying everything in the Grand Ballroom, collapsing the entire ceiling, and setting off a huge chain reaction through the upper and further sections of the whole Clan Castle that finally culminated in a gargantuan explosion that blew the entire superstructure to bits, utterly annihilating any Red Troops and Kings still inside, and sending up a column of debris that apparently reached all the way to Legendary Arena, if the news stations covering the story the next day were to believed.

Oticat and ChupilickytwaCT sat on a rocky outcropping overlooking the destruction. More Kings sat down on the ledge beside them, some putting on 3-D glasses and opening bags of popcorn. The 3-D glassed didn't make much sense in retrospect, but they looked cool at the time.

"Well boys, we did it.", said ChupilickytwaCT, his voice bursting with pride. Here was his tiny little Clan, hand-raised and hand-grown, that had just successfully managed to take down a near-legendary Clan with 3000 more Clan Trophies than them at least. And Oticat's Bandit had been recovered as well, so that was nice. What was her name? Brandy? Ah well, very nice. And they had done it with nothing but grit, determination, skill, planning, the element of surprise, magical breathing powers, and a lot of help- a _lot_ of help. "TheEvilOverLords are no more."


	8. Chapter 8

"Sources are all still unclear about just what it was that turned the Clan Castle of TheEvilOverLords to rubble yesterday morning, but we can all agree on one thing- it was tremendous. The sheer power required to pull that off could have only come from a Clan at least in Legendary League."

The Wizard in the studio turned to his partner, a Villager. She affixed the camera with a worried look, and continued talking where he had left off.

"Reports are still coming in from our on-sight reporters, but for now we are going to assume no survivors. The Red presence around the Castle was completely broken up as well, so they're not ever coming back. Just who is responsible for this? Find out… well, probably as soon as we do."

Brandy clicked the remote, and changed the channel, hoping to find one that wasn't covering the incident. But there was no such luck- a Clan Castle didn't get blown sky high and not get noticed by pretty much the entire continent.

This time, it was the all-Goblin news channel. Brandy didn't speak Gobbish yet, but she could more or less tell what they were saying by the gestures, tone, and pictures behind them. If she could speak Gobbish, this is what she would have heard:

"My, my, what an unfortunate accident seems to have befallen them."

"Yes, yes. How unfortunate indeed. But you know what is fortunate?"

"What?"

"They may have been destroyed, but all their Gold and Gems weren't."

But she could not understand what they were saying, and so Brandy didn't exactly know what the two Goblins were doing when they suddenly stood up from their chairs, grabbed a pair of sacks from the wall, and ran off camera, hordes of set crew in their wake.

She tried another channel, hoping it would just be talking about something normal, but knowing that it wouldn't be.

"-and just to prove my point, this happens!", shouted an angry, red-faced Giant. "I'm telling you, Frank, there's no end to what They will do to keep us quiet! Destroying a Clan Castle? That's small stuff. Next, they'll probably try to use their army of physic lobsters to take over the world! Are you listening, Frank? Frank?"

Frank, not listening to Alex's famously nonsensical rant, just stared straight ahead into space. Thinking was not his strong point. Neither was talking, or anything that required any sort of intelligence at all. Frank had been created for one thing and one thing only- and that was smashing pesky Brawlers. So he picked up his massive hammer and walked away, leaving Alex sputtering in anger and confusion.

"Well folks, you heard it here first!", he said, turning to the camera in a desperate attempt to keep face. "Frank knows the truth, so should you. Remember, keep on watching Infowars-"

Brandy frowned, and clicked again. This time, the channel was of two Archers and a Knight.

"Why, I think that's an interesting viewpoint on the situation, Tabitha.", said the Knight with a very forced grin. "Emma, what do you think?"

"Well Mike,", said Emma, aimlessly painting her nails, "I don't think we're really considering the gravity of this situation. One Castle got destroyed as a punishment by the gods, what happens when its another? What happens when it's us?"

She spread her arms, and turned to the camera. "What happens when the gods decide that we're not worthy?"

Tabitha, not wanting to hear Emma's crazy rants anymore, stood up and pulled down a screen. "Well, Emma, I don't know about that. Let's just focus on the facts, shall we?"

Mike stood as well, and pointed to a very grainy image of Orfox on the projection. "Yes, Emma, let's. As we can see, this appears to be proof that a Barbarian King was one of the major players in the attack. We don't know who he is or what this means, but trust me, it has significance."

Brandy sighed, and turned off the T.V. There was nothing on, not really. Just more footage of exactly what she didn't want to be reminded of. That, and old replays of T.V Royale from 3 months ago.

It was Tuesday. It had been 12 hours. 12 hours had passed since the battle to reclaim her, and Brandy could still hardly even believe that the entire experience had happened. It all seemed like a nightmare, one that kept pounding on the insides of her vision every time she tried to close her eyes.

Once the battle had been concluded, Orfox and his strange Troops had gone back to their village across the sea, and the members of LosDementosCT had all gone back to their various Castles, Troops in tow. But before she had left, Brenda had given Brandy something. It was a thin golden needle, with intricate carvings of insects covering its surface. Brenda gave no clues as to what it was, only that Brandy should keep it secret, and keep it very, very safe.

"How's the soup, Brandy?", came the voice of Agatha from somewhere behind the couch.

"It's good.", Brandy said, and picked up the bowl of soup that she had left on the end table. "What's in it?"

"Oh, nothing much.", Agatha said. "Just some chicken stock, some spices, a few vegetables, and a drop or two of Zap to give it some kick. Want me to make you another bowl?"

"Um, no, this is fine.", Brandy said, then thought for a moment. "Actually, yes, but take out the chicken. Just leave the vegetables."

"Okay.", Agatha said, and tapped her staff on the ground. In a flash of purple light, Larry jumped from the floor, which sealed behind him, and tipped his nonexistent hat. He gave his heels a little click, and flipped down onto the couch next to where Brandy sat. He started to tug at Brandy's blanket, but two stern looks from both Brandy and Agatha told him to stop it.

"I'm going to the kitchen to make more, then.", said Agatha. "Tell Larry if you need anything, and I'll hear it."

She walked away, leaving Brandy with no one but her single bony attendant. She thought about telling Agatha that she needed something, but she didn't know what it was that she needed. Only that she desperately needed something that could not quite be put into words.

It was an itching feeling, almost- to know that deep inside of her, there was some sensation, some feeling yearning to be set free, yet Brandy could not tell what it was. So she stared into the fireplace below the T.V, hoping that something would happen to tell her.

"Brandy, you okay?", Webert asked from the right side of the couch. "You look a little down."

Brandy stopped blowing on her soup and looked up at Webert, with honestly a little disgust. "No, I'm not okay. Of _course_ I'm not okay. I just got brutally kidnapped, tortured, and repeatedly beaten up and violated for almost half a week. What part of that is okay?"

Webert stepped back and stared at the ground in embarrassment. "Oh, sorry.", he mumbled. "I didn't mean it to come out like that."

Brandy immediately regretted lashing out at him like that. Webert was a nice Bowler, he probably hadn't meant to say what he said like that. She reached out an arm for him, and gestured for him to sit on the couch next to her. "No, no, it's okay.", she said, and Webert looked up at her. "I didn't- I didn't mean it like that."

Webert flopped down onto the couch, bending it a little bit, and placed his ball in front of himself for a nice footrest. "No, I'm sorry.", he said. "I shouldn't have said something like that."

Brandy was about to counter with another "I'm sorry", but she thought for a moment first. If she said that no, _she_ was the one who was sorry, then Webert would just say that no, Brandy had it wrong, and that in fact Webert was the sorry one, then the cycle would continue onwards, getting more and more awkward with every pass. But on the other hand, if Brandy just accepted his apology and left it at that, then there would be no cycle. Besides, Brandy needed the apology more- or at least that's what she thought. So she quietly nodded, and the two resumed silence.

"Brandy, why are you wearing your hair down like that?", came another voice. This one was the voice of Sadie, who was just about to leave for battle. "You don't usually wear it all in front of your face like that."

"Sadie?", Brandy asked, totally ignoring the Princess's question. "Are you going somewhere?"

Brandy stood up, spilling her soup in her hurry. Larry, who had just been about to doze off, or meditate, or whatever Skeletons did when they weren't doing anything else, panicked and jumped up, then ran off to tell Agatha about the whole situation. "Sadie, is Oticat about to go and battle? Without me?"

Sadie tried to choose her next words carefully, but what Brandy had said was indeed the exact truth. There was no way around it. So she sighed, and winced. "Yes…"

Oticat stopped in his tracks, just shy of going out the door. All the Troops behind him, some Rascals, a Giant, a Goblin Gang, a Wizard, and a Musketeer, halted as well. Besides those five, a Tombstone, a Fireball, and a Zap made up his secondary Battle Deck.

Oticat had tried to sneak out without anyone noticing, but Sadie had, at the very last second, made that impossible. Now he was going to have to explain to Brandy that-

Brandy sat back down on the couch again, and put her hands together. "Well, if you really want to, I suppose it's for the best. I'm not much help anyway."

Sadie blinked, then leaned down. "Hold on, Brandy. Did you just say you were no help? The Brandy I know would never say that. The Brandy I know would beg to come along and fight."

Brandy didn't even bother to meet Sadie's eye. "The Brandy you know is dead."

Her eyes misted over, and her head fell into her lap. "She died three days ago, in that canyon. Then she died again, yesterday in that Castle. Then she died again, and again, and again. She is no more."

It was a full fifteen seconds before anyone moved, or said something, or did anything. Nobody wanted to disturb Brandy, not when she was crying like this. But eventually, someone did take it upon herself to say something.

"Look, Brandy.", said Agatha, who had reappeared. As soon as Larry had told her, Agatha had returned to Brandy's side as soon as possible. Brandy pulled herself back to a sitting position, and opened her tear-streaked eyes. "You're not dead. We rescued you from that evil castle, and you are alive. You have to remember that."

She put a hand on Brandy's forehead to brush her hair out of her face, but Brandy grabbed Agatha's fingers to stop her. She slowly pushed Agatha away from her, and turned to face the wall.

_Brandy, what's wrong?_, thought Agatha, making sure that Brandy could hear.

_Don't touch my forehead, _Brandy snapped. _Don't you dare._

Agatha pursed her lips together in worry. Brandy had never been so aggressive. Well, admittedly, she had, but it was a good, energetic, ready-to-battle type of aggressive, not this angry, territorial bitterness.

_Brandy, why are you hiding your forehead?, _Agatha thought again. _What's wrong?_

_I don't have to tell you, _Brandy thought. _I don't have to tell anyone anything._

Everyone else watched this mental exchange with varying levels of confusion. Webert knew that Agatha and Brandy could both communicate telepathically. So did Oticat. But nobody else knew. To them, it just looked like a staring contest in which neither player was actually looking at each other.

_It's alright, _Agatha thought. _Brandy, you can tell me. No one else can hear. It's alright. _

Brandy turned her head to face Agatha, hurt and fury in her eyes. _No, _she said, and turned off the link.

Agatha had made up her mind. Brandy was clearly hiding something that she didn't want to be revealed, and she would respect that. As a Witch, she always maintained a high level of professionalism in all things she did, and this was no exception. So it surprised her that much more when Larry leapt up and pulled off Brandy's hood, scattering her bangs and revealing her forehead.

Brandy gasped, and tried to cover it up again- but it was too late. Everyone had already seen it. Everyone had already seen the huge tattoo inked across her forehead that said "Property of Ryusei_Nakao69" in bright Red letters.

Again, everyone froze. Except for Oticat, the two Princesses, and all the members of the Battle Deck, who thought that now would be the most opportune time to sneak out the door and leave. The Giant, trying to leave in such a hurry, forgot to take the Large Troop Door on the right of the regular one and hit his head on the wall. Then he remembered to take the right door, but the damage was already done, both to the wall, his head, and the silence of the moment. Soon, only Webert and Agatha remained by Brandy's side. Then only Agatha, as Webert detected that now would not be the best time to be in the room.

Agatha struggled to find words, trying to take in what she had just seen. It hadn't been there when they had rescued Brandy, had it? No. Agatha had repaired Brandy herself, and she would have seen such an obvious marking. Neither Orfox or Dan had said anything about it either, and Brenda and Chuck had not seemed to have noticed anything.

"Brandy...honey…", Agatha managed to get out, but it was too late. Brandy was already crying. It was the big, ugly kind of crying, the kind that turns your face red, and the kind that drips onto the floor.

"I- I don't know… where it came from.", Brandy choked out. "It just appeared… it just appeared… when I woke up."

Agatha gently put Brandy's head on her shoulder. "It's okay, Brandy.", she whispered. "It's okay to cry. You're a gentle Bandit. You've been through too much. It's okay to let it out."

And as Brandy cried herself to sleep on Agatha's shoulder, the Witch wondered what was going to happen next. Next, in the sudden drama that had been thrust into all their lives with the force of a dark storm.

_One year earlier_

Chrisintheair pulled out his best swivel chair, and sat down in front of his Clan Chat Screen. He was the King destined to become Ryusei_Nakao69- but he wasn't there yet. No, at this point, he was still just a regular King. He had not yet begun to commit the evil acts that he would eventually be known for. He was the leader of his clan, but it was not yet called TheEvilOverLords. It was, for the moment, known as Me and the Boys. It was still a fairly new Clan, only about 2 months old. And right now, Chrisintheair had some business to attend to- some very important business indeed.

"Alright, what's happening?", he asked into his microphone. "How's everyone doing?"

His closest friend, sheerpalpatations, responded with a Thumbs Up King emote. He was the one that would eventually become theSenate. "We're all well over here, Chris. How about you?"

Chrisintheair typed out a reply, but before he could send it, TheWhiteWizard interjected. He was the one to become LeChris. "Oh, I'm doing well. And my Troops are too, thank you for asking."

Chrisintheair smiled warmly. He always did like to see all of his Clanmates getting along so well.

"Okay, let's talk business.", he said. "I have in my hand, at this very moment, a Legendary Trade Token." He held up his hand to show a shimmering token, dripping with multi-colored mist. "And in my other hand, I have a spare Electro Wizard." In his other hand, he held up an Electro Wizard card, also giving off soft, color-changing hues that lit up the small room he was in. "Guess what I'm going to do with them?"

Sheerpalpatations slapped his hand down onto his dashboard. "Trade it? I'm up for it. I could use an Electro Wi-"

"No.", said Chrisintheair. "Oh no no no no no. You see, friends, I have something very… different… in mind."

"You're not going to trade?", asked TheWhiteEizard. "Then why did you show us that Token?"

"Oh, just to flex a little bit.", shrugged Chrisintheair. "They're hard to find, you know." He leaned into his camera, as if sharing a deadly secret. "I'm going to sell it.", he whispered. "I'm going to sell this Electro Wizard card."

Sheerpalpations's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "But- what- no- you can't. You can't do that."

"I can, and I will.", said Chris. "Now, what will the bidding start at? I'd say… I don't know, maybe around 50K?"

"But how?", sheerpalpatations continued asking. "What do you even mean, sell it? You can't do that…"

"I, too, am questioning about the logistics of that operation.", said TheWhiteWizard. "How would one sell a card to their clanmates, exactly?"

"Just show up to my Castle tomorrow, whoever buys the card.", explained Chrisintheair. "I give it to you, you give me the Gold, simple as that."

Sheerpalpatations and TheWhiteWizard looked at each other through the Clan Chat video call. As did Diegobrand, another member of the Clan that had just joined. In time, he would become the one known as Odurawaz. Sheerpalpations gulped, and raised his hand. He had always gone along with Chrisintheair's crazy schemes before, and he saw no reason not to try this one.

"Well, 50K, I guess.", he said. "I will start the bidding at 50K."

"Excellent, excellent.", said Chris, and starting thumbing through a notebook. "I'll mark you down for 50K, unless, of course- anyone wants to top that deal?"

He looked through the assembled Kings, which now included several more members, including Joshthevoice, affricccub, and WarofStars. There were several awkward glances between several of them, but no takers.

"Very well then.", said Chrisintheair. "I guess that sheerpalpatations gets the Electro Wizard card for-"

"60K.", said TheWhiteWizard. "I bid 60K."

Chrisintheair took a look at him, then burst into a wide smile. "Good, good!", he said, and set down his notebook. "I would expect nothing else of you. But…", he said as he took another look at the assembled members of his Clan, "...does anyone care to beat that offer?"

Sheerpalpations didn't even blink. "80K.", he said, and snapped his fingers. "I bid 80K on that card. I'm just 2 more away from max."

"Ooh, skipping 70K, are we?", said Chris. "Bold."

"100K.", said TheWhiteWizard, without skipping a beat. "I bet 100K on it. Because I, sheerpalpatations, am but _1 _away from an upgrade."

The reactions of everyone in the Clan Chat successfully managed to mask another entrance. But this one wasn't a member of the Clan. He wasn't a King. He was something else, something… wrong, that dripped darkness wherever he went and exuded an aura of raw malice that seemed to eat light and devour souls. And he smiled as he appeared, an even darker crescent in a sea of inky black that almost looked like a hole in reality itself.

"I bet 120K.", said sheerpalpatations, getting a little bit desperate. "Chris, I will give you 120 thousand Gold for that Electro Wizard card."

Chris leaned back in his chair, and put his fingers together. "Oh my. That's quite a high number. Would anyone care to try and top that?"

TheWhiteWizard almost said something, but could not. Even if he did have that much money at the moment, he would rather spend it on something other than a single Electro Wizard. Like maxing out his Rascals, or buying himself a new wing of his Castle.

"Well then, it's settled.", said Chrisintheair. "This Electro Wizard card goes to-"

Song: Un'altra Persona

"One million.", came a voice. It had the grating texture of rock, yet was as smooth as water. It sounded like if pure darkness was given a sound. "I will pay you one million Gold for that Electro Wizard."

As one, all of the Kings in the Chat tilted their visions to look at the one who was speaking. His profile showed no image, nothing but an inky blackness. There was no name given underneath his window, either. Whoever was speaking, nobody knew.

"Ex-excuse me?", Chrisintheair asked. "One million Gold? I'm trying to run an auction here, and you think you can come in with such ridiculous claims?"

"Ridiculous?", said the Voice, and chuckled. "Really, mortal? Do you doubt me that easily?"

A tendril of darkness extended out from his window, and two glowing yellow eyes became visible against the void. "I'm not asking you again. Do you accept my offer or not?"

"Well, I don't know who you are.", said Chrisintheair. "So I don't know if I should."

The darkness withdrew a little bit. "Oh, yes, of course. I suppose I have not yet introduced myself. How foolish of me. Chrisintheair, I will speak to you personally. No one else will listen."  
Chris looked around at the floating images of his Clanmates. He trusted each and every one of them, and knew that he would rather have them with him when speaking to this… this… whatever it was. It certainly wasn't a King. "No.", he said. "Everyone-"

The darkness made a miniscule movement, almost as if he were brushing away a fly. In an instant, every single window of every single King vanished, disconnected instantly. Chris gulped, and looked at the one remaining window. It had grown larger, and now seeped outside of its screen. It seemed like it was coming out of the Clan Chat computer, and right into Chrisintheair's room.

"I'm- I'm…", he began, but his voice caught in his throat. Whatever this mysterious entity was, it did seem extraordinarily powerful. The raw aura of fear that it radiated was unmistakable- this was no King, or Troop. Chrisintheair had only ever felt this level of energy in the presence of the gods. But finally, he worked up enough courage to finish his sentence. And as he did so, he bowed a little bit in the presence of this great being. "I'm listening."

Present day

It was Wednesday. A dark and cold Wednesday morning, or at least that was what it seemed like to Brandy. She had not actually gone outside to check the weather, of course, she would much rather stay in her room. So she did, and she did not try to go outside. There was nothing to be found there.

She sat on her bed, staring. Staring at the wall, staring at the empty, cold fireplace- but not really. She was facing them, but her mind's eye was too full to see what was in front of her. Every second of that day that she could remember played out in her head, on constant repeat, and there was no turning it off. Every time she closed her eyes, Hell greeted her with open arms.

There came a knock at the door. Without even turning, Brandy knew it was Dan. He had always knocked three short, one long. He was a Knight of routine. "Come in.", Brandy said.

Dan jiggled the doorknob, but the door didn't open. "It's locked.", he said, voice slightly muffled through the wooden frame.

"Oh.", said Brandy, and did not get up. "So it is." Normally, she would have just Dashed over and opened the door, but this time, she didn't really feel like it. She didn't know why, she just didn't.

"So, are you going to open it, or…", Dan asked. He waited a few seconds for a reply, but there wasn't one. That was weird. Usually, Brandy would have opened the door by now. The only reason he could think of why she wouldn't was if she was hurt…

Dan breathed in, focusing a small amount of power in his fist. It would be just enough to turn the locks of Brandy's door without breaking anything- he hoped. Bowza had only just begun to teach him how to use the Star in delicate amounts, rather than just violent Overdrives. He drew back his fist, took aim, and -

Brandy leisurely swung open the door, and was almost immediately struck by Dan's Star finger. Luckily, he managed to pull back his strike just in time, narrowly avoiding damaging Brandy's skull. He stumbled backwards, then forwards, then fell past her, landing in her room on a pile of wood. He spit out a splinter, and slowly got up.

"Good morning, Dan.", Brandy said with as much of a smile as she could muster. It wasn't much. "Any particular reason you wanted to see me?"

Dan swallowed. He still wasn't entirely sure that he wanted to go through with this. But he had thought all night, and most of the morning. Even if it was a very difficult decision, he had to go through with it. For not only his sake, but Brandy's. It was time to tell her exactly how he really felt.

"Listen, Brandy.", he said. "It's not easy to say this. But I think I have to."

Brandy walked closer to him, and they both sat down on the bed. "No, it's alright.", Brandy said. "You can say it, whatever it is. It's all good."

Dan's face twitched nervously. He exhaled, and began to speak. "Brandy, when I tried to save you… I wasn't enough. I couldn't beat him."

He clenched his fist, and slammed it down onto the dresser, cracks appearing in the wood. Brandy put her hands on his arm, trying to calm him down. "No, no, Dan, its okay. He's dead now. There's nothing to worry about anymore."

"No, you don't understand.", said Dan. "I wasn't strong enough to save you. Orfox was the one that took them down. I needed to be."

"Dan, you were strong enough.", said Brandy. "You were strong enough to fight them until we got there." She put her head on his shoulder. "You were strong enough for me."

Song: Stardust Requiem

Dan stood up, and Brandy almost fell over. "No.", he said. "I'm not good enough- not yet. I have to get better." He turned to look at her, tears almost in his eyes. He knew that doing what he was about to do pained him, but he also knew he had no choice. "I have to go."

"G...go?", Brandy whispered. She looked up at Dan. "What do you mean, go?"

Dan stood for a second in silence. Their eyes met, staring into each other. He saw the hurt in Brandy's eyes, and his heart ached with guilt. But he had already made his decision. Brandy didn't know what Dan was talking about- unless he meant leave Oticat's castle, and not come back. But he couldn't do that, could he? Would he?

After a few more seconds of staring, Dan fell forward into a hug. He squeezed Brandy so hard she almost couldn't breathe, tears running down his face. "I'm sorry, Brandy.", he said, so quietly that neither him or Brandy could barely hear. "I'm so, so sorry."

"Dan, what-", Brandy managed to squeak out. Dan pulled away from her, Star still sparking from his fingertips. He was crying full on now, his heart breaking in two. Brandy tried to move, but realized that she could not. Dan had paralyzed her using the Star, knowing that she could stop him if she really tried.

Shakily, he put his hand to his forehead, and golden energy flowed around his fingers. He locked eyes with Brandy one last time, and gave a sad smile. "Brandy, I know that you don't know what I'm doing. But I assure you, it is for the best."

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, trying to break the Star wound around her, but it was far too strong. "Dan!"

Dan started to flicker in and out of space, his Secret Technique Overdrive going into effect once again. "I'm sorry.", he whispered. "Goodbye."

And with that, Dan vanished. Brandy could only watch, helpless, as the best friend she had ever known, the Knight she had shared her life with as long as she could remember, disappeared without a trace, gone to somewhere that Brandy didn't know.

It took a few seconds for the Star around her to vanish. It took a few more seconds for the feeling to sink in that she would probably never see him ever again. But after that, it took almost no time at all for Brandy to sink to the floor, and scream. She screamed in anger, and sadness, and immeasurable pain. The tears mingled with her screaming, the sound coming out of her mutated into the tortured sound of pure sorrow.

Oticat burst into the room, panting frantically, and saw Brandy lying in the center of the floor. "Brandy, what is it?", he asked, rushing to her side. "What happened?"

"He's gone.", Brandy choked out, through a flood of tears. "He left."

"Who left?", Oticat asked. "What are you talking about?"

A faint shimmer of purple appeared around Brandy. It went unnoticed by both of them, seeing as how they both had different things to focus on at the moment. But it was there, floating over Brandy like an ethereal courascent of flame.

"Dan left.", she said. "He left us. Left me. He just vanished."

She punched her fist into the ground, cracking the wood. "Just like that. He's gone"

Oticat bit his lip, and looked up. He didn't know what was going on. His life had gotten insane lately. What had happened to the days where he could just donate and do wars, and everything would be fine? Not even a week ago, his biggest problem was Hog Cycle decks on Ladder. But now, he was watching his Bandit break down right in front of him, still suffering the massive PTSD from being kidnapped and almost hypnotized, and her best friend, his own Knight, had just departed for parts unknown using some ancient martial art that Oticat hadn't even heard of until yesterday.

_My…_, he thought. _Things are not going well. _

One year earlier, again

"I'm listening.",, Chrisintheair said again. "What do I have to do, to gain such power? As I now sense that you control."

"First, _mortal__,_", the Voice said, making sure to stress Chrisintheair's comperatively lowly status as much as possible, "You must address me by my proper name. Call me Lord Grrshknn."

"Yes, Lord Grrshknn.", said Chris. "I will."

"Good, good.", said Grrhsknn. "And as you may have already guessed, I'm not exactly from around here. I am, in fact, what you might call a demon."

As Chrisintheair watched, Grrshknn slowly oozed out of the screen entirely, becoming a shapeless black mass that covered Chris's computer. The King slowly backed away, giving Grrshknn room to maneuver. He slowly formed from dark sludge into a hulking, muscular mass, reminiscent of a titanic bear. "Ah, that's better.", he said, looking at his shadowy, trailing paws. "I always did like this form most of all. Such a joy I get to assume it…"

He admired his shape for a few more seconds, then became aware of Chrisintheair standing just next to him. He seemed to be working up the courage to ask for something.

"Yes?", Grrshknn asked. "What is it?"

Chrisintheair put his hands together, trying not to show the intense fear coursing through his entire body. "Well, uh, Lord Grrshknn, sir, I do believe that you promised me some Gold for that Electro Wizard card. One million, in fact."

Grrshknn huffed in slight amusement. "Oh, yes. You mortals and your riches. Especially here, in this odd place."

He waved a paw, in some random direction. A single tendril of dark power shot out and vanished through the wall, then disappeared entirely. "There you go.", he said. "The sum of one million Gold is now in your vaults."

Chrisintheair heard a loud thud from somewhere downstairs, and the unmistakable sound of breaking metal. Hurriedly, he pulled his Kingly Communicator from out of his pants pocket and put it to his ear. "Chet?", he asked, referring to a Builder that worked on that floor. "What's going on down there?"

Chet, although he had received the call, didn't answer. He couldn't help but keep on staring, transfixed, at the immense wealth that had suddenly graced his King. Before him lay more Gold that he had ever seen in his entire life. It spilled out of the vaults, the doors shattered wide open. It spilled all across the room, packing it to near-bursting with precious metal. The entire pile glimmered with promise, promises of untold wealth. Slowly, carefully, as if it might have been an illusion, Chet leaned down and ran his hand through the pile. It was real.

Expertly maintaining his excitement, Chet put his own Communicator to his face, and spoke as slowly as he could manage. "Uh, Chrisintheair, sir?", he said. "I think you might want to come take a look at this."

"What is it?", Chris asked frantically. "What's going on down there? What was that sound?"

Chet scratched his head. "That was the sound of our vaults exploding, sir. They just sort of filled up, and then kept on going. They weren't meant to hold this much Gold."

"Really?", Chrisintheair asked. "How much do you think there is?"

Chet squinted, and took another, closer look at the enormous stack of Gold on the ground. "I don't really know, but… probably around a million."

Grrshknn smiled. Such a display of power would no doubt win the King over. And once he did, then his true plan could at last be put into motion. He had been searching for a way to get his work done without doing it himself- and at last, he had found it. In the form of one very greedy, easily corruptible King.

Chrisintheair hung up his Communicator, not even bothering to hear what else Chet had to say. Because at this point, he had already made up his mind. If this Grrshknn fellow, intimidating as he was, would gladly offer up this amount of Gold for free, then Chris could become the richest and most powerful King in the world. And his fledgling Clan could grow to become truly legendary, the elite among the elite. He might have to change the name though- Me and the Boys just didn't sound good enough anymore.

"Well, Chrisintheair?", Grrshknn purred. "Is that enough?"

Chris looked up at his new benefactor. He still didn't know who he was, really. Nor did Chris question how Grrshknn knew his name. He was just too blinded by power and greed to care. "Yes, Lord Grrshknn.", he said. "That will do nicely."

Present Day

It was Thursday evening.

"This soup is too hot.", Brandy muttered under her breath. "I can't eat it."

It was dinnertime, and all of Oticat's troops had sat down to eat. The cook, a Builder named Cook, had made a huge vat of soup. But for Brandy, apparently, it was too hot to eat.

"Voin jäähdyttää sen sinulle, Brandy.", said Gunther, an Ice Wizard sitting next to her. He offered up his hands with bright eyes, but Brandy had no idea what he had just said.

"Um… what?", she asked, trying to guess what he meant. She knew that it probably meant something along the lines of _give it to me_, but she wasn't really that sure.

"Sanoit, että se oli liian kuuma. Anna se minulle.", Gunther said, forgetting for a moment that no one but other Ice Wizards and Royal Ghosts could understand what he said. He offered up his hands again, but Brandy had no real response.

"Give.", he said in broken English. "Give bowl to me. I make cold."

His words were heavily accented, but Brandy could tell what he meant. "Oh. Sorry, I couldn't understand you."

She gave her steaming bowl to Gunther. "Kukaan ei koskaan.", he said under his breath. He breathed out, and a wave of frost slowly started to creep over the bowl. The steam vanished in seconds as all of the liquid inside of the soup bowl was frozen solid. Proudly, Gunther handed Brandy back her bowl. He thought that he had done exactly what she wanted, so he was a bit surprised when Brandy, upon seeing her frozen soup, slammed her head down onto the table and groaned.

"Why, Gunther?", she mumbled. "Why can't things just work out?"

"You… want bowl cold?", Gunther asked. "I thought?"

Brandy looked up just long enough to fix him with an exasperated glare, then retreated back into her folded arms. "Not that cold, Gunther. Just a little bit cooler."

Gunther frowned, and Brandy held up her hands. "Don't worry, it's not your fault. Just-"

Song: Killer

A sharp shock ran through Brandy's body. It felt like a stab wound, but came from her stomach. She clenched her teeth instinctively and grabbed the edge of the table, digging into the wood as much as possible in order to help with the pain. After a few seconds, it faded- only to be replaced with another shot, this one even worse. Brandy held a ferocious curse on the tip of her tongue. She didn't exactly know why she even bothered- maybe it was because there were young Troops nearby.

"Gaaa…", she whispered underneath her breath. "What the…"

Brandy hobbled to her feet, using one hand to clutch her stomach, and pushed back her chair. She pushed it back a little too hard, however, and it fell spinning across the floor. The commotion earned her several odd looks from several members of the table, including one of concern from both Bowza and Agatha.

"Sorry, just gotta-", Brandy said, then another shot of pain flashed upwards from her stomach and hit her throat, erasing her next word. "Oh frick."

She staggered to the bathroom just down the hall, trying not to collapse. Her head swam with colors, her stomach was still under heavy fire, and for some truly bizarre reason, she had an intense craving for sharp cheddar cheese.

_What is wrong with me?, _Brandy thought. She slammed against the door to the bathroom, then haphazardly swung it open. _Am I sick? _

She closed the door again after limping inside, and stopped in front of the counter. She leaned over it, using her arms for support. Brandy felt like she was going to faint, yet she really, _really _wanted to go outside and run around for a full day.

_No, I can't be sick, _she thought. _I've never been sick before. Not even once. _

"Brandy, are you okay?", came the muffled voice of Agatha through the door. Her question was punctuated by three sharp raps, each from a different Skeleton. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, it's nothing.", said Brandy, as she almost fell, staggered to the toilet, and very nearly collapsed. She stared into the water, noticing how red her face looked. "I'm fi-"

But she was not fine at all. Before she had even finished saying how fine she was, Brandy threw up.

"Oh my.", said Bowza, who was also listening in. "You know, for some reason, I don't think she's very fine at all."

Agatha ignored him, as she often did. He had some useful stuff to say sometimes, but most of it didn't really mean anything. "Brandy, you don't sound so good. Why don't you come on out?"

Brandy just stared at the wall of the bathroom, feeling the tingles of illness run across her skin. Acid still dripped from her teeth a little, and her arms shook. Her knees felt weak, and her arms felt heavy. There was vomit on her tunic already, and she was missing what they were serving- spaghetti.

"Brandy?", Agatha asked again, concern tinging her voice. "Are you okay in there? Answer me."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.", Brandy said. "Well, as fine as I can be."

She stood up, and opened the door. Her face was still red, and her eyes looked a little glazed over. Her hair, usually pure white and clean, was a dirty cream and riddled with tangles.

"I think we should get you to the doctor, Brandy.", said Agatha. "Bowza, what do you think?"

Bowza raised a finger to speak, but Brandy interrupted him. "Yeah, that sounds good.", she said, and started walking towards the stairs. Dr. Jethro's office was located on the 17th floor of the castle, roughly near where all the other Wizards hung out. "Sounds good."

Dan blinked, trying to adjust to the light. He couldn't quite tell where he was. When he had teleported away, his only direction was to somewhere where he could get stronger. He hadn't bothered with specifics. But gradually, as his eyes became accustomed to the intense brightness in front of him, he could see the gracefully hovering figure of a Healer.

"Welcome.", she said, in a voice that reassured Dan immediately. "Who are you, Where did you come from, and What have you come here for?"

Dan brushed himself off, and stood at attention, sword by his side. "I am Dan, of King Oticat, of Clan LosDementosCT. I have come to get as strong as I can, to better protect those who I love."

The Healer nodded, and bowed in respect. "A noble cause, dear Knight."

She made a grand sweeping motion with her arms and moved aside, revealing what lay beyond her. "Welcome, seeker of Strength."

Dr. Jethro sat huddled over his notebooks, miles deep in thought. He had a study currently going, one that detailed the long-term effects of Dark Elixir consumption upon regular Troops. So far, the data was short, and there wasn't a whole lot to work with. But according to what they did have, the constant drinking of Dark Elixir, constant being at least one pint every day, would always lead to death. Permanent death, not the kind of death you just regenerated from. He and his colleagues would have to talk to someone, perhaps issue a PSA over T.V Royale or something.

The door creaked open, and Dr. Jethro was pulled out of his stupor as if there was a Tornado in his room. He spun in his chair to look, and saw the miserable form of Brandy shuffle in through the door, Agatha and Bowza behind her. He knew his research, for the time being would have to wait- there was a patient to treat.

"Ah, Brandy.", he said. "What brings you in today?"

"I don't feel good.", Brandy mumbled, with a voice as deadpan as a rock tumbler.

"Really?", said Dr. Jethro, and motioned for Brandy to come sit in his official Doctor's Inspection Chair. She complied, flopping down like a slug. "You've never been sick before."

"Yeah, I know.", she said. "Lots of firsts happening lately. First time being sick, first time being kidnapped and almost dying multiple times repeatedly, first time lifelong friend suddenly and literally vanishing from my life for no good reason."

_Well, it appears your sense of humor is as functional as ever, _Dr. Jethro almost said, but then he realized that Brandy was probably not intending it as a joke. So he just nodded, said "Hm-mh", and took out a thermometer. "Alright, I'm going to take your temperature. So just hold still, it'll be over in a second…"

Brandy flinched at such language, but she did manage to hold still, as Dr. Jethro held the thermometer up in front of her. He kept a neutral expression, but he was relieved that it read a perfect, normal heat. "Okay, looks good.", he said. "Now on to the other tests."

He started to rummage around in his pocket, looking for his other tools. Brandy cast her gaze upwards at Agatha. "How many tests does he have to do?", she asked.

"Oh, that's right.", said Agatha. "You've never done this before… just as many as he needs to, until he finds out what's wrong with you.", Agatha said, and put her hand on Brandy's shoulder. "That's how many."

After several seconds of more searching, Dr. Jethro retrieved a thin metal rod from somewhere in his mine of pockets. "Ah, here it is!", he said. "There's my favorite multi-tool."

He flipped the switch to Measure, and held it up to Brandy's face. "Don't worry, this won't hurt a bit.", he said. "Just try not to think about it- not that there's really anything to think about, at least not in the sense of hurting you, of course. Plenty of stuff to think about, but don't-"

As he stumbled through his words, everyone stared. "Okay, just forget what I said.", Dr. Jethro said. "I kinda forgot where I was going with that."

He tapped Brandy's arm. "Hmmm.", he said. Now, in the medical profession, hmmm did not always mean hmmm. Sometimes, it could mean _oh, that's nice, _or _aha, I think I've found your problem. _Of course, it could also mean _oh no_ or _you know, I think I saw something once like this, but it hadn't advanced anywhere near this far. _It all just depended on the context.

He ran the tool down Brandy's cheek. "Aha…", he said. _Oh, sweet Se'th have mercy on this poor Bandit, _he thought. He really, really hoped that this diagnosis wasn't what he thought it was, but it looked like it was indeed.

Lastly, he waved the tool outside of Brandy's stomach, reading and extrapolating upon her latent energy. "Okay…", he said. _I was right, _he thought. _I hoped to all the gods that I wasn't right, but here we are. Maybe, if I take another round of testing- no. This is the diagnosis. I have to tell her._

Dr. Jethro slowly, calmly tucked his multi-tool into his front pocket. He cleared his throat, and looked up at Agatha. A bead of sweat formed on his brow, and he nervously clicked his pen. _If only my assistent were here to break the news, _he thought. But unfortunately for him, his assistant, a Goblin, was downstairs eating dinner with everyone else.

"Brandy, there's no easy way to say this.", he said, and swallowed hard. He looked her in the eye- if he had to deliver such news, there was no way to do it but honorably. "You're pregnant."

Song: Irreversible Sadness

Brandy's heart almost stopped. Her breath caught in her throat. A raw, scraping feeling erupted from somewhere deep inside her, a rich crimson that felt like hellfire. Her mind reeled with the revelation. She almost didn't hear Dr. Jethro's next words, but they managed to trickle through.

"And you seem to be suffering from a very severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder as well- not really any surprise there, given what happened to you. You also have several regen-resisting scars, but I might be able to-"

Brandy stood up off of the inspection chair. "What?", she screamed at Dr. Jethro, almost causing him to drop his tools. "What do you mean I'm pregnant?"

"Well- I mean, um…", Dr. Jethro stuttered, and looked up at Agatha. "That's the diagnosis. I don't know how it happened. Were you and anyone you know, um…"

He twiddled his thumbs, and shrugged. His work here was mostly done, as far as he was concerned.

"It was him.", Brandy said quietly. "He did this to me."

Her mind flashed backwards in time, to the Canyon. It had been almost a week, and so much had happened since then. But still, out of all the nightmares Brandy had endured, those 10 minutes in Hell stuck with her the very most. Even now, at the very mention of it, every detail came flooding back.

"Who?", Bowza asked. He already knew the answer, but he could sense that Brandy wanted him to ask all the same.

"Chad.", said Brandy, spitting out the name. It left a foul taste in her mouth, like blood and tar. "Chad got me pregnant. He said he would."

Agatha tried to say something, to comfort Brandy in some way. But what could she say? What words could help here? What could Agatha do, to ease such pain? She searched her mind for something, but she knew that really, there was nothing. Nothing Agatha could say could help Brandy, and that hurt her most of all.

Bowza bowed his head, and ran his fingers up and down his bow. He had been afraid of this. Ever since Brandy got back, he could feel the lingering presence of Red leaking off of her, and now he knew why. Even from beyond the grave, Chad still managed to hold Brandy in his evil grasp.

Brandy's skin crawled. Crawled with fear, yes, but it crawled with hatred more. Sheer, black hatred that oozed around her soul like lava. It hurt, but in some odd way, it comforted. And then, in an instant, she knew what to do. It almost didn't feel like she was thinking it, the idea just came to her out of the sky.

"Take it out.", she said, stomping up to Dr. Jethro. "Take the baby out of me, right now."

Dr. Jethro recoiled. "Wha- take it out? I can't do that. That's not possible, not without permanently damaging you. In a way that regenerating can't fix."

"I don't care.", Brandy said. "If it means erasing every last trace of him from the world, I will wear those scars with pride."

But Dr. Jethro shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't.", he said, seeming to regain his composure, if only temporarily. "Its against my principles."

Brandy stared at him. She didn't see the friendly Castle Doctor, who had helped all of Oticat's troops whenever they got sick. She didn't see good old Dr. Jethro, who would never dream of hurting anyone- he had retired from the Arena for exactly that reason. But those morals were what kept him from taking the baby out of Brandy. So to her, Dr. Jethro was her enemy.

"Fine.", she said, and reached into her pocket. "I'll just do it myself."

She withdrew the golden rod that Brenda had given her, sharpened on one end like a miniature Spear. The insectile carvings glinted in the harsh light of the room, seeming to beckon to Brandy. _Yes…, _they whispered. _Use me… remove all your troubles._

"Brandy, wait!", Agatha shouted. So did Bowza, and so did Dr. Jethro. A trio of Skeletons plunged forward to try and stop Brandy, but it was too late. Brandy held the rod aloft, and plunged it into her torso.

Larry's head fell off, and he went chasing after it. Agatha almost screamed. And as soon as the metal plunged into her stomach, Brandy immediately wished that she hadn't tried it. The pain spread instantly throughout her entire body, far more than what a simple stab would have been. She had undergone worse at the Red Castle- much worse. She had been beaten, stabbed, undergone mental assault, and had her bones crushed into powder. Yet somehow, this pain was worse than anything she had ever felt. It was as if her soul was getting stabbed, then lit on fire, then stabbed again, then finally ripped to shreds and scattered into the sea to be eaten by fish.

Brandy screamed, let go of the rod, and fell to the floor. The artifact suddenly shattered, and the pieces flew across the room with a loud bang. Then they dissolved into the ground, vanishing without a trace. The pain lessened as well, lowering to the normal level of what a sharp object stabbed into your stomach would be.

Brandy lay on the floor, her breathing heavy. Blood trickled from her tunic to the floor, forming a small red puddle on the slightly blue tile. Agatha dropped to Brandy's side, trying to pick her up.

"Brandy, what were you thinking? What did you do?", she asked, motioning with her eyes to tell her Skeletons to grab some bandages. "What even was that?"

"I don't know…", Brandy mumbled, and coughed. "Brenda gave it to me. She told me to be careful with it… whoops."

"Indeed, I'm quite curious about that myself.", said Dr. Jethro. "The explosion that that artifact caused made it seem quite powerful. The effects it will have you on will be interesting indeed- in fact, could you let me run a few tests?"

Agatha's death glare gave Dr. Jethro his answer, and he turned around. "Fine then.", he said.

Bowza stared at Brandy's soul. It was different, somehow. He didn't know exactly how, it just felt bizarre. Perhaps it was the texture, or the color, but whatever the strange object had done to Brandy, it had changed her soul in a way that Bowza had never before thought possible.

"I don't know what that was.", Bowza said. "But I do know that we'll have to keep an eye on you, Brandy."

The two led Brandy out of the room, the Bandit still shaking. Out of the corner of her eye, she could almost see a dark shape crawl along the edge of a room. But she dismissed it as nothing, and continued to walk downstairs.

Eleven months earlier

Chrisintheair put his feet up on his brand-new diamond recliner, shuffled his newspaper, and reached for a glass of soda. It was the most expensive kind on the market, as it was made from a special blend of water that could only be found from a waterfall that had since collapsed. But the King could afford it, what with his one million Gold and all. Giving the Electro Wizard card to Grrshknn had been a simple matter, and once he had, Chrisintheair's fortune was made. He hardly even had to battle anymore. Not that he particularly wanted to push past 4000 trophies anyway. If he could already get all the Cards, then what was the point? Just stay where it was easy, and grind 2v2 all the time- that was his strategy.

He took a sip of his soda, and absentmindedly scanned the paper. _Oh, that's interesting, _he thought. There was a story of a Clan's leader mysteriously going missing, after running out into the streets near Goblin Stadium ranting and yelling about some hideous darkness that was going to consume them all, and a Dragon that wanted to take over the world. Pretty odd stuff.

He chuckled at the foolishness of some Kings, noting that the one in question had been Blue.

"Heh, typical Blue.", he said to himself. "Nothing going on in their heads but defeat."

"Blue?", came a familiar voice from somewhere behind him, in front of him, and all around him, all at once. "What do you mean by that, Chris?"

"Oh, that's just the other color of King.", said Chrisintheair without looking up. "I'm Red, the best, and then a lot of other Kings are Blue. Only opposite colors of Kings ever fight each other. I do often wonder about the matching system on that one, to be honest."

He felt a tingling sensation on the back of his neck, and turned around. He saw Grrshknn hovering over and behind him, with an expression on his face that suggested, ever so subtly but not really, that if Chrisintheair did not comply with some unspoken command right now, that the tingling would escalate to something far more painful very, very quickly.

"Ah, it appears you've forgotten your place, Chris.", Grrshknn hissed. "Because when someone of a higher rank speaks to you, especially one such as I, you are normally supposed to assume some sort of submissive position. And right now is no exception."

Chrisintheair thought for exactly no seconds, and realized that Grrshknn was right. So as quickly as possible, he flipped out of his chair that he lay sprawled across and onto the floor in a downwards facing bow. "I'm sorry, Lord Grrshknn.", he said, his voice muffled by the carpet floor. "Is this more to your liking?"

"Hmmm…", Grrshknn said, hand to his chin, pretending to be indecisive. He often did it when mortals presented him with something, even if he immediately liked it, just to freak them out. It was fun when mortals panicked, made Grrshknn feel more in power. But finally, he waved his hand. "Yes, that is fine. Now get up, I have another assignment for you."

Chrisintheair scrambled to his feet. "You do? Wh-"

Grrshknn motioned for him to drop again. "No. You got up too fast. Go down again. Try again."

Chrisintheair resumed his previous position on the ground, then slowly rose. "I'm sorry, Lord Grrshknn. It won't happen again, I promise."

Grrshknn smiled. "You had better hope so. Now, about your next work…"

Unbeknownst to either of them, Stacy, Chrisintheair's daughter, was right outside the door. She was followed by Chad and Rick, all three of them straining not to be heard. At this point in their lives, none of them had yet grown into the pure evil they would one day become. One would call them normal, or even nice.

"Okay guys, just be very quiet.", Stacy whispered. "It would be best if I ask him alone."

"Got it.", said Chad, and gave her a right-handed thumbs up. Rick matched his gesture with his left hand, and Stacy almost giggled. She managed to hold it in, though.

Carefully, she eased the heavy wooden door open. She winced when it made a noise, and froze- but Chrisintheair did not notice. So she opened it the rest of the way, and looked in.

She had been expecting her father to be just sort of lounging about, reading the newspaper and relaxing, studying strategy, speaking with his clanmates, or maybe just taking a nap. That was what he did normally on most days. So Stacy was totally unprepared to see her father deep in conversation with what appeared to be a huge, black, bear-shaped storm cloud hovering violently in the room with him.

"-and you are to speak of no one you know about this.", Grrshknn finished. "Not your Clanmates, not your friends, no one except the ones that will accompany you on this mission. Do you understand?"

Chrisintheair nodded. "Yes. I understand. We find the target, we go in, grab the target, and turn it in to you. Hey, what are you looking at?"

His last words were directed towards Grrshknn, who was looking over Chris's shoulder at something. "Oh my.", the demon rumbled. "It looks like we have a visitor."

Chrisintheair turned to where Grrshknn was looking, and his heart almost jumped out of his chest. He saw Stacy standing at the entrance to the room, staring up at Grrshknn's menacing form, frozen in fear. She quavered in his presence, not daring to make a sound.

"How annoying…", Grrshknn said. "I'll have to remove her."

The storm of darkness hanging in the air dripped down to the floor, and coalesced into the shape of a hulking bear. Grrshknn's teeth jutted from his jaw like railroad spikes, and his eyes glowed a deep yellow. Stacy shrieked in terror, and turned to run.

"Grrshknn, stop!", yelled Chrisintheair, throwing out his hands. "Don't!"

Grrshknn did stop in his tracks. However, he also turned to face Chris, shocked that he would even dare to give orders to someone like him. "Stop?", Grrshknn said slowly. "Do you really think you are in any position to give orders here, Mortal?"

"I'm- I'm sorry, Lord Grrshknn.", said Chrisintheair, and slowly dropped to the floor in a bow. "I didn't mean for it to come out that way. But she's my daughter, and I would rather not you kill her."

Grrshknn sat upright, and stroked his chin. "Hmm, yes, I suppose that you mortals do tend to put odd amounts of priority on these things you refer to as children.". He snapped his fingers, and resumed his previous shape as a storm cloud. Very well then, I will spare her. If…"

"If?", Chris asked. "What's if?"

"If your daughter joins you on your quest tonight. And she, too, follows my orders._"_

"Okay.", said Chris. "Thank you, Lord Grrshknn, for sparing her. I promise, she will not disappoint you."

He slowly walked towards Stacy, making sure to not accidentally scare her. "Stacy, I have someone to introduce you to."

Present Day

Song: Hesitation

It was a balmy Friday evening. It was also a lonely evening, as Oticat had left to go battle. The only Troops that were left in the Castle where the ones he was not using, which was many of them. But even though many were there, the Castle still somehow managed to seem empty. A Hog Rider wandered the halls, looking for something to do. A Goblin Giant wordlessly chomped down on a Cheez-n-Onion Monstroburger, while his two Spear Goblins played Go Fish. A trio of Fire Spirits danced in a fireplace. A dark shadow roamed the corridors invisibly, searching for someone, or something. Brandy sat alone in her room.

After much deliberation and advice, she had at last taken up a hobby that didn't require her to go outside, or talk to anyone. That hobby was painting, and she found that she quite enjoyed it. There was no one she had to talk to, no one to bother her, just her, the paints, and the smell of oil gently wafting through her room.

She ran her brush through a patch of cadmium red, and slowly dragged it across the canvas. Dr. Jethro had given her three weeks. Just three weeks until her pregnancy entered its final stages. Brandy's own attempt at removing the unborn baby had been unsuccessful, and the stabbing with the mysterious artifact had only made things worse. Now, she saw things that weren't there, and heard things that had never been spoken. Secretly, she feared that she was going insane.

Brandy washed the red off of her brush, and dipped the bristles in a pool of green. With long, broad strokes, she outlined and filled in a cape. It was her cape, in fact- this latest painting was a self portrait.

Nobody knew what to do. Nobody knew how to fix her. Even though TheEvilOverLords were all dead, their presence and consequences still hung over everyone like a curtain of darkness. Nobody mentioned them, but everyone knew exactly what everyone else was talking about- when a conversation ended abruptly. When someone erupted into a coughing fit, and had to rush from the room. When someone stared uneasily into a corner, everyone knew exactly what was on their mind.

With fingers trembling from the effort, Brandy oh-so-carefully dipped a single hair of her brush into a drop of blue that lay on her pallet. She brought it up to the canvas, trying not to let the paint get anywhere but its intended mark, right in the center of her eye. She concentrated, letting her absolute attention fall on what she was doing. Almost, almost there, almost-

Then a slight scratching sound on her bed behind her jolted her out of her trance, and the brush slipped, sending a tiny scratch of blue all the way down the painting.

Brandy turned around and huffed. "Excuse me, do you mind?", she said. Then her eyes registered what exactly it was that she was looking at, and she almost nearly screamed.

On her bed sat a man. He did not resemble any troop she had ever seen- the closest would be a Royal Ghost. And even that was only because of his near-translucence. A long black cloak ran down from his neck to his feet, and under that he wore an elegant suit. But the oddest- and to Brandy, the most terrifying- feature was his face. It was covered with a simple mask, quite like hers. Only his, instead of being black, was a pure ivory white.

"Hello, Brandy.", he said. "I do hope you are feeling well."

That was when she did scream.

Downstairs, Kars was busy working out. He had just finished his daily regiment of 75 bar presses at 300 lbs each, and was just about to go to his secondary cooldown of 100 leg presses, each at 480 lbs each. It was a magnificently grueling workout, but it took a lot of effort to maintain his prime Lumberjack physique. He had to, if her was to go around without a shirt all the time. He slammed a stack of iron weights onto the bar, then heard a high-pitched scream from upstairs.

"Woah.", he said to himself after a few seconds. "I wonder what that was."

He looked around to see if anyone else was in the gym, and he saw that there was. Webert lay passed out across a pulley complex, snoring, empty bottle of Dark Elixir still in his hand. Until Kars started to shake him. Then he woke up, ceased his snoring, and dropped the spent glass to shatter on the floor. "Hey! Webert! Wake up!"

Webert scratched his stomach and burped. "What? What is it?"

Kars gestured wildly and aimlessly to somewhere upwards. "I just heard a scream. Wanna go check it out?"

"A scream?", Webert asked. "What kind of a scream was it?"

Kars scratched his head, and took a quick, refreshing swig from his bottle of Rage. "I don't know, but it sounded high-pitched. Sounds like it came from the 17th floor."

Webert's eyes snapped open with alarm. He was suddenly stone-cold sober. "17th floor.", he whispered. "Brandy."

Without even bothering to explain, Webert grabbed Kar's arm, and took off stomping across the floor, dragging the Lumberjack behind him. Kars was a little surprised, but overall took it in stride, and gulped down another drink of Rage as they ran.

"Hey, Double.", said Trouble, a Rascal Girl. "What do you think that was?"

She looked up from their game of Rock-Paper-Scissors to where the scream had come from, the floor above them.

"I dunno.", said Double. "Maybe someone found our spider."

She tapped her fingers on the ground in a beat, and popped a piece of gum into her mouth.

"No, I don't think so.", said Trouble. "We hid the spider on the 18th floor, remember?"

She stood up, and adjusted her eyepatch. She, too, grabbed another piece of gum.

"Oh yeah.", said Double. "What do you suppose it was, then?"

They looked at each other, and locked eyes. Before, they had been using words. But between Rascal Girls, words were but a mere familiarity. They knew each other so well, talking to the other was like speaking into a mirror. Information was communicated night-instantly between them, ideas thrown back and forth, arguments proposed, paths of action shot down, rebuttled, and revised, and finally a plan arrived at in less time than it took until they simultaneously blinked. They both smacked their brother on the head, and he awoke from his nap.

"Doug, wake up.", said Trouble.

"We've got something to do.", said Double.

"Is it something to mess with?", asked Doug, not skipping a beat from their usual banter.

Then the three all locked gazes, and smiled.

"Wha- what-", Brandy said, stumbling over her words, and almost fell backwards. She pointed at the mysterious figure, her hand trembling. "What are you?"

The man on her bed smiled warmly. "What am I? Well, I don't think that's the right question to ask here. Now, who am I? That I will answer gladly."

He stood up, and offered out his hands. "I've been watching you for some time, Brandy. Ever since you stabbed yourself with that arrow shard. That was a good thing to do, by the way."

Brandy made no movement. "Arrow?", she whispered.

"Ah, yes.", said the figure. "That artifact that your friend gave you? The one you tried to terminate your child with? That, Brandy, it what's known as a Stand Arrow. Or, at the very least, a tiny fragment of one."

"What are you talking about?", Brandy asked. "What does any of that mean?"

The figure took a look over Brandy's shoulder, and his face hardened. "Hmmm… it doesn't ap"pear you actually have one. The Arrow fragment must have been too small for you to get one. It only enabled you to see me."

He furled his cape around himself, and touched his fingers to Brandy's forehead. "Yes, you have more than enough fighting spirit. If you were to be hit with a full Arrow, you would develop quite the Stand."

Brandy tried to push him away, but her hands went right through as though he wasn't there. "Okay, sir, man, whoever you are, I'm sure that's all cool, but what is a Stand? Who are you?"

The figure withdrew, and smiled. "Oh, I'm sorry. I guess I haven't quite introduced myself. You may call me-"

The door burst open, and Webert stomped through. Kars swung into the room from Webert's arm, and landed in a fabulous crouch. Behind the two were the Rascal trio, puffing from lack of breath. "Woo.", gasped Trouble. "I don't know-"

"How you all can run like that.", finished Double, without missing a beat. "It's hard."

"Brandy, what happened?", Webert asked, and ran to her side. "Are you alright?"

"Webert, why are you asking me what happened?", Brandy asked. "Look! He's right there!"

She pointed at the figure, still unnamed, who had gone back to sitting on her bed. "Get him!"

Webert stared at the spot were Brandy was pointing. He blinked, then again, then finally rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't missing anything. But then, he was sure. There was nobody there.

"Oh, Brandy.", said the man. "I suppose I should tell you- you are the only one in this Castle that can see me, or hear me. It's just me and you."

He began to float upwards, and bowed. "And Brandy? You may call me-"

Right before he vanished, he stared deep into Brandy's eyes. She felt the deep, deep red, so deep it was almost black, penetrate her seagreen irises, and stab right into her soul. "The Phantom."

And with that, the Phantom was gone, vanished just as mysteriously as he had appeared.

"Uh, Brandy?", Webert said. "I don't see anything. Are you sure there's someone there?"

Kars, from across the room, poked his head up from behind an empty Giant Chest. "Can confirm!", he shouted. "Nothing there here, either!"

Brandy just waved her hand, and closed her eyes. "Of course you don't see anything, Webert. There's nothing there, not anymore. He left."

"Who left?", asked Webert. "Who was there before?"

"I'm still not sure.", said Brandy. "But he called himself the Phantom."

There were several long, mostly noiseless seconds. Brandy contemplated what this mysterious stranger and his incomprehensible lingo could mean for her. Webert wondered if this was it, and Brandy had finally gone truly insane. Kars had found a hidden stash of Gems, and was wondering if he should tell Brandy, or just leave it because she already knew it was there. And Double stepped in between Brandy and Webert, holding up a piece of gum.

"Gum?", she asked Brandy. "It'll help."

Brandy looked at the gum. Then she looked down at Trouble, up at Webert, towards the wall where the Phantom had vanished, then back at the gum again. She sighed, and reached out a hand. "You know what?", she said. "Yeah. I'd love some."

She popped it into her mouth, feeling the odd flavor roll around on her tongue. "Mmm, what flavor is this?", she asked Double. "I've never had it before."

"Oh, you know.", Double shrugged, and Trouble stepped in to finish her sentence. "Gum flavor."

Far, far away, in a place nobody knew for certain, someone stood hunched over a camera's screen station. On it, they were rewinding a recorded video of Brandy meeting the Phantom. Over, and over again. A sly smile lit up their face.

"Well?", came a voice from behind. "Have you got it working?"

The figure didn't turn around, but they could feel who was behind them. There was no mistaking the overwhelming aura of someone like Grrshknn.

"Yes, Lord Grrshknn.", said the someone. "He is in place, and the haunting has begun."

"Excellent, excellent.", Grsshknn said appreciatively. "And you are sure this will work? Don't forget what happened to the last mortal I entrusted with a job."

"Oh, don't worry.", said the figure, eyes glinting with pride. They pushed a small switch, and the viewpoint zoomed into Brandy's eyes. One could see, if they looked closely, a small marking of a Red Crown, almost imperceptible to the eye. Pleased with their work, the figure leaned back, and pointed into the air. "[Phantom of the Opera] has no weaknesses."

11 months earlier

Penny the Archer walked alone, huddled alongside the treeline, trying to escape the pouring rain. She had little success. "Where is she?", she whispered to herself. "Where did Suzie go?"

She was referring to her sister, who was supposed to come on a walk with her. Penny had assumed that Suzie had been right behind her as they went outside, and had just been quiet for some reason. But when Penny arrived at an unfamiliar patch of trees, and had tried to ask Suzie for help, she had realized that she had been alone for several miles.

A twig snapped, and Penny jumped. One hand flew to her bow, and the other outwards in some token gesture of defense. There was no telling what could be out here in the dark woods, especially now that it was nearing nightfall. As Penny stared into the treeline, keeping a close eye out for any movement, she thought she could hear whispering. Whispering that sounded evil.

Song: Himeru Omai

And then, Penny did see something. A Red King, in a long black cloak, step out from behind a mossy oak tree. His eyes glinted with something evil, and he held a long sword in one hand.

"He- hello?", Penny said to him. "Who are you? Can I help you?"

Chrisintheair stepped closer to Penny, bringing his sword behind him. "There you are.", he said, and smiled. "Penny, was it? Yes, your king was wondering where you were. He called me to come and pick you up."

Penny took one look at Chrisintheair, and knew immediately he was lying. For one thing, her Clan was only 17 members, and she knew every King. For another, she had told their King exactly where she and Suzie were going; there was no reason for him to call. But the most obvious reason was that she was Blue, and Chrisintheair was Red. So rather than waste time, she just turned and ran.

Chris watched her go, then realized his mistake as her Blue clothing became more obvious in what little light there was. He cursed himself mentally, then drew his sword and ran after her, vowing to make up something better in the future.

He put a finger to his ear, activating his communicator. "Chad. Rick.", he said. "You're up."

Penny sprinted through the dark forest, keeping a close eye out for roots, boulders, bones sticking up out of the ground, discarded empty Chests, anything that might trip her up. She fully expected to run into something. But she expected to run into a Goblin, or maybe a Skeleton- not two Elite Barbarians, looming in the treeline over her.

"There she is, Chad.", said Rick. He loosened his grip on the tree branch, preparing to fall.

"Yeah, I know, Rick.", said Chad. "You don't really have to tell me." He loosened his grip all the way, then fell with a soft thud onto the dirt. Rick followed suit soon after.

Penny stopped running, and skidded to a stop. In front of her were two Elite Barbarians. Behind her was an angry King with a sword. And she was just a level 6 Archer, in now way suited for melee combat. She was trapped.

"Listen, little Archer.", said Chad. "I know this looks scary, but it's really not. All you need to do is just come with us. Just follow us, come back to our castle, everything's gonna be okay."

"Yeah.", said Rick. "What he said."

Penny just cowered in fear, too scared to even speak. Her mind swirled, and her feet felt like they were going to collapse underneath her. Was this even happening? Was this real?

"N- no.", she managed to squeak out. "I'm not."

"Oh, come on.", said Chrisintheair from behind her. He walked out from behind a tree, twirling his sword. "I really do think you are. You see, you only have two options."

He took another huge step towards the tiny Archer, and stuck his sword underneath her chin, tilting her gaze upwards. "You either come with me and the boys, or…"

Quick as a Zap, he ran the blade of his sword across Penny's chin. A thin cut appeared in a flash of pain, and a drop of blood hit the ground. "You die."

Hating that she did so, but not seeing any other options, Penny gave in. Very slowly, she took her bow from off of her back and dropped it onto the ground. It was immediately snatched up by Bol, Rick's Goblin friend that he had brought along with him, and stuffed into a sack. Penny eyed it fearfully- all Troops that had a weapon hated being without one, in almost any circumstance. But, true to his word, Chrisintheair put his weapon down, and put an arm around Penny.

"See, that wasn't so hard.", he said. "I'm glad you cooperated, otherwise I might have had to put on the force a little bit… and no one wants that, right?"

Penny shook her head, and Chris shoved her into the waiting arms of Chad. He stared down at Penny with a slight smile, and slammed her against his waist.

"Well everyone, let's go.", said Chris. "Mission accomplished."

Back at the Castle, Grrshknn waited. He waited for Chrisintheair to return, to see if he had what it took to carry out his mission. He hoped that he could do it. It had taken so long to select a King that would be willing to do the sorts of things that Grrshknn demanded. Perhaps, through Chrisintheair, Grrshknn could finally complete his mission… but that was something to think about later. For now, he would wait to see if Chris could complete the most basic of tasks. Luckily for him, he did not have long to wait.

Chad was the first to burst through the door, holding a triumphant fist in the air. "We did it, Lord Grrshknn!", he shouted. "The operation is done."

Next was Rick, who shared an enthusiastic fistbump with his brother. After that was Chrisintheair, a proud smile on his face and an eerie glint in his eye.

"Where is the target, Chris?", asked Grrshknn, hovering over a newly built obsidian throne. He casually lit his finger on fire, then snuffed it out. "Show her to me."

"Oh yes, her.", said Chris, then beckoned to the door. "Come on in, Penny. We need you."

Penny slowly walked in, her arms bound with ropes. She was almost paralyzed with fear, but her mind was starting to get working again. She would get out of here somehow, she knew it. Get back to her King, and get back to Suzie.

"See, Lord Grrshknn?", said Chrisintheair. "I told you I could do it."

Grrshknn reclined in the chair. "Ah, so you did. Excellent."

Chrisintheair waited for a second for Grrshknn to say something else, but he never did. He waited a few seconds for something to happen, but nothing came to pass. He tapped his foot on the floor, then spoke. "So, what now?", he asked. "Did you specifically need an Archer for anything, or…"

Grrshknn waved his hand. "Oh, no, you can untie her now.", he said. "I have no further use for her."

Rick, immediately upon hearing this, knelt down next to Penny. With one swift slice of his razor-sharp sword, her ropes fell to ribbons, and she was free. Almost.

"Alright, guess you're our Troop now.", he said, with an exorbitant flex of his muscles. "You can wander the castle, or make friends, or-"

Penny would have used this opportunity to politely decline, then escape. But she never got the chance to. Because faster than anyone could blink, faster than anyone there could move, Grrshknn stretched a tendril across the room and snatched Penny, bringing her to his mouth. She tried to scream, but there was no air in her lungs. She tried to struggle, but Grrshknn's grip was tight enough to break mountains and bend rivers.

"And one more rule, Chris.", Grrshknn spat, and narrowed his eyes. "You are free to do as you wish. But never forget-"

His eyes glowed, and locked with Chrisintheair's. A chill ran through the King's body like corrupted ice. "I make the rules around here."

Then he uncurled his tendril that was wrapped tightly around Penny, opened his mouth wide, and tossed her in. The poor Archer didn't even have time to scream before her body met the destroying void that was Grrshknn's mouth. Her atoms were torn to pieces in less than a second, killing her instantly, and her soul was absorbed into Grrshknn's for what would surely be an eternity of torment. A thunderclap shook the room with the force of the death, and a black shockwave spread out from the obsidian throne.

"Never forget that I make the rules, Chrisintheair.", said Grrshknn once again, and began to fade away. "Or next time, that could be you."

Then he disappeared, leaving everyone in the room with a shocked silence that seemed louder than the clap of thunder he left with.

Present Day

It was a peaceful Saturday, somewhat in the early evening. It was around that mark of the day in which one would start to get a little restless, fearing that nothing would be done with the day, but knowing that there was still a lot of time left to do it.

Several Troops had chosen to spend the time at the table, playing a rousing game of Desert's Gambit. The rules were simple- draw a card, and perform several actions based on what card you drew. If you couldn't, then you were out.

Chez, a Dart Goblin, drew the top card of the deck- a 6 of Elixir. This meant that he had to mimic any Troop that costed exactly 6 Elixir.

"Well Chez, 6 Elixir Troop.", said Agatha. "Hmmm, I wonder what you're going to do."

Chet immeidatly tucked his blowdarter underneath his arm, and strode off across the table in a manner like the walk of a Giant Skeleton. He swung his jaw back and forth in a mock underbite, and then stopped at the edge of the table.

Chet stopped right in front of Brandy, who didn't even blink. She showed no indication that she had noticed, and she might not have. Her eyes were glazed over, staring into some imagined or unimaginable distance. She looked directly ahead, not taking in anything that her senses told her.

"Uh, Brandy?", Chet rasped, his voice horse from all the time he spent blowing bubbles and shooting darts. "What am I?"

Brandy didn't move, still deep inside of her stupor. Chet spread his arms open wide, but there was still no answer.

"Hey, Brandy?", he asked again, tapping Brandy on the shoulder with his blowdarter. "You awake in there?"

Brandy startled and turned around sharply, almost knocking Chet over. "Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm fine." She rubbed her forehead, and her eyes started to close again. "Just a little tired, that's all."

Agatha noticed the state of Brandy's hair. Normally, it was bright white and clean, flowing like wind. But today, it was flecked with streaks of dirty cream and grey, hanging in strings and clumps. Brandy's face also seemed less smooth than normal, and her mask had begun to collect dust.

"Brandy, when was the last time you took a shower?", Agatha asked. "You look awful."

"Oh, I don't know.", said Brandy offhandedly. "Probably about a week ago?"

"Go take one.", said Agatha. "I really think you need one."

Brandy stood up and pushed her chair outward, not bothering to put it back in. "Okay.", she mumbled, and headed upstairs. Bowza and Agatha both watched her go.

"I'm worried about her, Agatha.", Bowza said. "She's not acting like herself."

"Cut her some slack, Bowza.", said Agatha. "She's still trying to recover."

"But she's not.", Bowza said.

"Not what? Not recovering?"

"No. Not trying."

"What are you saying, Bowza?", Agatha asked. "Of course Brandy's trying to get better."

"Oh, no, not her.", Bowza explained. "She's not the problem here. No, there's something… else. Something within her that keeps her from progressing. I'm not sure what it is."

Agatha frowned. "Do you think it could have something to do with that thing she stabbed herself with?"

Bowza ran his fingers up and down a magic arrow. "I certainly think it does."

Brandy turned the knob of the water to Hot, and a cascade of liquid poured down onto her. Warmth flooded across her skin, and she relaxed a little bit. She had heard that people who didn't get enough warmth from those around them took longer showers and baths to compensate. That made sense to Brandy.

Perhaps she needed someone. Someone that could love her when she needed it. Someone to hold her, and tell her everything would be alright.

"_You don't need anyone.", _a voice in her head whispered. "_It's better to be alone."_

"_No.", _another voice rebutted. "_You're right. Surround yourself with others. Lose yourself in them."_

But Brandy ignored them. Besides, she wasn't just taking a shower purely for the sake of taking one. No, she had to get clean. Perhaps if she got cleaner, she would feel better. Anything would help at this point, to ease the ever-present ache within her.

Brandy looked down, and saw the swell of her pregnancy. Despite all of her efforts, she had been unable to remove it. The one person that could, Dr. Jethro, would not. Brandy didn't know what to do if her pregnancy finished. She refused to even think about it.

She poured a smallish dollop of shampoo into her hand, and rubbed it vigorously across her scalp. She brushed her bangs out of the way, and turned to get a better angle. But as she did so, Brandy saw herself in the mirror, her forehead now bare.

Song: Himeru Omai

With all that had happened in the last few days, Brandy had almost forgotten about the tattoo. But still, there it was. Taunting her, calling out to her. They had tried everything to remove it- Heal Spells, vigorous washings, even lightly scraping away the skin itself - but still it remained, stubborn as the dusk. Without even thinking about it, Brandy's fingers moved to touch it. She noticed that there was another part to it, above the previously existing text. It now read "Brandy the Bandit, property of Ryusei_Nakao69" I'm deep crimson letters.

Brandy was so focused on staring at it that she almost didn't notice the shape enter the room. But notice she did. And the first thing she noticed were the distinctive helmet horns of an Elite Barbarian.

Instantly, Brandy pulled the shower curtain back and tried to cover herself up as much as possible. Her mouth went dry with sheer, numbing fear. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a weak-sounding squeak.

_You're cute when you squeak, _came a voice inside of her head. _When you're scared. I like that._

A huge, sweaty hand grabbed the edge of the shower curtain, and prepared to rip it aside. Brandy's legs almost gave out from under her, and she scrabbled to get away- but there was nowhere to run. Brandy was trapped.

The Elite Barbarian nonchalantly pulled the shower curtain aside. Upon seeing Brandy, her face as white as her hair, his look was one of genuine surprise.

But Brandy didn't have time to notice. A dark shadow swooped down from the ceiling, delivering a savage kick into the middle of the Elite Barbarian's chest. He stumbled backwards and crashed into a cabinet, as the formless shadow coalesced into the Phantom.

"Fear not, my angel!", he shouted, and brandished a silver sword. "For I, the Phantom, shall annihilate this menace, and save you!"

Song: Capture the Target

"Wait, what?", Brandy asked from behind the curtain, but her words went ignored. The Phantom soared out the door with a flourish, leaving Brandy alone in the bathroom. After thinking for a moment, she took the opportunity to put on a clean tunic.

The Phantom swept through the air, looking for the Elite Barbarian. His gaze lingered across various parts of Brandy's room- her bed, her dresser, her collection of empty Magical Chests. Normal Bandity stuff. At last, after a few more seconds of searching, he found his target, trying to extract himself from a hole in the wall. He had flown straight through the brick after hitting the cabinet.

"Don't think you can hide from me, villain!", the Phantom bellowed, and flew towards the Elite Barbarian. "Your fate is certain!"

The Elite Barbarian finally managed to extract himself from the wall, and flopped out onto the floor. His helmet almost came off, but he managed to keep it on.

"Whew, what a hit.", he mumbled, and rubbed his forehead. "What even hit me? I didn't see anything…"

The Phantom reached his foe's position, and raised his glittering rapier over his head. "There's no escape!", he yelled. "It's time to meet your maker!"

But to the Phantom's disappointment, the Elite Barbarian didn't look even remotely scared. In fact, it was as if he hadn't even noticed the Phantom's threat. But then he realized that he actually hadn't- the Phantom was a Stand, and thus not visible to anyone but other Stands and their users. He mentally slapped his own forehead, then sheathed his sword and whipped his cape around himself. Among his other abilities, the Phantom possessed the unique power to make himself visible to anyone he pleased.

He appeared in the Elite Barbarian' vision, and once again drew his sword.

"Lament your own sins, villain!", he roared. "For your time has come!"

He swung his blade downwards, and it slammed against the Elite Barbarian's in a crack of metal, ferocious grinding cracks screaming out across the room. The Elite Barbarian struggled mightily, but the supernatural force of the Phantom made jest of his efforts.

"You may be strong, monster, but I, the Phantom, am far, far stronger.", he said, with a look of righteous, yet slightly bored fury. "As long as I live, you shall never lay a hand on my angel!"

He pushed harder, and the Elite Barbarian's defense almost broke. The Phantom's sword reached bare chest, and began to cut into the skin.

"Who… are you?", the Elite Barbarian managed to squeak out. "What are you? What are you talking about?"

The Phantom ignored him. "You don't get to know that, filth. Did!"

He prepared to push harder, and cut his opponent in half, when Brandy's shout rang out across the room. "Stop!"

At once, at her command, the Phantom not only immediately raised his sword, but also vanished, reappearing at her side. "What is it, my love?", he asked. "Do you not want me to destroy this foul beast, the one who would harm you thus?"

Brandy turned to look at him. "Well, no.", she said. "He may be an Elite Barbarian, but look what else he is."

She pointed at the coughing, gasping figure on the floor, and the Phantom understood. "He's Blue."

Brandy leaned down, reaching one hand out towards the Elite Barbarian. "Are you okay? I'm sorry, my friend here didn't know you were Blue."

He blinked, and slowly got up. "Mate, what are you?", he said. "Like, what even?"

The Phantom started to respond, but Brandy silenced him with a wave of her hand. "He's… someone. But who are you? Why are you here?"

Her face grew red, and her voice grew higher and louder. "And why were you poking around in my private bathroom?"

"Oh, shoot, that was yours?", asked the Elite Barbarian. "Sorry, I didn't know. I've never been here before."

"Are you new?", Brandy asked. "No, you can't be. Oticat's still in Arena 9."

The Elite Barbarian stuck out his hand for Brandy to shake. "Naw, I'm Chup's. Name's Dave, and my brother is Dujanovic. Both Level 13."

"Huh", said Brandy, and shook, slight nervousness itching across her skin. "I'm Brandy."

Dave blinked, and realized who he was talking to. His eyes widened, and he pulled back, tripping over a pile of Gold, but managing to catch himself before he fell. "Oh, you're Brandy!", he stuttered. "You're the Bandit who was- oh, I am so, so sorry! I apologize!"

He regained his composure and straightened his helmet. "I didn't know. Me and Dujanovic were just staying over- you know, for fun, and I needed to go to the bathroom, but I didn't know where any were, and so I just found some random room that looked abandoned- I didn't know you were in the bathroom when I opened it, really."

"Abandoned?", Brandy asked, slightly indignantly. "My room doesn't look that bad, does it?"

"No,", Dave began, "But there's dust over everything and all the windows are closed and it doesn't look like anyone's been here for a while."

Brandy was about to respond, when she realized that Dave was right. For days on end, all she had done was sit. Sit in front of the fireplace, or at a table, or in front of the T.V, or on her painting stool, or in her bed. She realized that it had been over a full week now that she had gone outside, or partied, or explored the castle, or even stolen something. She just didn't feel like herself at all.

"Oh.", said Brandy quietly. "I guess you're right. Say, you weren't trying to look at me in the shower, were you?"

Dave waved a hand, as if to brush the notion off. "Naw, Brandy.", he said. "I'm gay."

"Cool.", Brandy said. "Well, it was… interesting. But I should be alone now."

"Okay.", said Dave with a flick of his finger. "See you later."

He turned, and walked out the door. Almost immediately after he did so, the Phantom swooped down in front of Brandy's face and crossed his arms.

"It seems you were getting quite… casual with him, hmm?", he said, and leaned down to stare into Brandy's eyes. "Certainly you of all people would not allow an Elite Barbarian to come between us, right?"

Brandy backed up. "Okay, for one thing, he just said that he was gay. For another-"

"Gay?", asked the Phantom, and moved forward to match Brandy's retreat. "What does that mean?"

Brandy backed up further, running into the pillar set in the middle of her room. She looked up into the massive figure of the Phantom, his emotions mostly hidden by the porcelain mask that covered his face. Was that what she looked like to other people? Brandy hoped not.

"Well, uh, he's not attracted to me.", she said. "He's attracted to other guys."

For a moment, the Phantom stopped moving forward, thinking about this new revelation. "Interesting…", he said to himself. "I wonder what causes that. Clearly, this is a phenomenon that warrants further investigation…"

"And for another thing,", Brandy said, interrupting the Phantom's train of thought, "what do you mean, us? I don't even know you."

"Why, I'm your Phantom.", said the Phantom, and spread out his arms. "And you're my angel. Don't you see? We were made for each other…"

The sight of the Phantom's immense, billowing sleeves looming over her triggered Brandy's memory, and she lashed out. A quick blow caught the Phantom's cheek, and he recoiled in shock. Brandy growled, and raised a fist.

"No.", she said. "Do you hear me? No. I don't know you, I don't want to know you."

The Phantom ran his long fingernails down his cheek, feeling where Brandy had hit him with what seemed like some sort of weird fascination. His eyes grew dark, and he rose into the air. "You have no choice, Brandy!", he said. "Behold, everything I've done for you! All of our memories together- do they mean nothing?"

"What memories?", Brandy said, her voice raising to that of a near-scream. "What have you done for me? Nothing! I don't know you!"

"Please, just love me!", the Phantom shouted, small crackles of lightning billowing throughout his robes. "Please, it is all I ask of you!"

For a moment, the sheer desperation in the Phantom's cries gave Brandy pause. Perhaps, this creature, whatever he was, did deserve at least something. But then her reason won out over the strange emotion, and she swiped again at the air.

"Go away!", she yelled. "Leave!"

The Phantom recoiled into the corner of the room like a slapped child, and hid his face. "Fine.", he said quietly. "Then, my love, I will leave you. For that, truly, is devotion."

Brandy watched as he vanished into the crack where wall met ceiling. And for the first time in days, she felt something other than sadness, fear, and rage. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but it definitely felt yellow.

10 months earlier

It had been one month since Grrshknn had sent Chrisintheair on that mission. It had seemed to be innocent at the time- well, as innocent as kidnapping a random Archer could be. But within mere seconds of the group's successful return, Penny had been obliterated by Grrshknn, for no apparent reason other than to show off. Her last scream still haunted Chris, stuck in his mind like a bleeding itch that wouldn't go away. He could barely believe that he had permitted such a thing to happen. He was the Leader of his Clan, the top King- but Grrshknn radiated such an overwhelming aura of might that Chrisintheair was almost afraid to find out what would happen if he crossed the demon.

"Uh, Dad?", came the voice of Stacie, and the door to Chris's study creaked open a little bit. "Someone's here to see you."

Chris slowly swiveled in his chair, turning to face his daughter. She looked worried, most likely for good reason. "Ah, I'll be there in a minute.", he said nervously, and placed his hands on both sides of his chair.

From behind Stacie, a cold wind swept into the room. It was imperceptible at first, but quickly picked up in intensity. At first, it felt like a cool breeze, then the winds of Frozen Peak, then a dark winter night, then a Freeze shot from a Cannon. Particles of ice began to form on the walls around the door, and Stacie's eyes widened in alarm. She tried to step away from the door and into the room, but her feet were stuck to the floor from the frigid cold.

"Dad, what's going on-", were her last words, before the ice froze the rest of her into a block, and she stopped moving.

"Stacie!", Chrisintheair shouted, and leapt up out of his chair. He ran over to where she stood, and stared at her frozen face. He could see her eyes moving in panic, but there was otherwise no response. "Stacie, can your hear me? If you can hear me, look up."

Stacie's eyeballs looked upward, and Chris heaved a sigh of partial relief. "Well, at least that's one good thing. But how do I get you out…"

He thought for a moment, then got an idea. "Aha! Certainly Timothy could get you out of this. He'll be able to melt this ice."

He pulled his communicator out of his pocket, frantically thumbing through the directory in order to find his most trusted Wizard. But as he scrolled ever downwards towards the T's, he saw a blinking notification in the corner of the screen. _Low Battery. _

A quick, random glance at Stacie sent a pulse of panic through Chris's heart. He could see the bottoms of her feet dissolving, turning into Elixir. She was dying, both from the cold and the lack of air. Her eyes frantically back and forth, pleading for her father to help her- but he could not. There was not anything he could do to save her.

Song: Guardia

But as Chris placed his hands onto Stacie's icy tomb, another wind came from the hall. This one was as hot as the summer wind over Bone Pit, and it roared with a fiery intensity. It rushed over the block of ice, and cracks appeared all over the surface. Chris backed away, and covered his face with his arm as the ice both blew apart and melted, all at the same time. Stacie fell to the floor, gasping for breath, unable to stand. Chris looked up, to see a now-familiar black shape take form in the doorway.

But before he addressed the newcomer, Chrisintheair crouched to his daughter's side, holding her up. "Stacie, are you okay?", he asked, his face bent with worry. "Are you alright?"

As her feet slowly knit back together, Stacie held up a dazed thumbs up, her arm trembling. "Yeah.", she said. "Yeah, I think I'll be okay."

"Good.", said Chris. "Let's get you on the couch."

Holding her by the back, he walked Stacie over to the couch and lay her there. "Okay, let me know if you need anything.", he said cautiously. "I've just got to talk to Grrshknn real quick."

Grrshknn was watching these proceedings with something at least resembling interest. He was a demon, he had never had a family. But to him, the dynamics of mortals, most particularly that of friends and loved ones, were sources of endlessly fascinating study. It was one of the only things that he did not understand, connection.

"Ah, Lord Grrshknn.", Chrisintheair said politely. "For what reason have you come?"

"Spare me the pleasantries.", growled Grrshknn. "I have many things to do, and in very little time. I don't even know why I bothered to spare your daughter from a stray Freeze…"

"Oh, that was you?", Chris asked with wonder. "Where did the Freeze come from?"

"I have enemies, Chris.", said Grrshknn. "Let's just say it was one of them, and leave it at that."

"Oh. Okay.", said Chris. "But, why have you come?"

"Simple.", Grrshknn said, and held up a massive claw. He expertly sketched out a picture in mid-air, which drifted precisely through the air and came to rest on Chris's outstretched hand. Holding it up in front of him, he could see it was a picture of a Witch.

"Get yourself one of these,", Grrshknn said, "And I will give you great rewards indeed."

Chrisintheair stared at the oddly drawn picture. Part of him wanted to say "Yes sir, thank you sir, right away sir,", and take some random Witch from anywhere at all. But another part refused. The part that still held his conscience. He had seen, in every horrible detail, exactly what had happened to Penny. The two halves of him argued for a while, until he made up his mind.

Chrisintheair folded the paper into four parts, and tucked it into his left jacket pocket. He cleared his throat and, with immense bravery, stared Grrshknn straight in the face.

"No.", he said. "I'm sorry, but I can't do it. I will not allow another Troop to meet the same fate as the Archer."

Chris fully expected Grrshknn to get angry. Maybe a verbal tirade, maybe a slap, maybe he would just disappear. But Grrshknn did something that Chrisintheair did not expect at all- he smiled. Smiled widely, and spread out a bundle of arms in strange, unknowable shapes.

"Oh no, you misunderstand, Chris.", he said. "I said get one for yourself, not for me. And in return, I will give you a small bit of my own dark power."

Chris thought this over for a bit. "So, I get another Witch, and also some cool demon powers? What's the downside here?"

"There isn't one.", Grrshknn said. "It's a fair trade, really- for one as powerful as I, giving you a little power is almost stress removal."

"It's a deal, then.", Chris said. "I accept."

He extended his hand, and Grrshknn offered one of his own tendrils of inky smoke. The two beings shook. One faded back into darkness, and the other stumbled back into his chair and wondered just what exactly he had gotten himself into. They both thought that the bargaining session went rather well, and had managed to gain some real benefits for himself. But, of course, this is what we all think sometimes.

"Charles, did you brush your teeth yet?", asked Yaga. She stirred her coffee, and cast a stern look at one of her Skeletons before resuming her gaze outside the living room window. She was a Witch, and a fine one at that. She had recently begun to explore a Witch's innate power of mind magic, and was getting quite good at it. She was still only level 8, but there was a lot of room to go.

"Yes, mother, I brushed my teeth.", said Charles the Knight, mustering up as much sarcasm as he possibly could. "What do you think?"

"I think you didn't.", said Julia the Bandit, as she walked out of the stairs. "I think you're just making it up, and that you brushed your teeth with butter instead."

Charles turned to look at her. "Butter? Honestly, Julia, I don't even know how you come up with this stuff."

Julia shrugged, and frontflipped downwards next to Charles and Yaga. "Dunno. Just good at it, I guess."

"Hey, everyone!", said Deadfreance II, their King, as he swung open the big double doors to the living room. "Who's all ready to battle today?"

"I know I am.", said Julia with a mischievous smile. "Been working on some new slides."

As if to demonstrate, she slid across the floor, Dashing at the last second to disappear through a table leg.

"I'm ready.", said Yaga, and tilted her staff forward. "I haven't-"

She stopped. The latent energy of the room had somehow just changed. She wasn't sure quite what it was, but it was something, she could feel it.

"Yaga, what's wrong?", Deadfreance II asked. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, exactly.", growled Yaga. "Just be careful-

A sudden vision came into her mind, a few seconds into the future. One of the walls imploding, and dark, menacing figures coming through. "Everybody get down!"

Julia instinctively ducked. Charles was a bit slow on the uptake, but he soon dropped to the floor as well. Yaga was already on the ground when she had shouted, but Deadfreance II didn't hear her quite right. It took him a few more seconds to drop once he saw everyone else doing it. But by then, it was already too late. The wall burst open with a terrifying crunch, and Chrisintheair leapt from the impromptu portal. Flanking him where Chad and Rick, with Stacie and Veronica right behind them. "Greetings, mortals.", Chris said in a tone of voice he had silently picked up from Grrshknn. "Do not fear, I've only come for your Witch. And maybe some Gold, I don't know. You got any?"

"Like frick you are-", started Yaga, but Chrisintheair flicked out his hand. A spastically twisting rope shot out from his sleeve, and wound around Yaga like a constricting snake. Her arms couldn't even move to use her staff, the grip was so tight.

Julia screamed in anger and Dashed forward, but Chad was already there. He absorbed the brunt of Julia's blow with his stomach, then picked her up and tossed her into a stone box behind him, towed by a team of Hogs. She twisted in the air to try and lessen the impact, but she was blown into unconsciousness the second her cheek hit stone.

Charles stood still for just a moment, then made his move. It was more out of fear and blind panic than anything else- Charles had never been very sociable. He raised his sword to swing at Chad, then stopped. He grunted in pain, and staggered backwards as a line of blood ran from his mouth. He collapsed against the wall, the trickle from his mouth flowing downward to match the river from his chest where Chad had, with a single blow, cut him wide open.

"Deadfreance II…", he mumbled, and stretched out a single hand. "Help…"

Then he fell entirely into a puddle of Elixir, and was no more.

Deadfreance II was panicking, both inwardly and very much outwardly. The sudden attack had left him with no time to think or prepare, and now two of his Troops had just been kidnapped right in front of him, with another temporarily dead. He tried to say something, but the words died in his throat. He tried to do something, but his body would not respond. All he could do was stand there in silence, as Chrisintheair loaded up the cart with Yaga and Julia, two of his favorite troops.

"Thank you for your cooperation.", Chrisintheair said, and saluted. "As such, I'll leave you alone, and I will not kill you."

Not even such a bold-faced provocation was enough to break Deadfreance II's fear-induced stupor. All he did was watch, utterly helpless, as Chrisintheair sped away.

10 months later

Song: Sekibetsu

It was not a good Sunday. The weather was dull, and uninteresting, a blank sheet of almost rain covering the sky. Oticat had gone on a 6 battle losing streak, and the general mood had spread throughout the entire castle. But it wasn't the only thing to do so- Grapak the Spear Goblin had caught a rather nasty cold, and several Troops were bedridden because of it.

Brandy stared out of her window, gazing at the grass below. It lay flat upon the ground, weighed down by the heavy dew. Occasionally, a bird would flap past, but even that spot of color would disappear after just a second. The leaves were turning, as late summer headed into early fall. Soon, the snow would come, and the world would be white. But before that, there was the rainy limbo to slog through, the middle ground of grey.

Brandy slumped down onto her arm, and huffed. She pulled her hood further over her face, trying not to think about the future or what it held for her. She didn't know what was going to happen. She didn't know what she wanted to do with her life. Most of all, she had no idea what she was going to do with a child.

There came a knock at her door. "Come in.", Brandy mumbled, and turned her eyes to see who it was. She thought it would probably be Agatha again, coming to check on her for the third time that day. But instead, the door opened, and no one came through. The air wavered for a bit, and the door closed.

"He-hello?", Brandy asked, and shifted in her seat. "Who's there?"

The air frizzled again in front of her, and then dropped to reveal the tall, dark figure of the Phantom. He withdrew the rumpled air from the ground into his cloak, and drew closer to Brandy.

"You again?", Brandy snapped. "What? What do you want?

Hurt flashed across the Phantom's face, but he tried not to let it show. Instead, he opened his arms for an embrace, his cloak opening as well.

"Please, Brandy.", he said. "I know you don't know me, but that can all change. I know what you feel, and I wish to cure you of it."

"You don't know what I feel.", Brandy said. "Nobody does. You can't understand what I went through."

"But I do, Brandy.", the Phantom pleaded. "I can feel the pain of others, and draw it into myself. I just want to help."

Brandy carefully considered her options here. If what the Phantom was saying was true, then maybe he could help. Maybe he could fill the hole inside her soul. Maybe things could finally start to look up. But if he was lying, if he was trying to trick her, then opening herself up would be disastrous indeed.

"Please.", the Phantom said, gesturing towards himself. "I know what you dream of, Brandy. I know what horrors scar your mind. I know what visions haunt you, when nobody else can. I am your Phantom, and you are my angel. Please, just try to see that. Just give me a chance."

Brandy didn't say anything. She slowly moved one arm, into the ideal position to jump up and dash away. She fully expected the Phantom to try anything- to grab her, to chase her. But instead, he did something she did not expect. He began to sing.

Song: All I ask of you

"_No more talk of darkness_.", he crooned, his rich, smooth voice echoing throughout Brandy's room. "_Forget these wide-eyed fears…_"

Brandy slowly relaxed her arm, looking up into the Phantom's gentle face. His eyes seemed to glow with a blue-green light, just like hers.

"_I'm here. Nothing can harm you… my words will calm and guide you…_"

He reached out his hand, his eyes telling Brandy to take it. She slowly, cautiously did so. His words felt right, resonating inside of her head.

"_Let me be your freedom, let daylight dry your tears…_"

Slowly, with immeasurable gentleness, the Phantom lifted Brandy off of her feet. He didn't try to push her against himself, he just let her stand.

"_I'm here with you beside you, to guard you and to guide you_…"

He extended his other hand, and Brandy took it. Ethereal music began to play from somewhere unknown, and they began to sway together in the darkness of the room.

"_Say you'll love me, every waking moment… turn my head, with talk of summer time…_"

A small, nearly imperceptible pulse of energy thrummed outwards from him, coating the walls of Brandy's room with richly painted vines and flowers. The green grew, replacing the default blue.

"_Say you need me, with you now and always… promise me, that all you say is true..._"

He lifted his arm, and Brandy spun around in a slow circle. She grabbed his hand again, and looked up. Even though he was almost two feet taller than Brandy's slight five foot frame, she felt like she was staring right at his face.

"_That's all I ask of you_…", he sang, and at last pulled her closer to him. She hesitated, then let herself be pressed to the Phantom's chest. The music swelled, and his voice almost cracked with emotion.

"_Let me be your shelter, let me be your light…_"

He turned Brandy around to face the room, first making sure to surround her with deep black fabric. With a wave of his hand, a vision appeared.

"_You're safe, no one will find you… your fears are far behind you..._"

It was of her, several years in the future. She looked happy, a smiling young Bandit sitting next to her on the grass.

"_All I want is freedom, a world with no more night…and you always beside me..._"

As Brandy continued to watch the vision, she saw that her uniform was a solid green, instead of the mixture of blue and green that it usually was. The Phantom came and sat beside her, and the two lovingly embraced.

"_To hold me and to hide me, then say you'll share with me… one love, one lifetime…_"

The music faded, and he put his arms around Brandy. A faint vestige of struggle fought to be heard, but Brandy let it fall. Strangely enough, she felt at absolute peace with the Phantom, odd as he was. His presence felt right, like he was the key that would open the lock on her mind.

"Please.", he whispered, and Brandy felt her heart jump. "Think of it. No more teams. No more battling. No more strife, or pain. Just rest, and love. Forever."

Brandy's eyes closed, and she relaxed. As she fell limp in the Phantom's arms, his cloak spread out and solidified, to form a makeshift bed. He lay next to Brandy, and slowly ran his hand across her face.

"Sleep, Brandy.", he said. "It's alright. You can rest now."

Brandy felt herself fade into unconsciousness, but she did not try to fight it. And as she did so, the Phantom folded himself up next to her, hiding her with his cloak, protecting her from the world as they fell asleep as one.

Several minutes later, when they were both asleep, another knock came at the door. This time, it really was Agatha. "Brandy?", she asked. "Are you awake?"

But there came, for obvious reasons, no answer. Agatha knocked again, to the same result.

"Brandy, could you answer me?", she asked, with increasing worry. There were several seconds of silence, broken only by the subtle undertones of the castle settling down for the night.

"Okay, I'm coming in.", Agatha said finally. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

She twisted the doorknob and entered the room. Her eyes were already naturally adjusted to the dark, so she immediately scanned the room for Brandy. But Agatha was not a Stand user, so she could not see the cloak of the Phantom, nor where Brandy lay.

"Huh.", Agatha said after a few seconds. "Guess she must be somewhere else. Oh well…"

She walked away from the door, still holding a photograph in her hands. "I was going to tell her the truth. It'll have to wait…"

10 months earlier

Song: Golden Frieza theme

Slowly, Julia awoke. She blinked the crust of sleep from her eyelids, and the blurry shapes in her vision began to form into those of Red Royal Recruits, standing guard slightly below her.

The sight registered in her brain, the shock giving her a boost to adrenaline that woke her the rest of the way up almost immediately. She blinked and opened her eyes all the way, taking in the bizarre sight before her.

_Okay, let's see what we got, _she thought, trying to stave off the panic. _There's a bunch of Royal Recruits all standing guard in front of me, and a huge crowd of Red Troops, and I'm stuck on a pedestal, and there's Yaga next to me, in the same situation._

Julia carefully considered the implications and details of this predicament, then came to a conclusion about her current state of being. _Well, frick, _she thought.

"Yaga!", she whisper-hissed to her right. "What happened? Where are we?"

"We were both kidnapped, I think.", the Witch replied. "It happened so fast, I don't quite remember anything very clearly."

Julia started to say something, but was cut off by the loud blar of a trumpet. Her vision was naturally drawn to a King, looking down at the chamber from the top of a flight of stairs. Red and purple smoke curled around him, while he menacingly posed. Even from here, Julia could feel a strange, evil aura leaking off from him.

Chrisintheair began to slowly walk down the stairs, making sure that each step was as full of power and presence as possible. Once her reached the end of the flight, he spread his arms open wide, as if to welcome Julia and Yaga. A pair of Pekkas stepped behind him.

"Friends!", he shouted, and widely grinned. "Do not fear, rejoice! For your meaningless lives now have new purpose."

Julia's breath caught in her throat. Even though she tried to fight it, she could feel the overwhelming fear cast by the general situation crawl up her back, and gnaw at her chest. Fortunately, Yaga, always the brave one, spoke when Julia could not.

"Who are you?", she snapped. "What is this place? Why did you take us?"

"I told you.", said Chrisintheair. "I took you to give you a new life, here in the best clan, under the best king. I'm sure you might be feeling a little confused, but don't worry- everything's going to work out for the better. I promise."

"You know, you got some nerve-", Julia cried, finding her voice, but was suddenly cut off by a Royal Recruit slamming his shield across her face. She fell backwards, hitting her head on the hard plastic of the podium.  
"Now, now, don't be like that.", Chrisintheair said. "Remember, these are our new friends. Don't hurt them."

Yaga tried to reach for Julia, to comfort her somewhat, but she could not move from the magical restraints that held her in place.

Song: Un'altra persona

Chrisintheair turned to the air, and put his hands together as if in prayer. He fell to his knees, and shouted into nothing. "Lord Grrshknn, look! I've done it! I've gotten them."

Yaga watched him with morbid fascination. Who, or what was he talking to? There was no such troop as a Grrshknn, and it seemed like an odd name for a King. But maybe, if Yaga kept on watching, the mysterious recipient of Chrisintheair's plea would show himself.

Almost immediately upon thinking these words, a searing headache flew to the front of Yaga's mind. She dropped her staff as her hands flew to her head, trying to lesson the immense pressure.

"You want to see me?", a voice boomed inside of her thoughts. "Good. Get used to the sight."

The air over Chrisinthair swirled with darkness, and Yaga's headache only increased. A low, evil hum sounded from all directions, and a portal opened in mid-air. And as Chrisintheair watched excitedly, the demonic force that was Grrshknn slowly moved out of it, and into the normal world. The crowd gasped with both shock and horror, as the otherworldly form of the demon hovered in the middle of the room. Grrshknn pondered the situation in front of him for a second, then arched an eyebrow in pleasant surprise. "So you have, Chris.", he rumbled. "So you have."

He floated over to Julia and Yaga, picking them both up with storm clouds of arms. He held them in front of his massive, tusked maw, then let them fall onto the pedestals on which they were bound. "Good.", he said, and turned to leave. "Do with them what you wish."

But before he could, he heard Chrisintheair cough behind him. Grrshknn stopped, his trail of smoke coming to an abrupt halt. "Lord Grrshknn, sir?", said the King. "Didn't you forget something?"

Grrshknn instantly went from a tall, dark cloud to an overly muscled bear, arms folded, on the floor in front of Chrisintheair. Even though he was pressed up against the ground, he still towered over Chrisintheair like a Pekka over an Archer. "Oh, did I now? Tell me, Chris, what did I forget?"

Chrisintheair gathered his thoughts, trying to hide his nervousness from the demon looming over him. It was hard to think, with the intense yellow eyes of Grrshknn boring into his soul.

"You promised me power, Lord Grrshknn.", he finally said. "You told me that if I completed this assignment, you would give me power."

Grrshknn mockingly tapped his chin with his claw. "Oh yes, I suppose I did. Totally slipped my mind, that one… very well then. Here you go."

One of his claws lit up black, and he slowly brought it towards Chrisintheair's forehead. "Hold still now, this won't hurt a bit-"

The second Grrshknn's claw touched Chrisintheair's forehead, there was a great flash of red light, temporarily blinding anyone in the room.

Once the light subsides, Chrisintheair lay on the floor, utterly still. His eyes were open, although no signs of life flickered within them. Murmurs spread throughout the crowd, Troops pushing their way to the front to get a better view of what seemed to be their King's death.

Rick nudged Chad on the shoulder. "Yo, did he just-"

"No.", Chad said. "No, he couldn't have. Yeah, there's no way. Why would he?"

They looked at each other. Would he?  
Grrshknn looked at the anxious crowd, and sighed. Mortals clearly had no idea about the process of imparting demonic power. The gifted would typically show no signs of life for several hours at first, then would the bonuses start. But he knew that this crowd didn't have that kind of attention span. So Grrshknn decided that, really, it wouldn't be all that big of a problem if he sped up the process a little bit.

With a wave of his paw, and a massive surge of effort, Grrshknn grabbed the latent time strings around Chrisintheair's body. Growling from the energy it took to do so, he yanked on the fabric of reality, sending Chrisintheair's personal time stream through a short boost that served as more than enough time for the King to awaken.

Song: Dark Rebirth

Chrisintheair tasted blood. His vision was blurry, and his hearing faint. Yet despite this, he could feel something else surging through him. Something dark, ancient, and very very powerful.

He opened his eyes, and saw Grrshknn staring back at him. A faint overlay ran across his vision, displaying Grrshknn as Friendly.

"Yes, I'm alright.", Chrisintheair said, knowing that that would likely be the first question everyone would ask him. "In fact, I've...never...felt...better…"

Even as he spoke, Chrisintheair could feel it. He could feel Grrshknn's demonic power flowing through him, turning his blood to magic and his skin to iron. His fingers tingled with the urge to destroy, and his heart beat with an unnatural swiftness.

His head turned on its own, and he saw himself in a mirror. Running down from his eyes to his mouth were two long, black strips of charred flesh. He tenderly put a finger to one, but felt no pain, only a strange pleasure.

"In case you were wondering, I put those there.", said Grrshknn. "Think of them as a reminder of where you got this power."

"Yes…", Chrisintheair said. "This...power…"

Without even really thinking about it, he ran his fingernails down his cheek. They swiftly drew blood with an inhuman sharpness, but the wound closed almost instantly. He scratched again, with the same result. Intrigued, he slashed all the way down to his shoulder as hard as he could. A spurt of blood jumped out of the wound, but his skin automatically knit shut without trouble.

Chrisintheair began to laugh. It started out as a low chuckle, then a harsh bark, then an aggressive cackle, then finally ended as a demonic _ohohohohohoho _that echoed beneath the bones of every Troop in the room.

"This power…", he said. "I've never felt anything like it before! This strength… this vigor… this raw, untempered might!"

He looked at his hand, crawling with tendrils of dark mist. His mind became filled with names he had never known before- he assumed they were names of cards, but he didn't really know- yet. He would find out, he promised himself. _Void Wizard. Rakastamoss. Blackness. Rakshadanore. The Dark Torrent. _

"I have to try it out.", he whispered. "I must… this power cannot be wasted."

He looked down the room, and saw Julia. "You.", he said. "You will be my first test subject."

Julia's heart spiked with fear. She saw the half-King, half-Demon creature lock eyes with her, and her body automatically scrambled to get away. But the magical restraints held her in place, and all she could do was scream.

"Don't worry, Julia!", Yaga said. "I'm sure everything will be fine. Just hold on."

Julia looked at Yaga, her eyes trembling with terror. "You really think so?"

Yaga tried to give her best reassuring smile. "Julia, I know so-"

Then, in a flash, Chrisintheair was upon her. He grabbed Julia's head, his claw-like nails digging into her flesh. "Hmmm, you seem to have a strong mind. Let's just take a little look, shall we?"

Yaga screamed, and Julia lashed out with her leg. The impact connected firmly with Chrisintheair's stomach, but if he felt it, he gave no indication. He squeezed tighter, and his hand began to glow red. "I think I'll start with maybe a hard reboot."

"No!", Yaga and Julia shrieked as one, but it was too late. The pulse of destructive mental force burst outward from Chrisintheair, and into Julia's soul.

"Julia, fight it-", Yaga began, but she could already tell it was too late. Within a mere second, the power of the evil King had spread completely throughout Julia's mind, and completely destroyed it.

When Chrisintheair let go of Julia's head, the Bandit fell face forward. Her eyes, although moving, showed absolutely no emotion. Yaga could tell that there was absolutely nothing within her mind anymore. The Bandit she had known and loved was gone.

Chrisintheair picked her up, and looked into her blank eyes. "Oops, seems that I went a little overboard.", he said. "I'll have to be more careful next time. Now tell me, Julia, a little bit about yourself."

"Julia?", Julia asked robotically. "Is that my name?"

_Oh, I really _did _do a number on her, _Chrisintheair thought. "Yes, that is your name? Now, could you tell us about yourself?"

"I cannot.", Julia said. "I am nothing. I have no memories, I cannot say who I am."

"Huh.", Chrisintheair thought. "Interesting indeed…"

As Yaga watched, her blood began to boil. She affixed her glare of rage on Chrisintheair, and clenched her fist. He would pay for what he had done, she would make sure of it. Even if it meant she died from the effort, at least some justice would be done. This monster had to die before he erased anyone else.

"And you, Witch…", Chrisintheair said, and turned to Yaga. "You will be taken to the dungeon. I'n not sure what I'll do with you, but I will do something. I've just got to get these powers under control."

"You...you…", Yaga said, shaking from pure anger. She looked up, and her eyes flashed. "You won't get away with this!"

She lunged forward, right into the waiting arms of Nidavaleer, the Mega Knight. He looked to Chrisintheair, who nodded assuredly, and the silent titan carried Yaga off towards her doom.

"Chris.", said Grrshknn. "Before I leave, I have one more thing to say to you."

"What is it, Lord Grrshknn?", Chrisintheair asked. "What more do you have to give me?"

"Your name is no longer fitting of your new stature.", Grrshknn said. "You need a new one."

"I do.", said Chrisintheair. "I think I do… but tell me, what shall I know be known by?"

"Hmm…", Grrshknn said, thinking. "How about you take a knee, while I decide?"

"Certainly, Lord Grrshknn, sir.", said the currently nameless king, and kneeled down into the correct position. "I will wait."

"Okay, I've got it.", said Grrshknn, after about ten seconds of thinking. "I know your new, _eternal_, name."

He put his claw on the King's shoulder, then beckoned for him to rise. "Arise, my champion.", he said with pride. "Arise… Ryusei_Nakao69."

Present Day

It was a very sunny Monday morning. As the light drifted in through the window into Brandy's room, she slowly woke up. Sleep fell off of her, and she sat up. It was a bit odd, to her, that she was on the floor. She wasn't on the Log, leaning up against the wall. She hadn't been sleeping in her bed, either. She tried to think about why she was on the ground, then she remembered. The Phantom…

Brandy rubbed her eyes, and got up. She flipped her hood onto her head and adjusted her cloak, remembering the night before. How the Phantom had sung to her, how he had drawn her in, covered her in adoration. His promises of peace and safety still echoed in her mind, like sweet Elixir.

She pulled on her boots, opened the door, and looked out. It seemed as though everyone else was already awake, given that most of the doors were wide open, and those that weren't were only that way because there was no door at all. Some Troops were like that. Brandy sniffed the air, and smelled the aroma of pancakes coming from downstairs. Her stomach unexpectedly rumbled. _Dang, when was the last time I ate?, _she thought, and hurried down the stairs.

Song: Silver Twist

Crink the Mini Pekka joyfully flipped another batch of pancakes from off the griddle to the ready plate with one arm, and used the other to expertly pour a helping of batter onto the stove. He chirruped with happiness at the opportunity to do what he liked best- making a ton of pancakes. He wasn't sure why he liked it, but he did all the same.

"Oy, Crink!", shouted Webert happily. "Could I get another round?"

Crink rotated on his torso, picking up a stack of 36 as he did so. "PAN. CAKES.", he said, and stabbed his sword through the stack, leaving a neat hole. With masterful precision, he flung the stack onto Webert's plate, where they slapped down with a pleasing smack.

"Thanks, dude.", said Webert, and started to eat them. He didn't need or want for silverware.

Crink grabbed his sword with one hand, twisting it to free it from the socket. It fell to the table, and he grabbed a bottle of maple syrup. He twisted the bottle into his hand socket, and smiled as much as his unchangeable robot face allowed him to.

Bending down, Crink grabbed his feet- or were they shoes?- and flipped the bottom off, revealing a pair of roller skates. He gently glided out of the kitchen and into the dining room, where almost all of Oticat's troops had assembled to eat. The only empty chairs were the ones that belonged to Brandy- and of course, Dan. It had still been days since he had left, and he had sent back no word. Some were beginning to believe that he would never return.

Brandy arrived at the bottom of all seven flights of stairs, and looked out over the scene. A small spark lit inside her heart, and a bit of the dark cloud of despair that had hung over her for days began to break apart. Maybe, with the Phantom guarding her and loving her, everything would be alright. Maybe… but she could only hope.

"Hey, Brandy!", Agatha said, and waved her over. "Looks like you're finally awake."

"Finally?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, finally?"

"It's 10 o' clock.", said Agatha. "And judging from your face, you only woke up… 3 minutes ago. Speaking of which, where were you last night?"

"I was just in my room.", said Brandy. "Asleep. Why do you ask?"

"Really.", Agatha said. It wasn't much of a question. "Because when I came to check on you, you weren't there."

"Oh, his cloak must have hidden me.", Brandy realized. "And when he left, that's why I was sleeping on the floor."

Agatha's mind lit up with alarm instantly at these words. "Him?", she asked. "Brandy, were you… sleeping with someone?"

Brandy's face slightly reddened, and she waved her hand. "Oh, no, not like that.", she said. "We were just sleeping. That's all we did. Nothing else."

"Okay, but who?", Agatha pressured. "Who was it?"

Brandy hesitated a bit. She wasn't sure if the Phantom would like her telling anyone, but she did it anyway. "It was the Phantom.", Brandy said. "In sleep he sang to me, in dreams he came… he's wonderful."

Agatha racked her mind for anyone that could possibly be named "The Phantom." A Royal Ghost, perhaps? But Oticat didn't have any, and judging from what happened the last time Brandy was around one, she wasn't likely to be sleeping with any anytime soon. Royal Ghosts were terrible singers, besides. "Is… he a Troop?", Agatha ventured.

"No.", Brandy said. "I think he said he was a… a Stand? Yeah, that was it."

"A Stand…", said Bowza, placing his plate on the table. "I feel like I've heard that somewhere before."

"Oh, good morning Bowza.", Agatha said. "Perhaps you could help me figure out what Brandy is talking about."

"Well, what are you talking about?", Bowza asked Brandy. "What's been going on in your life lately? Besides the obvious, I mean."

"Well, I met this wonderful man.", Brandy admitted. "He calls himself the Phantom. I don't know what he is, but he wears a cloak and a mask. Just like me…"

Bowza and Agatha met eyes, and exchanged a bit of mental conversation.

_Do you think she's hallucinating?, _Bowza asked. _I don't know what else could be going on._

_No. _Agatha answered. _I think this is real. Do you remember that thing she stabbed herself with a few days ago?_

_The spear? Yes, I do, _Bowza replied with a flick of his eye.

_But that's just the thing, _Agatha said. _It wasn't a spear. It was an arrow. It was called…_

Bowza's memory jogged, and his eyes widened imperceptibly in shock. Agatha nodded.

_A Stand Arrow, _they both thought in unison, and turned once again to look at Brandy.

"Um, hello?", she asked, startling the two back to reality. "Did you guys hear me?"

"Oh, sorry, no.", Bowza said. "We were… thinking. What were you saying?"

Brandy sighed. "I said that I think I want to go for a walk this afternoon. I'm feeling better today."

"I think we could do that, Brandy.", said Agatha. "It's good to see you're improving."

"Yeah.", Brandy said wistfully. "It's because of the Phantom."

Bowza was about to say something, but was cut off when Plap the Goblin slapped his hand on the side of the table. "Letter for you, Brandy.", he said. However, he said it in Gobbish, so nobody but Bowza understood.

Song: Himeru Omoi

"Ah, a letter.", Bowza said, quickly snatching the letter out of Plap's hands before he had a chance to eat it. "And for Brandy, how delightful."

He handed the letter to Brandy, who took it with excitement. She delicately retrieved a letter opener from somewhere within her cloak, and held it to the fold of the envelope. "I bet it's from Brenda.", she said. "Asking me about something random, probably."

She slit open the envelope, tipping over the letter into her hand. She took the folded up piece of paper in between her fingers, opened it, and gasped. Her face turned white, and the paper fell out of her hand.

"Brandy, what is it?", Bowza asked with alarm. "What's wrong with the letter?"

With lightning speed, one of Agatha's Skeletons grabbed the falling paper, and briefly glanced at it. His jawbone fell to the floor, and he showed his two siblings. Their jaws dropped as well. Bowza extended his hand towards them, silently asking for the note. They dutifully handed it over, after taking another awe-struck look. Bowza unfolded the letter, and his eyes widened in shock. "Oh, in T'im's honor.", he whispered, and before Agatha could even ask, handed it to her. She took it, saw it, then crumpled it up, her face turning a lighter shade of purple from the anger.

On that letter were two things- both words and a picture. The picture was of Chad, wearing nothing but his helmet and posing dramatically. The words were "You're looking nice today, Brandy. Thinking of you."

Brandy grabbed her head in her hands, pressing it against the table. "No.", she whispered. "This can't be happening. They're dead, I saw it. They're all dead."

"Larry.", Agatha snapped. "Check the date on that envelope. When was the letter sent?"

Larry gave a smart salute, and grabbed the torn envelope from Plap just before he took a huge bite. Ignoring Plap's protests, he scanned the paper for any numbers. It was only after a few seconds of staring that he remembered he couldn't read.

_I read? No., _he signed to Agatha, because he also couldn't speak. _You read? Yes. Read paper._

Agatha grabbed the envelope from him, and saw the date- the letter had been sent almost 3 weeks ago. For unknown reasons, it had arrived only today.

"Brandy, it's okay.", she said. "This letter's old. They're still dead. Don't worry."

But Brandy didn't respond. Even if it was just for a moment, the picture on the note had sent a dark torrent of evil memories running through her mind. Her skin tingled, and her heart beat faster with the recollection of her trauma. She gripped the sides of the table, and tried not to freak out any more than she already was.

"Brandy? Did you hear me?", Agatha asked. "Can you hear me?"

"What?", Brandy asked breathlessly. "What is it? What?"

"I said that this is an old letter.", Agatha explained. "There's nothing to worry about."

Brandy's breathing slowed, and her muscles started to unclench. The tingles running up her spine lessened, but did not stop completely. The memories stopped coming, and she was able to barely push them to the side. She pushed her chair outwards, and stood up.

"Okay.", she said, but the dark aura of the past still clung to her soul. "I- I think I'll go to my room."

"That's fine.", Agatha said. "I understand. Do you still want to go on that walk?"

Brandy hesitated for a moment, then sighed. "Maybe. I don't know. We'll see."

Agatha was about to say something else, but Brandy abruptly Dashed up the stairs, ending the conversation. A gust of wind blasted outwards in her wake, blowing Larry's head clean off his shoulders and into a pile of maple syrup.

"Should we try talking to her?", Agatha asked, but she already knew the answer.

"No, not yet.", Bowza replied. "At this point, it will only make things worse."

His glowing white eyes narrowed, and he turned towards the rightmost door- the way that lead to the massive downstairs library. "Right now, I think our time will be better spent researching."

"Researching what?", Agatha asked, but she thought she might have already known the answer to that as well.

"Stands.", Bowza said. "We need to learn about Stands."

Brandy made her way up the stairs, her heart still beating in her chest. Even if the letter was old, the sight of Chad naked had sent memories pulsing through her head- memories that she would much rather forget. Even if the letter was-

She stopped. The letter was old, yet it seemed as though it had been sent that day. Which, Brandy realized, meant that Ryusei_Nakao69 and TheEvilOverLords had been spying on her for weeks before they actually took her. They had clearly been planning her capture for a long time.

The thought made Brandy uneasy. "Why?", she whispered to herself. "What did I do to them? What is it about me that made them want me so much?"

But she refused to lurk on the thought any longer. She pushed it out of her mind, and continued onwards towards her room.

Once she reached the door, she sighed. Even though it had been around a week since she had been rescued, sending the entire enemy castle into the stratosphere, the time she had spent there still haunted her. Even in death, Ryusei_Nakao69's influence still remained.

She opened the door, and flipped on the light switch. Dave had been right- her room was an absolute mess. Dust covered everything, and half the floor was strewn with random objects. Her collections of random things, once carefully ordered and organized, now lay strewn across tabletops with no semblance of order. An entire empty Giant Chest lay shattered against the wall. It was time to clean up.

Song: Approach

"Ah, visitors.", said Tef the Library Goblin. "What can I do for you today, Bowza and Agatha? Check out a book? Find some references? Anything, all you need to do is ask."

He propped his elbows up on a desk, looking up at the two that had just entered the front of the vast room.

"We're just here to do some research, Tef.", said Bowza. "Nothing more."

"Ah, research.", Tef sighed. "Wonderful thing, that. Anything in particular that you're looking for?"

"Stands.", Agatha said. "I don't suppose you'd have that, would you?"

Tef's pupils diluted in thought. "Well, this library has information on such a vast amount of subjects I don't even know it all. I'm sure we have something, over there in the S section."

He pointed his thumb towards the left-back of the many stacks of bookshelves, and Bowza gave a quick nod. "Thank you, Tef. Your help is most appreciated."

"Hmm, let's see…" murmured a deep, rich voice in the middle of the B section of the library, although nobody heard. "Where's the Bandit book…"

An ethereal hand thumbed through the rows of books, searching for the one he needed. "It should just be here, but it's not…"

A Wizard came strolling through the aisles, books on Spells stacked up over his face. He couldn't see where he was going, but made up for it with sheer memory. But his memory was foiled when instead of going through a normally clear space in the aisle, he bumped into something. He mumbled out an apology, then craned his neck to look at whoever he had bumped into. But to his surprise, there was nothing there.

"Ah, this one will be helpful.", said the Phantom. "Tell me, friend, where is the book on Bandits?"

But the Wizard was not a Stand User, and thus did not see him. He just kept on trying to get past the invisible figure of the Phantom, with increasing frustration and no results. The Phantom realized his mistake, and with a wave of his hand, made himself visible.

"Tell me, friend," he said, his words slightly more strained than before, "Where is the book on Bandits?"

Had the Wizard been a little less distracted, he would have reacted to the Phantom in terror. But his thoughts were somewhere else, so he just pointed to the bottom of the shelf, grunted, and left.

"Thank you, sir.", said the Phantom, although the words fell on no ears but his own. He knelt down into the floor and ran his gaze across the bottom shelf, reading such titles as _A Bandit's strategy guide, The Story of Juno, the Primal Bandit, _and _Physiology of a Bandit. _It was that last one he was looking for, and he pulled it out with a smile.

He thumbed through the pages quickly, only bothering to read the headings at the top of each page. "Average weight… average height… average names… aha! Here we are, intimacy."

He opened the book to its full width, and began to read. _Unique or special erogenous zones…_ he thought. _Around the hollows of the eyes, yes, the small of the back, the bottoms of the feet, the ears…_

He withdrew a little bit, and frowned. The ears? That certainly was a weird spot, but…

_If this is what will make Brandy happy, then so be it, _he thought, and slammed the book shut.

He briefly considered reading some of the rest of the book, but then though against it. He had no time. He was supposed to report back to his user.

"Stands… Stands… Stands…", muttered Bowza to himself, running his finger along the line of books. "Hmm, don't see anything- Agatha, is there anything on the right side?"

"No.", Agatha said, who was looking at the right side of the bookshelves while Bowza checked the left. "Not yet."

"Do you think any book exists?", Bowza asked. "I've never even heard of Stands until recently. There's most likely very little information on them at all."

"Yes, but a little is still something.", said Agatha. "And if there's something, than there's a book on it."

Bowza nodded in agreement, and looked forward. His gaze almost passed over a very small, weathered book on the bottom shelf- almost. But a small piece of silver glinted off the spine, catching his eye. _Oh?, _he thought, and leaned down. He extracted the book from its shelf, and smiled. He wasn't sure exactly what he had been looking for, but "_Everything we know about Stands"_ seemed to be it.

"Is that it?", Agatha asked. "Did you find it?"

The book was thin, probably only about 20 pages. The cover, which accounted for most of the book's weight, was covered in raw chunks of gold, silver, and platinum. A strange light hummed off the pages, and distant whispers seemed to be coming from within. "It is.", Bowza said.

He opened the book, cleared his throat, and began to read aloud so could hear as well.

"A Stand is the physical manifestation of one's spiritual and mental energy.", he said with curiosity, learning even as he spoke. "There are several different types- close-range, remote, bound, and ability Stands, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. One can only have one Stand."

There was too much information on the rest of the page for Bowza to read aloud, so he stopped talking and just scanned the page. The information excited him- he had no idea there was such an odd thing in existence.

"Bowza, what does it say?", Agatha asked, slightly impatient. "What did you find out?"

Bowza read for a few more moments, then looked up. "Well, I found out what's going on with Brandy. Sort of."

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

Brandy rummaged around in her dresser, reaching for anything that wasn't a spare uniform. She had started cleaning- well, sometimes cleaning and sometimes finding something from months or years ago, staring at it, then putting it back without cleaning anything. Also, she had found several spiders.

Her hand hit wood, signaling that she had hit the back of the dresser. It was clear of anything that didn't belong there. Brandy pulled her arm out, and set her sights on a Super Magical Chest leaning against the wall. It was in good condition, fortunately for her. Even though it was empty, a Super Magical Chest would fetch quite a bit on the open market. Ever since their phasing out and replacement with Mega Lightning Chests a few months back, they had become ever more desired by collectors. But Brandy couldn't remember what she had been using it for. She would just have to find out.

Brandy cracked open the lid to the immense Chest, sending up a huge puff of dust as she did so. Coughing, she waved the dust away, and looked inside. Dozens of black boxes, all stacked up, filled the Chest to the brim. "What are those?", Brandy whispered to herself, and reached in.

She grabbed one of the boxes, feeling around for any sort of lock. There wasn't one, just a button to be pressed for opening. She did so, and the box cracked open, revealing dozens of thin white sheets. "Cards?", she mumbled. "Are these Cards? Did I just hit the motherload?"

But as she pulled one out to inspect, she realized they weren't Cards at all. A pang of memory hit her heart as she realized that they were photographs.

"The Phantom that Brandy keeps on talking about seems to be a long-range Stand.", Bowza said. "His user could be anywhere, most likely far out of our reach. The reason we can't see him is because we're not Stand users. I don't know what plans he has for Brandy, but they most likely aren't good."

"Didn't that say that Stands are given to those who are stabbed by an Arrow?", Agatha asked.

"Yes, it did.", Bowza asked. "Why?"

"Well, Brandy stabbed herself with it.", Agatha said. "And then the Phantom started appearing. What if he's her Stand?"

The two were silent for a moment, as they considered this implication. The only sound that could be heard were the various coughs and hums of Wizards studying and books being moved around.

"Yes…", said Bowza finally. "That could be. Especially once you factor in the fact that Stands are typically born from whatever their user wants most."

"And the Phantom seems to want to bring Brandy comfort, and protection.", Agatha said, catching on. "And those two things do seem to be the things that Brandy wants most right now."

"Well then, we'll leave the Phantom alone.", Bowza said. "We don't want Brandy getting hurt."

The two stood up, and shook hands. Their study session had concluded in a most positive manner.

"Say, do you think we'll ever run into one of those Stand Arrows again?", Agatha asked. "I think I might want a Stand."

"Perhaps.", Bowza said, and put his arm around her. "If the stars are right."

As they left the library, they did not sense a pair of curious eyes watching them. They couldn't, for they could not sense the Phantom.

"Aw, this one's of me.", Brandy said. "This looks like one of my very first battles- look how excited I am."

In the picture, Oticat had just won. Trevor, the Giant that Webert had replaced, was hoisting a Golden Chest above the group, with Brandy riding on top. She had both fists raised to the sky, and her expression was wilder than a Hog on Dark Elixir. Brandy sighed wistfully, placed the photo to the side, and pulled out the next one.

"Oh, and this one's of me too.", she said. "Huh, this one was taken just a few weeks ago."

This one was of her, pouring herself some Elixir from the cooler in the workout room, during a party. It was from the back, and it seemed totally candid. It was, Brandy thought, honestly a little creepy. She put that one to the other side and pulled out another.

"And this one's of me, too.", she said, suspicion clouding her voice. "And it's of me sleeping?"

Trying to fight the alarm growing within her, Brandy began frantically pulling out photographs from the box, taking a moment to look at each one before dropping them to the side. Each and every one of them was of her- in various, seemingly random times of her life.

"Okay, maybe that's just my box.", she said, trying to calm herself. "Maybe if I take out another one, it'll be of someone else."

With shaking hands, Brandy pulled out another box. And then, she noticed something that she hadn't noticed before. On the box from before, it read in white chalk "Subject collection 8."

She checked the box that had just barely been pulled out. It read "Subject collection 9."

Brandy took a step backwards in shock. Had someone been taking pictures of her without her knowing? How had they stored them here, right underneath her nose? Who would have done this? It would have taken her entire life in order to catalog this many photos.

Brandy thought she was about to put the rest of the pictures away, and go ask someone about it. But to her surprise, she found that her body was instead drawing out another picture. This one was of her, same as all the others- but in this photograph, Brandy was young. Very young, in fact- judging from the photo, she couldn't have been more than 6 years old.

Brandy's mind raced. 6 years old? How was that possible? She had only been unlocked about 2 years ago, and Brandy knew that she was more than a mere 8 years old. No, wait.

She wasn't. Or was she? Her mind swam with questions. What was she thinking, about age? Troops didn't have real ages, they were born fully formed out of Chests. But if that was true, then why was age even a concept that Brandy understood so naturally? She had never heard anyone talk about it. How did age even work? Why were some Troops just naturally more mature than others?

With a sharp mental shock, Brandy realized that more and more of her world suddenly started to not make sense. Was it natural for Troops to be born from Chests? Or was normal birth more common, and Brandy just didn't realize it?

A knock on the door interrupted her thoughts, and Brandy looked up. She hurriedly shoved the photo into a random box, and shoved the Super Magical Chest against the wall. "Yes, come in.", she said.

A dark shadow slipped through the door, and Brandy's heart lifted. Maybe the Phantom could explain it. He seemed to know quite a lot. She stood up. "Oh, Phantom.", she said. "I'm so glad you came-"

But then, the shadow revealed its face, and Brandy's relief turned to icy fear. The figure wore not the benevolent masked face of the Phantom, but the helmet and curved horns of an Elite Barbarian. He smiled, and cracked his knuckles. "Hello, cutie pie.", he said.

Song: Shoot Towards the Decisive Battle

"You… you…", Brandy tried to shout, but her words came out as a damaged whisper. "You can't be here. You're dead."

The ethereal figure of Chad spread out his arms. "So I am, Brandy.", he said. "So I am. But fortunately, that just opens up more room. You see, in this form-"

He drew his sword, and tossed it to the right. With a glimmering whine, it flew back to his outstretched hand. He ran his tongue across the blade, a wicked leer in his eye.

"I have many more things I can do. More places I can go.", he said, and drifted forward towards Brandy. "No defense can stop me, no wall can bar me entrance."

Brandy backed up, looking for something to throw. Her hand scrabbled around her desk, finally landing on a folded piece of metal- Dan's old mustache trimmer. This detail went unnoticed by anyone, however, as she curled her fingers around it and held it up.

"Stay- stay back.", she stuttered. "I'm warning you. I'm-"

She tried to say _not afraid of you any more, _but deep down, she knew that wasn't true. Intense, blinding fear still radiated through her like a plague, bubbling up from her subconscious.

Chad spread his arms open wide, and dove towards Brandy. She quickly rolled to the right, and he smashed through the front of her bed. She got up and started running for the door, trying to make it out before he got her. If she found someone, anyone, they could help.

"Thinking about leaving, Brandy?", Chad boomed, and folded in on himself. "I wouldn't, if I were you."

Brandy kept on running, not looking back. She was just footsteps away from the door when Chad reappeared in space right in front of her, and spread his cloak like a billowing wind. Brandy yelped and immediately backpedaled, trying to run in whatever direction Chad wasn't. She wasn't thinking clearly, her mind racing with overwhelming terror.

"Where are you going, Brandy?", Chad chuckled. "Don't you want to say hi?"

He raced after her, his massive shadowy form growing. His eyes glowed crimson, and he left a trail of near-visible evil as he went. Brandy turned around, and saw the nightmare bearing down on her faster than she could run. There was only one chance for her now.

As Chad closed the distance, Brandy breathed in. She concentrated the energy of her Dash into her fist, setting it vibrating with light blue waves of force. She moved her hand behind her, getting ready to punch. If such a powerful technique didn't take Chad down, nothing she could do would.

Chad's ghost crossed the rest of the room in a second, and reared up in front of her. A deep scream could be heard from somewhere within him, almost as if there was something trapped inside. "Brandy, put your fist down. You know you want to come with me."

Brandy's eyes narrowed. "Like death.", she growled, and threw her fists forward in a rapid-fire barrage of punches that tore the air around them. "Doraoraoraoraoraora!"

But even as the blows tore through Chad's ethereal form, they did nothing to harm him. He merely sighed and grabbed both of Brandy's arms. "And here, I thought we were doing so well."

He twisted Brandy's arms behind her back, and she grunted in pain. He flowed onto her bed, bringing her with him, and pressed her into the mattress. With both her arms restrained by his weight, he withdrew his hands and held them up.

"Go ahead, Brandy.", said Chad. "Scream all you want, there's no one that can hear you. I already dampened the door's sound. Nothing will get through."

Brandy squirmed and kicked, but the pressure of Chad's body over hers was too much to escape. He savagely forced one hand inside her mouth, yanking it open, and started to slowly run the other across her stomach. Brandy's heart beat faster, and she tried as hard as she could to escape Chad's grasp. But there was nothing that she could do.

"Oh, poor, poor, Brandy.", Chad crooned mockingly. "If only all that strength we gave you meant anything against my power. But it doesn't…"

He forced Brandy's mouth further open, and started to slide his other hand lower, past Brandy's belt. He saw her terrified eyes, with a hint of confusion in them. "Oh? What's that? What do I mean by the power we gave you? Well, since I'm such a nice guy, I'll tell you."

Drool dripped from Brandy's mouth, and Chad's finger ran up and around her inner thighs. A tendril of darkness grew from the umbra of evil that made up Chad's body, winding around her legs and arms. At the edge, it carried a thick leather strap, a hard plastic ball in the center.

"When you almost fought your way out of our Castle, you showed astonishing strength for a mere level 9 Bandit.", said Chad. "And why do you think that is?"

Chad jabbed his lower hand higher, and Brandy screamed. But the sound was absorbed by the door, and was heard by nobody but the two.

"We gave you that power.", Chad explained. "During those two days before you woke up, you weren't really unconscious. Your mind just naturally redacted the memory, because what happened to you was too mind-breaking for anyone to stand."

The tendril of darkness slapped the ball gag against Brandy's mouth, tying it in within a second. Now free, Chad's other hand traveled down Brandy's face, drawing a line of ink as it went.

"We decided to experiment on your body.", Chad said. "For almost two straight days, you were continually almost destroyed, then rebuilt. Almost no part of your body is the same, now. Once our curiosity was satisfied, we rebuilt you- into the perfect little slave."

Chad's lower hand started to move faster, sending spasms of panicked energy throughout Brandy's entire body. She strained against the gag, but it only dug deeper into her. Chad's other hand reached her chest, and began to squeeze random areas.

"You see, you may look Blue on the outside.", Chad said, and the cloak of shadows around Brandy began to close in. "But on the inside, where it really counts-"

A pulse of dark power traveled through both of Chad's hands, and into Brandy. She felt her control on her own body weakening, and her vision turning a sickly shade of crimson.

"You are nothing… but… Red!", Chad growled, and the cloak covered Brandy completely. She couldn't see. She could barely hear anything happening outside, which was nothing. The only thing that was happening to Brandy, from her point of view, was Chad's total violation of her body and mind. His upper hand, quickly bored of Brandy's chest, moved down to her stomach, and felt around. His evil face lit up with sadistic glee.

"My, did I do that?", he asked. "What delightful handiwork. Once I take you, you're going to help me raise him, and however many other children I choose to fill you with. I think I'll call him L-"

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Chad stopped in mid-sentence. He choked on his words, and the darkness began to withdraw. The gag dropped from Brandy's mouth, and she breathed in a massive breath of much-needed air. The tendrils of darkness vanished abruptly, and Chad fell backwards onto the floor. He looked up, and snarled in rage. "You're…"

Brandy looked over her shoulder, and saw the most welcome sight she could imagine. She gasped with relief, and hope flooded her mind and body. "You're…"

The sword hanging in the air where Chad had been withdrew, and floated neatly back into the scabbard of its master. Black eyes glinted nobly, and the low light shone off the white of a mask.

"The Phantom!", shouted both Brandy and Chad, with either happiness or rage.

"You filth…", the Phantom growled, with barely contained fury. "What are you doing to her?"

"That's none of your business, boy.", Chad said, and stood. The wound in his chest slowly closed, and the darkness appeared around him once again. "Now if you do-"

The Phantom didn't wait for Chad to finish his sentence. Instead, he ducked under Chad's reach, drew his sword in a flash of light, and swung upwards, severing the ghostly Elite Barbarian's arm. Chad bellowed in pain, and tried to reach for his sword with the other, but the Phantom was already on it. Almost vanishingly fast, he switched the sword to his other hand, and cut off Chad's other arm.

Chad roared in pain, but he wasn't done yet. He concentrated his dark energy, and his arms began to regrow, shoot by shoot and tendril by tendril. "Phantom…", he growled. "What… what are you?"

"You don't get to know that information.", the Phantom replied, and raised his sword. He slowly rotated it behind him, in a stance that everyone there recognized as the Cutter's Folly. It was incredibly destructive, but only if you couldn't defend against it. And judging from Chad's current state, it looked like he couldn't.

The Phantom's eyes narrowed with hatred. Pure silver light flickered on the edge of his blade, and he slowly brought it forwards. "Goodbye."

A terrifying storm of sword strokes hit Chad full on, right in the face and chest. With his arms still regrowing, he had no way to defend. "Horahorahorahorahorahorahorahorahorahorahorahorahora!", the Phantom screamed, each upslash and downfall of his blade slashing open Chad's ghostly skin in some new place. Light purple Elixir flowed from the wounds, puddling up on the floor, until Chad had been cut to ribbons by the attack rush that the Phantom had unleashed.

He stood there for a few seconds, then wiped the blood and Elixir off his blade. He gently sheathed it, turned, and put two fingers to his forehead.

"Arrivederci."

He stood there for a few more moments, then turned to Brandy. She slowly got up, and walked over to him. She looked up into the Phantom's face, her eyes trembling.

"You… you just saved my life.", she whispered. "You killed him."

But the Phantom just stared over her, into a distance only he could see. "Alas, it is not so.", he said. "For that was not the ghost of your dead tormentor, but something else."

"It wasn't him?", Brandy asked. "Well then, what was it?"

The Phantom folded his arms. "It was another Stand.", he said. "It appears that there's an enemy Stand user somewhere afoot. I think it's long range."

Upon hearing these words, faint flickers of meaning echoed at the back of Brandy's mind, but not really anything she could get a grip on. She would have to find out more about Stands later- maybe Bowza would know. For now, the dark pain that gripped her mind would have to be healed.

She lay against the Phantom's chest, to his somewhat surprise. "Hold me.", she said. "I need you to hold me."

The Phantom was a little taken aback by her suddenness, but recovered quickly. "Okay.", he said, and wrapped his arms around Brandy. "I will."

His long arms grew even longer, twirling around Brandy like vines. His tall, lanky figure towered over her, yet he felt cozy as a fireplace. His delicate, watch-maker fingers traced a pattern around the edges of Brandy's mask, sending strange twinges of delight through her body.

"Why…", she whispered, even as he did it more. "Why does that feel so good?"

"I don't precisely know.", the Phantom admitted. "But according to my research, the borders of your mask are just one of the special pleasure zones on your body."

"Re-really?", Brandy asked, blushing. "What… what are the others?"

"Well, did you know your ears are one?", the Phantom said, and slowly drew his fingers up towards Brandy's earlobes.

"My ears?", Brandy asked. "But that doesn't make any se- oohhh…."

The Phantom gently ran his finger along Brandy's earlobe, sending a wave of strange ecstasy through her. He barely squeezed, and Brandy's body tightened involuntarily. "See?", he said. "Your ears…"

Brandy let out a small moan, and her eyes closed. Passion, awoken from despair by the Phantom's loving embrace, surged through her. Slowly, one of her hands worked its way down the Phantom's torso, towards his legs.

"Phantom.", she whispered, trying to remain in control of herself. "I…"

"What is it, Brandy?", the Phantom asked. "Go on, tell me."

Brandy smiled, and her face turned red. "I love you. I want you. Take me."

She leaned in further into the Phantom's depths, and uttered the words she thought that she would never say. "I'm yours."

"No.", said the Phantom, and covered her eyes. "_I'm_ yours. And yet, you are mine. You see, Brandy, love is not just one way. It flows equally, like a sacred river. Neither side can exist without the other, granting their utmost devotion. So don't say you're mine. Because we are each other's."

Brandy listened, taking in every word like it was the last gulp of Elixir in the desert. "You're right.", she said, and turned around, burying her face in the Phantom's cloak. "You're so right…"

They stood there, for a moment, until Brandy looked up. "Please.", she whispered, her voice warm. "I want to… want to…"

She didn't finish the sentence, but the Phantom knew what she was asking. He stroked her face, and smiled lovingly. "I know, Brandy. I want to, too."  
He began to slowly walk towards the bed, carrying Brandy with him. "So let's do it."

He lay down, and Brandy with him. They stared at each other. Brandy knew that for the first time, she wanted to do this. All the other times, it had been forced. But now, this time, it was to be pure.

The light turned off, and the door locked automatically. And they loved each other, until night fell over them like a warm blanket, and peace filled their souls.

8 months earlier

Song: Dark Rebirth

"Chadwick.", said the voice of Ryusei_Nakao69. "Richard. Tell me, what have you brought me today?"

"Oh, just another Night Witch, my lord.", said Chad, and smartly saluted. Rick tossed up the unconscious body of the Night Witch onto the table where Ryusei_Nakao69 sat. "We found her in the woods, just sort of wandering around."

"Hmph.", Ryusei_Nakao69 sat. "She's not the best, but she'll do."

He stood up, pushing his chair off the platform where he sat. Shadows pooled around him like water, coming from both the low light and his own evil presence. "Besides, I have much more… important… matters to attend to."

He looked at himself in the mirror, and ran his fingers down the long black scars that now adorned his cheeks. Sometimes, when no one was around, he would just sort of sit there, and wonder what he had become. What kind of King he was, consorting with demons, and kidnapping innocent Troops. But then, the dark power of Grrshknn would return to him, and the thoughts would be eliminated completely.

"Call a Clan Meeting.", he said to no one in particular. He knew that even if he addressed nobody, someone would answer all the same. "I have some big news, for the future."

"Yes, sir.", Chad said, and sharply saluted. "I will."

He and Rick both left the room, leaving Ryusei_Nakao69 with his thoughts.

_I wonder…, _he thought. _I know I can destroy things with this power, but what can I create?_

He waved an experimental hand, and thought of that most basic of objects- a single Gold coin. As he did so, he felt his hand slow in mid-air, as if he was trying to wave it through molasses. He almost stopped, but when he saw a shining coin slowly appear on the table, he continued with redoubled effort. Once he moved his hand all the way to the side, the Gold coin lay complete on the table. Ryusei_Nakao69 picked it up with curiosity, gave it a quick examination, and saw nothing wrong. He had just created a completely legitimate Gold coin out of nothing, with his sheer power.

_A pity a single Gold coin is worth hardly anything, _he thought. _Perhaps if I tried it with a Gem, or a Card, or one of those new-fangled Trade Tokens that were announced yesterday. Yes, that would be a far more worthwhile use…_

He tried to make something again, this time using both hands. He just so happened to be quite hungry, so he thought of a plate of freshly cut cheese. As he yanked his hands through the air, a nondescript white plate appeared, with strips of equally white cheese on top of them.

Reaching for one, he found that it did not crumble to the touch- no, it felt like a fine mozzarella. He picked it up, and took a delicate bite. Ryusei_Nakao69 started to chew on it, not noticing in time that his finger was still in his mouth.

But even as he bit down on his own fingertip, cutting off the end and sending blood spilling into his throat, Ryusei_Nakao69's eyes widened with delight. The taste of blood filled his mouth and covered his tongue, but he was not repulsed. In fact, he found that he quite liked the taste. It sent a strange feeling coursing across his skin, some form of demonic power.

"Er, Lord Ryusei_Nakao69, sir?"squeaked a small voice from somewhere nearby. "We're ready for you now."

He looked down, to see a Goblin cowering behind a curtain, clipboard in hand. He seemed very afraid, for good reason. But to Ryusei_Nakao69, that reason was no reason at all.

"Glarb,", he said, and bent down. "Why are you afraid of me? I'm still your King. I haven't changed. Well, I have, but not in any large fashion."

His fingertips lit up black, and he ran them down the scars on his cheeks. "I may look different, but inside, I'm still the King you've always known."

Yet even as he spoke, Ryusei_Nakao69 tried to convince himself of this fact. The truth was, he hadn't fully felt like himself since Grrhsknn had given him his dark rebirth. Every day when he woke up, the sensation of demonic strength would flood through him. It felt stranger each time, yet also seemed more familiar.

"I- I guess you're right, Chris.", said Glarb, then realized his slip. "I- I mean Ryusei_Nakao69. I'm so sorry."

"Don't worry about it.", said the King, with a wave of his hand. "Now open the curtain. I have a speech to make."

He moved past the still nervous Goblin, and onto the stage. Glarb obeyed orders, and pulled on a hidden rope. The thick, blood-red cloth of the curtain moved upwards, revealing Ryusei_Nakao69 at the podium. He didn't know it, but blood still dripped from the corners of his mouth, giving him a truly ghastly appearance.

"Everyone, thank you for coming.", he said with an evil grin. "I have some important news to discuss. Yes, very important indeed."

He spread his arms open wide, the flickering torches on the walls hiding his face under a blanket of shadow. Yet his eyes shone through, casting an eerie red light.

"With Lord Grrshknn's help, I have ascended far past the lowly station of King, and become something far more.", he said. "And now, I would like to do the same to all of you."

There were reactions among the audience at once. Some of them recoiled, the very thought of being transformed hideous beyond belief. Others leaned forward in their chairs, not wanting to miss any opportunity at power. A few didn't know what to think about it, looking around at their neighbors for guidance. But no matter what anyone thought, Ryusei_Nakao69 definitely had their attention.

"I've already made plans to upgrade the Castle.", he said, attracting the panic of several idle Builders. "But don't worry Builders, you won't have to do a thing."

They relaxed, if a little confused, and Ryusei_Nakao69 continued. "Lord Grrshknn will work his magic on the entire structure, and make it a Castle worthy of one such as I. Speaking of which…"

He pointed at the audience. "Co-Leaders, choose your favorite Troop. And come with me."

He walked off the stage, leaving the audience in confused ranks. The current Co-Leaders- sheerpalpatations and TheWhiteWizard- both looked among their assembled Troops. It was hard to pick one as their favorite. But the Troops weren't entirely sure that they wanted to be Chosen. They did not know what would become of them if they were.

"Er, um…", sheerpalpatations stammered, trying to choose. He soon realized that he couldn't, and so he just pointed to someone random. "Bailey.", he said. "Come with me."

"Fred.", TheWhiteWizard decided. "I have chosen you."

Bailey blinked, and pointed to herself. Sheerpalpatations nodded, and waved his hand in beckoning. _Well, hope nothing bad happens, _Bailey thought, and hopped over a row of chairs to follow her king.

"Uh, okay, sir.", Fred said, and cracked his knuckles, slamming one fist against an open palm. "Let's get this."

TheWhiteWizard followed sheerpalpatations and Bailey up the stairs to where Ryusei_Nakao69 was waiting, the huge figure of Fred in tow.

Once the two had caught up with him, Ryusei_Nakao69 opened a hidden door on the wall with a flick of his wrist, and ushered them inside. "Quickly.", he said. "We don't have much time before he gets here."

"Before who gets here-", Bailey began, but her words were cut off. For the darkest shadow she had ever been in the presence of suddenly spilled into the room, instantly dousing the lights and burying them all in darkness.

Song: Un'altra Persona

A face emerged from the nothing. Long, gaping tusks flashed into being, illuminated by vicious yellow eyes. Thick, matted fur formed from the inky shadow, and the hulking form of Grrshknn landed on the floor. He made so sound or vibration, but the hard stone floor buckled underneath him, all the same.

"Ah, I see you've brought me the chosen.", he said. "But, tell me, where are yours?"

"You- you mean Chad and Rick?, asked Ryusei_Nakao69. "Oh, they're right here."

The two Elite Barbarians walked out from the wall, in full formation. "Hey, what's up?", Chad almost asked, but decided against it. One look at Grrshknn convinced him otherwise.

"So everyone's gathered, then.", Grrshknn growled. "Good- now we can begin."

His face grew, and split. It spun around to each and every Troop and King, staring them each into the eye. "Yes… yes…", he said. "You will do nicely indeed."

His claw lifted, then refracted into a dozen different angles. Each one hovered over a forehead, then began to move down. Bailey sucked in her breath, and TheWhiteWizard flinched.

"Now, now.", Grrshknn said. "Hold still, or I won't be able to complete the process."

He gently touched his claw to each forehead of the Chosen, and there was a massive, deafening explosion of red.

Song: Another face, same mind

Once the energy cleared, and the Troops and Kings began once again to open their eyes, Grrshknn was nowhere to be found. But his power still remained, buried deep within a certain six individuals.

"Are you alright?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69, seeing his two closest friends in such a state of shock. "Bit of a knock there, wasn't it?"

Sheerpalpatations looked up, his hand on his forehead. His skin stung with power, and his head swam with visions of demonic vigor. "I…", he said.

"I am sheerpalpatations no longer.", he finished. "From now on…"

He clenched a fist, and crimson flowed from his hand to his forehead. "I am thesenate."

"I agree, thesenate.", said the King known formally as TheWhiteWizard. "Because I, too, have changed my name. From now on, you may call me…"

He stared forward, with a hard gleam in his eye. "LeChris."

Fred clenched his muscles, marveling at their newfound strength. He had always been very strong, because he was a Giant, but this was just on a whole other level. He felt like he could bring down a Princess Tower with a single shot. He felt like he could take on an Army, and win. He felt invincible.

Chad, too, had been changed. Most of the power had flown from Rick into him, and he was thus now far stronger than his brother ever had been. The edges of his helmet's horns twisted into enraged shapes, and his sword slightly glowed blood-red. He affixed Rick with a look, and they both bumped fists and grinned.

Only Bailey, staring confusingly at her hands, had seemingly not been affected. She didn't feel any different at all, just a little exhausted from the ordeal. _What's wrong with me?, _she asked herself. _Am I not worthy? Did I do something… wrong? Is Grrhsknn going to be unhappy about this- about me?_

But a voice in her ear soon lessened her fears.

"Don't worry, Bran- I mean, Bailey", Grrshknn rumbled. "Your power will come, eventually. You have the potential to be stronger than all these others, but you are not ready to handle that yet. But I assure you, when you need it most, your powers will manifest."

And then he really was gone, leaving in the air only dust, darkness, and the stench of rotting souls.

Ryusei_Nakao69 clapped his hands together. "Well then!", he said with authority. "Now that we've renamed ourselves, I think its only fitting that we rename the Clan."

"I say we call it the Chad Fan Club.", said Chad, but no one really heard him. It sent a little twinge down his face.

"Yes, meandtheboys just doesn't really cut it anymore, now does it?", said LeChris, stroking his beard. "We need something… better…"

Ryusei_Nakao69 got a sudden, inspired idea, and put his finger up in the air. "I've got it!", he said, and everyone turned to look. "Meandtheboys is no longer! From now on, we are…"

The tip of his finger lit up with a miniscule fire, adding just the right amount of dramatic effect to his words. "TheEvilOverLords."

Present Day

It was a quiet Tuesday. The sky was blue, unsullied by any clouds or rain. It had, however, rained last night, and the air was cleaner for it.

Brandy stumbled out of her room, pushing her bangs from her eyes. She didn't really remember a whole lot from the night before, only that it was soft, and warm, and comforting, and that the Phantom came. In fact, she could still see his kind face, seemingly glowing in her memories.

She walked down the hall, then stopped in front of a gaping hole in the floor. "What the…", she muttered, and bent down to take a better look. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that next to the hole, there was a torn fragment of green cloth. That could only mean one thing- this was the work of Goblins.

Brandy stood up again, hands on her hips, and looked around. She would have normally called for a Builder to come and fix it, but she noticed the room that she was closest to- Kars.

Kars lay snoring in his bed, a thousand tiny and a hundred not-so-tiny cuts adorning the wooden bedpost. His axe barely hung from his right hand, and his bottle of Rage from the other. His beard was in a tangle from his sparring with Webert the night before.

A single knock came from his door, but he did not stir. Although he could hear it just fine, he didn't want to get up from his splitting headache.

Another, more persistent knock sounded, this time followed by 5 more. Kars opened one eye, but continued to snore.

There were three aggressive taps, and Kars finally rolled out of bed. He fell to the door, and yanked it open to see Brandy standing there, a tentative smile on her face. "Hey Kars.", she said, and gave a little wave. "There's a big hole in the middle of the hallway. Wanna help me fix it?"

Song: Killer

"Uh, sure!", Kars yelled, as he yelled everything. "Let me just grab my axe, and I can go!"

"But you're holding your axe, Kars.", Brandy pointed. "See, it's just there in your hand."

Kars looked down, and indeed saw that he was already holding his weapon. "Oh!", he shouted in surprise. "Okay then!"

He strode out the door, Brandy quietly following. Next to Kars, anyone was quietly doing anything. He reached the hole, knelt down beside it, and took out his axe. With a fierce chop, he sliced through several stray planks of wood, casting them aside in dust. "Little buggers!", he yelled. "Gotta get rid of them while you can!"

Brandy giggled, and a shadow leaning across the room suddenly stood up straight at attention.

Bowza sat in his favorite chair in the reading room, in front of the fireplace. He aimlessly nocked, loosened, and nocked again an arrow, running his fingers up and down the bow. Something was bothering him, scratching away at the back of his mind, but he didn't know quite what. Something…

A heavy footfall sounded at the entryway, and Bowza turned his head. There stood Webert, with a quizzical look on his face. The tips of his ears were slightly red with second hand embarrassment. "Uh, Bowza?", he asked. "Did Brandy, um… invite anyone over?"

"No, I don't think so.", said Bowza. "Why?"

"Well, I was going to see if Kars wants to work out with me, and I passed her room. And I heard sounds that sounded like, well…"

He made a series of gestures with his hands, not wanting to say the words aloud. Bowza's eyes widened, and he stood up. "You- you don't really mean that-"

Webert nodded. "I do. I don't exactly know what's going on, but I know what I heard."

Bowza slammed his fist into his open palm. "This cannot be right.", he said to himself. "This clearly warrants further inves-"

His words were cut off when a deep cry of pain came from above. It seemed to be coming from the Legendary floor, based on the echo and fadeaway. It sounded like…

"Kars.", Webert said with alarm. "That sounded like Kars."

Kars screamed again, as a shining silver blade pierced his throat. He slashed the air in front of him, but could not see what he was trying to attack. The axe slipped harmlessly off ethereal robes like water off of glass.

Brandy quickly saw what was going on, and gasped in horror. "Phantom?", she shrieked. "What are you doing?"

If the Phantom heard her, he gave no acknowledgement. He just gritted his teeth, stabbed his sword in further, and wrapped a gloved hand around Kar's torso. Rage filled his eyes with a purple twinge, and his ghostly muscles bulged underneath his long black sleeves.

"Phantom, stop!", Brandy screamed in desperation, and the Phantom blinked. He looked at the dying Lumberjack held at swordpoint in the air in front of him. He saw Brandy clinging to his robes, begging to let Kars go. His scowl of rage immediately turned to a gasp of regret, and he withdrew his sword.

Kars fell to the floor, holding his throat and trying to breathe. He tipped his bottle of Rage to his mouth and drank heartily, the resulting rush of energy healing his wounds.

"Phantom, what was that?", Brandy asked, furious. "Why did you attack him for no reason like that?"

"I'm- I'm sorry.", the Phantom said. "I just saw you a man I'd never seen before, and I thought that he was dangerous, and, well…"

Bowza, Webert, Randy, and Agatha rounded the top of the stairs, and saw a strange sight. Kars lay bleeding but recovered on the floor, and Brandy appeared to be arguing with nothing. Randy closed his eyes and sadly giggled.

"Phantom, I appreciate the thought, I really do, but-", Brandy gestured wildy. "But you can't do that! You can't just go around attacking people because you don't like them!"

"Really? You seem to do it all the time.", the Phantom almost said, but he didn't. Instead, he closed his eyes and bowed, his hands in front of his face. "I see.", he said to Brandy. "I recognize my mistake, and will not do it again. Thank you, Brandy, for teaching more about the society in which you live."

And with that, he vanished into thin air.

Song: A Lurking Evil

"Uh, Brandy?", Webert asked. He was the first to speak. "Who were you talking to?"

Brandy turned around, and saw the group. She stammered, and put up her hands. "Um, well, you see…"

"That was the Phantom, wasn't it?", Bowza asked. "That's who you were talking to."

"Yes.", said Brandy. "Yes, it was."

"Who's the Phantom-", Webert asked, but Bowza kept on talking. "I've been meaning to ask you, Brandy- you said the Phantom was a Stand. Is he yours?"

Brandy shook her head. "No.", she said. "He said that the Arrow fragment wasn't complete enough to give me one, just to let me see them. He must be someone else's."

Bowza and Agatha traded worried looks, Bowza stroking his chin in thought. "Hmmm…", he mumbled to himself. "Very, very interesting."

In the castle of SpaceKrakenX, someone was always rushing off somewhere or other. A level 12 Castle was very large, very full, and often very chaotic. This time, the one doing the rushing was Brenda, his Bandit.

"Hey, Brenda.", said Marc, a level 12 Giant Skeleton. "Where are you going? There's gonna be a battle in soon minutes."

"Sorry Marc, not now.", Brenda apologized, and ducked into a closet. "I've got to go somewhere."

As Brenda closed the door, Marc scratched his head. He wasn't exactly the brightest of Giant Skeletons, but even he wondered where Brenda had been going every day, every few hours, for this past few weeks or so. It was enough to make anyone suspicious- well, almost anyone. Probably not an Ice Golem.

_Oh well., _he thought, and walked away. _Bandits are strange ones. Now come along, Bomb. We have much to discuss._

His Bomb chittered, and Marc gave it another treat. It would be useless to try and explain how.

Somewhere, far away

"Mistress?", the Phantom said, to a shadowed figure in an elevated chair. They sat in void, nothing surrounding them for an uncountable distance. "I'm here, and ready to report."

"Ah, good.", said the figure in the chair, and leaned forward. "I'm listening."

"I did what you asked.", said the Phantom, the corners of his mouth pulled down in a scowl. "Brandy trusts me completely. Her guardians suspect nothing. The plan to take her soul for Grrshknn shall be completed within the week."

"I see.", said the Phantom's user. "I hate to do this to her, but I see no other choice."

The figure in the chair stood up to reveal the worried face of Brenda. "She's always been my friend. I remember when Oticat first found her. Watching her first battle."

She placed her hand on a tall, limitless sheet of black glass, barely able to see her reflection within. "But… that was a while ago. Things have changed."

The Phantom stood up again. "Should I-"

Song: Un'altra Persona

A massive door hundreds of feet in size swung open, revealing a billowing shadow within. Brenda and the Phantom both turned in surprise and mild panic. There stood two figures- one tall and muscular, the other shorter but no less powerfully built. The shorter one was the familiar bear of Grrshknn, the other was unknown to Brenda. The two appeared to exchange words, then the taller figure vanished and the door slunk back closed.

"Lord Grrshknn, you've returned.", Brenda said nervously. "I- I didn't think you'd be back so soon."

"What I do is none of your concern.", Grrshknn rumbled, striding past Brenda and onto the front of the nearly invisible platform. "How goes the plan?"

"Um, well, my lord.", Brenda said. "I gave her the Stand Arrow. And as expected, she used it on herself. And my Phantom of the Opera is currently working his magic."

"And what of her Stand?", Grrshknn inquired. "Is it any threat that needs to be taken care of?"

"No.", said the Phantom. "In fact, she does not have one. The fragment of the Stand Arrow was incomplete and damaged. She is only able to see Stands, not manifest them."

Grrshknn thought about this for a moment, tapping out some blasphemous rhythm on the glass table in front of him. "Good.", he finally said. "That's a pleasant surprise."

Brenda watched him think, and silently reflected on how she had come to be in this situation. It wasn't exactly her fault that she had developed a Stand. She had just been poking through SpaceKrakenX's attic one day, and found the Arrow. She had put it in her pocket, and had just so happened to land on it during a backflip over the stairs. Once the Phantom of the Opera had appeared, however, it only took a short amount of time for Grrshknn to find her. And after that, he had almost instantly forced her to work for him. He had given her a choice- either work for him, eventually giving him Brandy's soul- or have him slowly and brutally murder every single member of the LosDementosCT. Brenda, ever the logical one, had reluctantly made her decision. Why Grrshknn didn't just take Brandy himself, Brenda didn't know- but she suspected that it had something to do with the taller demon that showed up occasionally. She did have a plan- one that would get her, Brandy, and the Clan out safely. But it was a very long, complicated plan, and she needed to play the long, complicated game.

"Carry out the final steps.", Grrshknn growed with a wave of his paw, and began to disappear into the ambient darkness. "Remember, I will supervise you in the last phase."

"Understood, my lord.", Brenda said, but Grrshknn had already disappeared. She sighed, and sat down on the translucent steps. The Phantom appeared at her side instantly, worry etched across his face.

"Don't worry.", they both said. "We'll get out of this… somehow."

Back at Oticat's castle

"Whose is he?", Agatha asked. "Do you know?"

"No, I don't.", Brandy said. "I'll ask him the next time I see him, I guess."

Bowza exchanged a few choice mental words with Agatha, their conversation flickering like wind.

_We should get rid of him, _Agatha thought. _He may seem nice, but who knows his real motives?_

_No, not yet, _Bowza argued. _It is imperative that we find his user. If we don't, then nothing else we do here will really matter. _

_Well, _a third voice interrupted, _what I really think is that we should just leave him alone._

The voice was so casual, and so smooth, that neither Bowza nor Agatha even registered that it was a newcomer to the conversation for a second. But after a few seconds, they did notice.

_Who's that?, _Bowza asked, and looked around for any possible third person._ Where did that voice come from?_

_It's me, _the voice said, the very picture of impeccable, evil charm. _Of course._

_What do you mean, me?, _Agatha asked, also trying to search for the source. _Who are you?_

_Oh, you know…, _the voice said. _ME._

For a microfraction of a second, an image flashed across both their minds. It was of a demon, with long flowing hair, spiked black armor, and a grin that dripped insanity. They only saw him for less than a blink, but the sheer presence of the image caused them both to cry out, and slump against a wall.

"What… was that?", Bowza moaned, and slowly got up. "Who was he?"

"I- I don't know.", Agatha said, leaning on her staff for support. "But he seemed powerful. More powerful than anything I've ever seen."

"Who is this?", Brandy asked with somewhat alarm. "Who are we talking about?"

Bowza raised a finger to answer, but no words came out of his mouth. He thought for a bit, then realized why that was happening.

"I don't know.", he admitted. "There was just this… image of an individual I've never seen before. And I hope to never see him again."

"But he's gone now.", Agatha said, and Bowza nodded in agreement. "Hopefully, that's the end of it."

"Actually, Agatha, I was going to ask you something.", Brandy said nervously. "Bowza, you too."

"Sure, Brandy, what is it?", Bowza asked.

"I… found something.", Brandy continued, nervously fidgeting her hands. "While I was cleaning up my room. It's something weird."

"There's been a lot of weird things happening lately.", Agatha sighed. "One more couldn't hurt."

So they walked towards Brandy's room, fear and trepidation following close behind.

Song: Stardust Requiem

Bowza opened the door, flicking on the light with the edge of his bow. A large spider ran away from the center of the floor, and was impaled by Agatha's staff.

"What was it you wanted to show us?", Bowza asked. "I do hope it was not that."

"No, no.", Brandy said, and walked over to the Super Magical Photograph Chest still leaning half-open on the side of the wall. "It's this."

With hands trembling from the fear of the unknown and unexplained, Brandy lifted out the photograph from the night before, the one that showed a much younger version of herself. She held it in front of Bowza and Agatha, and their eyes widened. "Could you explain this?"

Bowza looked at Agatha, who stared back. Both of them could explain the situation, but neither of them wanted to. No matter how it was worded, this was not something that could be explained away easily. But finally, Agatha closed her eyes- and with maternal obligation, opened her mouth to speak.

"You know, I was wondering myself when the best time to tell you the truth would be.", she said. "But I guess that if you're asking about it yourself, then the best time is now."

She put a hand on Brandy's shoulder, and breathed in. "The truth is, Brandy… we didn't get you from a Legendary Chest."

"Is… that it?", Brandy asked. "That doesn't seem that bad-"

"In fact, we didn't get you from any kind of Chest at all.", Agatha continued. "We found you on the path home, after a battle."

"But- but- what do you mean you didn't get me from a Chest?", Brandy asked. "How was I born?"

"You were… born.", Agatha said. "From natural parents. We're not exactly sure, but we think that they're an Archer and a Wizard. The note that they put on your forehead didn't exactly reveal much."

"I- I don't think I follow.", Brandy said. "What exactly happened?"

"Brandy, you're adopted.", said Agatha. "We found you on the side of the road, at the age of 3 weeks, crying your little mask soaked, with a note on her forehead that said: Please, someone take her in. We cannot raise her."

Brandy stared down at the floor. She had no idea what to think. Cascading emotions swirled around inside of her like a hurricane, yet none of them came to the front of her mind. The only thing that filled her immediate consciousness was a strange, unsettling emptiness. Her mouth kept on talking. "Tell me more.", she said. "I- I have to know."

Agatha started to speak, but Bowza raised his hand, signaling that he was to take over. "You grew quickly.", he said. "As all born Troops do. Within months, you went from walking around the Castle to Dashing. You stole so many things we lost count. You calmed down a little bit once you met Dan, though. And within a year, we decided that it was time to take you, for the first time, into battle."

"Then why don't I remember anything?", Brandy asked. "If I was alive during that time, I should have memories about it, right?"

Bowza shook his head. "The mind is an odd place, Brandy. It can completely obscure entire times of your life that you would wish to remember, yet scrape every detail of a darker time into your memory like a carving in stone."

Brandy sighed. "I guess that's true.", she said. "Especially for me."

There was a small bit of silence.

"As long as we're at it…", Brandy said. "I have another question to ask you guys."

"That's okay.", Bowza said. "Ask us anything."

"Well, another Stand appeared last night.", she said. "It wasn't the Phantom- it looked like Chad. And it-"

She stopped, but Agatha understood. She motioned for Brandy to continue, and she took a deep breath before doing so.

"He told me that while _they _had me, they, um… experimented… on me. That they rebuilt my body. That they-"

Brandy's next word choked in her throat, and tears welled up in her eyes. Agatha put out her arm, and Brandy sat next to her on the stairs. "They they turned me into what they wanted. A slave. That now I'm more Red than Blue."

Bowza closed his eyes, and examined Brandy's aura. He frowned at the results- not totally in sadness, but in interest as well. Her color was not the light blue it had always been, but a light purple, swirling with more concentrated chunks of both blue and red.

"So I wanted to ask, since you guys can see Auras… is that true?", Brandy asked, looking up with hopeful eyes. Agatha looked to Bowza, knowing that he had already checked. Bowza opened his eyes again, and slowly nodded. Brandy's face fell.

"Well, yes.", Bowza said. "Sort of. You see, he told you that you were more Red than Blue- that's not true. You are still more Blue than Red, but they've… mixed. You are now a sort of curious Purple, a fusion that I've only heard of once before."

"Agatha.", Brandy said. "You can read memories. Can you tell me… what they did to me?"

Agatha stretched out her hand to Brandy's forehead, but hesitated before the touch. "Are you sure you want to know? I don't think you need any more of this."

"I do.", Brandy said. "I want to know what they did to me. I need to."

"Okay…", said Agatha, and put her hand on Brandy's forehead. Brandy let Agatha's mind in, as their two consciousnesses flowed into one. Within seconds of the joining, Agatha reached Brandy's memories. This time, the box was held open by Brandy's own mind avatar, as Agatha's dived in. There was a flash of purple light, and the box shut.

Agatha found herself swimming down a deep tunnel, full of boxes on the walls. Upon closer inspection, one could see that the boxes were labeled with a picture, a date, and a few words, signifying the memory. Agatha could see the most recent memories, of her and Brandy's conversation floating around at the top, and memories from just a few days ago sifting around deeper. But Agatha needed to find one very specific set of memories, from over a week ago, locked away by Brandy's subconscious. Fortunately, she knew exactly what to look for.

Agatha held her staff in front of her and dived deeper, scanning the sides of the tube for any locked boxes. After about a minute of diving, the sides of the tube changed color, to a deep, dark, Red. Agatha could tell that these were the memories formed during the time that Brandy was held prisoner at TheEvilOverLord's castle, but there were a great many of them. The one she was searching for still remained hidden.

But then, as she dived even deeper, into a place where the walls were black and raw, there was only one memory on the walls. It thrashed and bellowed behind a thick black lock, the chains rattling in its anger. Agatha mentally prepared herself for whatever she would find, and put her finger on the box.

_Red light filled the room, torches covering the walls. Blood and body parts hung from various spots around the room, from weapons and hanging machinery. Ryusei_Nakao69 placed one finger on the lever, pushing it forward ever so slightly. Brandy, suspended from some infernal machine, screamed in immense pain. A digital readout from behind her showed her vitals and pain levels, the bar going down on one and up on the other._

"_My, that certainly seemed to do the trick.", he said, and smiled. "But what about this one?"_

_He pushed a button, and the needle in Brandy's forehead retracted. A ray hovered itself over her torso, and gave a shrill blast of noise. Brandy buckled and writhed in her restraints as unimaginable pain shot through every single one of her nerves like a white hot flame._

_Her vitals shot up, but not as high as her pain levels, which had now gone past the limit of the readout._

"_Don't quit yet, Brandy, we're just beginning!", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and flipped another switch. "There's still the skinning and surgery to do…"_

_A huge scalpel came down from the ceiling, and positioned itself over Brandy's stomach. She screamed in absolute terror, but could do nothing but watch._

"_My lord, won't that kill her?", asked LeChris, from behind in the control panel.  
"Not if I have this going at the same time.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "Watch."_

_A black light flowed over her, and the scalpel slashed. Brandy screamed again as a line appeared in her stomach, and-_

Agatha recoiled, her mind burning. The sight was embedded into her vision, the screams still echoing in her ears. She gasped at the revelation of the sheer, incomprehensible horror that Brandy had been subjected to. It was worse than she had ever even imagined. With a heavy heart and slow movements, Agatha put back the box and began the long swim back up.

Bowza could see Agatha and Brandy twitching in the trance, but knew not what was going on. He knew that they were searching for a memory, but beyond that, nothing. He just waited for them to emerge from their search- until finally, they did. Agatha's eyes opened with a gasp, and Brandy's with a cry of pain. They stared at each other, then fell into a deep embrace that lasted for many seconds.

"You were right, Agatha.", said Brandy. "We shouldn't have gone so deep."

"No, no.", Agatha whispered. "You know now. You know the full extent of your pain, and that is the first step to recovery. Real recovery."

"That's good to hear.", said Brandy, and slowly broke off the hug. "I do see now, the depths of their depravity. I know exactly what they did to me. But you know what? I'm fine with it. I'm fine with all that, and with knowing what I now know."

"You are?", Agatha asked. She found it a little hard to believe.

"Yes.", Brandy said. "It may be hard news, but it proves something. I took the worst they could offer, and I survived. I made it out. And even though there are effects, they will fade, with time. With you guys helping me, and the Phantom by my side, I know that I'll make it out of here alright."

Bowza gave a gentle smile, and they all stood up. The three hugged one more time.

"I'm glad to hear that, Brandy.", he said. "I think we all are."

But as the three stood together, they were unaware that another was regarding their conversation with great interest. A shadow slipped from the corner and into a closet, then formed into the shape of the Phantom. He sighed, and traced the sides of his mask with his hands.

It had pained him. To hear Brandy talk about him being by her side. Because he knew that one way or another, they would soon be apart. Either Brenda's plan would succeed, and Brandy's soul would be Grrshknn's for all eternity, or Brenda's plan would fail, and she would die, taking the Phantom with her. It was a lose-lose situation, but it was also one he saw no chance of escaping. If it were up to him, he would rather die and leave Brandy alive. But he was Brenda's Stand, so he had no choice but to follow her orders. Reluctantly, he began to speak to her.

"Mistress?", he said. "The plan is ready. Operation Soultake will begin in just a few hours."

"I see.", said Brenda. "Then if all is set, proceed when you are ready."

"Yes, mistress.", said the Phantom, and tried to disguise the aching in his voice and heart. "I will."

Later that evening, Brandy sat at the table, finishing up the last scraps of her dinner. The rest of the day had gone fairly well. She had finally gotten outside of the Castle for the first time in a week, and the sun on her face had felt very refreshing. Dinner had also been nice- Barry the Builder/Cook had served her favorite food, Worcestershire salad. And now, she was looking forward to her nightly visit from the Phantom.

"Oticat? Agatha?", she said quietly, gaining the attention of both Witch and King.

"Yes, Brandy? What is it?", Oticat asked, with a forkful of food held halfway to his mouth.

"Well, I've been thinking, and…", Brandy said, and looked up. Her eyes brightened. "I've been feeling a lot better lately. I think I might want to try battling tomorrow."

Oticat smiled. "That would be just fantastic, Brandy. I'm so glad you're feeling better. But if you're battling tomorrow, you really should get some rest. In fact, it's-"

Oticat pulled back his sleeve and glanced at his watch, his eyes widening with mild surprise. "Why, it's already 9:00. Best be in bed."

"I agree.", Brandy said, and got up. A wry smile came across her face, and her heart fluttered with the thought of seeing the Phantom again. "I really should."

She Dashed up the stairs, leaving behind no trace but the ruffling of other's clothes and a skid mark on the floor.

"I wonder why she's so eager to go to bed.", Oticat said. "Is she late for something?"

"I think she just wants to see the Phantom again.", said Agatha, a slight twinge of worry in her voice. "She seems so utterly infatuated with him."

Oticat choked on his soup. His eyes bugged out, and Sadie gave him a hard whack on the back until his throat cleared out. He sputtered in confusion a few more times, and took a deep breath.

"What?", he asked, his eyes frantic. "Did you say… the Phantom?"

"Yes.", Bowza said. "From your reaction, I take it that you know him."

"Well, sort of.", said Oticat. "SpaceKrakenX always talks about someone named the Phantom that follows his Bandit around wherever she goes. I don't exactly know who he is, but I do think we're talking about the same person."

Agatha and Bowza looked at each other in shock. They had found the Phantom's user. But then, they both realized that this was a good thing. Brenda and Brandy were friends, and Stands always followed their user's commands. If the Phantom truly was Brenda's Stand, then there was nothing to fear.

Brandy sat alone on the edge of her bed. She had brushed her teeth, washed her face, and combed her hair- everything to get ready to go to sleep. But she was missing one now important thing. The Phantom had not appeared.

"Hello?", Brandy asked into the quiet room. "Phantom? Are you there?"

But there was no answer, just the soft, almost unheard sound of the wind whistling through the outside trees. Brandy strained her eyes, trying to see into the darkness, but saw nothing but the shadows of her room. She blinked, wondering why he had not appeared. She checked the clock on the wall- it was 9:12, 12 minutes past when he usually appeared.

_I guess he's not coming, _Brandy thought sadly. The edges of her eyes watered, and she wiped them with the back of her hand. _Why? Why did he abandon me like this?_

But such questions would be better left for tomorrow. So Brandy pulled her blanket over herself and went to sleep.

"_Brandy… Brandy..."_

_Brandy sat up in a field. The sky, although the sun blazed brightly overhead, was as dark as midnight. A tree behind her began to grow, stretching upwards into infinity. Tiny bottles of Dark Elixir streamed from a broken Pump in front of her, then coalesced into a metal hand._

"_Brandy… Brandy…", the voice said again. Brandy stood, looking around for the source, but found nothing. The ground shook underneath her feet, and a crack opened in the air._

"_Who's there?", Brandy asked, still looking around. "Anyone?"_

_A woman in grey armor leapt from the crack in the air, and looked around. She put her fingers to her head, and spoke into a shining metal box just above her eye. "This is Kelen.'_

_Then she broke apart into thousands of drops of steel, and reformed into a Wizard and an Archer. They looked worried, holding a green cloak in their arms._

"_Brandy? Brandy?", said the Archer. "Where are you? Come home!"_

_Brandy started to run to them, but the ground buckled underneath her feet. It tore open into a vast chasm, and Brandy fell into darkness._

_As she fell, a well-lit green meadow flashed by. A very tall, older Bandit sat on a stump, slowly plucking at the strings of a lyre. She hummed out a melody, copying it on her instrument._

"_As I'm filled with silver fire…", she sang, plucked out a note, then frowned. "No, that one isn't right."_

_Then she looked up at Brandy, a stern look in her eyes, and vanished._

_Brandy landed on her feet at the bottom, looking around at her surroundings. There was a huge pedestal, with a gigantic chalice resting on top. Evil-looking red liquid bubbled over, an occasional drop landing on the floor with a shrill hiss. _

"_My world will be perfect.", a deep, titanic voice rumbled from everywhere at once. "My world will be-"_

_The chalice cracked open, and the image along with it. Brandy's vision was replaced with one of Ryusei_Nakao69, scratching wounds in his face with a sharp knife. He seemed worried, almost afraid, although Brandy did not know of what._

"_Please, just give me more time.", he said, his voice distorted through the gurgles of blood. "That's all I need."_

"_Your time is no more, mortal.", __bellowed a deep voice, and a dark claw appeared over him. Ryusei_Nakao69 cowered, but the claw did not fall. Instead, it turned to Brandy, with a pair of glowing yellow eyes behind it. "__You now belong to me."_

_Brandy tried to run, but it was like running through stone. The claw rose into the air, then turned into an impossibly huge figure. It was covered entirely in a black cloak, through which a scythe and a skull could barely be seen. It pulled back the hood, revealing for a bare moment a young man with deep orange skin and short tan hair. Then it turned again to the skull, and swung the scythe downwards. _

**Lights Out, **_it said, and Brandy could feel herself being pulled into the void._

Brandy awoke with a start, very nearly yanking herself out of bed. Breathing heavily, she instinctively struck up a fighting pose and Dashed to the far side of the room, then stopped when she realized there was nothing to fear. Her hands still shaking with fear, Brandy sat down on the nearest thing to present itself, which was an empty Gold Chest stacked against the wall.

"Brandy?", said a familiar, comforting voice. "What happened? Are you alright?"

Brandy looked up, and saw a friendly shadow gliding across the room. Her eyes brightened, and her face lit up in a smile. "Phantom!", she said, and hopped down from the Chest.

He met her next to her bed, and they hugged. "Where were you?", she asked. "What happened?"

"I'm sorry, I was just a bit late.", said the Phantom. "Stand business and all that. But Brandy, now that I'm here…"

Brandy looked up. "Hm?"

"I have something I want to ask you.", the Phantom said, and his eye twitched. He knew fully well the outcome of this situation, and it was one that he did not relish. But if Brenda ordered it, he could not disobey.

"What is it?", Brandy asked. "You can ask me."

"Do you want to leave?", he said. "Leave it all behind?"

"Leave… what behind?", Brandy asked. "My room? Because we could do that- go somewhere else, I mean."

"No, I mean your life.", said the Phantom, and gave a grand sweep of his arms to emphasize his point. "All of it. The battles, the rivalry between colors, all the constant, unending conflict and hatred. Wouldn't you like to leave it?"

"No.", Brandy said. "I like it here. I'm feeling a lot better."

"You may feel that way.", the Phantom said. "But reality has other plans."

He pointed to Brandy's stomach. "The birth of your child is not far off- just one or two days, I'd suspect. Once it is born, what will you do?"  
"Well, I'll raise it, I suppose.", Brandy said. "And everyone will-"

"No.", said the Phantom, cutting Brandy off. "They will not. They have too many problems of their own to help you with it. And, if the truth must be told, they somewhat tire of supporting you."

Before Brandy could speak, the Phantom waved his hand, showing an image of Bowza still in the dining room.

"You know what, Agatha?", he said. "I think that Brandy should stop leaning on us. She's not a little kid anymore, she needs to grow up."

"I agree.", Agatha said almost automatically. "If she comes to me with one more pointless question, I've half a mind to just tell her to go away and get somebody else."

"Wha-", Brandy gasped, but the Phantom closed the portal. "And certainly, you cannot raise it on your own. Not if you hope to have anything approaching your old life back. A child is fantastic amounts of work. Why do you think your parents abandoned you?"

Brandy recoiled, hurt. "Phantom…", she said, "Why are you saying these things? What's gotten into you?"

The Phantom sighed. "I know, Brandy. I've never been anything but nice to you. But sooner or later, the truth has to come out. And the truth is that only I can help you. Come with me."

He stretched out his hand, but Brandy hesitated. "I- I don't know.", she said. "I don't want to go."

The Phantom had expected something like this to happen. But just like so many other things, he had a contingency plan. So he put on some light, slow, music from beyond, opened his mouth, and began to sing.

Song: Music of the Night

"Nighttime sharpens, heightens each sensation…", he crooned, and magic flowed from him into the room. It surrounded Brandy like a cloud, and she felt her hesitation begin to fade.

"Darkness stirs and wakes imagination…"

Brandy blinked repeatedly, feeling her eyelids grow heavier. Her thoughts began to grow fuzzier under the Phantom's calming influence.

"Silently the senses abandon their defenses…", the Phantom sang, and reached out his hand once more. Brandy felt herself slide upwards, and slowly take his hand in hers.

"Helpless to resist the notes I write… for I compose the music of the night…"

The Phantom slowly floated off of the floor, Brandy following him into the air. Some part of her thought that this was wrong, that she shouldn't be doing this. But whatever part of her was leading decided to go along with it anyway.

"Slowly, gently, night unfurls its splendor… grasp it, sense it, tremulous and tender…"

The Phantom spun Brandy around, and dipped her underneath his cloak. The shadows covered her, and Brandy's eyes closed.

"Hearing is believing, music is deceiving…"

The Phantom stood up straight again, removing his cloak. Brandy wobbled on her airborne feet, but the Phantom put his hand on her back to steady her.

"Hard as lightning, soft as candlelight…", the Phantom sang, and leaned in close to Brandy's glowing face. "Dare you trust the music of the night?"

Brandy slowly gave an imperceptible nod. The final vestige of her resistance screamed at her from the back of her mind, but it was ignored.

"Close your eyes for your eyes will tell only the truth… and the truth isn't what you want to see…"

The Phantom leaned in further, and Brandy kissed him. They hung together for a moment, then pulled slightly apart.

"In the dark it is easy to pretend, that the truth is what it ought to be…"

They slowly floated down again onto the ground, touching down lightly without a sound.

"Softly, deftly, music shall caress you… hear it, fear it, secretly possess you…"

Brandy was too under his spell to realize it, but the Phantom was telling her directly what he had done. Over the past few days, everything he had done- the saving, the singing, even the illusion of the enemy Stand- had all been leading up to this one, final moment. The one where he would take her soul for Grrshknn, and then his angel would be no more. It pained him to do so, but he knew it had to be done.

"Open up your mind, let your fantasies unwind…"

He reached across Brandy's face to her ears, giving them a gentle caress. Waves of unburdened pleasure rushed through her, and she moaned out loud.

"In this darkness which you know you cannot fight... "

The Phantom's cloak grew to fill the room, surrounding Brandy with soft waves of blackness. "The darkness of the music of the night…"

Upon hearing the word "night", a back area of Brandy's brain lit up a little bit. She had heard Knight, and that reminded her, for the first time in days, of Dan.

But as the Phantom continued to sing, sending his strange magic into her heart and mind, the memory collapsed into nothing.

"Close your eyes, journey to a strange new world… leave all thoughts of the life you knew before…"

The Phantom gestured upwards, and a sky appeared on Brandy's ceiling. Hundreds of stars flared to life, revealing totally new constellations.

"Close your eyes and let music set you free… only then, can you belong to me…"

The Phantom floated over to Brandy's bedside, pulling her gently in tow. From within the seemingly endless folds of his cloak, he retrieved a glittering silver knife.

"Floating, falling, sweet intoxication… touch me, trust me, savor each sensation…"

He put Brandy on her bed, sitting up. He gently offered her the knife, and looked deep into her eyes.

"Let the dream begin, let your darker side give in…"

Brandy saw the knife, and knew what she had to do. She would leave everyone behind, but they didn't really care about her. And if she got to spend forever with her Phantom, then everyone would be happy.

"To the power of the music that I write… the power of…"

Brandy took the knife, and slowly raised it to her chest. She took a deep breath, and prepared herself.

"The music of the…"

Brandy hesitated for just a swift second, saying a brief goodbye to everyone she had ever known. She looked up, into the Phantom's face, and he gave her a single nod.

"Night..."

Brandy plunged the knife downwards, and into her heart. The ambient music swelled to a magnificent chorus, bolstered by the burning sensation coursing through Brandy's head. She dropped the knife into her lap, as the blood rushed downwards. It was red at first, then began to turn purple. She reached out for the Phantom's hand- and he took it, as Brandy collapsed into Elixir.

A tear rolled down the Phantom's cheek. He knew that with her body destroyed underneath his spell, her soul had gone straight to Grrshknn. It was over. He would never see her again.

"Only you could make my song take flight…", he sang to an empty room, slowly shuffling along the ground. He looked up, and let the sadness flow. "Helped me make the music of the night…"

Then he vanished, leaving the room as dark and empty as a tomb.

Brenda stared in disbelief through the Phantom. He had done it. His song had actually convinced Brandy to give up her own life, just to follow him. It was a little hard to believe.

The Phantom materialized at the bottom of the black steps, one knee folded in a somber crouch.

"It is done.", he said, with a heavy voice. "She is no more."

"I know.", Brenda said, not looking up. "Don't have to tell me twice."

As Brenda stared downwards at the floor, silently mourning her friend, a tendril of a shadow crept around her leg.

Song: A lurking evil

"Have you done it, Brenda?", asked Grrshknn.

"What?". Brenda asked in surprise. His voice was far higher than it normally was, without the normal menacing edge.

"Uh, I mean- have you done it, Brenda?", Grrshknn asked, the barest hint of nervousness sneaking into his voice. "Have you collected her soul?"

"Yes, Lord Grrshknn.", Brenda said. "The operation is complete."

"Good, good.", said Grrshknn. "Now, when can I expect her soul to arrive?"

"There is a slight delay.", said the Phantom, echoing Brenda's thoughts. "But she should appear right where you're standing in 3...2...1…"

There was a glimmer of blue and green light. Then it faded, and nothing happened.

Grrshknn ever so slowly swiveled his head to stare at Brenda, and she felt a bead of sweat drip off her brow. "Brenda?", he asked. "Where is she?"

"Um… I don't know.", Brenda said. "She should have just appeared."

Her mind raced, trying to find out any way this could have happened. She was excited that Brandy had found a way to circumvent it at the last second, but she had no idea how.

"Well, you should know soon.", Grrshknn said, lazily sharpening his claws on a nearby blank surface. "For your own sake."

Brenda bit her lip and stared at the emptiness in front of her, wishing she had a digital readout of some sort to mess with. "Phantom?", she whispered. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know.", the Phantom said, just as quietly. "But I'm glad it did."

Grrshknn stopped tapping. His giant ears perked up, and his eye rolled down from the front of his face to his cheek to get a better look at Brenda and the Phantom. "What?", he asked. "What did you just say?"

"I- I said that I figured it out, Lord Grrshknn.", said the Phantom with an elaborate bow. "When Brandy's soul was removed from her body, we all assumed that my power would bring it to you. But the natural regenerative ability of the Blue territory in which she resides prevented that from happening. I expect that she will be reforming in just a few moments."

Grrshknn's claws hung in the air for a few terrifying moments before he once again began to drum on the glass. "Good, good!", he said with a wide smile. "Now go. Collect her soul manually. No songs this time."

"But sir-"

"What?"

"I can't do that. It has to be willing."

Grrshknn frowned, and tapped his claw against his forehead. "Hmm.", he said, then his face perked up with an idea. "Very well then.", he said, and waved his hand in the Phantom's direction.

A bolt of dark lightning flashed between them, and the Phantom suddenly lit up a violent black. He fell to the floor, groaning in agony, and Brenda crouched at his side.

"There you go. I've boosted your powers, and you will now be able to take souls manually. But I had to remove some of your durability to do so, so you'll have to be careful."

The Phantom looked up, his eyes smoldering. "I will."

Brandy felt herself being pulled back together, with the strange regenerative magic of Blue. It was the same magic that was used in the Arenas, only not as strong.

A massive headache pounded in her skull as Brandy's spilled Elixir came back together, and her muscles ached as they were knitted into one piece. But within a few seconds the process was finished, and Brandy sat alone in her bed.

"Hello?", she asked. "Phantom? Where did you go?"

But there was no answer. None, except for the gentle scratching of something underneath Brandy's bed.

"What…", Brandy whispered, and looked down to see what it was. There was a single Skeleton, scratching around on the floor in an attempt to relieve the boredom.

"Larry?", Brandy asked. "What are you doing here?"  
Larry looked up, shrugged, then resumed his self portrait.

"Huh. Strange.", said Brandy, then registered something in her peripheral vision. She turned to look, and saw the worried figure of the Phantom, black smoke leaking from his eyes.

"Phantom!", Brandy said, relieved. "What happened? I did what you asked me to, but-"

The Phantom swooped over her, uncharacteristically aggressive. "Your soul.", he said. "Give it to me. Now."

Brandy's heart stopped for a second. "What?", she asked. She desperately wanted what she had just heard to be a trick, or an illusion, or at the very least a prank. She did not want the Phantom to turn on her.

"Your soul, Brandy!", the Phantom screamed, and drew his sword. "If I don't have it now, everyone will die!"

Brandy jumped up onto the back of her bed, trying to escape from the mad phantasm. "I don't understand.", she said, trying as hard as she could to remain calm. "Why?"

"Give me your soul, Brandy!", the Phantom screamed in pain and fear, and lunged. "Now!"

That was all Bowza, stationed in a warrior's crouch outside the door and listening in through Larry, needed to hear. Quick as Lightning, he threw open the door, nocked an arrow, and fired.

The Phantom turned in response, but he was not fast enough to dodge the magical arrow of light. It pierced him in the cheek, went all the way through, and exploded on the other side.

The Phantom screamed in pain as his hands flew to his cheeks, then fell. "Your… soul…", he coughed out. "If I don't have it, everyone you know will die."

But Brandy wasn't listening. She just screamed at the sight of her Phantom lying on the ground, defeated, and about to die.

Bowza nocked another shot and fired, shooting the Phantom straight through the back of the head. The Phantom gasped in pain, and closed his eyes. It was clear he would not be able to get Brandy's soul, and he refused to take it manually. Before he died, he would at least explain.

"It's not my fault.", the Phantom said. "Nor Brenda's. We were forced to do it. By someone named…"

Brandy crouched by the Phantom's side, tears welling in her eyes. "Phantom, I don't understand.", she said. "Please, don't die!"

She looked up, and saw Bowza for the first time. Her heart beat faster with the discovery of betrayal. "Bowza!", she screamed. "Don't!"

But it was already too late. Before Brandy could get the words out of her mouth, Bowza had nocked another arrow, and fired directly through the Phantom's heart. He gasped in pain, grabbed Brandy's ear, and pulled her closer to his mouth. "Grrshknn…", he whispered, and disappeared into thin air.

Song: Irreversible Sadness

Brandy stared in utter disbelief as the Phantom vanished from reality in her arms. His last words had certainly been some sort of message, but Brandy hadn't really been listening. She had been panicking too much, and now she regretted it. She would get no more chances to hear it.

Brandy looked up at Bowza, sheer, undisguised hatred blazing in her eyes.

"You…", she said, and Dashed forward. "You killed him!"

Bowza tried to dodge out of the way, but Brandy was too fast. She landed a solid kick on his chest and a hard punch to his jaw, and Bowza slammed into the wall. Brandy kept going and landed on him, then grabbed his shirt.

"I hate you!", she screamed, and raised a fist to strike. Bowza did not try to block the blow, for he could already feel the Phantom's spell fading from Brandy's mind, and knew that the attack would soon be over.

"I won't ever forgive… you for… this…", Brandy said, then blinked. Where exactly was she? What was she doing? What had happened in the last few minutes?

She let go of Bowza's shirt, and slid down to the floor. She Dashed in place to try and jog her memory- ah yes, that was it.

"Oh Se'th…", she whispered to herself. Only now, once she was free from the Phantom's spell, did she realize exactly what had happened over the past few days. She could see that Ryusei_Nakao69's plan to get her had only slowed down somewhat, not completely stopped. Even though he was dead, he had somehow gotten this Phantom to take Brandy for him. And he had come so close.

"I was so stupid…", Brandy mumbled. "All the songs, all the declarations of love…"

She sat down, all the now-painful memories flooding into her mind. "Oh Se'th, I had _sex_ with him! While I'm pregnant! What was I doing?"

She felt Bowza's hand on her shoulder, and looked up. He gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you have questions, Brandy. Let me answer them."

"Yeah, I have questions.", Brandy said. "First of all, what was he? I don't really remember anything from the past few days."

"He was a Stand.", Bowza said. "The physical manifestation of one's energy- specifically, your friend Brenda's."

"You mean- that was Brenda talking to me?"

"More or less."

Brandy sobbed into her gloves. "First Dan leaves me, then Brenda betrays me and almost kills me, what's next?"

"Now, Brandy, don't-"

Brandy looked up, and shot a look at Bowza that would have cut open steel. "I'm going to get some sleep.", she huffed. "Don't talk to me."

Bowza stood up, knowing that sleep was, in fact, the best thing for Brandy to get in this situation. Brandy climbed into her bed, pulled all of her covers all the way over herself, and was asleep within moments.

The Phantom reformed, coughing and sputtering, next to a pale-faced Brenda. Grrshknn loomed over her, palpable anger written across his face.

"So.", he boomed. "I see how it is. You pretend to work for me- and then when it suits you most, you sell me out to the very targets I assign you to take?"

Brenda and the Phantom looked at each other. _Do you have a plan?_, the Phantom's eyes said.

_Oh, trust me, _said Brenda's. _I certainly do. _

Brenda looked up at Grrshknn. WIth bold faced determination or foolishness, she spoke.

"Yeah, pretty much. Honestly, frick you."

As if to top off the insult, she performed the rudest gesture a Troop could give- one pointer finger under her chin, and the other drawing a small circle around her nose.

"Why, you little brat!", Grrshknn bellowed, and drew himself up to his current maximum height of 84 feet. His massive claw swung downward towards Brenda to crush her, the glass melting around her feet to prevent any escape.

"Phantom of the Opera!", Brenda yelled. The Phantom disappeared, then reformed again in full battle armor, ready to protect Brenda at all costs. He raised both his sword and shield to block Grrshknn's blow, but they were ineffectual against a demon. The pillar of Grrshknn's arm slammed into the ground like an avalanche, crushing Brenda to Elixir and the Phantom to mere black smoke.

"Hmph.", said Grrshknn. "Looks like I'll have to get new servants… again."

He folded himself together into a singularity, and vanished.

But unknown to him, Brenda's plan had worked. Upon seeing what had happened to Brandy, she had immediately come up with it- almost immediately, anyway. Once Grrshknn had crushed her, her spirit had just gone back to her room back at SpaceKrakenX's castle. But Grrshknn still thought she was dead, which meant she was finally free. Free, and safe.

Brenda appeared in the middle of the air over her floor, but swiftly dashed to her bed. The Phantom appeared beside her, still looking worried.

"Hey, relax.", she said. "We all made it out safe."

"Yes.", said the Phantom. "But Brandy still believes you have betrayed her. We'll have to tell her the truth."

Brenda frowned. "Yeah.", she said. "We will. But not right now."

She closed her eyes and, utterly exhausted from the day's events, fell asleep almost instantly. All that it took was 5 minutes and a gentle lullaby from the Phantom.

3 months ago

Song: Himeru Omai

Ryusei_Nakao69 sat alone in his room, slowly counting his Gold. The coins clinked softly as they fell from one hand to another, the sheer decadence of the room almost physical.

"Hmmm… 140750, 140760…", he hummed, counting in stacks of 10. The Gold from his last assassination had been delivered uncounted- the payment had been agreed on as "all I have" from the King he had been hired by. So far, there was still a lot more uncounted than counted. Rysuei_Nakao69 was beginning to think that he might have been a little overpaid. Which reminded him...

"Barley?", he asked. "Set aside enough money for my Princess's allowences."

A nearby Barley unplugged itself from the wall, which it didn't need but it really needed someplace to stay anyway, and rolled over to the King's table. "Certainly, sire.", it said cheerfully. "And just to make sure, that is Veronica, Stacy, and Chloe, correct?"

"Yes.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 without looking up. "Veronica, Stac_ie, _and the new one. Veronica gets ten thousand Gold and 25 Gems, Stacie gets the same, and Chloe gets whatever Troop we captured last until I either wipe them or sell them."

"Understood, sire.", the Barley said, and bowed. "I will deliver them posthaste."

Still bowing, it rolled backwards out of the room until the door shut behind it automatically. It would get lost, with the current state of the demonic castle.

"Ah, there's nothing I have to today.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "All my Chest slots are full, no Tournaments command my attention, and I already have started the Clan War today. Yes, nothing to do but just sit back, relax, and count my money."

He started to stack his coins again, when the hair on his arm began to pick up. His heart skipped a beat, and he hurriedly stood up and pushed his hair and beard into place. He had already learned what the hair meant- Grrhsknn was coming.

Song: Un'altra Persona

The door to the room slammed open in a cold wind, almost coming right off its hinges. An ethereal howl from beyond ripped into the counting room, giving a random Goblin a near heart attack. It was more of a lung attack.

A dark mist poured into the room, and assembled itself into the shape of a bear. It stood behind Ryusei_Nakao69, who had not dared to move since Grrshknn had arrived.

"Good time of day, Ryus.", Grrshknn purred. "I have another job for you. Should be easy, it's just kidnapping."

"Ah, good.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, and allowed himself to move. "So what is it this time? A Night Witch? A Pekka? A Sparky? Because I assure you, we can handle them all."

Grrshknn summoned a floating square of glass in his left hand, and showed it to Ryusei_Nakao69. "This Bandit.", he said, pointing to a picture. "I want you to get this Bandit."

"Ah, a Bandit.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, not really listening. "Don't you worry Lord Grrhsknn, I can-"

"I don't think you heard me.", Grrhsknn growled, and Ryusei_Nakao69 instantly sat up straight. "I said I want this particular Bandit. Not just any."

Ryusei_Nakao69 took the picture, read the information on it, and looked up. "I see.", he said hesitantly. "This will be quite a job. I hope I'm getting paid well?"

"You choose your hopes well, Ryus.", Grrhsknn said. "For I am paying you the very modest reward of one million Gems."

Ryusei_Nakao69's ears popped, thinking that something must have gone wrong with the input. There was no way that Grrshknn was actually offering to pay him one million Gems… right? Such a sum was unheard of anywhere. No one had that much- no one.

"One- one- one", Ryusei_Nakao69 stuttered. "One _million_ gems?"

"Yes.", Grrshknn said. "But this is to be very special one. Here are the details…"

Grrshknn pressed his claw to the back of Ryusei_Nakao69's neck, and mentally transferred to him the plan, the specifics of location and date, and where she would be going after capture. Specifically, with Ryusei_Nakao69 for a month, then her soul would be given to Grrshknn for his own purposes.

"I understand, Lord Grrshknn.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 slowly. He clenched his fist, and grinned maniacally. "I will take her."

"Good, good.", said Grrhsknn, and disappeared. "Take her for me."

Ryusei_Nakao69 closed his eyes, and again went over the plan in his head. "I wonder why Grrshknn was so specific about her.", he said. The image of the chosen Bandit popped into his vision, and he turned it over and around. "I wonder what sort of challenges you'll pose… Brandy."

Present Day

It was a darkened Wednesday. The sky had gone overcast at dawn, and had remained so until the present hour, 4:00 in the afternoon. Oticat was off battling, grinding for his 35th crown reward just before the season ended. He was using a sort of Giant Skeleton bait deck, inspired by SpaceKrakenX. He didn't think it would work, but he was trying it anyway. "Go ahead, try it!", SpaceKrakenX had said. "It works for me, it'll work for you!"

But he wasn't doing the full deck- because that required a Bandit. And Brandy was in no condition to battle at the time. She was still back at the castle, with the cold blanket of sorrow still draped across her.

Brandy tapped a button on the remote, and the channel on TV Royale changed again, this time to the Upcoming channel. On it were ads for upcoming Challenges, new Cards, occasional new updates to the rules of the Arena, and a new Season every month.

As Brandy watched, motionless, a smiling Princess appeared on screen with a pair of sunglasses on her forehead. She flipped them downwards onto her eyes, smirked, then flipped them back up. The words "Season 3: Be Legendary" briefly flashed across the screen, before it went dark.

_Be Legendary, _Brandy thought. _Is that what the gods are up to these days? I wonder what it will be…_

She flicked the remote again, this time changing to the news channel. A frantic Villager stared into the camera, still shaking from something. Brandy could see a massive gash torn through trees, smoke still rising into the air.

"As you all can see, there's something that happened here.", she said nervously. "Something large. We're not sure what it was- but we think it was a Dragon. Not much else that could burn through 100 meters of woodland like that."

"Actually, Trish, we're kind of moving on from the whole Dragon idea.", said another reporter, a Bandit. "You see, we investigated the area further, and it wasn't burnt by fire."

"It wasn't?", asked Trish. "Then what burned it?"

"We don't know.", the Bandit said as she scratched her head. "Maybe a-"

Brandy pressed another button, and the TV turned off. She didn't need to listen to this. News nowadays was nothing but scandals and sensationalism, made to bring in views and very little else.

She got up from the couch, mildly stretched, and slowly walked over to the kitchen. No one else was around. She wasn't sure where they were. The only sound that could be heard was the gentle ticking of a clock, Brandy's own breathing, and a scratching sound at the door.

Her attention turned to the door, looking through the glass in the middle. Her muscles tensed, expecting the worst, but she sighed in relief when she saw that it was just Brave, Oticat's Baby Dragon, begging to be let in.

"Oh, Brave.", she said. "I thought you were inside already. Who let you out?"

She stood up and walked over to the door, opening it to let Brave in. She looked down to scratch his forehead, and gasped in shock when she saw what was hanging from his jaws.

It was the severed head of… something. It was really too mangled and burned to tell what it had been, but it had clearly died in pain. Its mouth hung open in an expression of shock, several teeth cracked to bits.

"Brave!", Brandy yelled. "What is that? Go! Go! Get out of the Castle with that!"  
She pointed out the door, and Brave hung his head in shame. He turned, dropped the head on the porch, and kicked it backwards. He turned around, sat down, and looked up at Brandy expectedly.

"Wait.", Brandy said, "What was that?"

She moved past Brave, giving him a small pat on the head. She looked around for the head, and found it lodged underneath a bush from the force of Brave's kick. The lower jaw had broken off and lodged into the ground, leaving the rest of the head in ever worse condition.

Brandy delicately picked it up and held it in front of her face, looking for any identifying markings. _Weird, _she thought. _Why hasn't it dissolved into Elixir yet?_

But open tapping on the skull a few times, she found her answer.

_This is wood, _Brandy realized. _This is just some wooden dummy._

Her heart lifted in relief. It would have been a terrible fate, for anything to have been burned to death this way. Horrible, that is, for anyone but an Elite Barbarian. All of them except Chup's surely deserved whatever they got-

But then upon closer inspection, Brandy realized that that is what it was. Once she swept the grime and burned grass off the top, she could quite easily tell that it was the half-destroyed skull of a wooden Elite Barbarian.

"Interesting…", she whispered. "I wonder if this has anything to do with what was on the news earlier?"

She was about to go and tell someone, when she remembered that there was no one around to tell. So she just tossed the head back to Brave and went back inside.

Once inside, Brandy flopped down at a table in the kitchen. This room, too, was abandoned.

Except for Brave, who sat eagerly by her side, panting as if waiting for something.

Brandy caught his eye, and he closed his mouth.

"What is it, Brave?", Brandy asked. "You want a treat?"

Upon hearing the word Treat, Brave's eyes lit up, and he started jumping around on all fours. He yelped in excitement, and a puff of flame came out of his nose.

"Alright, calm down.", Brandy said. "I'll get you something."

She stood up and walked over to the fridge, going to get some meat for Brave. He followed her, right on her heels, waiting for the blessed moment when he would finally, after almost a full _hour _of not getting one, get a blessed Treat.

Brandy opened the door, and scanned the shelves for a treat. Her eyes fell on some sliced meats- and beyond that, a half-full bottle of Dark Elixir. Instantly, her mind flashed back to weeks ago, before the whole thing had started, when Dan had been drinking Dark Elixir to try and cope with his depression. What was it he had said?

"_It's the only thing that takes away the pain anymore."_

Ah yes, that was it. Brandy took the meat in one hand and, looking around to make absolutely sure that no one was watching, took the Dark Elixir in the other.

"Here's your treat, Brave.", she said, tossing the meat to the Baby Dragon, who began to gulp it down almost instantly. "And…"

She popped open the cap on the Dark Elixir, and tilted it back. "Here's mine."

The Dark Elixir poured down Brandy's throat, and she almost spat it out. The strong taste that assaulted her tongue was nothing like the sweet, fruity taste of regular Elixir she had drunken before- it was more like spiced up sand, or flavored stone. But strangely enough, the sensation did seem to dull the constant pain that flowed through Brandy's mind and soul.

Brandy took the bottleneck out of her mouth and gasped, breathing in the air. The Dark Elixir seemed to be working, but even so, Brandy knew that she shouldn't be drinking it. It was deadly for her, and she knew it. But then… why did it feel so right to be doing it?

She turned for the stairs, heading for her room. She took a single step into an entryway, took another swig of the Dark Elixir- and paused in midair. Webert was sitting at a table, back to her, mumbling softly to himself as he prepared another gallon barrel of his own Dark Elixir.

"Oh, hey Agatha.", he said drunkenly. "Whassup?"

_Shoot, _thought Brandy. _Why is Webert here? Why is he the _only _one here? And why does he think I'm Agatha?_

Then she saw the massive pile of Dark Elixir empties on the table next to him, and realized it was because Webert was stone drunk.

"Um… not much?", Brandy said, trying her best to mimic Agatha's voice. "I guess."

"Same.", Webert said slowly, and poured himself another glass. "Just downing my nightly requirement. We Bowlers have to drink a lot, you know. In fact-"

He started to turn around, and Brandy's heart skipped a beat. As quick as she was able, she Dashed up and grabbed onto the lip of the upper doorframe, swinging around to brace herself against the wall and hide from sight.

"I need to drink at least 25 gallons of Dark Elixir every day or I'll-"

Webert paused. Even in his drunken stupor, he was confused how who he had assumed was Agatha had just vanished from sight. He looked around to try and see where she had gone, but his vision was blurred from the Dark Elixir. He couldn't see anything but a vague blur.

"Uh, okay.", he said. "See you later, I guess."

He turned around again, and resumed his drinking. Brandy waited for a few more seconds until she heard him gulping down the Dark Elixir, then slowly, carefully dropped from the doorframe without making a sound. She scrambled up the stairs, bottle still in hand, and vanished. Black drips fell as she went, making a telltale trail of guilt on the stairs and floor. But there was no one around to see them- at least, not yet.

Once Brandy reached her room, she stopped before opening the door. She had been going to go to bed, but a thought interrupted her from doing so.

"Is there a point?", she asked the empty hallway. "Is there a point in going to bed? I'll just wake up again. I'll just sit around the Castle again. I'll just go through the same cycle again, not changing, not progressing, not-"

There was a sharp pain in her stomach. Brandy fell onto her knees, and grasped at her torso. There was another shock of feeling, and Brandy realized what was happening.

_It's coming, _she thought. _The baby's coming._

Webert downed one last barrel of Dark Elixir, wiped his mouth with his chin, and shakily stood up. _Alright, that's enough for now, _he thought, and fell to the floor with a loud crash because not only was he drunk to the sky, he had also stood up too fast.

The door opened, and Agatha entered the room. Larry ran in front of her and immediately began to stab some wooden paneling on the walls.

"Don't touch that, Larry.", Agatha said, and recalled the Skeleton to her. She saw Webert sitting on the floor, a look of both confusion and bliss across his face, and her brow knitted in confusion.

"Agatha?", Webert asked, rubbing his eyes to make sure they did not decieve him. "How did you come in through the door? I was talking to you just like, 30 seconds ago."

"What?", Agatha asked, confused. "No you weren't."

Larry slowly, silently sneaked out from underneath Agatha's dress, and ran over to the stairs. He didn't know why, but he did. His run was halted, however, when he stepped in something dark and sticky. He lifted up his foot. Had he had eyes, they would have widened. The eye sockets he did have, however, could do something better.

His magical eyesight detected footprints of a boot, size 8, rushing up the stairs in a very distinct pattern. Within seconds, he knew who it was.

"But you were talking to me.", Webert said, pointing to the spot where Brandy had been. "And then you vanished for no reason."

"I think you're just drunk, Webert." said Agatha. "I assure you, I wasn't- hm?"

Larry tugged at her dress, pointing urgently towards the stairs. "What is it, Larry?", Agatha asked.

Larry, because he could not speak, quickly moved his hands to communicate. First he put two circles around his eyes: the sign for Bandit. Then he mimed drinking with three fingers: meaning Dark Elixir. Finally, he pointed towards the stairs again, and made a little figure run across his hand.

"Brandy?", Agatha asked. "Drinking Dark Elixir? You really think so?"

Larry frantically nodded his head, and tugged at Agatha's hand. Agatha turned to Webert, and raised her staff.

"Webert, I'm going to go talk to Brandy. You stay here, keep a watch out for everyone else."

"Okay.", Webert slurred. "Where is everyone else, by the way?"

"At the Clan Meeting.", Agatha said. "I was just in the woods."

If given enough time, Webert would have thought up a response, something witty or clever. But only a second later, Agatha went up the stairs to go give Brandy a talk.

Brandy lay in her bed, listening to the wind outside. After a few short kicks, the baby had calmed down, leaving Brandy with no distractions anymore. Nothing at all, to distract her from the slow existential sorrow that gnawed at her soul. She tried to think of anything to cheer her up, but there was nothing. Her best friends? No. One had abandoned her, and the other had tried to take her soul. The rest of the Troops? They clearly didn't care about her. They had all gone somewhere else, and left Brandy behind to rot. Oticat? Of course he didn't care. If he did, he would have upgraded her, or at the very least taken her into battle. The Phantom? Even if he had cared for Brandy instead of just putting her under a subtle spell, he was dead.

But as she mentally eliminated everyone that she knew from the list of people that cared about her, another influence began to work its way into her mind.

"There's still us, Brandy.", came the sinister, yet perfectly polite voice of Ryusei_Nakao69. "We'll always be here for you, no matter what."

"Go away.", Brandy mumbled, turning over. "You're dead. We killed you."

"Yes, that much is true.", the voice continued. "But you can always still join us. All it takes is one good blow, somewhere a little outside of your comfort zone…"

A sudden vision of a rocky cliff leapt into her vision, and Brandy's eyes opened. She sat up out of bed, to see Agatha standing at the open door.

"Brandy?", Agatha asked. "We need to talk."

Normally, such words would have sent Brandy into a small panic. But she didn't feel much of anything from it at the moment. She didn't feel much from anything at all. "What?"

"I noticed you were drinking some Dark Elixir.", Agatha said, and walked closer to Brandy's bedside. "Why?"

"Why?", Brandy mumbled. "Maybe because it's all that helps."

Song: Irreversible Sadness

Agatha reached Brandy's bedside, and noticed an empty bottle of Dark Elixir that had been haphazardly kicked under. "That isn't a good thing to say, Brandy. Not a good thing to think."

Brandy stood up in anger. A thin purple line rose from her arc of motion to the ceiling. "You think I care?", she said loudly. "Does it matter what's good or not?"

Agatha pondered her next words. This was one of the telltale signs of depression- violent mood swings, substance abuse, not feeling. Not feeling was the worst one. "Yes-"

Brandy didn't let her finish. "No. No, it doesn't. It used to, but not anymore."

She sat down again. "Look at me, Agatha. I'm ruined. The baby will probably be born tomorrow morning, and then I'll be nothing but a stay at home mother, to the baby of the one who destroyed me. I can't do this. I can't."

"We'll… help you, Brandy.", Agatha said, and tried to put a hand on Brandy's shoulder. But it was slapped away before there was a second.

"Oh, that's it.", Brandy said. "You'll help me. Sure. Just like you're all helping me now. You leave me alone while you all go off who knows where, no one talks to me, no one helps me with anything."

"What about yesterday?", Agatha asked. "Kars helped you with the hole in the floor."

"That doesn't count.", Brandy said bitterly. "That wasn't really me- that was me under the Phantom. Once he's gone, everyone starts avoiding me like death. Figures that the one time anyone wants me is when I'm not myself."

Agatha couldn't believe what Brandy was saying. This was the not the Bandit she knew. Alien emotions flowed out of her like a dark torrent.

"Brandy, what's gotten into you?", she asked. "The Brandy I know would never-"

"Hmph. The Brandy you know?", Brandy snapped. "And who's that? A sweet, gentle soul that would never hurt anyone? That Brandy doesn't exist anymore. I grew out of that."

Agatha closed her eyes, and looked into Brandy's mind. She was expecting to find some sort of influence, some sort of spell, anything that would be making Brandy act this way. But she found nothing. The chaotic emotions that Brandy was feeling were all hers.

"Brandy, you're being ridiculous.", Agatha said. "You're doing this on purpose."

Brandy's eyes narrowed, and Agatha knew that that was the wrong thing to say. A thin line of purple flashed across Brandy's eyes- then vanished. Suddenly, all the rage drained from Brandy's mind, leaving behind only a deep well of sadness.

"You're right.", Brandy said, just loudly enough for Agatha to hear. "I did do this to myself. It is my fault."

"What? No.", said Agatha. "Nothing about this is your fault."

"But it is.", Brandy said. "I stole that sword for Dan, and then I got left behind, and then I had to take the footpath. If I hadn't stolen it, if I didn't steal, if I- if I wasn't a Bandit, then-"

Agatha put her arms around Brandy to steady her. "Woah, woah.", she said. "Brandy, hold on. You're thinking out of control here."

"No I'm not.", Brandy said. "It really is my fault. I shouldn't have dragged you all into this. Maybe I should have stayed at their castle."

Song: Dark Rebirth

Agatha hurriedly checked Brandy's mind again. This time, she did see faint strings of Red creeping their way in.

"Brandy, don't think that.", she said. "You cannot think that way."

"Or maybe…", Brandy said, and reached out a hand for another bottle of Dark Elixir, cleverly hidden by her bedside. "Maybe I should just drink the rest of this."

Agatha grabbed Brandy's wrist, stopping her hand in midair. "Brandy, you can't. You can't possibly drink all that. You'll die."

Brandy locked eyes with Agatha, her deep blue and slightly red matched with the light purple of the Witch. "I know. That's why I'm doing it."

Larry, having snuck his way out into the world again, heard this statement. His head fell off in utter shock, and he ran across the room trying to put it on again. The corners of Agatha's eyes watered, her heart filled with sorrow at Brandy's words.

"No.", she said. "Brandy, you can't, and you won't."

She stood up, bringing Brandy onto her feet. "Brandy, listen to me. You are not ignored. You are not hated. We all love you- everyone in the castle. For weeks now, we have done nothing but let you rest, and sleep, and recover from what happened."

She stood over Brandy, looked right into her soul, and poured as much mental magic as she could into her next words. "Brandy, how can you say we don't care about you when we literally created an entire army just to get you back?"

Brandy's eyes turned fully blue for a second, then the Red crept back in. She sat down on the bed and stared into empty space. "Because… because…"

The Red part of her tried to find an empty space in Agatha's logic, but it was having a hard time. The influence began to fade from her, until the Blue part of her mind made a tactical error, and the Red gained the mental high ground once more. A purple light grew around her, and she stood up.

"You might have cared about me once.", she spat. Agatha knew what was about to happen, but she did not quite belive it.

"But not anymore.", Brandy said, and struck. Quick as a Zap, her fist flew forward with the power of Dash, hitting Agatha in the jaw. The Witch flew back in shock and pain, bracing herself with the bottom of her staff. She saw Brandy jump from the floor to the window, and slide open the glass.

"Brandy, what are you doing?", Agatha yelled, and quickly summoned a trio of Skeletons. As fast as they could, they all swarmed forward, trying to stop Brandy before she leapt- but it was too late.

"What I should have done a long time ago.", Brandy said, and Dashed out the window.

Song: In the Air Tonight

She fell through the air outside of the Castle, her Dash protecting her from the impact when she hit the ground. But due to her jarred mental state, it wore off half a second too early, and a sharp jolt of pain shot through Brandy's legs upon impact.

Agatha leaned out the window and reached out her arm, Larry almost falling as he leaned alongside her.

"Brandy, come back!", she yelled. "What are you doing?"

Brandy shakily got up, and looked back at Agatha. A brief expression of shock crossed her face, before it was buried in the fury. Ignoring Agatha's cries, Brandy crouched, and took off into the woods as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was going, but that didn't matter. All that did was that she had to get away.

Agatha leaned back into Brandy's room, and put her hands to the side of her head. Momentary panic surged through her, before she calmed down and assessed the situation.

_Alright, what do I do?, _she thought. _I just made Brandy so mad she ran away, I have no idea where she's going, and me and Webert are the only ones here. There's Brave, too, I guess, but he hardly counts._

She threw open Brandy's door and ran downstairs to the kitchen, her cloak blowing behind her.

"Webert!", she shouted once she reached the bottom of the stairs, looking around frantically for the Bowler. "Webert, where are you?"

Webert looked up from the couch that he lay sprawled across, slowly gnawing on a leg of chicken. "I'm here.", he said. "What do you need me for?"

"Brandy ran away.", Agatha said. "We need to go after her."

Webert dropped the chicken leg into his lap. He nodded, and lumbered off towards the door.

"Webert, where are you going?", Agatha asked, and summoned her Skeletons. She silently gave orders, and all three of them ran off to carry them out.

"I'm going to get Oticat.", he said. "He'll know what to do."

"Oticat's an hour walk away.", Agatha said. "We don't have that much time- and you're drunk anyway. You shouldn't be having any ideas. Here-"

Agatha pulled her communicator out of her pocket, and gestured for Webert to do the same. "Start making calls. I'll call Oticat, you call everyone else. See if Brandy went to another castle.

Without saying another word, Webert pulled out his communicator and dialed the number for the first king he had on dial- SpaceKrakenX.

"Yes, yes, Brenda's doing well.", SpaceKrakenX said to Oticat, at the Clan Meeting. "She seems very much relieved about something, although I can't imagine what. Would you like any more punch, perhaps?"

Oticat waved his hand, "No, no, that won't be necessary. But I think I might know what Brenda's so happy about."

"Really? Wha-", SpaceKrakenX began, then his communicator rang. "Excuse me for one second."

"Of course.", said Oticat, and SpaceKrakenX pulled out the device from his pocket. He held it up to his ear and scowled. "Who is this? Whoever it is, it had better be good."

"Hey, man.", came the slurred voice of Webert. "Is Brandy at your place?"

"How should I know?", said SpaceKrakenX. "I'm not there."

_Shoot, _thought Webert, and nearly hung up. "Can I speak to Oticat?", he said.

"Sure.", SpaceKrakenX said, and handed his communicator to the mentioned. "Here you go, Oti. He's one of yours."

Oticat took the device and saw the caller ID. "Hello, Webert.", he said. "What can I do you for?"

"Brandy ran away.", Webert said flatly. "She took off into the woods, and we don't know where she went."

Oticat's heart stopped cold. "What?"

Brandy ran through the woods, vines and branches slapping at her face. She had no idea where she was, or where she was going. In the far distance, she could see the glowing peaks of Spell Valley, some Kings still battling despite the late hour. She wished she was there, just a bit.

A huge tree suddenly came up in front of her, and Brandy stopped. She charged up her Dash, drew back a fist, and launched herself forward to cleave right through.

But something odd happened. Instead of her fist striking the tree in a powerful blow, it slipped intangibly inside. She could see the glowing blue outline of her arm moving around inside the wood, illuminating the bug-eaten twists and turns. Brandy pulled it out just before it became solid again, taking a chunk of wood along with it. She stared at the hole she had made in the tree in amazement for a second, before throwing the chunk aside and running even faster through the dark woods.

A deep ravine appeared behind some bushes, and Brandy leaped over it without a thought. Landing on a roll on the other side, she sprang up and gave a bush a flying kick. She didn't know why, but a Gem rolled out of the flattened Bush and came to rest by her shoe.

Brandy regarded the Gem with disinterest. The green, inviting glow would normally have given her an urge to steal- but not tonight. Tonight, the only thing that was on her mind was running. So run she did, past the group of trees, and further on into the night.

As she ran, a gaunt, haggered figure watched her go. A cloak was pulled closer to guard against the cold night, and the figure shivered. She wanted to stop Brandy running, but she knew that she wasn't fast enough. Her hands shook as she pulled her gun closer to her chest. She too only slightly knew where she was going. But Brandy's direction told her that she was on the right path.

"What do you mean, she ran away?", Oticat asked, trying to keep his voice down. "Why would she do that?"  
"I dunno.", Webert said. The shrug in his voice was almost visible. "Maybe Agatha knows. I'll put her on the line-"

"Hello? Oticat?", Agatha asked suddenly, having finally gotten her old, run-down communicator to work. "Don't worry. I can explain everything."

"Do it.", Oticat said. "Tell me."

"Brandy's… not herself.", Agatha began. "There's some other influence controlling her. We just had a conversation, and it must have angered her for some reason. She attacked me and ran away, and-"  
"Wait, she _attacked _you?", Oticat said in disbelief. "Really? Brandy?"

"I can hardly believe it either.", Agatha said, shaking her head. "But that's what happened."

Oticat looked up, eyeing the room for his troops. To his relief, he saw Chuck leaning against his Hog on the far wall, enjoying a drink with his fellow Riders.

"Chuck!", he said, motioning for the Hog Rider to come over to him.  
"Oh, sorry fellas- gotta go. Hee hee!", Chuck said, and rode over to Oticat. "What is it?"

"Brandy ran away from the Castle.", Oticat quickly said. "I need you to go search for her. Take whoever of your friends you want. She was last seen heading-"

He turned back to the communicator- "Which way was it, Agatha? West? Okay, thanks."- then back again to Chuck. "West, towards the sea. Go and find her."

Chuck smartly saluted, and whistled towards his group. They all rode over, and he quickly explained the situation. They all nodded, and raised their hammers into the air. "Did someone say…", Chuck began, and they all reared up on their mounts.

"Hog Riiiiiiiiidddeeerrrr!", they yelled as one, and rode off through the double doors. Somewhere in the room, more than one Villager covered her child's ears at the use of such language.

Brandy burst, gasping and heaving from the exertion, through the dense treeline and into a narrow clearing. She sucked in the night air, trying to calm down her lungs before they exploded. Even for her, 15 minutes of running at top speed through thick forest was exhausting.

But within a few minutes, her altered body righted itself, and her breathing returned to normal.

But what did not return to normal was her heart. It still hurt, with the sorrow of a broken soul.

Tears dripped down Brandy's face, and she slowly leaned forward. Her mind wandered, searching for anything nearby to connect to, but there was nothing. There was no Blue presence here, or Red, or anything. This close to the sea, it was only wilderness.

"Please.", she said quietly, directing her plea to anyone who would listen. "I…"

A deep sadness gripped her heart, as everything that had happened in the last few weeks came flooding back into her mind. The kidnapping, the torture, the terror, the slow, aching depression, all of it. Brandy started to cry, her shoulders heaving from the sobs. She fell to the ground, and took a deep, hoarse breath.

"Please… I can't take it anymore.", she said, just loudly enough for her to hear. "Please, if anyone's out there listening, someone…"

She stared upwards into the sky, looking at the infinite, uncaring stars overhead. "Take this suffering away from me."

She took a look forward, and saw the sea.

Lights glinted off the surface of the water, small ripples of fish and squid breaking the top of the waves. She could almost see the huge swarms of tiny animals rising to feed, as they did every night. The moon hung overhead, huge and full. Brandy sat down on the grass, and took a minute to just exist.

The night sea air smelled quite pleasant. The sounds of the wind and water soothed Brandy's ears and mind, like a massage after a hard day. And if she looked very closely, so hard that she strained her eyes, Brandy could almost see the explosions from the Continent of the Clans, across the sea.

Her aching mind began to calm down from the soothing atmosphere of the seacliff, and she thought. What had been so bad, back in the castle? What was it, exactly, about Agatha's words that had made her so furious? Why had she run away? Why had she abandoned her family?

As soon as she thought the word "family", a vivid memory flashed through her mind. It was of her, albeit a very young version, splashing in crystal-blue waves. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and a tall, bearded man stood watch over her.

"Honey, don't let Brandy wander out too far.", came the cautious words of who assumed Brandy was her mother, relaxing on the seaside. "It could get dangerous."

"Oh, don't worry. I won't.", said the man, and leaned down. "I'm not letting you go anywhere, am I, my little sunshine?"

Then the memory faded, and Brandy returned to the field of night. She stood up, wondering when that had been. Sometime before her parents had gotten rid of her, she assumed. But why would they leave her like that, if they seemed to love her so much? Why would-

"It's simple.", a voice hissed. "They got sick of you."

Song: A Fearsome Foe

"What?", Brandy whispered, and looked around. But there was nothing, and nobody. The voice came from inside of her own mind.

"Of course they would.", the voice said again. "Why wouldn't they? Who would ever want to be around you?"

"Who's there?", Brandy yelled, but there was no one to respond. "Who are you?"

"You were their mistake.", another voice bellowed, deeper and more powerful than the last. "They got rid of you as soon as they could."

Dark crimson winds started to pick up around Brandy's feet, the grass bending in unnatural ways around her.

"Just like you left your King, and your Castle.", a third voice screamed, like sharpened nails on a chalkboard. "You had to leave them. It was only your nature."

Brandy slammed her hands against her head, trying to drown the voices out, but they were too loud, and too persistent.

"There's only one thing to do now.", said one. "To finish the job."

"Throw yourself off the edge.", rumbled another. "The ocean calls for your soul."

"You call yourself a Bandit?", screamed a particularly vicious one. "How pathetic!"

"You don't deserve to be called anything.", one said, frightfully calm. "Quite simply, you don't deserve to exist."

Brandy closed her eyes, and tried to enter her mind to fight off the intruders. But ghastly visions of death and suffering crossed her vision as soon as she did so, and Brandy automatically opened her eyes again.

"Do it.", one said. "Throw yourself off the edge, and save the rest of this worthless world from your misery."

Far away, in his lair, Grrshknn heard faint sounds. He heard the sound of Brandy screaming in pain and anger, and the winds of evil spirits swirling around her soul. He got up from the table where he sat, and looked to where Brandy was. His crooked mouth curled up past his face into a cursed smile, and he laughed.

"Yes!", he bellowed. "By Rakshadanore, we've got her now!"

He pumped his fist into the air, then a thought occurred to him. "I should join them.", he said out loud. "Yes, that would be quite fun."

"You're finished.", screeched one of the voices. "You have no hope."

"Death is the only way out.", another shrieked. "Use it."

The cacophony of Brandy's mental assault had began to spread, attracting demons from many dark places. More and more swirled around her, all uniting to get her to end her own life. Most of them had never seen Brandy before now, but to them, that mattered not. All that they saw was a soul to take for themselves.

"Give in to me!", Grrshknn shouted, at last joining in. "It is the only thing you can do!"

Brandy tried harder to shut out the voices, but she could not. She looked down, trying to focus on the grass, the water, something natural- but her terror was only compounded when she saw that her legs were moving. The influence of so many demons had at last moved beyond her mind, and into her body.

Brandy screamed, as her body walked steadily towards the edge of the cliff. _This is it, _she realized. _This is how I die. There's nobody around to see it._

As Brandy was pushed to the edge of the cliff, all the demons combined gave one last roar of satisfaction. The ground underneath her began to crumble, and all Brandy could think about was how her desperate plea, her most humble prayer, had not been answered.

"Beautiful night, isn't it?"

Song: Legend Unicorn Theme

The words came quietly in the dark torrent of demons, yet cut through them like a blade through butter. All at once, they vanished, and the ground stopped crumbling. Brandy regained control of her legs, and she backpedaled away from the edge as fast as she could. Turning, she saw the one who had spoken the words of her salvation.

It was the man from Ryusei_Nakao69's castle, the one in brown. The one who had given her those words of encouragement, the one who had stopped time and bent space. He wore a monocle over his right eye, and even now was pulling what seemed to be thrashing red string out of Brandy's head. He wound it together into a ball, crushed it between his hands, and threw it over his shoulder into the sea. It screamed as it fell, before hitting the water with a splash and falling to bits.

"Wh- wh- what was that?", Brandy asked in sheer astonishment. "Who are you?"

The man in brown brushed off his suit jacket, looked at her, and smiled. "That, my dear, was the last vestiges of a mutated hypnotism spell. Very potent, nasty stuff that. Good thing you held on for as long as you did, or I might have not gotten here in time. And as for who I am, well…"

Having finished dusting himself off, he adjusted his suit jacket, tipped his checkered top hat, and gave Brandy a wink. "I'm afraid my true identity is a little beyond your comprehension at the moment. But if you wish, you may call me God."


	9. Chapter 9

"I… I mean… wow. God.", Brandy said. "Okay."

She looked at the man in brown, still walking toward her. The aura of calm surrounding him seeped into the grass, and it grew taller and stronger with every footstep.

"Which one?", Brandy asked. "I know there's Se'th, and Dr'ew, and T'im, but which one are you?"

God winked, and stood next to Brandy. Even though he had seemed much taller before, his height had mysteriously adjusted to be as tall as Brandy was. "Oh no, I'm none of those. You see, I am no mere god of balance- I am the god of the entire Royale Continent. My power is absolute over its entirety."

"God of this continent…", Brandy said. "Does that mean that there are gods of all of the other continents, too?"  
"Yes.", said God. "But it's been such a long time since I've seen them, I've quite forgotten their names. I'm currently the only one awake."

"Awake?", Brandy asked. "Are the others asleep?"

"Yes.", said God. "They're taking their routine centennial slumber, while I keep watch. And before you ask, no, they're not asleep because the world is dying, or an ancient evil is awakening, or anything like that. So don't worry."

"Oh. Good.", Brandy said. "I wasn't thinking so, but that's good to know."

"I suppose you're wondering why I came.", God said, and waved his hand. There appeared a small blanket, just large enough for the two of them. On it was a magically bubbling teakettle, two full tea sets, and several small, multicolored pouches.

"Sit down. Have some tea.", he said, and gestured to the set. "I'll tell you all about it."

"Should I?", Brandy asked. "I don't really drink tea."

"Oh, don't worry.", God said. "It's fine. My own specialty blend."

With another flick of his finger, a teacup floated into Brandy's waiting hands. He gave a small nod, and the bubbling kettle rose off its stand and poured a nice steaming pool of tea.

Brandy looked to God for encouragement, and he nodded. "Drink it, Brandy. I shouldn't have to tell you."

Brandy tipped the teacup into her mouth, and drank the slightly glowing tea. Instantly, a warm, comforting sensation filled her, spiraling down through her torso and into every part of her body. But the tea affected her not only physically, but mentally and spiritually as well. She felt the aching that had been part of her for weeks melt away, fading into the night and the warmth. The aura of confusion that had taken such firm root in her mind shriveled and withered to nothing, leaving only calm thoughts and tranquil order.

Brandy lifted the now empty teacup from her lips, and gasped. If she could see herself in that moment, she would have seen the Red fade from her eyes, a slight blue glow spreading over her skin as the last evil influence was banished from her at last. But even though she could not see it, she felt it- real, true, peace at last.

She turned to God, tears of joy welling up in her eyes. "You…", she said, and gently set the teacup down. God opened his arms, and Brandy nearly tackled him in a hug.

"I… I didn't know what I was doing…", she sniffed, and pushed harder. "I…"

"No, don't worry Brandy.", God said, giving her a pat on the back. "It'll be alright. Everything will. Don't worry. You don't have to be afraid anymore. They're gone. Everything will work out."

The hug lasted for 8 more seconds, then Brandy broke it off. She sat down on the grass next to God overlooking the ocean, and took a deep breath of the salty night air.

"I heard you, Brandy.", said God. "I heard your plea."  
"Wait, what?", Brandy said. "What are you talking about?"

"I told you, I was telling you why I came.", said God. "I heard your plea, muffled as it was through the voice of demons. Now, I had some business to attend to, but I put it on hold. Saving an attacked soul was far more important."

"Then… why didn't you help me earlier?", Brandy asked. "When all the other stuff was happening? Why didn't you save me in the canyon?"

"You didn't ask.", said God. "That's all you have to do. Ask, and it shall be given onto you."

Brandy quietly pondered this. "Oh.", she said, then reached for her teacup. "Say, do you have any more of that tea?"

God laughed, and poured her some more. "Take as much as you like. I have no limit."

Brandy took a gentle, deep sip from her cup, and God prepared one of his one. For several seconds they sat there in silence, just enjoying the atmosphere, the moonlight, each other's company, and, of course, the exotic flavors of the tea.

"What is this flavored as?", Brandy asked. "I can't quite tell. It doesn't seem like anything I've ever tasted."

God looked up into the sky, and pointed towards a bright star. "It's Fylanamar flavor. It comes from that star, right there."

Brandy looked up, and saw where he was pointing. "Huh. You mean, you just got it off of the star?"

"Oh, no.", God said. "I can see that my choice of words was not very specific- no, I got it off the third planet of the star. Tymonias."

"What do you mean, planet of the star?", Brandy asked in confusion. "Stars are just stars. There's no planets."

"Is that what they're teaching kids these days?", God whispered underneath his breath, then reached into a cookie tin that had appeared out of nowhere. He cracked open the metal lid and pulled out a spool of thread, then a shortbread wafer. He handed it to Brandy, who took it without hesitation. "Here.", he said. "Eat this. Then you'll see."

Brandy popped the shortbread into her mouth. It began to dissolve on her tongue, just as Brandy's sight dissolved into a vision.

She saw the stars above, what she had always assumed were just lights in the sky. But as the cosmic knowledge flashing inside her mind told her, they were in fact other suns, surrounded by other planets, with just as much fullness of life as her own.

"Woah…", Brandy said once the vision had faded. "I didn't know… that the universe was so big!"

"It's very big.", God said. "There's so much happening. Speaking of which…"

He stood up, and the blanket folded up, taking the tea things with it. Brandy quickly drank the last of her cup, before it too was folded into the blanket and into thin air. "I have to go now. Lots and lots of stuff to do. But before I do, do you have any questions for me?"

"Yes.", Brandy said. "Yes I do."

God sat down again, and Brandy got a misty look in her eyes as she recalled the events of the last few weeks. "Why me?", she asked. "Why did everything happen to me? What did I do to deserve this?"

God thought the best way to word his answer for Brandy's specific situation. He knew the answer, of course, knew it like the top of his own hat. Everyone he met or rescued asked this question sooner or later, and so he thought it would be best to have a specific answer ready.

"Because, Brandy,", he said, "It was part of the The Plan. You see, everything, even those things as awful as the ones that happened to you, happen for a reason. Nothing is without reason, and nothing is without consequence."

"But…", Brandy said. "But I'm a good person. Did they really have to be that awful?"

"Are you asking why bad things happen to good people? Because I have an answer for that too."

"Well-"

"Really, you're taking some very hard assumptions about the whole thing. You're assuming that things happen to people based on how good they are _alone._ But that's not true at all. Yes, ones who are good will find themselves on top in the end. But the real reason? You see, without bad things, there wouldn't be good people."

"What do you mean?", Brandy asked.

"Take, for example, your friend Dan.", said God, and waved his hand. A still image of Dan appeared in midair, hovering blue. "Before everything started, he was a fine young gentleman- but that's all he was. Then, once the bad things began to happen, he was motivated to become better. And that's the same way with you. Once everything blows over, Brandy, I guarantee you will be a better person because of this experience."

But Brandy was only halfway listening to his speech, eye-opening as it was. As soon as the holoimage of Dan had appeared, Brandy had been focusing on it alone. She hadn't even really thought about him for days- she had just been wallowing in her own depression. And now, once the cloud had been lifted, it occurred to her just how much she missed him. Her heart and soul ached, suddenly wanting nothing more than to see him again.

God stopped his speech, seeing the look of longing in Brandy's eyes. He slightly smiled, and the image vanished. He slung the tea things into nothing, and tipped his hat.

"I see you're thinking about your friend.", said God. "Good, that is what's supposed to be happening. Now, if you'll excuse me, I really do have to go."

"Wait!", Brandy said, and threw out her hands. "But- what about him? Will I ever see him again?"

She gestured to her torso. "And what about this? How is this going to work out?"

God spun on one heel, and gave her a mischievous grin. "The answer to all of those questions, Brandy, is yes."

And with that, he folded up, and vanished.

Brandy just stared at the air where he had been, in sheer amazement. The air still slightly sparkled, and the grass still waved with exuberant life. A small green and yellow bird flew past, gave a slight nod, and vanished into the trees.

Brandy smiled at the little bird, and looked up. The moon shone brightly overhead, its angle signaling that it was almost 9:00. The realization hovered around in Brandy's mind for a little while before it sank in.

"Oh, _T'im!_", she yelled out loud. "I've been gone for almost 2 hours! What was I thinking? I gotta head back!"

She turned to face the forest, and prepared to run- but she realized that she didn't actually know the way back. She had run blindly through the trees, not really caring about anything. Strangely enough, even though it had been less than 10 minutes ago, the time before God's help seemed so far away…

But those were thoughts for another time. Preferably when she was home, and not lost on the edge of the continent. Looking around to gather her bearings, Brandy saw that she was somewhere near Spell Valley. She put her hand to her ear and thought.

"Let's see…", she muttered to herself. "If I'm south of Spell Valley, and Oticat lives near Builder's Workshop, then…"

Brandy took a few measurements of the sky with her hands, and got the best path. She crouched down, and prepared once more to take off. "I just need to head southwest. I'll be there in no time."

Brandy sprinted off towards the trees, not aware that deep within, a pair of glowing green eyes watched her very carefully.

Song: Out of Control

Only mere seconds after she had vanished into the treeline, Chuck burst through a line of bushes. He pulled on Trigger's reins, bringing him to a sharp, screeching halt. Trigger reared up as the rest of the search party came to a stop behind him, milling around in circles as they scanned the area.

"See anything, Trevor?", asked T, ChupilickytwaCT's own Hog Rider. Gold dust gently drifted down from his hammer as he expertly checked the ground for any tracks.

"No, not yet.", said Trevor, the Hog Rider of SpaceKrakenX. "But I'll tell you when I do- no! Wait! There's something!"

He pointed to the ground where Brandy had been, and Chuck looked. He saw the footprints that Brandy had left on the way to the cliff, but not the ones she had left going away. Those ones had been erased by the massive spurt of grass growth caused by the presence of God.

Chuck took into account two facts. One was how close the footprints were to the edge of the cliff. The other was how they seemed to end. He put two and two together, and instantly assumed the worst.

Tentatively, he inched forward on Trigger and peeked over the edge, hoping that he would not see a splash of Elixir that had once been Brandy. He did not, for obvious reasons, but he did see something else.

"You see that, T?", Chuck asked, and pointed out to the water. If one looked hard enough, they could just see a churning trail of water, created by something swimming. The something was actually a Fisherman, thoroughly enjoying himself during his nightly swim. But Chuck did not know this, and automatically assumed that it was Brandy.

"Brandy!", he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Where are you going? Come back!"

But the Fisherman, distracted as he was, only turned up the volume on his private stereo, putting on Alex Jones the Giant's greatest karaoke hits of Season 1, and cast out his net for what was sure to be a fun-filled night.

Chuck turned back to the group, his eyes wide with trepidation. "I have some bad news, fellas.", he said, and started mentally preparing what he was going to say to Oticat when he got back. "Brandy has jumped off the cliff, and is now heading for the Continent of the Clans."

T's eyes widened. Trevor gave a long, slow scratch down the side of his Hog's back. Another Hog Rider, Germal, merely fainted.

Brandy ran through the forest, trying to look for her previous path as she did so. If she managed to pick it up again, then finding her way back would be a cinch. Unfortunately, however, the forest was chaotic and cruel, and any traces of her previous path had been erased.

Brandy slowed to a stop, pausing to catch her breath. A sharp pain shot through her torso, and she was reminded of the child she still carried.

"Hoo boy.", she breathed, and sat down on a log. Not The Log, just a log. "Let's just rest for a moment, shall we?"

As she sat, breathing in the cool night air and trying not to make any harsh movements, a thought occurred to her. She wasn't sure where it came from, or what it had to do with the situation, but it was a thought nonetheless.

_Why do Kings have such weird names? Regular Troops all have names like Robert, or Brandy, or Mike, but then Kings have names like Nineinchnails or Butterinthepan or Auroraborelais. Doesn't really make much sense, does it?_

"No.", Brandy said out loud. "I suppose it doesn't."

_Brandy Is that you?, _the thought said again. _Am I reading this right?_

Brandy blinked in confusion. Were the thoughts coming from someone else? Was there someone around to put the thoughts into her head?

_Who is that?, _she thought back. _Who's there?_

_Brandy, it's me!, _the voice said urgently. _It's-_

But then a rolling pain shot through Brandy's mind, and the voice disconnected. She sat in silence for a few more seconds, wondering who it could have been, when she heard the faint sounds of crying. It sounded, from that distance, like a Goblin.

Song: Killer

Brandy got up, and looked around. She didn't see anywhere where a Goblin was, but if there was anyone in need, Brandy would help them.

The crying grew louder as Brandy walked forward, indicating that it was coming from somewhere in front of her. She squinted, trying to look for the source, and the moon shifted up above. A small beam of light fell from the sky to illuminate a single scarred Goblin, softly sobbing behind a rock.

Brandy crept up behind him and put a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jump and screech.

"Woah, woah, don't freak out.", Brandy said. "Don't worry, I'm here to help. What's wrong, little guy?"

The Goblin looked up at her, wiping away no tears. He sniffed deeply, then said something in Gobbish that Brandy didn't understand in the slightest.

"What?", Brandy said. "I'm sorry, I didn't quite get that…"

The Goblin took a deep breath, and tried again in broken English. "Grug lose friend.", he said. "Grug and friend walk in tree. Grug look at shiny rock. Friend gone. Grug sad."

"Oh, that's terrible.", Brandy said. "Something like that happened to me once- but don't worry. I'll help you. Here-"

Brandy helped the Goblin to his feet, and she looked around for a sign of anymore. A faint warning bell rang at the back of her mind, but Brandy didn't really notice. "Where did your friend go?", she asked. "Did you see at least which way?"

The Goblin's grip on her hand grew tighter, and Brandy looked down to see why. Her mouth dried up, as she saw that the Goblin was grinning.

"Grug see friend.", he said. "Friend right behind you."

_I knew it, _Brandy said. _I should have known._

She jumped backwards, away from the Goblin's grip, and saw another Goblin, running up behind her. He held a sharp knife- and from the look in his eye, intended to use it.

Brandy spun around on her foot, delivering a sharp kick to the Goblin's hand and sending the knife flying. She grabbed Grug by the neck and threw him into his friend, and they both collided with a rock.  
"Any more friends I should know about, Grug?", she asked. "You little bugger? Tried to trick a Bandit in the forest? Really, you should know better."

Grug lifted his hand, shakily pointing a finger to somewhere behind Brandy. "Grug have… lot of friend.", he said. "Grug have many friend. Bandit make Grug friend… angry."

His arm fell, and he closed his eyes as he fell unconscious. Brandy looked around, and her eyes widened in shock. "Oh, _crap_.", she said.

There, among the treeline, was a veritable horde of Goblins. Some of them had already made it into the small clearing, others were hanging from the trees, and still more were hanging back, slowly running towards the front. They wore various tattoos of all shapes, sizes, and colors, and jeered at Brandy with expressions of jovial anger. There were Spear Goblins, Dart Goblins, old Goblins, Goblin Brawlers- but mostly just regular Goblins, the ones with knives. But soon enough, the crowd parted, and a huge, potbellied Goblin Giant stepped into the front. He dropped to one knee and squinted, taking a good long look at Brandy.

"Well, well, well.", he said in a deep, ragged rumble. "Lookie here, boys! I'd say we got ourselves a new one!"

The wall of Goblins cheered, some of them losing themselves in the raw excitement and falling down unconscious. A Dart Goblin blew some stray shots into the air, arcing away into the night.

"Now, miss, why don't you introduce yourself?", the Goblin Giant asked. "Before we start, and all."

"Now hold on.", Brandy said. "I think I know what you're going to try and do here."

"Oh really?", the Goblin Giant chuckled, and the two Spear Goblins on his back looked up from their game of poker to look at what was going on. "What, then, am I going to-"

"First, you're going to say- which shall it be, miss, your money or your life? Which is kind of ironic once you think about it, since I'm a Bandit and all. I'm the one who's supposed to be robbing people. And after that, I'm going to fight- of course, and I'm going to beat you, because I'm an expert fighter, and you're just a bunch of little forest buggers. Except for you, you're a big fat forest bugger. Then your last words will be: But… how? You were just one little Bandit… after which I will stab a branch through your head, kill your hitchhikers, and be on my way. Am I right?"

The Goblin Giant stared for a second, trying to remember everything Brandy had just said. But he gave up after a while, because he wasn't exactly that smart. He just grunted, and got up.

"Well, sort of.", he said. "You missed the part where since its clear that you're not going to give up, we just kill you with sheer force of numbers, after taking whatever you have on you. Which, by the way, is what?"

The Goblin army began to creep forward. Brandy concentrated Dash in her arms and legs, getting ready to strike. "I don't have anything.", Brandy said. "Nothing… but death."

Her eyes glinted, and she tensed. A group of Goblins rushed forward, spears and daggers in hand, and shrieked a battle cry.

Song: Overdrive

Brandy Dashed forward, planting her fist right through the nearest Goblin. His eyes twisted in shock before he popped into Elixir, sinking into the ground within seconds. Brandy ducked underneath the swung spear of another, and lashed out with her leg, snapping his leg off and killing him almost instantly. A Dagger swung at Brandy's throat, and she ducked. The blade landed in the face of a third Goblin, and he went down.

The Goblin Giant watched these proceedings with disinterest. It didn't really matter if his boys died- they were all Wild Goblins, after all. They would regenerate. Otherwise, things would be quite bad.

Brandy grabbed another Goblin right as he was about to swing, and plunged her hand right through him. Her fingers went transparent, and she grabbed his heart. She squeezed, popping the Goblin into Elixir- but so focused on the technique was she, that the dagger swung by the fifth Goblin of the group managed to stab her in the leg.

Brandy grit her teeth, and delivered a vicious backhand into the face of the offending Goblin. He flew backwards, turning into Elixir midair and splattering all over the face of his comrades. Several of them licked it off, loudly declaring that it "tasted like chicken." However, in reality, it tasted like rotten fruit. To a Goblin, everything tasted like chicken.

Once the Goblin Gang had been defeated, Brandy spun around to face the Goblin Giant, definitely spitting on the ground. "Is that all you got?", she asked. "Have you lost enough Goblins for your liking?"

The Goblin Giant waved his hand in dismissal. "Oh, I'm not worried about them. They'll reform soon enough. You, on the other hand…"

He narrowed his eyes, and swung his arm downwards. "All units! Charge!"

The entire horde of Goblins ran forward, screeching in a furious battle cry. Brandy's eyes widened, and she Dashed backwards, but the horde grew closer within moments.  
"You are skilled, Bandit?", said the Goblin Giant. "But are you skilled enough to overcome such overwhelming numbers? I suppose the real question is… will you last? Will you last, Bandit?"

Song: Shoot towards the Decisive Battle

Brandy said nothing, merely pulling herself back into a battle stance. The wall of Goblins didn't seem to have any defenses of any kind- it was just a huge, meaty wall to hit. Brandy had always wondered what it would be like to be an area Troop- but now, she was about to find out.  
"Doraoraoraoraoraoraora!", she yelled, throwing forward her Dash-enhanced hands at fantastic speeds. The force of the blows slammed into the tide, breaking apart half a dozen Goblins, but many more remained.

"Doraoraora! Doraoraoraoraora! Doora", Brandy shouted, firing punches into the Goblin wall like rain onto the ground. But it didn't matter how many she punched, dozens more kept on coming.

"Dddddora!", Brandy roared, and swung her fist upwards. It punched right through the chest of a Goblin Brawler, sending him flying in death, but it did almost nothing to the swarm. Within seconds, 8 had grabbed her right arm, 16 had grabbed her left, and all the rest of them forced Brandy down to the ground, lying on a suspiciously flat rock. The Goblin Giant strode forward, taking a long, sharp sword from one of his subordinates.

Brandy felt, for just a second, her heart beat more. She heard it in her head, and felt it everywhere else. _I'm not going to die like this, _Brandy thought. _Not after all I've been through. Not to Goblins._

The Goblin Giant drew closer, and raised the knife. Whatever he had planned to do with Brandy, it could not be good.

_I'm not going to die to Goblins, frick it, I'm not going to die-_

In that moment, something happened. Something which happened too fast for the Goblins to see, and for Brandy to even realize that she had done it.

For a split of a split second, Brandy's hair ruffled in some nonexistent wind.

For a split of a split second, a faint mote of silver flashed in her eyes.

And for a split of a split second, Brandy rushed through the Goblin ranks faster than she had ever gone, slicing every Goblin in half with a single well placed chop, cutting down dozens upon dozens of them to bare Elixir.

And then it was gone- whatever Brandy had just done could clearly not be easily done again. She cried out in pain and fell to her knees, gasping from the massive effort.

The Goblin Giant slowly lowered his arm that he had raised in order to protect himself, and looked down at Brandy, shaking on the ground.

"I- I don't know what that was.", he said, confusing many Goblins in his group that had always assumed he knew everything. "But it is over now."

He reached out to grab Brandy across the waist, then reconsidered. Instead, he just flipped Brandy over, her legs burning from the movement, and gave a harsh whistle.

"Go get her, boys.", he said. "Steal everything that she has, then kill her."

The Goblins rushed forward ecstatically, and Brandy shut her eyes. She tried desperately to summon back up whatever had caused her to power up so much, but there was nothing.

The first Goblin reached her, grabbing hold her her mask. He tried to pull it off, before Brandy lashed out with her still functioning arms and threw him into a tree, where he splattered apart.

More and more Goblins piled upon her, chattering gleefully, looking into pockets, scratching apart cloth, desperately searching for anything valuable. But so distracted were most of them in their quest for Gold, that they could not sense the imminent danger.

An immense shadow fell across the group, and a low, underlying "HHHHRRRMMMM" could be heard from above.

One of the Goblins looked up. He saw what was coming, and his jaw dropped in utter astonishment. "Holy Se'th.", he said. "What is that? What the frick is tha-"

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

A colossal armored figure crashed down onto the Goblin Ranks surrounding Brandy with a shaking of the ground, a mighty "WWRRMMUUU", and a burst of golden energy that spiraled across the whole area in the form of lightning, shocking the entire Goblin army into purple stains.

The Goblin Giant looked up in utter shock at the huge figure now before him. He tried to think of something to do, or to say, but words were lost next to the figure in armor.

Brandy picked herself up off the ground, and stared in raging hope. There was only one person that could have made the energy wave like that. That person had also left to become better just about 2 weeks ago. And what way for a troop like him to become better, than becoming a-

"A Mega Knight.", breathed the Goblin Giant. "Where did you come from?"

The Mega Knight ignored him, folding his arms and then adjusting his helmet.  
"What were you doing to her?", the figure rumbled, and raised a fist. "Tell me."

"Um. well…", the Goblin Giant said, desperately looking around for help. "I don't know. We're just on vacation, I guess?"

"As if.", said the Mega Knight, and his golden eyes glared with unrelenting rage. "We both know what you were about to do."

He started to move forward, each gigantic fist crackling with massive amounts of energy. The Goblin Giant tried to back up, but ran into a particularly huge and sturdy tree.

"I- I tell you what.", he said. "We have a huge pit of Gold in our secret lair. If you spare me, I'll give you some of it."

"Good grief.", said the Mega Knight. "You truly are the lowest scum in history."

He raised a fist, and golden energy flowed from his torso to his arm. A single bolt snapped onto the Goblin Giant, burning a mark onto his face.

"What you were about to do... can't be paid back with money!"

The Goblin Giant's Spear Goblins both fired their Spears, trying as hard as they could to fight for their master. But the Spears bounced harmlessly off the Mega Knight's thick armor, breaking in two and falling to the ground.

"Ora!", shouted the Mega Knight, and threw his first punch. It smashed into the Goblin Giant's face with a thunderous crack, and Brandy knew that her suspicions of the Mega Knight's identity had been all but confirmed.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!", the Mega Knight continued, hitting the Goblin Giant with a flurry of blows that sounded like the strike of a meteor. Each blow was fast enough that it blurred, yet powerful enough to break down a stone wall. The Star energy wrapped around his fists flowed into the Goblin Giant as well, and the force, within seconds, became too much.

The Goblin Giant screamed in pain and terror as his body was ripped apart, the screech fading into the night air as a huge puddle of Elixir fell to the ground and dissipated. Even if he did reform, such a savage beatdown would be an experience that he would never truly forget.

The two Spear Goblins that he had left behind fell to the ground, picking up their spears as they went. They stared at the towering, powerful figure over them, and then back at their Spears. Deep within their crazed, Goblin brains, some primal instinct took hold over duty, and they took off into the trees.

Both Brandy and the Mega Knight watched them go, screaming away until all of the Goblins had left the clearing. Brandy looked upwards, and stood up. "Dan?", she whispered. "Is that you?"

The Mega Knight flipped his vizor upwards, revealing a changed, scruffier, but still very recognizable, face. "I don't know.", said Dan. "Is it?"

Brandy's lip quivered, and she Dashed forward. Dan stumbled a bit as Brandy collided with his leg, wrapping herself around him in a fierce hug.

"I knew it!", she said. "I knew you'd come back, and that you didn't leave me, and…"

Without breaking off the hug, she looked up. "Where were you?",

"Well, uh,", Dan said. "I was training. To become a Mega Knight."

"Where?"

"Royal Arena. That's where they come from, you know."

"Oh. But... if you're a Mega Knight, then does Oticat still have a Knight?"

Dan looked confused at this. "I don't know. I didn't really think about it that way. It would be weird for him not to have one. I guess that we can check when we get back home."

_Home…, _Brandy thought. It was a welcome idea. "Yeah. That'd be gre-"

A sharp pain struck Brandy in the torso, and she fell to her knees. She felt the muscles of her lower body start to shift, and she realized with a shock what was happening. "Oh crap.", she said. "It's coming."

"What's coming?", Dan asked, dropping to one titanic knee. "Brandy, what's wrong?"

Only then did he notice her torso. His eyebrows shot upwards in shock, and his vizor fell shut. Opening it again, he took another astonished look. "Brandy, are you pregnant?"

"Not for long, no.", Brandy said, and almost threw up. "Shoot, here it comes."

"Wait, hold on.", Dan said, and stood up. "I know someone who can help."

"Good.", said Brandy. "They better, or I'll kill them."

Dan shot a beam of light into the sky, like a homing beacon. It illuminated the trees for miles around, shedding light onto the nearby clouds.

Far away, a cold, wet, tired figure, on the brink of collapse, looked up in fear at the light. Her hands and arms shook, and she gripped her gun tighter.

_Don't let that distract you, _she thought. _You have to keep going._

She pulled her cloak tighter to shield from the cold, gritted her teeth, and continued her slow, stumbling walk.

"Don't worry, Brandy, she's coming.", Dan said. "She'll be here in just a few more seconds."

"Ooh, she better.", Brandy burped. "Or else I'm gonna-"

She briefly lost control of her arm, and fell to the ground. With a groan of pain, she managed to roll herself over, and stared up at the sky. She felt a pair of gently arms grasp her, and lift her to a seated position.

"There.", Brandy heard a gentle voice say. "Isn't that better?"

"Oh, good, she's here.", Dan said, relieved. "She'll help you, Brandy."

Brandy looked over her shoulder, and found herself staring into the kind face of a Healer.

Song: Approach

"Hello, Brandy.", the Healer said. "Your friend Dan has told me all about you. My name is Hailizi. Now, what seems to be the problem?"

"The problem?", Brandy asked. "The problem? The problem is that I am minutes away from giving birth in the middle of the forest!"

"Now, there's no need to shout.", Hailizi said, and raised her hands in front of her as they began to glow a soft white and gold. "I have something that will fix all that, if you just hold still-"

Brandy tried, among the pain, to hold still. She closed her eyes, and Hailizi fired. A powerful healing ray hit Brandy dead-on, augmented with every possible upgrade that Hailizi thought would help the situation. For almost 10 seconds, Hailizi's healing continued, Brandy no longer feeling anything but what seemed like a warm bath.

Once Hailizi's arms fell back to her side, and the light and warmth faded, Brandy once again opened her eyes. Her first sensation was one of lightness.

"What did you-", Brandy asked, and looked down. To her utter astonishment, the child that she had been carrying for weeks had vanished.

Brandy's heart skipped a beat. Even if she hadn't wanted it to exist, the thought of actually just losing it like that made her oddly upset.

"Hailizi, what did you do to it?", Brandy asked. "Where did it go?"

Hailizi smiled, and pointed to the South. "Do not mourn the fate of your child. I simply put him… elsewhere. Somewhere where he shall be raised. Once the time is right, perhaps he will meet you."

"Okay.", Brandy said. "I guess that's okay."

Inwardly, she sighed with relief. She had known that she was unable of caring for a child, especially a son. Whoever he was, or wherever he had landed, Brandy knew that he would be getting a better life than the one she possibly could have given.

"But that's not all I did.", said Hailizi. "Look upon yourself, Brandy, and rejoice."

Brandy's hand flew to her forehead, where she had discovered the raised tattoo. But now, upon running her hand across her skin, Brandy only felt herself. The same results happened on her thighs, where Chad had carved his initials. And on her cheek, where a scar gained in the Raid on TheEvilOverLords had persisted for weeks. This truly was a powerful Healer.

"You… got rid of everything.", Brandy said. "You healed me."

Hailizi shrugged. "That's what I do. I'm a Healer."

Dan crouched beside them, taking a quick look in the direction of Oticat's castle.

"Thank you for your help, Hailizi.", Dan said. "But I think that there are people who need you now."

Hailizi slowly rose into the air, giving Brandy a slow wave- which she returned. "You are right, Warrior Dan. I bid you good luck on your future training. Farewell, and good luck."

She flew off into the night, towards the West, leaving Brandy and Dan alone.

Song: Peaceful Sightseeing

There was silence for several seconds, until Brandy gave a long whistle. "Dan!", she said. "Look at you! What kind of training did you do?"

Dan threw his arms outwards. "What kind of training did I not do? I was training the whole time they had me there!"

"No way.", Brandy laughed. "You were there for weeks!"

"Yeah.", Dan said, and posed. "Does this not look like weeks of nothing but training to you?"

He flexed exorbitantly, Star flashing around him. "When I went in there, I was just a Knight. Now? I'm like… the ultimate warrior!"

Brandy giggled, and Dan reached out to her. She took his hand, then let it go and Dashed onto his shoulder. "And I wasn't alone, either. There must have been at least 20 other Students of the Star there."

"Really?", Brandy asked. "Say, you never told me- what exactly is Star, anyway?"

Dan opened his mouth to speak, but he did not. He fished for a good answer inside of his thoughts, but failed to come up with anything. "I… don't really know. Exactly.", he said. "Bowza knows though, maybe he can teach you."

"What were they all there for?", Brandy asked. "What would they need to train for?"

"I don't know.", Dan shrugged. "Something something about a Dragon is all I remember. I just focused on getting strong."

"Do you think you could teach me Star?", Brandy asked. "It looks very handy."

Dan awkwardly blinked. Underneath his helmet, his face slightly reddened. "Yeah, about that…", he said, then trailed off. "My teacher said that only male Troops can learn Star to any effectiveness. Female Troops have something else."

"Really?", Brandy asked, a little bit perturbed. "What?"

"They're more sensitive to some other sort of power.", Dan said, trying to remember. "It was something called, um… Stan?"

"Stands?", Brandy asked, it being the first thing to pop into her head. "Was that it?"

"Oh, yeah!", Dan said. "It was Stands? Do you know what they are?"

Brandy thought it would be best if she didn't tell Dan about the Phantom. "Not really. Just something that Brenda told me about once."

"Oh.", said Dan, and looked up at the moon. "Uh, we should be getting back now."

"Right.", Brandy said, pointing towards Builder's Workshop. "Agatha's wondering where I am. Shoot, I bet they all are."

"Why?", Dan asked. "Didn't you tell them you were coming out here?"

"Eh, no.", Brandy admitted. "I kind of ran away. Without telling anyone."

Dan gave her a look, and Brandy winced. "Look, I'll tell you everything once we get back."

"Okay.", Dan said. "Onward!"

With Brandy on his shoulder, Dan lit up the bottoms of his feet with Star, and took off into the night.

Agatha paced back and forth in the entryway of Oticat's castle, sick with worry. There had still been no word from Chuck and his friends, and Oticat was considering sending out another search party of Bats and Minions. Agatha's mind swirled with possibilities of the worst, desperately hoping that none of them had come true. But dread still gnawed at her heart, the pulse of her heart beating like a drum.

Song: Himeru Omai

"She's dead, you know.", came a voice from another room. "That much is certain. Or at the very least, she very soon will be."

Agatha stiffened. The voice sounded like no one she knew, yet at the same time, it sounded very, very familiar. An evil aura emanated from the kitchen, palpable as physical touch.

"Webert?", Agatha asked. "Do you feel anyone? In the castle?"

But there was no answer- Webert had fallen fast asleep. Agatha, however, was never alone- she summoned her Skeleton trio and slowly crept towards the kitchen.

Once she looked around the corner, she silently gasped. There, on an oddly placed couch, sat a sprawling dark web. The edges of it sizzled and ate at the floor, barely audible screams coming from all around it. In the center reclined a tall figure in elaborate armor, every bit of him black as the darkest night. Smoke rose from his upper body, burning designs of demonic symbols into the ceiling above.

"I know it.", he said. "You know it. But will you admit it, that's the question."

Agatha held up her staff, even though a ferocious aura of fear swirled throughout the entire room. Larry held up his sword, trying to maintain a fierce composure.

"Who- who are you?", Agatha asked. "Where did you come from?"

"Mmm-mmm, wouldn't you like to know…", the demon hummed, and flicked his hand. A dark door opened in space, and he stood up. "But don't worry. You will… soon."

He raised his finger to his lips, and blew. All the light in the entire castle vanished, then reappeared again at his fingertip. With a single flick, it was gone, along with him. Only the insanity of his eyes remained lodged in Agatha's mind, a mosaic of pure evil that would most likely never truly go away.

Agatha stood there for a second, and gulped. The lights slowly came back on, flickering with the exertion required to do so. The couch that had appeared from nowhere slowly melted into the ground, leaving behind a puddle of what appeared to be liquified darkness.

"Agath?", came the half-conscious voice of Webert, from the kitchen. "Who was there?"

"I don't know, Webert.", Agatha said. "I'm not sure I want to."

Larry grabbed her skirt, pulling anxiously. He had just gotten what he considered to be The World's Greatest Idea, and was eager to tell someone before he forgot it somewhere inside of his empty skull.

"What?", Agatha asked, looking down. "What is it?"

Larry mimed taking a communicator from a pocket, drew a mask across his face, and held his hand up to his jaw. He clicked and clacked his teeth together to imitate speech, then jumped up and down as fast and high as he could.

"What- what are you-", Agatha whispered, before Larry's message clicked into place. "Oh! You want me to call Brandy. Larry, you're actually pretty smart."

Agatha dug her own communicator out of her pocket, flipped through speed dial, selected Brandy's button, and waited for her to pick up. "Of course she has her communicator on her. Why didn't I think of that?"

But, alas for poor Larry and his Fantastic Plan, Brandy had lost her communicator several miles back. It was one of the things that the Goblins had taken from her, and as such, was now ringing muffled under a puddle of Elixir, half buried in the ground.

Agatha waited for a few more seconds, then hung up. Her face turned ashen white, and she gripped her staff tighter.

"Webert?", she asked. "Is there any word from Chuck's group?"

"Let me check.", Webert said. He wandered over to the door, looked at the doorknob, grunted, and sat back down. He thought he was looking at his communicator, but he was still stone drunk. "Nope."

Agatha leaned against the wall. "Larry, call Oticat. Tell him to send out the Minions. We need to find out what's going on."

Larry saluted, and ran over to the table. He grabbed Webert's communicator and hit the King button, setting up a direct line between him and Oticat.

"Webert?", Larry could hear Oticat say from the other end of the line. "Is there any news?"

_News?, _Larry thought, and tried to say. _I'm calling you for news! Of course we don't have news! We're not the ones that sent out a search party!_

But, he realized too late, he was a Witch's Skeleton. And thus, he was totally incapable of spoken speech. He flapped his arms about, grabbed the larger model communicator in his arms, and ran over to Agatha. He dumped the device in front of her, looked up, and shrugged.

"Oh, right, I forgot you can't speak.", said Agatha. "I guess in the moment, it sort of just… slipped my mind…"

She picked up the communicator. "Oticat, this is Agatha, and it was Larry. Is there any words?"

"Oh, that's who it was.", said Oticat. "And no, Chuck and his group are not yet back. I'm considering sending out the Minions."

"Do it.", Agatha said. "For Brandy's sake."

Brandy did not know of this conversation. The only thing that she knew at the moment was the wind whistling through her hair and slamming into her face, as Dan ran across the open ground with Star-enhanced steps. She gripped his shoulders tightly, her hands digging into the collar for support. She squinted her eyes nearly shut- both to defend against the wind and to get a better look. Her heart leaped as she began to just barely make out the towering wood and brick spires of Builder's Workshop in the far distance. They were getting close.

"Dan!", she shouted, trying to be heard against the howling wind. "We're getting close!"

Dan looked up, slowing down just a bit as he did so. He, too, saw Builder's Workshop.

"Oh!", he said. "Awesome!"

Then he crouched down and sped up again, blazing through the marsh, each footstep a small explosion.

"I'll call Agatha!", Brandy said. "That way she'll know that we're coming!"

"Good idea!", Dan shouted, not taking his eyes off the path for a moment. At this speed, it would be very bad for both of them if they were to crash.

Brandy put her hand into her pocket where her communicator was. She felt around for a little bit, and frowned. It wasn't in there.

"Hey, what-", Brandy said, then slapped her own forehead as she remembered. The small, shiny device had been one of the very first things the Goblins had taken, along with the keys to the basement, a fistful of Gems, some art supplies, and- wow, the Goblins had taken quite a lot. As soon as she got some free time, Brandy would have to go back and find everything.

"Never mind, I lost it.", Brandy said. "It'll just have to be a surprise."

"You lost your communicator?", Dan yelled. "Aren't those expensive?"

"Eh.", Brandy shrugged. "I'll just have to take a little Gold out of my stash and buy a new one."

"How much do you have?", Dan asked.

"I don't know. Rude to find out all the way.", Brandy said with a flick of her finger.

Dan nodded, and they continued on the path towards home.

Song: Third Bomb

Oticat rushed across the room, to the group of Minions he saw hovering in the air. He waved his arms a few times to get their attention, and they all turned towards him with curiosity.

"Hey, listen.", he said. "You're all fast, and you can fly. Go find Brandy. She left towards the coast."

The Minions could understand what he said- an average Minion was on the same level of intelligence as a Raven or Crow. They knew that Oticat was worried, and that he had told them to find a specific person. They could work off of that. So they rose into the air as one, and took off towards the place that he had pointed.

"Please, guys, find her.", Oticat whispered under his breath. "We can't lose Brandy again."

"Hey, what's all this?", Brenda asked, having suddenly appeared behind Oticat. "What about Brandy?"

"She's missing.", said Oticat. "You wouldn't happen to know where she is, would you?"

He gave Brenda a look. He thought that he knew for sure that she had been the Phantom's user. And even though nothing could be proven, he also deeply suspected that Brenda, in one way or another, was still out to get Brandy.

"Say, could your Stand help us?", he asked.

"What?", Brenda asked. "What are you talking about?"

Her mind raced. How did he know about the Phantom? The only ones that knew her secret were herself and Grrshknn… she thought.

"Hmph.", Oticat said. "Playing-"

A great cry went up from the entryway of the room. Both Oticat and Brenda turned to look, their conversation forgotten. For there in the doorway, was the figure of a Hog Rider aboard his Hog, both dripping with exhaustion.

"I have news about Brandy.", he said. "It's bad."

"What?", said Oticat. He rushed over to the Hog Rider. "What is it? And where's everyone else?"

"Everyone else is behind me.", the Hog Rider said. "I'm just the fastest out of anyone. And the news is-"

He stopped for a moment to think. "You know, I'm not actually sure. They just told me to deliver the news, but no one ever told me what the news was."

"That's not good.", said Oticat, stroking his beard with worry. "I hope everyone's alright."

He turned to continue his conversation with Brenda, but she had managed to sneak away during the chaos. In her place, there stood a Knight, looking rather confused.

"Ah, Oticat.", the Knight said as soon as Oticat had turned. "There you are, I've been looking for you."

"What is it?", Oticat asked. "Who are you?"

"Why, I'm Dave.", said Dave. "Your new Knight."

"What? My new Knight?", Oticat asked in confusion. "But that doesn't make any sense. I'd only get a new one if my old one… was… gone…"

He looked up, removed his crown, and placed it over his heart. "Oh, Se'th.", he said. "What is going on?"

Song: Overlapping Fate

Agatha rose from her chair, and looked out the window. She could see the gentle glow of moonlight slowly flowing across the landscape, the faraway Arenas glowing with magical light. And under the illumination of the moon, there appeared a shape. Agatha squinted, trying to make out what it was, but she could not.

The hulking black figure stomped across the ground at tremendous speeds, throwing up a huge burst of dirt with every footstep. There seemed to be something riding on its shoulder, although Agatha could not tell what it was. But as the thing came closer and closer with every passing second, Agatha knew that she had to do something about it.

"Larry, go outside and see what that is.", she whispered. "Tarry, wake up Webert. Harry, stay by me."

The three Skeletons sharply saluted, and ran off to perform their appointed tasks. Except for Harry, of course- he stayed by Agatha's side as he was told. Larry ran out the special Small door in the kitchen, and Tarry jabbed his sword into Webert's arm. The Bowler gave a snort of surprise and sat up, looking out across the room with bleary eyes. "Wha…"

"Webert, we've got something.", said Agatha, not taking her eyes off the approaching monster. "I need you to help me with it."

Webert went over to the window. He took a good, long look at the approaching figure. He looked away, looked back, and at last saw it. His eyes widened, and his jaw dropped a little.

"Holy frick.", he said. "What is that?"

Larry ran outside, flailing his sword, ready to eagerly take on whatever the monster was. Screeching threats in Skeleton, he bounded towards the figure even as it drew closer. Larry looked with his magical eyes, assessing exactly what the threat was, and almost stopped in confusion. The signals were familiar, friendly He knew the monster- or were there two of them? And yet, they both seemed different, somehow, like they had grown.

Brandy saw Larry standing blankly in the middle of the road. Dan didn't, however, his thoughts focused entirely on covering the last few steps towards home. "Dan!", Brandy suddenly yelled, tugging on his neck armor. "Look out!"

Dan slammed one foot into the ground, sending up an explosion of dirt that reached fifteen feet behind him. He almost fell forward on his momentum, but was able to catch himself just in time.

"What?", he gasped, almost entirely out of breath. "What is it?"

"It's Larry!", Brandy said, and pointed. Dan looked towards the ground far below him, and saw Larry standing beneath him.

"Oh. So it is.", Dan said. "Hello, Larry."

Larry flung his sword over his head, extended a hand, and ran off towards Oticat's castle before anyone had had a chance to shake it. With a clatter of bones, he opened a small side door and went inside. Dan and Brandy looked at each other, Brandy sliding down from his shoulder onto the ground.

"Well, this is it, I guess.", Dan said. "I'm finally home."

"You are.", said Brandy. "And I'm glad."

And so the two both went for the door, at the same time, trying to get in first. Because that's just the way that they did things.

Agatha saw Larry enter, his skull shaking with pure excitement. Webert stood behind Agatha, boulder in hand, waiting for something to throw it at. "What is it, Larry?", Agatha asked. "What did you find?"

It took Larry a bit to get himself under control, but once he did, his hands and fingers started flying at breakneck speeds. _Bandit, _he signed, drawing a mask around his eyes. _Brandy, _he fingerspelled.

"Brandy?", Agatha asked. "She's back? But- what was that thing with her?"

_Dan, _Larry spelled, and Webert and Agatha looked at each other in shock. _Giant, _Larry spelled, bringing his hand up above his head as far as it would go.

"What are you talking about?", Webert asked. "Dan's a Knight, not a Gia-"

The door creaked open once again, and a familiar Bandit entered the room. Agatha's hands flew to her face, and Brandy waved with a weak smile. A huge dark shape lurked behind her, taking up the doorframe and then beyond. "Hey.", Brandy said.

"Brandy?", Agatha almost shouted. "Wha- where were you? And what's that behind you?"

"Oh, it's just me.", said Dan, and crouched down. He wiggled through the doorframe, then stood up. "Only better."

"Dan?", Webert asked, and blinked in disbelief. He strode past Agatha, who was still frozen in place, and extended his hand to shake. Dan gave Webert a hard fist bump, and the Bowler grinned. The two titans both jumped forward, slamming against each other's stomachs and back onto the floor in some ancient ritual of manhood.

"What happened?", Agatha asked. "Brandy, where were you? Dan, where were _you? _How did you two find each other?"

Agatha took another wide-eyed look, and saw that Brandy was no longer pregnant. "Where did the kid go?"

Brandy looked at Dan, and Dan looked back at Brandy. "I think you should sit down."

Agatha almost fell to the couch, Webert slamming down next to her. Larry, Harry, and Tarry all leapt up into the air, grabbing hold of Dan's arm and dancing around on his shoulders.

"Tell me everything.", Agatha said, leaning forward intensely. "Then we can go to the Clan Meeting. We have search parties out looking for you."

"Oh, that's where everyone is?", Brandy mused. "Alright. We'll make this quick."

"Sir, I don't… I don't understand.", Dave said with bewilderment. "Did I do something wrong?"

"No, no.", Oticat said. "You are innocent here. But if you exist, then that means that my old Knight, Dan, has passed on. May his soul rest in peace."

"Oh.", Dave said, then put a hand on Oticat's shoulder. "Well, I hope I can-"

The immense double doors at the front of the main room swung open with a loud crash, and a dozen Hog Riders all slowly trotted in. Their heads hung low, and their Hogs shuffled dejectedly along the floor, their moods reflecting those of their masters. Chuck gave a heavy sigh, and Trigger neighed to match the sound. T looked up, and scanned the room for Oticat. He was the one that had been chosen to break the bad news.

"T.", Oticat said. "You've returned."

His voice was thick with worry. He knew that the way that the Hog Riders carried themselves could only mean bad news. "Is Brandy… is she…"

T dropped his hammer, the traditional gesture of a Hog Rider's acceptance of defeat. In his eyes, he and his team had failed. "We found her. But not in any good way."

"What do you mean?", Oticat asked, but he already knew what T was going to say.

"Once she hit the coast, she didn't stop.", T sighed. "We saw her swimming towards the Continent of the Clans. We all know that the only Troops that can swim all that way are Fishermen and Hogs. We tried to call to her, but it was no use. We can only assume that she drowned."

Oticat stared down at the floor, heartbroken. He had tried so hard to protect Brandy, mounting a massive investigation to find her after she had been kidnapped, taking on an entire enemy Clan that wielded what were probably demonic powers- all for it to end like this. With Brandy commiting suicide, and drowning in the sea. And with Dave's existence, he knew that Dan had died somewhere as well.

"Farewell, Brandy. Farewell, Dan.", Oticat said, and looked up to the sky. He placed two fingers over his heart, and pushed them upwards to represent the souls of the fallen. "May you meet again, on the other side."

"Why wait?", came a voice from the side door. "We could just meet each other now."

Oticat almost choked on air. His face reddened as he fell to the floor, whacking himself on the back. After a few seconds of this, he looked up in utter shock at the side door. He was the last one in the room to do so.

His eyes fell on a welcome sight, dressed in a long green robe. Next to her stood an armored titan, characterizing golden energy flickering around him. Even though Oticat did not have one, he knew a Mega Knight when he saw one, and could recognize Dan anywhere.

"Brandy?", he almost shrieked. "Dan? You're alive?"

"I think so.", Brandy said. "You wanna check?"

As the entire room stood, watching in shock, Brenda alone Dashed up to Brandy. She grabbed her hand, shook it, and turned to the audience. "They're alive.", she said, and winked.

The assembled Clan, as one, let out a cheer, and then turned back to their various activities.

"But...but how?", Oticat sputtered, running up to Brandy and Dan. "I mean, I guess that I know how Dan and Dave worked out, but Brandy- Chuck and the others saw you drown! How are you alive?"

Brandy shrugged. "I don't know what they saw. I never even stepped foot in the ocean."

Oticat pondered this for a second, then he broke out into a wide, ecstatic, ear-to-ear smile.

"Go and join the party, you two.", he said. "You've earned it."

Brandy and Dan looked at each other, grinned, bumped fists, and both left to join the festivities.

"Let's do this.", Brandy said. "Hopefully, this will go better than the last Clan Party I went to."

"What do you me-", Dan began, then stopped as he remembered. "Oh yeah. I don't think that'll be hard."

Brandy laughed, and Dashed over to the bar. There was a pyramid of Skeletons tending it, at least where she was. It was a very long bar, with multiple tenders. Dan crashed down right next to her, the bench very nearly buckling under his weight.

"Hey, rattlers!", Brandy said. "Give me something good."

The pyramid of Skeletons flipped over to her, looked supernaturally among themselves, and made a decision. The one in the back bent over and grabbed a totally random bottle, then tossed it to one in the front. He caught in his bony hands and gently tipped it into Brandy's cup, then threw it into her hand.

Agatha tapped Oticat on the shoulder. "Excuse me, sir?"

"What is it, Agatha?", Oticat asked. "I hope you can tell me what all happened."

"Well, it's a bit of a long story.", Agatha said. "But I guess I can tell you roughly what they told me."

Oticat sat down on a nearby lounge chair, and Agatha slammed her stick down onto the ground.

"So, Brandy ran through the forest…"

Song: Silver Twist

Brandy almost drank what was in her cup, then took a closer look. She had assumed it was just Elixir, but it wasn't. It was a thick, murky liquid- and it was green.

"Excuse me, what's this?", she asked, and the Skeleton pyramid halted. It slowly grinded around to face her, and all the Skeletons blinked.

"They say it's grassbeer.", a Goblin next to them drawled. "The strong stuff."

"Oh. Okay.", Brandy said. "Hey Dan, you got some too?"

Dan took a look inside his cup, then realized that there was nothing in it. "I don't know. I drank all of mine."

Brandy giggled, then threw back her cup. She drank all of the grassbeer in one giant gulp, then dropped the cup onto the floor. Almost instantly, her vision clouded. The sights and sounds of the party around her faded into fizzy darkness, and Brandy lost consciousness.

Nearby, Brenda was sitting at a small table. She had been having a riveting conversation with a Dark Prince, who had seemed to come out of nowhere.

"So, uh, what's your name?", she asked, taking a sip of her grassbeer.

"My name is Mike. I'm 33 seasons old. My house is in the northeast section of My clan, where all the troops are, and I am not married. I work as a troop for my king MegaBanditx, and I get home every day by 8 PM at the latest. I don't smoke, but I occasionally drink. I'm in bed by 11 PM, and make sure I get eight hours of sleep, no matter what. After having a glass of warm Elixir and doing about twenty minutes of stretches before going to bed, I usually have no problems sleeping until morning. Just like a baby, I wake up without any fatigue or stress in the morning. I was told there were no issues at my last check-up. I'm trying to explain that I'm a person who wishes to live a very quiet life. I take care not to trouble myself with any enemies, like winning and losing, that would cause me to lose sleep at night. That is how I deal with society, and I know that is what brings me happiness. Although, if I were to fight I wouldn't lose to even level 13 e barbs.", he said, in one long breath, then looked up. "I've got to go."

He stood up and left, leaving Brenda wondering what had just happened.

"Yeah, okay-", she said, then saw out of the corner of her eye Brandy fall to the floor.

"_Hello, Brandy? Can you hear me?"_

"_What?", Brandy thought. She saw herself, yet she was still in her own body. She floated upside down in a huge red space, with only a small turquoise river running through it. Looking around, she could see no one, yet she recognized that voice._

"_Ah, it appears that you can. Fortunate.", said the voice again, then God appeared in front of her. Next to him was a floating mannequin head, wearing a totally blank expression, yet still somehow managing to look pleased. _

"_Thank you for your company.", __the head said, and spun on its axis. It vanished into thin air, and God clapped once._

"_Brandy.", he said. "There's something very important that I forgot to tell you. It's about me, and my power."_

"_What?", Brandy asked. "What is it?"_

"_I told you that no matter what happens, my power would protect you from harm. But that's only as long as you stay on the Continent of Royale. If you go anywhere else, I can no longer help you."_

"_I… don't think that'll be a problem.", Brandy said._

"_That includes Legendary Arena.", said God. "I can't reach there. So if you ever go there, do it knowing that I cannot help you."_

_Brandy's heart raced. Did that mean that she would go to Legendary Arena soon? But why? Oticat was only in the Jungle Arena. Why was God telling her this? Was it important?_

"_God, wh-", she began, but God tipped his hat and vanished. The vision spun out of control, and Brandy _woke up almost on the floor, lying prone in Brenda's arms.

"Woah.", said Brenda. "Looks like someone can't hold their drinks."

Then she looked up, and gasped.

"What?", Brandy asked woozy, and pushed herself up to grab the edge of the counter. "What is it?"

Brenda didn't answer, only staring at the cornucopia of blue lights, dancing above Brandy's head. They jumped and twirled in patterns, flowing around like a halo.

"What is that?", she asked. "Does anyone else see that?"

"See what?", Dan burped. Brenda looked to the Goblin behind the counter, who shrugged. She looked to Webert, who had just sat down next to Dan, with more or less the same result. And then, Brenda realized. If she was the only one that could see it, then it must be-

_A Stand?, _Brenda thought. _Brandy has a Stand?_

"Brandy?", Brenda asked slowly. Her mind raced, trying to think how this could have been possible. Yes, Brandy had been stabbed with the Stand Arrow, but the Phantom had said that the dosage was not enough to give her a Stand. And yet…

"What?", Brandy asked. "What is it? What did I do?"

Brenda slapped her own knee. "Brandy, I don't believe it. You have a Stand!"

"I do?", Brandy asked. "I have… what you have?"  
"It's crazy, right?", Brenda said. "I could have sworn you never got one."

"Then where is he?", Brandy asked in confusion. "If I have a Stand, then where's my own Phantom?"

"Wait, that's- that's not how it works.", Brenda said. "Not all Stands look like that. I'll tell you more about it later, but-"

She leaned in close, and the arm of the Phantom reached out. He felt the air around Brandy's head, retreated, and gave his report.

"You seem to have a passive Stand, able to foretell the future and grant visions through dreams.", Brenda said in wonder. "Nice…"

"Should I name it?", Brandy asked. "I think it needs a name."

"Well, of course.", said Brenda. "All Stands need a name, after all."

Brandy put a finger to her temple, and thought. "I think I'll name it… The Dreamer."

"Good name.", Brenda said. "Very fitting."

Then Brandy's sort of drunken mind kicked into a higher gear. She suddenly remembered what the Phantom had tried to do to her, and under whose orders he'd been acting. She didn't want to, but there was no better time to confront Brenda about it than now. "Hey, speaking of Stands…"

"What?", Brenda asked, but the anger in Brandy's eyes told her what she was about to say.

"Yours tried to take my soul. On multiple occasions.", Brandy said. "What, may I ask, was the reason for that?"

Brenda's face darkened. She looked down onto the bartop, and spoke very quietly. "That… wasn't my fault. I didn't want to do it. But I had to."

"Why?', Brandy pushed. "What do you mean, you had to?"

"I was kidnapped by a being named Grrshknn.", Brenda said. The lights in the room momentarily flickered, but it was noticed by no one. "I don't know how he found out about me and the Phantom, but he did. Once he took me, he told me that either I gave him your soul, or he killed everyone in the Clan. I didn't want to do it, but I had to."

Brandy felt the anger drain from her. She nodded, knowing what that was like.  
"But it's all good now.", Brenda said, and noticeably brightened up. "I managed to trick him into thinking I was dead, and I haven't heard from him in days. Hopefully, he left to wherever he came from."

"Hopefully.", said Brandy. "Does that mean that Ryusei_Nakao69 was working for Grrshknn too?"

"Based on what I saw around his Castle while we were raiding it? Probably.", said Brenda. The long arm of the Phantom emerged from her back, snagged a bit of chocolate from a desert cart, and brought it to the table in front of the two Bandits, still engaged in conversation.

"Makes sense.", Brandy said. "Ryusei_Nakao69 had to get his powers from somewhere. This Grrshknn seems pretty cowardly, though. Always making people do his work for him."

"He's got stuff to back it up.", Brenda shivered. "I've seen some of his power in action- and I don't doubt for a second that he couldn't follow up on his threat. Chocolate?"

Brandy looked down at Brenda's outstretched hand, seeing the small chunk of chocolate that the Phantom had taken.

"Chocolate… I've never had any.", Brandy said. "What's it like?"

"Oh, it's great.", said Brenda. "Tastes real good, and helps with headaches too. Try some."

"Okay.", Brandy said. She took the chocolate from Brenda's outstretched palm, popped it into her mouth, and began to chew.

Instantly, Brandy's entire mouth lit up in a fireworks show of flavor. Her cheeks reddened, and her eyes opened wider.

"Woah…", Brandy moaned, and chewed harder. The rich flavor of the chocolate ran through her mouth, lighting up her tongue like a bonfire. She shut her eyes, not wanting something like sight to get in the way of her enjoyment. She let out a small squeal, slowly swaying back and forth.

"This is… incredible…", Brandy breathed, and swallowed. She felt a tingle run from her head to her toes, and she let out a deep, satisfied sigh.

Brenda looked in shock and mild worry, as Brandy finished the chocolate.

_My, I haven't seen anyone react that way before, _said the Phantom. _To... anything._

_Me neither,_ Brenda thought. _It's a little freaky. I mean, I like chocolate just as much as the next Bandit, but…_

"Hey. Brandy.", said Dan. "You okay?"

Brandy opened her eyes again and looked up at Dan. Her cheeks flushed unexpectedly, and she suddenly found it hard to talk.

"Um…", she said, and tried to formulate a response, but it was impossible. The combined influence of the beer and the chocolate had opened a direct gateway to her heart.

She saw Dan, not as anyone else saw him, but almost glowing. Her gaze lingered on his face, then slowly traveled downwards. Dan saw the way she was staring at him, and it suddenly grew very stuffy inside of his helmet.

"I have to go to the bathroom.", he said abruptly, and stood up, slamming a passing Goblin into the floor with his arm. He walked at a high speed towards the far end of the room, Brandy watching him all the while.

A Valkyrie watched him pass, and the Prince sitting next to her raised his eyebrow. She cracked a wide grin, and took another sip of wine.

"Did you see the way those two were looking at each other?", she asked.

"I did.", said the Prince. "They totally look like they would be the cutest couple together."

"We should get them to bang.", the Valkyrie said

"Totally.", said the Prince. They gave each other a fistbump, and then walked off- Valia the Valkyrie towards Brandy, and Terrence the Prince towards Dan. Valia accidentally bumped into a King, who nearly fell off his stool.

"Oh, sorry sir.", Valia said, and the King turned out indignantly.

"No, no, it's no problem at all.", said the King, then turned back to his partner.

"So, as I was saying, MalaysianCitizens, our best next target would be the Rush Islands."

"I like the way you think, Ledanos.", said his partner, and they both clinked their glasses.

Brandy took another sip of her drink, finishing the last gulp. She set the cup down with a satisfied sigh, and looked at her fingertips. Strangely enough, she felt them start to tingle.  
"Hey there, Brandy.", said Valia, and slid in right next to Brandy, smooth as a greased Dart Goblin.

"Hey.", said Brandy, and looked to see who it was. Upon seeing that is was a tattooed Valkyrie, she flinched a little bit. Despite her recovery, Brandy had still not totally gotten over what had happened. "Uh, who are you?"

"The name's Valia.", said Valia, and raised her hand. "Gimme the strongest thing you got. And the 17th strongest for Brandy here."

The Skeleton Pyramid tending the bar chittered, and ran off to get whatever those things were. Valia spun her axe around, then dropped it onto the floor. "So. I saw the way you were looking at Dan."

"What?", Brandy asked, as her face reddened a little bit. "I wasn't-"

Valia put her finger on Brandy's lips. "Shh. There's no need to hide it. I know what you were thinking about him. I don't blame you. He's hot."

"Well, I-", Brand stammered, and tried to collect her thoughts. It was difficult through the haze of the grassbeer.

"And let me guess. You're new to this kind of thing, and you just don't know how to express it.", Valia continued, looking at Brandy with a sly eye. "Don't worry, I'm an expert here. And seeing as how you're both drunk, neither of you will remember anything in the morning. Perfect time to practice!"

"Well…", Brandy slowly said. "I guess so."

"Good.", said Valia, and propped her legs up on the stool. Brandy felt a little intimidated by her presence, but didn't show it.

"Now, the first thing. Knowing your attraction type.", Valia said. "And the first thing you need to know about that- you're not sexy."

"What?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, I'm not-"

"Hush, Brandy.", said Valia. "I'm the one talking here. What I mean is that you're not sexy, you're cute. There's a big difference there."

She brought up her hand, poking in the air in front of her with each word. "And you have to play. It. Up. To the max."

"I'm not sure what you mean…", Brandy said. "What do I have to do?"

Valia sighed. "Just- be you. Be the small, hyper, cute one. It'll be the perfect counterpart to Dan- he's the huge, slow, strong one."

She gave Brandy a strong slap on the back, almost knocking her off the stool. "Now come on. Give me your best smile."

Brandy smiled nervously. Valia took one look, and her eyebrows arched so highly that they almost needed to register for airspace. "That's a decent smile, but not a cute one. Try again."

"Well, what's a cute smile?", Brandy asked. "I've never done anything like this before."

"Um… think of some time in your life when you were trying to be flirty with someone.", Valia said. "Maybe he- or she- was being flirty with you. Think back to that."

Brandy's mind automatically flashed back to the Phantom. Even though she knew that she probably shouldn't, she focused on the way he held her, the way he sang to her, the way he-

Valia's voice interrupted her thoughts. "Yes! Yes, that's it! That glowing smile! Hold it!"

Brandy held her face in place, and Valia placed her fingers over her own face like a camera. "Yeah, just like that. Most adorable little smile I can imagine."

She stood up off the barstool, and Brandy stumbled down with her. "Alright, go get em.", Valia said, and pointed across the room. Brandy could see Dan exit the bathroom, and start walking over to her. "You got this."

At the same time as Brandy's conversation with Valia had been taking place, Dan was recieving a few lessons of his own, from Terrence.

Song: Overlapping Fate

"Oh, man.", Dan whispered to himself as he slumped against the wall of the bathroom. Several wall Goblins popped out of their holes and started to yell at him, then immediately withdrew once they saw his sheer size. "Why was Brandy looking at me that way?"

"I think I know why.", said Terrence, as he sat down next to Dan. He calmly stroked his beard, and took a sip from a cup of tea.

"What the- who are you?", Dan asked, scooting away a little bit.

"I'm Terrence.", said Terrence. "Lady's man and lover extraordinaire. And you, my friend, look like you need some help."

"What? No.", Dan said. "I- well, I mean- Brandy's a friend. My best friend, but still just a friend."

Terrence shook his head, and cracked a mischievous grin. "Aha, you may think so. But…"

He abruptly rose to his feet, and Dan did the same. He wasn't sure why- perhaps it was the sheer confidence that radiated from Terrence in droves.

"I ask you, Dan- when you rushed headlong into an enemy Castle to save Brandy, was that action of friendship, or was it of love?"

"I-", Dan said, but Terrence would not let him speak.

"When the rage filled you in that canyon, was that the rage of a friend, or the rage of a lover? When you fought for her honor, do you really think that was the act of mere friendship? No, my friend, it was not!"

"But-", Dan sputtered out. Terrence raised a single finger, indicating that he was not yet done.

"When you took it upon yourself to become better, you did it for her!", he said louder, very nearly shouting. "That is not what friends do, my boy! No, that- that is the action of a lover!"

"I-", Dan said. He began to slowly see what Terrence was talking about.

"Dan!", Terrence shouted. He grabbed Dan by the arms, and looked up into his face.

"The way you feel for Brandy- do not seal it away, as if it were something to be lost! No, you must embrace it! Do you embrace it?"

"Well, um…", Dan said, sweating under his helmet. It was a gigantic commitment, one that he still wasn't quite sure of.

"Do you want to hold her?", Terrence yelled, his brow knitted in excitement. "Please her?"

Dan thought for a moment more, then made up his mind. "Yes!", he shouted. "I do!"

"Do you love her, Dan?", Terrence shouted. "Do you at last see now, that everything you've done for her has been love?"

"Yes!", Dan shouted, and threw his fist upwards. A bolt of Star flashed from it, destroying parts of the ceiling and giving a random Miner quite a shock. But neither Prince or Mega Knight cared.

"Then go to her!", Terrence yelled. "Go to her, and confess!"

"Yes!", Dan bellowed, and turned around. He flexed his gigantic muscles, and threw open the door.

A Goblin had been washing his hands at the sink during the length of the conversation, watching all the while. As he watched Dan grow more and more excited, he began to fear for his life, until Dan finally broke off the talk and left. Shakily, he gave a small thumbs up. "Good on you, bro.", he said, although he said it in Gobbish, so it sounded more like "Glubasha boor tala." But it was the thought that counted.

Brandy walked nervously towards Dan, who was still all the way across the room. She passed a table where sat a short figure in a black cloak. He gave off a pungent stench, and his head turned to give Brandy a look.

"Hi.", he said meltingly. "My name's Epic_Gamer_Jeff. I love you."

"What?", Brandy asked in shock. Valia winced, and motioned for Brandy to keep walking, but she didn't see it.

"Are you a virgin?", asked the creature. "Because I think a delightfully innocent virgin like you deserves a nice guy like me."

He slicked back the 6 hairs on his head and leaned forward, his cracked lips puckering as he aimed for Brandy's hand.

"Yeah, I'll get my Elite Barbarian friends to help me.", it said. "They'll pin you down while I turn your insides into-"

"Dorra!", Brandy yelled, and swung her fist. Halfway on its course, her Dash activated, turning her punch from regular to subsonic. The blow connected with Epic_Gamer_Jeff's face, cracking open his skull. As Brandy's fist continued on its path, brains were blown out and fragments of head sprayed across the table. Epic_Gamer_Jeff's body flipped backwards, dissolving into Elixir from the feet up. It flipped across several tables before splattering into nothing, right onto the dinner of a very disgruntled Giant. His head rolled underneath Kar's feet a dozen tables away, where he and Lars were having a very intense drinking contest. Almost subconsciously, Kars stomped downwards, crushing the head into Elixir.

Brandy wiped her fist off on the tablecloth, and huffed. "Disgusting.", she said. "Wonder who that was."

Then she looked up, and saw Dan staring at her from across the room. His eyes lit up a brighter blue, and his arms lit up gold as he struggled to contain his emotions. Brandy started walking faster, and they met in the center of the room. Valia and Terrence watched closely from the sidelines, both hoping that their training would pay off.

"Uh… hey.", said Brandy, and flipped back her hair. She flashed her best smile like Valia had taught her, and she felt her heart flutter.

"Hi.", said Dan. He tried not to be nervous, but what could he do with Brandy right there in front of him like that? She was just so adorable, he felt like picking her up and just squeezing her as hard as he could.

"You… wanna sit down?", Brandy said, not knowing what else to say. She gestured to a nearby empty table, with half a plate on it. The plate, along with all the food on it, had a bitemark out of it the shape of Goblin jaws.

"Sure.", Dan shrugged. He tried to think of something to say. He had rehearsed some lines as soon as he got out of the bathroom, but he couldn't remember them now.

Brandy slid into one of the chairs, and Dan slammed down onto the floor. Even though he didn't use a chair, he towered over the table like a mountain over a plain.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Terrence signing something. It looked like he was mimicking… eyes? No, a smile. Sparkly? Dan thought for a moment, then understood.

"You're looking cute tonight, Brandy.", he said, scratching the back of his armor.

Brandy gasped in mock surprise, and Valia pumped the air with her fist. Brandy smiled internally- the plan had worked.

"What?", she asked. "You really think so?"

Dan sweated a little bit. Had "cute" worked? Was she messing with him, or was that something that he wasn't supposed to say? He didn't know- why couldn't girls just be straightforward about things? Why did they have to mess around with things?

"Yes!", he said proudly, and slammed his fist onto his leg. "I do!"

Brandy was a little taken aback by his straightforwardness. From the way Valia had taught her, Dan was supposed to follow with her, play along a little bit. Why couldn't guys just mess around a little bit? Why did they have to be so straightforward?

But such thoughts were soon forgotten, as Brandy and Dan looked at each other once again. They stared into each other's eyes, the sparkling blue colliding.

"Oh, this is it.", Valia whispered to herself. "I think it worked."

"Come on, man.", Terrence said, putting his arm around a passing Goblin Brawler. So overflowing was his aura of confidence that the Brawler stopped, and watched the show. "Do it!"

"Brandy, I…", Dan said, and stopped. Was he sure that he could do this? Was he…

A surge of confidence filled him, and he grit his teeth. Of course he could do it! He was Dan the Mega Knight, the ultimate Star Warrior, and nothing could stop him, let alone the truth. But as he looked into Brandy's starstruck face, hesitation still gnawed at him.

Brandy knew what Dan was going to say. _I love you, _she thought. She knew that he was going to say it- but she still wanted to hear it out of him.

"I-", Dan said, then an unusually loud doorbell interrupted his words. Both of them turned to look at the same time.

"I… think you should get that.", Dan said, and Terrence groaned. He slapped his hands to the side of his head, and almost fell over. "Oh no!"

"Right.", Brandy said quickly, and stood up. She Dashed over to the door, opening it as fast as she could.

"Trick or treat!", came a small voice, and Brandy looked down to see a Villager Child. She was, to Brandy's amusement, wearing a Bandit costume and holding a green bag.

"I'm sorry about this.", came the weary voice of her mother, and Brandy looked up. "I know that it's still only September, but she really, really wanted to."

She leaned forward, and whispered. "And I needed to get her out of the house. She's been tearing up the walls lately."

"Hiya, Brandy.", said the little Villager shyly, swinging her bag back and forth. "I remember you."

"How do you remember me-", Brandy asked, then stopped. "Oh! You're…"

She snapped her fingers, trying to remember the kid's name. She had met her at the gift shop outside of Frozen Peak almost a month ago. Her name was… was…

"Cookie!", Brandy finally said. "Nice to see you again, Cookie."

"My mommy said I couldn't ever be a Bandit.", said Cookie. "But look at me now."

Brandy laughed, and reached inside her pocket. She felt around for anything to give Cookie, and grabbed on to something random.

"Well, you know what would make it even better?", Brandy asked playfully, and charged up her Dash in whatever hand held the object. "Some candy to go with it!"

With a burst of pure Dash energy, Brandy temporarily turned her hand intangible. She waved it inside of Cookie's pocket quick as a flash, leaving the treat inside- which upon inspection, turned out to be a small piece of hard candy and a musket ball.

Cookie felt the weight in her pocket, and instantly grabbed what was inside. Holding the loot up to the light, she gasped. "How did you do that?"

"Bandit magic, kid.", said Brandy. "Like this. Watch."

In a flash of Blue light, Brandy Dashed back inside. She grabbed a random candle off a random table and Dashed back to Cookie, the flame extinguishing with the speed.

"Here you go, Cookie.", she said, and dropped the candle into her bag. "Have fun with that."

"What is she supposed to do with a candle?", Cookie's mother whispered to Brandy. "Don't you have any more candy you can give her?"

"Oh, maybe.", said Brandy. "Although…"

With a blur of motion as fast as she could possibly manage, Brandy flicked her hand towards Cookie's exposed neck. There was a flash of light reflected off of metal, and Cookie's skin raised as the fragment of Stand Arrow cut her skin, ever so slightly. To mask the action, Brandy dropped a roll of wrapped caramels into Cookie's bag. "There you go. The greatest gift."

Cookie's mother looked up at the sky, and the full moon. "Well Cookie, it's getting late. We better be getting back home. Now, what do you say to Brandy?"

"Thank you, Brandy.", said Cookie. "For the candy. And the musket ball."

She started to go, when something very interesting caught her eye. "Woah!", she shouted, pointing into the room. "Who's that?"

Brandy followed her gaze, seeing that it fell on Brenda, attempting to balance 7 trays of food at once. Brandy could see that she had summoned the Phantom to help her. "Oh, that's my friend Brenda.", she said. "She's nice. You want to meet her?"

Despite the stern looks from her mother, Cookie refused to pull away. "No, who's that behind her? The tall man, in the mask and coat?"

Brandy felt her heart jump a little bit in her throat. Cookie's mother gave her daughter a strange look, and Brandy smiled a bit. She could see a small, red tentacle slowly sweep around Cookie's leg before vanishing.

"Oh, that's just her friend. Don't worry about it.", said Brandy. "You should be getting to bed though, it's getting pretty late."

Cookie finally allowed herself to be turned away from the castle, and her mother sighed in relief.

"By the way…", Brandy said. "I think you might want to look after Cookie a little more carefully now. She's… gonna be harder to handle."

"What? Harder to handle?", the Villager said in fear, before Brandy winked, and closed the door.

She waited a bit before turning around again. "Okay, uh, let's get back to-"

She startled a little bit when she saw that Dan, while she had been talking to Cookie and the Villager, had silently appeared right behind her. Even though he was crouching, his gargantuan 18 foot frame still towered over her.

"Brandy.", he said, in a voice as serious, yet tender, as he could muster. "I need you to listen to me."

"What is it, Dan?", Brandy asked. She slowly leaned against his leg, knowing what he was going to say. "Tell me."

"I…", Dan said, and swallowed. He saw Terrence and the Goblin Brawler both giving him a thumbs up from across the room, and a swell of courage filled him.

"I love you, Brandy.", he said. "I always have. I… I thought it was just friendship before, but now I know the truth."

Brandy's eyes watered, and she threw herself forward into a tight embrace. She wrapped around Dan's waist, burying her face in his armor. "I love you too."

Valia and Terrence both took out their communicators, and furiously typed out a message.

_Operation Lovebird is complete, _typed Terrence.

_Move on with Operation Lovenest?, _Valia replied.

_No, not yet. We should wait and let them enjoy the moment, _Terrence typed, then hung up. He looked outwards with a smile, and his gaze fell on a lonely looking Barbarian in the corner. He was staring longingly at a Musketeer, sitting at a table alone.

_Hold on, I found someone else, _he messaged quickly. _Agent Valia, report to my position._

_Affirmative, Agent Terrence, _Valia replied, and looked to where Terrence was. She too could see the Barbarian, and the Musketeer. A sly smile crawled across her face, and she slicked back her hair. A matchmaker's job was never finished.

Brandy and Dan stayed in the embrace for several more seconds, not wanting to let each other go. But soon enough, Brandy had to come up for air, and she moved her head out of the thick armor of Dan's torso.

"So… what now?", Dan asked. "What happens now?"

"I… don't know.", Brandy said. "Maybe we… go celebrate?"  
"That's a good idea.", Dan said. "To the bar again!"

Brandy Dashed up onto Dan's shoulder, and he pointed in the direction of the bar. But before they could go, there came another knock at the door. This one sounded very worn, and tired, each knock a struggle. Brandy's attention snapped towards the door, as did Dan's.

"I'll- I mean, we should go get it.", Brandy said. "It sounds important."

"Right!", Dan said, and stomped over to the door. He opened it with a flourish, and his eyes widened.

Song: Approach

"And then once she arrived back home," Agatha said, finishing up her relation of the night's events to Oticat, "She told me what I just told you. But we were rather late for the Clan Meeting, so I used those teleportation pads SpaceKrakenX gave you."

"What?", SpaceKrakenX shouted, as his head popped up from behind a couch. He somersaulted over to Oticat and Agatha, picking up his crown as it fell. He looked with wild eyes across Agatha's person, scanning for any sign of dimensional wear. "You used the teleportation pads? But they weren't tested! At all!"

"Well, we're fine.", Agatha said. "If they weren't tested, then why did you-"

"You're fine?", SpaceKrakenX asked, and one of his eyes began to twitch. "Then that means they're perfect! Haha, they worked! I'm a genius!"

He flung his hands into the air, and somersaulted away again, vanishing behind the couch.

The door hit the wall from the force of Dan opening it, sounding with a loud crack. A worn, haggered figure collapsed onto the floor, her cloak covering her head. The long gun by her side fell beside her, spinning before coming to a rest.

"Help…", she moaned, and Brandy's head ticked with recognition. "Please…"

Dan looked closer, and his eyebrows narrowed. "She's Red.", he said. "Who the-"

The nearly dead Musketeer somehow managed the strength to lift her head, and Brandy gasped. "Holy frick? Meg?"

She Dashed down from Dan's shoulder, grabbed Meg, and lifted her to her feet. "Hold on.", she said. "We can help you. We're gonna get you food, and Elixir, and some new clothes, and-"

"Brandy, what are you doing?", Dan asked in bewilderment. "She's Red!"

"And?", Brandy said. "Dan, this is Meg. I met her back at Their castle. She said that she doesn't want to be Red anymore."

"Oh.", Dan said. "Are… are you sure?"

"She is.", said Webert, coming up from behind Dan. "I met her as well. She was one of them, then chose to leave."

Meg looked up at Webert, nearly collapsing from the effort, and managed a weak smile. "You're Webert.", she said slowly. "You're the one who rescued me."

"He did?", Brandy asked. "But how? How did you survive? The entire Castle was blown to dust."

Meg started to say something, but instead gave a violent cough. Brandy supported her more, and Webert decided that he would say what happened. "I, as my Clone, went around the Castle rescuing prisoners. I found her sobbing in front of a large fallen rock, and she said that she wanted to come. So I let her. Once we were outside and out of the blast range, I used the recall button on my communicator. I thought it would grab her too, but she was still Red. It left her behind."

"I…", Meg coughed, having worked up the strength to speak again. "I wandered the forest for days, looking for you guys. I finally found where your Clan Castle was, and when you would be there, and just barely managed to make it here in time."

"I'm glad you did, Meg.", said Brandy. "I think we all are."

Meg tried to take a step forward, but almost pitched forward onto the floor. "Oohhh."

"Webert.", Brandy said. "Get some Elixir. Get some food, too. She needs some."

"Right.", said Webert, who had already returned with a platter of sandwiches and a gallon jug of Dark Elixir. "I thought she might."

Brandy took a look, and arched an eyebrow. "Webert, that's Dark Elixir. We just need the regular stuff."

Webert took another glance, and frowned. "Ah, yes. Sorry about that. Guess I just wasn't looking."

He opened his hand, and called to a passing Goblin Gang. "Heyo, I need some Elixir! Y'all got any for me?"

The Goblins looked at each other, and shrugged. But one of them crowed triumphantly, and reached into his pocket. He pulled out half a bottle of Elixir, and all the other Goblins ooed and awed.

"Yeah, thanks bro.", Webert said. "Toss it here."

The Goblin wound up and threw the bottle as hard as he could. Webert stretched out his hand, but Brandy Dashed up into the air and grabbed it before he could, then gave it to Meg.

"Here, drink this.", she said. "It'll-"

Before Brandy could even finish her words, Meg snatched the bottle out of her hands. She broke the cap off and poured the Elixir down her throat all at once, the color returning to her skin as she did so. Brandy could see her limp arms grow stronger, and her tarnished armor start to shine.

Meg ventured a careful step away from Brandy's arms, managing to take a few steps. With uncharacteristic fierceness, She grabbed a sandwich off the platter and ate the entire thing in one bite, then another. Within seconds, the number of sandwiches had gone down by 6.

Meg downed the last sandwich, and heaved a sigh of relief. "Whew. Thought I wouldn't make it for a second there."

She looked around, and saw the party. "Wow, this is… a lot different from the last party I went to."

"Yeah, Blue parties are a lot different from Red's.", Brandy said with an awkward smile. "More casual conversation, lot less consorting with demons and random criminal acts."

"Demons?", Meg asked. "What?"

"Yeah, turns out Ryusei_Nakao69 was using the power of a demon.", Brandy said. "Brenda told me."

"Who's Brenda?", Meg asked, and her hands started to shake. "I'm sorry, I'm just so lost…"

But Brandy simply gave her a warm smile, and took her hand. "Dan, come with me. Meg, I think I have people to introduce you to."

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

Kars roared in triumph, and slammed down his 73rd consecutive glass. His opponent, Lars, at last keeled over onto the floor and fainted dead away. The small crowd around them cheered, and Kars beat his chest with both fists.

"Yeah, who wants to take me one?", he yelled, as he yelled everything. "I am the ultimate drinker!"

He reveled in his victory for a little bit more, until he felt a firm tap on his shoulder. He turned around, nearly slapping Brandy's face in the process.  
"Hey, Brandy!", he shouted. "What can I do ya for? You wanna go?"

"No, not right now.", Brandy said. "I just want you to meet someone. This is Meg."

Meg shyly stepped forward, and gave a small wave. "Hi, I'm-"

Kars grabbed Meg's hand, and gave it an aggressive shake. Meg vibrated up and down from the force, her glasses nearly flying right off her face.

"Nice to meet you, Meg!", he shouted. "I'm Kars! Kars the Lumberjack! As you can see if you look at me!"

Kars broke off the handshake with a wild downwards throw, and Meg readjusted her glasses. She looked at Kars, but then turned away when she saw that he was, after all, a muscular, shirtless man, sweaty from drinking his body weight in Elixir. "I see.", she said.

Brenda propped her feet up onto the table, picking her teeth with an iron toothpick. "So, what was your name again?", she asked the Night Witch sitting in front of her.

"My name is Lilian.", the Night Witch said, and put her arm around the Prince next to her. "And this is SilencePriest, my lover."

"Really? That's your name?", Brenda said, and sat back down in her chair. She leaned forward with subtle curiosity. "Sounds like the name of a King."

SilencePriest shrugged. "It's just my name."

"Hmm…", Brenda hummed, and waved her finger ever so slightly. The Phantom appeared above her, looming over the Lilian and SilencePriest like a shadow.

"I don't sense anything suspicious about them.", said the Phantom, after a few quiet moments of inspection. "They both belong to Keegladiator."

_Awesome, _Brenda thought, so that the Phantom could hear. _For some reason, I thought they were bad._

"Hey Brenda.", said Brandy from behind. The Phantom instantly withdrew, and Brenda leaned her head back. "Oh hey, Brandy. What's up."

"I want you to meet someone.", Brandy said, and ushered Meg forward. "Brenda, this is Meg. "I met her in TheEvilOverLord's castle. She used to be Red, but now she wants to be Blue."

"Nice.", said Brenda. "You know, I think I might have seen you while I was raiding there. It looked like you were running away from a room that I had been looting from right before it collapsed."

"Oh.", Meg said, and looked down at the floor. "That must have been my room. I guess nothing in it survived, then?"

Then she looked up again, suddenly realizing the fullness of what Brenda had said. "Hold on a minute. You said you were looting stuff from there, right?"

"Yeah.", Brenda said. "Next you'll ask me if there was any chance I found a journal, right?"

"Is there any chance that you-", Meg began, then stopped. She stared at Brenda in bewilderment. "How did you do that?"

"Eh, just a Bandit thing.", Brenda said, and gave Brandy a subtle wink. "But yeah, I found this."

She reached inside her cloak, and withdrew a battered leather tome. An imprint of a musket was scratched across the front, and some parts of the spine had seen better days.

"Oh, thank you so much!", Meg said. Her hands shook as she grabbed the journal, and held it to her chest. "This means so much to me- I don't know what would have happened if I had lost it."

Brenda stood up, flipping her chair to another table. It was instantly swarmed upon by Goblins, and sat on by 16 of them at once.

"You look like you need a new uniform, Meg.", Brenda said. "How about after we all get some food, I can go help you with that?"

She looked at Meg's torn shoulder patch, and read the 3. Her eyes widened, and she flicked Meg on the shoulder. "And then we need to get you upgraded! No one should be minimum level in a Clan like this!"

_A Clan like this. _The words echoed inside of Meg's mind, and she smiled. No more would she be abused. No more would her nights be filled with terror, or not even knowing if she would survive the next day. For the first time in her life, Meg was at peace.

She didn't even notice, but as she thought that thought, the shaking in her hands calmed down a bit.

"Meg, did you hear me?", Brenda asked.

"Oh, sorry, what?", Meg stuttered, snapping back to reality. "What did you say? I'm sorry, I didn't hear you."

"I said, what would you like to eat?", Brenda said again. "We're all ordering."

Meg blinked, and looked around. Somehow, while she had been deep in thought, the four had all sat down at a circular white table. Meg was holding a menu- odd, she had not remembered taking or opening one.

"Uh, um…", Meg said, flipping through the menu at random. She opened to the third page, and her finger fell on a block of text. "That. That looks good."

Brenda leaned over, and arched an eyebrow. "You'll have… Goblin Catering Services, all forms of payment accepted, including Gold, Gems, and tickets to MMA tournaments?"

Meg nearly dropped the menu, and tried to hide her embarrassment. "Uh, I mean, that.", she said quickly, and pointed to some caesar salad. "I meant to point to that."

"Okay, that's one caeser salad…", said the Builder that had arrived at their table. "Brandy? Dan? What about you two?"

Brandy looked up from snuggling in Dan's arms, and thought. "Um…"

"I'll have the double-decker steak tower.", said Dan. "With all the sauces, and all the sides. Extra meat, with a tall drink and two pieces of toast. Cook it until Fireballed, toss it and cover it with a blanket of lettuce."

The Builder had been writing down his order, but stopped halfway through. When Dan was done ordering, the Builder gathered all the sarcasm he could possibly muster, and put his hands on his hips. "We serve food here, sir."

"Oh, uh, I'll just have the steak Tower then.", said Dan. "Brandy, what do you want?"

Brandy tapped her finger to her chin. "Can I get that as a vegetarian option?", she asked. "I don't eat meat."

The Builder stared for a bit. He slowly massaged his head with his hand, and muttered angry, bitter things to himself. But then he put on an appropriately chipper face, and gripped his notepad just a little harder. "You want steak. But a vegetarian option.", he said.

"Yeah.", Brandy said, and sunk deeper into Dan's arms. "What's wrong with that?"

"Oh, nothing.", said the Villager. "Just a… little hard to prepare, is all. It will take longer."

"Ah, that's alright.", said Brandy with a wave of her hand. "I can wait. I have all the time in the world…"

She slowly put her hand above her head, then let it fall. _Ah, that would explain it, _thought the Villager. _She's drunk. _

"Next you'll say, and what would you like this evening, Brenda?", Brenda said, twirling a cup around on her finger. The Builder turned to her, and raised his pencil.

"And what would you like this evening, Brenda?", the Builder said, then with a deep frown, realized what she had already said. Brenda slightly stuck out her tongue, then opened up the menu. "I'll have the fish fillet. No sauce."

"No sauce…", said the Builder, and wrote it all down. He flicked a switch on his coat, and his wheely shoes activated. He sped away towards the kitchen, wondering just what it was that ever made him take this job.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, looking up at him.  
"Yeah?", asked Dan, gulping down another pitcher of Elixir. A few drops fell onto Brandy's face, and she licked them up.

"Could you teach me Star?", she asked. "I want to learn."

"Why, sure.", Dan slurred, forgetting what he had said earlier. "It's actually pretty simple. You see, you just breathe in-"

Dan breathed in as deep and long as he could, Brandy doing the same.

"Then you focus the energy in the air into some part of your body. Say your fist-", Dan huffed out through the fullness of breath. He did what he had done so many times before, and Brandy did what she thought, in her drunkenness, she was supposed to do.

"And then just- expel it!", Dan said, and golden light flickered around his arm. "Like this!"

A nearby King, Digby, noticed what he was doing, and raised his hands in panic. "No wait don't do that in here-"

But it was too late. Dan and Brandy both punched the air in front of them, sending out twin shockwaves that punched through the wall, revealing the cool night beyond.

"Overdrive Beat!", Dan yelled, the golden Star rippling outwards.

"Haaaa!", Brandy yelled, the force of her Dash projecting through the air, then through the wall.

Brandy looked down at her hands in disappointment, then back up to Dan. "Aw, I didn't do it.", she said. "What happened?"

"It takes time to learn.", Dan said. "Everything does. But I'm sure you'll get to do it eventually."

"You think so?", Brandy asked.

Dan smiled underneath his metal helmet. "Brandy, I know so."

They embraced again, before being interrupted by the oddly familiar voice of the waiter. "Good evening, everyone. Here's your food, cooked to perfection by yours truly."

Brandy looked up in shock. Instead of a Builder holding the food, it was a tall man in black armor, his hair a shock of spiky blond. Brandy gasped. "Max?"

She scrambled to a seated position, and stared in shock. "You're alive?"

Meg took off her glasses, gave them a rub to make sure she wasn't seeing things that weren't there, and then put them back on. The sight of Max in front of her remained unchanged.

'Max?", she asked. "How did you survive? You locked yourself in the kitchen as soon as the fighting started. I saw you."

But Max merely gave a wry smile, tapping his finger on the side of his head. "Let's just say… I found a way out.", he said. "I put many secrets in that kitchen. Glad I could use at least one before it went out."

"Brandy, who's this?", Dan asked. "Someone else you met at the Red castle?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "He's a Dark Prince. He actually convinced Ryusei_Nakao69 not to wipe my mind. He… probably saved my life."

Brenda extended her hand, and Max gently shook it. "Nice to meet you, Max.", she said. "I'm Brenda. I didn't kill you, did I?"

Max shook his head. "No, I didn't fight anyone during the raid."

"Okay, good.", Brenda said. "Because I know I took down a Dark Prince at one point, and it would be pretty awkward if it was you."

"Yes, it would.", said Max, then leaned over. He placed the platters of food onto the table- Dan's perfectly cooked steak Tower, Brenda's fish fillet, Meg's caesar salad, and a large slice of watermelon for Brandy. He thought that it would be the closest thing to a meatless steak they had.

"What is this?", Brandy asked. "I didn't order this."

"You ordered a vegetarian steak.", said Max. "This was the closest thing we had to meatless meat."

"I ordered that?", Brandy said. "Oh. Guess I forgot."

She giggled, and accidentally spat some Elixir she had drunken earlier out of her nose. Dan snorted, and a flash of Star came out of his own nose, frying bits of the tabletop. The two collapsed into laughter, drawing the attention of an Ice Wizard at the table next to them.

"Miksi käänsit tämän?", he said. "Se ei oikeastaan sano mitään."

But he was quiet, and no one heard him.

Dan and Brandy got up, picked up their food, and dug in voraciously, as neither of them had eaten for many hours.

Meg carefully took her salad from the center of the table, and picked up her fork. But before she could begin to eat it, the ceiling shook above her from some friendly brawl, dislodging a rock that fell directly onto the table. It landed in the middle of her bowl, breaking it in two and sending the salad flying in all directions. Meg stared at it for a few seconds, then looked up to gain the attention of a waiter.

"Do you hear that?", Brenda asked.

"Hear what?", Meg replied.  
"It sounds like… screaming.", said Brenda. "And… opera music?"

Meg listened for a moment, but could hear nothing but the party. "I don't hear it."

"Oh well.", said Brenda. _Hey Phantom, do you think you could do something about the salad?_

The Phantom materialized for a moment, looking over the broken bits of bowl and scattered leaves. He shrugged, then slunk back into Brenda.

_I possess many powers, _he said. _Salad repair is not one of them._

"Oh well.", Brenda said, accidentally out loud. "Thanks for checking."

"Who are you talking to?", Meg asked.

"Um… no one.", Brenda said. "I just, uh, talk to myself sometimes. Don't listen to me."

There was the cough of a Builder at the side of the table, and Meg turned.

"What is it?", he drawled, the very picture of _It's been 17 hours since I started my shift and there is absolutely nothing more I'd like to do than go home and die _written all across his face.

"Um, a rock fell onto my caesar. Salad, I mean.`` Meg stammered, trying to keep her hands under control.

"It's fine.", said the Builder. "Here is another."

He reached down onto his cart and pulled out another bowl of salad, placing it on the table.

"Oh, thank you-", Meg began, but the Builder had already vanished.

Brandy leaned back in her seat, wiping the watermelon juice off her mouth with the corner of the tablecloth. She gave a small burp, and flipped her plate upside down for no reason.

"Well, looks like I'm done.", she said. "Anyone else done?"

Dan looked up in surprise from his steak Tower, still only halfway through. "You're done already?", he asked. "How?"

"Well.", Brandy said, and pointed somewhere in the general vicinity of Dan's plate. "That is probably at least 10 more food than what I have. And I eat fast, because Bandits naturally have a fast metabolism, and this is the first food I've had in probably 16 hours. So if you put all that together, that's why I ate fast."

"Brandy, how many drinks do you have?", Brenda asked. "You don't sound too coherent."

"Oh, I only had one.", said Brandy. "Why? Is that a lot?"

Brenda looked at Dan, and he shrugged. "Looks like you can't really hold your drinks."

"No, I drop em.", Brandy said. Her frayed attention wandered over to the center of the room, where she could faintly see a group of Barbarians setting up a bunch of chairs. Surrounding them were dozens of various Goblins, helping as they saw fit. Even though most of those ways involved jumping up and down on random Barbarian's heads.

"Holy Dr'ew, are they setting up for-", Brandy shouted, and rose to her feet. But she stood up too fast, and fell back down again into Dan's arms. Despite this, she didn't even miss a beat with the rest of her sentence. "Karaoke?"

"Are they?", Dan asked, craning his neck to look. "Is it Karaoke night already?"

"Looks like it.", said Brenda. Silently, she dispatched the Phantom to go and inspect the area. "And I take it you want to go?"

"Absolutely!", Brandy said. "I love Karaoke!"

"Really?", asked Dan. "Since when?"

"Since… uh… now, I suppose.", Brandy said, and tapped her chin. "Actually, I guess I've never done it- but I do want to try it."

She suddenly felt Dan's massive arms squeeze her tighter, bringing her up to his chest. She was about to say something, when she saw tears slowly drip from his face. For some reason, Dan was crying.

"Dan, what is it?", she asked, bringing her hand up to his face. "Why are you crying?"

Dan sniffed, and flipped open his vizor. His bright blue eyes shone, and he tried to summon up words.

"I just... ", he said. "I'm just so happy that you're here, and safe, and I'm here, and we're all here, and there's nothing wrong anymore, and that I love you, and you love me, and…"

He tightened his embrace, squeezing Brandy just hard enough to count as a hug. "I'm not sure how to put it.", he whispered. "I just want to say… I'm happy. I'm happy now. I'm not sure what I was before all this started, but I know it wasn't as good as this."

"I know what you mean, Dan.", Brandy said. "I never thought I would be saying this, but… after seeing how everything's played out, I guess that it was sort of a good thing. This whole adventure. I mean, you learned your Star powers and became a Mega Knight- that wouldn't have happened. Max and Meg were able to get new and better lives. I got a Stand. TheEvilOverLords are all dead now. If we hadn't brought them down, who knows what they would still be doing?"

She looked up towards the ceiling, thinking of what God had said to her. "Now obviously, some parts of it didn't have to happen. But if you just weigh the good and the bad, well… I guess that even though there was suffering, great joy was born because of it. And really, what better thing in life is that?"

"I can think of something better.", said Dan.  
"Really?", asked Brandy. She had a sneaking feeling that she already knew what Dan was going to do. "What?"

"This.", he said, and leaned in for a kiss.

"Hey, what's going on?", came the voice of Bowza from behind them. Dan's head instinctively snapped up, and Brandy's lips landed on solid metal. She thought of trying for it again, but somehow knew that it would be better if saved for another time.

"What?", Dan asked. "What's going on?"

"That's… what I asked.", said Bowza. "Do you not know?"

Brandy sat up next to Dan, smoothing back down her ruffled hair. She straightened her hood, and snapped her gloves back to their right position on their hands.

"There's a Karaoke contest going on over there.", said Bowza. "You all want to participate, I'm guessing."

"Sure.", said Dan. "Most of us do. I don't think Meg would want to, though."

Brandy reached out with her mind, trying to find Dan's. She was trying to ask him why he had turned away from the kiss- but then she realized. Dan had never learned telepathy. Agatha and Bowza had only taught her, as far as she knew.

_Oh shoot, right, _came his voice unexpectedly. _I'm sorry, I can't really remember anything right now. I'm drunk._

_Wha- Dan, you can use telepathy?, _Brandy asked in confusion. _Since when?_

_They taught it at the place where I learned to become a Mega Knight, _he said. _Thought that I might as well take it._

_Where exactly was that?, _Brandy asked. _You never said._

_I don't think it actually had a name, _said Dan after thinking for a bit. _All I know is that it was nestled in a small valley, somewhere around Frozen Peak. And there was a burrito place nearby. _

_Huh, _Brandy thought. _Think you could find it again?_

_I'm not sure…, _Dan said. _But perhaps._

_So, are we gonna kiss again?, _Brandy asked.

_When the time is right, _Dan thought. _I want it to be special._

"Right.", Brandy said out loud, and stood up. "Well, I know I want to go sing in front of people for a prize. Who else does?"

Brenda stood up as well. "Sure.", she said. "I'm pretty good at singing."

"I've never done it.", said Dan. "But I'll do it now."

It was only Meg that declined. "You guys can do it.", she said. "I'll… I'll just watch."

Bowza's eyebrows knitted together. "Who's this?", he asked. "I don't believe I've ever seen her before. And she's Red."

"Hi, I'm-", Meg began, then Bowza put his hand on her forehead.

"Hold still.", he said. "I'll just read your mind for a bit."  
"Hey-", Meg squeaked out, but the process had already begun. Quick as a flash, Bowza took a quick trip through her memories, of which there weren't many. After a few seconds, he broke off contact, leaving Meg in a slight daze.

"I see.", he said. "Well, you're welcome to be with us. Good luck."

He folded up his arms, golden Star crackling around his feet. With a flash of light, he teleported away and reappeared in the steel seating in front of the stage.

"Meg, come with me.", Brenda said. "Let's get you a new set of clothes while Dan and Brandy try to sing."

"Okay.", Meg said, and finished the last bite of her salad. "Where's the-"

Brenda put one hand on Meg's lower back, and the other on the back of her head. "Hold very still.", she said. "If you don't, this will hurt."

Meg's eyes widened, a half-second before Brenda Dashed up the nearest flight of stairs, a silently screaming Meg in tow.

"Come on, let's go.", said Dan. "It's just you and me now."

Brandy Dashed up onto Dan's shoulder, nuzzling against the side of his head. "Right. It's just us."

Dan walked away from the table, and towards the center of the Grand Ballroom, where the first contestant had already taken the stage.

The door to the Uniform Room blasted open, and Brenda stopped a few feet in. Meg stumbled out of her grasp and fell onto a stool, breathing hard and trying not to throw up.

"Please, never do that again.", she said. "It was traumatizing."

"Oh. Sorry.", said Brenda, and began to run her finger along the various uniforms that hung up on the walls. "What size are you?"

"Uh, a size three.", Meg said. "I think."

"Okay, size three…", Brenda muttered, and Dashed along the large selection. Once she came to the Rares aisle, she slowed a bit. Once she arrived at the Musketeer section, she slowed down more, and once she hit size three, she stopped. She pulled out a wrinkled bag, the uniform of a Blue Musketeer within.

"Okay, I got it!", she shouted, then Dashed back to where Meg was sitting in the center of the room. "Does this look alright?"

Meg took the bag, and held it up to the light. "Yes, that looks good."

Brenda sat down on a stool, and motioned for Meg to open the bag. "Okay then. Change. We'll see how it looks on you."

Meg's face turned a deep red, and she looked down at the floor. "I'd rather not.", she said quietly.

"What?", Brenda asked. "Is there a problem? Is it just that you'd rather not take off your clothes when there's another person in the room?"

"Yes.", Meg said, looking down at the floor. "Last time I tried that… I didn't get them back for hours. My clothes, I mean."

"I see.", said Brenda. "You can trust me, though. I promise I won't steal anything. Even though I'm a Bandit."

But Meg still didn't move, or say anything. She just stared at the slatted wooden floor, her face remaining a flushed crimson.

"And besides, we're both girls here.", said Brenda. "So what's the problem?"

"Well, that's the biggest problem.", Meg said, and shuffled her feet along the floor. Her hands trembled, very nearly leading to a dropping of the bag. "That you're a girl. You see, I'm… uh… attracted to them. Girls, I mean."

Brenda thought for a moment. "I see.", she said, and held her fingers in front of her mouth. "Yes, I can see how that would be a problem."

She stood up, and flicked her finger. "Well, guess I'll leave for a bit. Go change, and get me when you're done."

Brenda Dashed at Lightning speed out of the room, leaving Meg alone.

Meg cracked open the bag, and looked down at her torn Red uniform. "Well, this is it.", she whispered. "The moment when I finally cast aside my old life, and become Blue."

She took the bright Blue fabric in her hand, letting it slowly cascade down.

"But… it feels wrong.", she said. "I don't know why, but…"

"Of course it feels wrong.", came a voice.

"Wha-", Meg said, and spun around. She saw no one, but she could tell that there was someone there. "Who said that?"

"I did.", said the Phantom, and he stepped out of space. "I said that of course it feels wrong."

"Who are you?", Meg said hoarsely, trying to force her voice to be louder. "Where did you come from?"

"Don't worry, I'm a friend of Brenda's.", said the Phantom. "I'm just here to tell you that everything new feels wrong at first. Every change, every new action feels different, which you naturally perceive as wrong- even if the net change is good. So don't be afraid. Put on that uniform."

He leaned forward, and gave her forehead a single light tap. "Become who you are."

And with that, he faded.

Meg stared again at the uniform. She swallowed hard, looked up, and grit her teeth with an unexpectedly ferocious resolve. "I can do this.", she said. "And I will."

Not waiting to hesitate, Meg ripped off her old uniform, straight down the middle. She cast both sides of it aside, then threw the Blue one over her head. It fell down onto her body straight as an Arrow, sliding neatly in to fit her. She briefly inspected the package- it was, indeed, an automatic model.

With another quick burst of actions, Meg attached the cape and shoulder pieces. Her level still read a dull 3, but that would soon change. With one final motion, Meg took the helmet out of the bag, and slammed it over her old one. The Red helmet cracked and split apart under the pressure, sending the last shattered pieces of Meg's old broken life spinning across the floor.

She picked up her gun. That had no color markings, so it would stay. She gave a little twirl, surprising herself. She took a step forwards, and saw herself in the mirror.

The Musketeer that Meg saw was undoubtedly her- and yet, not. She shared the same face, yet the person that Meg saw was totally new. No longer was she Meg the easy, Meg the wimp. No, starting today, she was going to be who she knew she was- and that was Meg the Musketeer.

"Dang, girl.", she whispered to herself. "You look good."

Behind the curtains of the stage, Sadie was frantically going through some notes.

"Elizabeth!", she hissed through clenched teeth. "Help me out here!"

Elizabeth didn't even turn around. She was busy helping a Goblin Brawler tie bits of the stage together, her long hair tied back into a bun. "What?", she said, trying to talk through the nail in her mouth.

"We start the show in like, no minutes and I'm missing 3 pages of speech!"

"Oh, that's a problem.", Elizabeth said. "But don't worry. Just do what I do."

"What do you do?", Sadie asked, frantically gesturing to a Goblin stagehand to keep the curtain closed.

Elizabeth spat out the nail. The Goblin Brawler caught it between two outstretched fingers, then carefully placed it into a chalk X. He drew back his fist like a hammer and punched the nail directly into a slab of wood.

"I make stuff up.", Elizabeth said nonchalantly. "It works for me all the time."

"But I'm not you!", Sadie whisper-shouted. "Just because we're twins doesn't mean that-"

"I can't hold it!", the Goblin Stagehand screeched, and his fingers let go of the rope. The curtain fell open, revealing a shocked and slightly embarrassed Sadie standing center stage, still holding her notes.

"The...same...person…", Sadie groaned, then turned to the audience. Even if she couldn't improv like Elizabeth could, she would have to try, all the same. She took a deep breath, and-

"Hey, everybody!", Elizabeth said, running out in front of Sadie and giving a giant wave. "Thanks for coming, it's great to have you here!"

The audience cheered, in various ways. A Giant waved tiny flags. A Bomber threw his Bomb up into the air, where it was caught by a Balloon. Dan fired a small bolt of Star, which erupted into a firework-like blast. A Valkyrie twirled her axe on fingertip. A Goblin tried to eat his own nose.

"I know you all want to get started, so I won't keep you waiting any longer.", Elizabeth said, subtly gesturing for Sadie to get behind the scenes. "Let the party commence!"

Saide tucked and rolled, sliding into a tech booth cleverly hidden behind a statue of a pine tree. "Yes, and we have…", she said, trying to sift through her frazzled notes. "A free-for-all Rap Battle as the first event!"

The crowd cheered, and a Night Witch rose from the back. Looking across the audience, she could see her previously assigned partner, Marc the Giant Skeleton slowly get up from sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"The two competing first will be…", Elizabeth boomed through the microphone, sweeping her hand in a wide arc. "Tabitha the Night Witch and Marc the Giant Skkkkeleton!"

Tabitha lifted up her legs, allowing herself to float up towards the stage. Marc took a single ginormous step, slamming onto the stage with a loud crack.

"Somebody lay down a beat!", shouted Sadie, attracting the attention of two Goblins that were supposed to do exactly that. They had actually forgotten all about it, and only did it because they were bored and had figured _eh, why not?_

The two jumped up and down on either side of an old minecart, making a low boom each time one of them hit the floor. Elizabeth threw down her hand, signaling that the rap battle had started.

Tabitha smirked, and raised her staff. "So throw your hands up, cause it's time to get down! You better make way, I'm the new kid in town!"

There were a few cheers from the audience, but not much. They had seen better.

"I float on mist-"

A Bat flew out of Tabitha's hair, ruffled itself, and sat on the microphone. "With her big battle axe!", he said in an oddly deep voice, and the crowd began to get more interested.

"And I always roll deep…", Tabitha said, and summoned the rest of her flock. They harmonized with her as she said "With a gang of bats!"

"So throw your hands up if you're ready to clash- it's the bat signal, baby, you know where it's at!"

The crowd cheered. It had been a pretty good performance. But they all focused their attention on Marc, as he picked up his own microphone. Supposedly, he had never, ever, been defeated.

He took a deep breath, as deep as his nonexistent lungs would allow, and opened his eyes. They glinted, and the upper bit of his jaw cracked open in a smile.

"Heywhat'supitsyourboyI'maGiantSkeletonandI'vecometoknockyourshelloffandturnthisbattleintoaroutyeahthat'swhatI'mallaboutyoulooksoproudlikeagoodmama'sgirlwellI'mheretoringyourdeathbellI'veneverbeendefeatedneverhaveneverwillcauseI'minvinciblejustlikeeveryonetellsyouthoughtitwasagoodideatogoupagainstmebutyouseethatwasyourfollythere'snowayyoucaneverreachmyheightsI'mclimbingtoohightoofastsoforyouitsgoodnight.", he said in one deep, long breath, then dropped the mike.

Tabitha blinked, and her mouth hung open in shock. She had always thought of herself as a pretty good rapper, but Marc was… he was just something else. Hanging her head, Tabitha knew that she had been defeated.

Slinking back down to the audience, she passed Elizabeth, who was even now scanning the crowd for volunteers. "Does anyone want to take Marc on?", she asked. "Anyone?"  
Various Troops in the audience looked around, scratching their head, looking down, sighing, and trying not to attract attention. Marc was just beyond any of them.

"Not even for a prize pool of…", Elizabeth said, and gave a wry smile. "500 Gems?"

Brandy's eyes lit up. She stood up off her chair, and raised her hand.

"Brandy, what are you doing?", Dan whispered. "You can't beat him!"

"I could try.", Brandy said. "This is 500 Gems that we're talking about. I have to at least-"

But even as she spoke, she could see a small, frosty figure run its way onstage. It grabbed the microphone from where Tabitha had left it, and somehow managed to balance it in between its stubby little arms.

"Wha- Randy?", Brandy said, squinting to see. "What's he doing up there? He can't even talk!"

Elizabeth looked down, seeing Randy beaming up at her. "You… want to try?", she asked, and Randy nodded. But he said nothing, because he was an Ice Spirit.

"Well, go ahead.", Elizabeth shrugged, and backed up. She threw her hand down, and the match began.

As per the rules, Randy rapped first. He pushed the microphone up to his face, opened his mouth, and for the first time that anyone could remember, spoke.

"Ş̵͍̟̞̱̳͈̻̙̖̝͈̭͍͔ͤ̏̽̂̔̑̒̌͌ͥ̋̚ ̵̓̽̂̎͐͗̾ͮ̄ͭͨ̆͞͏͖͙͍̘͇͇̘̻̯̳̠͎̟U̡̧̧̥̲̻̟͇͙̪̻̠̹̹̺̯̱̪̘ͭ̄͆ͩ͌ͬͯ̏ͥ̾̿̔ͦ́͝ͅ ̶̴̤̪̖͇̖̼̪̤͕͈̞̫̬̬ͪ̇̑ͩ͋͐̿̆̆̃̾̀ͅC̴̴̻͖̥̺͚̦̯̗̦̥̮̫̦͙̫͚͈̬ͬ̐͗̂͋̿̉̅̿̇̓ ͋ͤ̏͛ͥ͌̓ͭ̐͒̾̚̚̚͏̧͇͔͈̭̗̱̫̞͎̟͕̲͔̲͓̣C̫͉̤̞͓͓̱̠̟̳̩̟̫̥̱͙͖ͩ͌ͧ̓ͤ̽̉̐͐͋̊̇̆̓̀͢͡", he boomed, and the world went dark.

Meg stumbled in the upstairs room, grabbing a dresser to steady herself. All the lights shut off at once, leaving the room in near pitch-black darkness. She held on to her helmet and tucked her gun to her chest. "What the…"

Brenda slammed open the door. "Meg, you alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine.", Meg said. "But what just happened?"

"I don't know.", said Brenda. "Something, that's for sure."

_Phantom, could you-, _she thought, but the Phantom answered her before she could finish.

_It appears that a blast of sheer chaotic force came from somewhere downstairs, _he said. _I'm not sure what it was, but it was not malevolent in intent._

"Well, that's good.", Brenda muttered, and Meg gave her a weird look.

"Who are you talking to?", Meg asked, and Brenda blinked.

"Uh, myself.", she said. "Just myself."

The lights slowly flickered back on, and they both heaved a sigh of relief.

"Whatever it was, we should go check it out.", Brenda said. "Now come on. Meet the rest of your life."

Meg nodded, and she followed Brenda as they both ran out the door and downstairs.

The lights slowly came back on in the Grand Ballroom, revealing an audience in the beginning stages of mass panic. Several Goblins had already began to go around and loot random Troops's stuff. A Bowler was crawling over the lap of a Giant Skeleton. Dan had charged up some Star in his hands, and had been using it for light. But it had been only a few seconds since Randy shattered reality, so the panic hadn't progressed too far.

Elizabeth slowly peeled herself off of the back wall of the makeshift stage, having been blown backwards by the force of Randy's incantation. Her hair stood up as if shocked, and black soot covered most of her body.

"Ah, sorry about that…", she nervously stammered, trying to collect herself. "I'm not entirely sure what happened, but I think that was it."

Randy giggled, proud of his work, and ran away. But just before he did so, he made sure to bow to Marc, yielding him the victory.

"Uh, I guess I win.", said Marc, scratching his head. "If, you know, no one else wants to challenge me."

The audience looked around, and collectively chose not to say anything.

"That's it, then!", Sadie said from up in her control booth. "Marc wins the Rap Battle tournament!"

Elizabeth motioned to the side of the stage, and to Jack the Goblin Brawler. He grabbed the handles of a wheelbarrow of Gems, and pushed it up onto the stage.

"Congratulations, Marc!", he said. "Now take your Gems and leave."

Marc reached a giant hand towards the wheelbarrow, and stopped. _Do I really want Gems?, _he thought. _I do not eat. I do not sleep. I have no need for material possessions besides Bomby. Maybe…_

He grabbed the wheelbarrow, lifting it up over his head. "I don't need these.", he said. "You guys can have them."

He flicked the stack of gems high over the head of the crowd, and they all gasped.

"I got it!", Brandy yelled, and Dashed right out of her seat. She spread her arms open wide, slamming into the rain of Gems at high speed. Her Dash shield protected her as she shot through them and to the floor, rolling to a stop. There was a great amount of shouting and struggle, then the rain abruptly ended. Each Troop's eyes flew to their hands, trying to count how many they had managed to catch.

Brandy looked at her arms, and the green glow of the Gems reflected off of her eyes. She had caught 8- no, 12, no- 18 Gems. 18 Gems. That was a good amount.

"Brandy, how many did you get?", came the voice of Dan from behind her. "I didn't try to catch any."

"I caught 18.", said Brandy. "That's a lot, right?"

Dan looked at Brandy's pile, and raised a single eyebrow. "That's not 18. You only caught 9."

"No I didn't.", Brandy said. "Look, 18."

"I think you're seeing double, Brandy.", said Dan. "Are you sure you only had one drink?"

"Pretty sure…", Brandy said, trying to think. "Yeah, just one cup of grassbeer. The green stuff."

"Okay.", said Dan. "I guess you're just-"

He stopped, and realized what Brandy had said. "Wait, the _green _stuff?"

"Yeah.", said Brandy. "Why?"

"Brandy, grassbeer's clear! It's not green! If it's green, that means it's expired!"

Brandy tried to think about that, and she just barely managed to. "Oh.", she said. "Is that… bad?"

Dan shrugged. "Well, not like bad bad. More like just '10 times the strength' bad."

"Is that why I'm drunk?", said Brandy.

"Most likely.", Dan nodded, and picked Brandy up by the waist. "Come on. Let's get back to our seats. I think the next thing is about to start."

"What can we buy with all these gems?", Brandy asked. "Maybe like a…"

"Let's talk about it later.", Dan said. "You probably shouldn't make any important decisions right now."

Sadie shuffled through her notes, trying to find the next event. "Alright everyone, next up is…"

She went faster, trying to find the right paper. Where was it, come on…

"Is…", she muttered, flipping as fast as she could through the stack. "Is…"

With a sigh of relief, she found it. Holding it up to the light, she read clearly into her microphone.

"A Dance Battle!", she said. "Between our very own Rascal siblings and Digb's Guards trio!"

Double, Trouble, and Tim all popped their heads around the stage, and Double blew a large bubble. "Did someone call us?", Trouble asked. "Because we're here, and we already signed our names backstage."

"Onto Jack.", Tim added, smiling at his accomplishment. It hadn't been easy to cover the Goblin Brawler with paint, but they had done it.

"Yeah, yeah, come onstage.", Elizabeth said with a wave. The trio ran up the stairs, and posed.

"We are here as well.", said the Guards, all at the same time. "And ready to dance."

They had suddenly appeared behind Elizabeth, and she jumped when they spoke. She readjusted her microphone, and backed up behind them.

"Okay then.", she said. "Sadie, hit us with some music, and let the dance-off…"

Elizabeth swung her hand downwards, and Sadie flipped a switch. "Begin!"

Song: Canzoni Preferite

The Guards began their dance first. One of them, Ay, flipped his shield onto his head and spun around. The other two, Bee and See, locked spears and spun each other around, then collided elbows and dropped to their knees. Ay crossed his arms in front of himself, while Bee and See stood up and spun around to either side of him. Ay gave a signal, and Bee and See dropped to their knees. Ay backflipped onto Bee and See's shoulders, their weapons and armor balancing off of them in bizarre shapes.

"Nice.", said Double. "But don't think you're even close to winning."

She swung her legs back and forth, doing a moonwalk without going anywhere. She stopped, and snapped her fingers as her arms hung outwards from her body. Slowly bobbing to the right, she stopped, threw her arms out in front of herself, and then crossed her limbs in an X. Placing one arm on her hips, she repeated the snapping move, drifting to the other direction. Slowly waving to the right, Trouble came up behind her.

As Double continued to drift across the stage, snapping her fingers, Trouble began to imitate her moves. The two simultaneously bent both arms upwards, then back down again, then bent at the waist and folded their arms over their knees. Tim looked up, and joined his sisters at the front of the stage.

As the crowd began to cheer and chant along to the song, all three Rascals raised their arms like the wings of a chicken. They slapped them down to their knees, and hopped back and forth in both directions. They leaned back and jutted their arms in front of them, Double sliding both her feet in a split. Trouble slowly unfolded her arms, put them on her hips, and looked upwards to the sky. All three of them jumped sideways across the stage, rhythmically snapping their fingers, then threw their arms upwards, to the front, and behind, tilting their necks up to the sky.

With a large, sweeping movement, all three of them swung their arms in front and to the floor, then spun around and crossed them in a downwards facing X. They all raised their left knee, bringing their arms up to their shoulders, and threw them downwards to their knees, bopping their legs up and down in quick succession. Then with a lightning fast movement, they were back to the finger snapping, going the opposite way across the stage this time. They turned back and crossed arms once more, then Trouble faced the cheering crowd.

"I guess we normally use that one for interrogating people…", she said. "But it works fine as just a regular dance too."

"Yoooo!", shouted a Bull from the back of the room, who was stone drunk and there for some reason. Then he collapsed face-first into a potted plant and was forgotten for the rest of the evening.

"And… the winner of that, I think we all know…", Elizabeth said, "Is our very own Rascals!"

She swung her arm around with each word, riling up the audience more with each movement. "Let's hear it for Double, Trouble, and Tim!"

Double took a bow, and Trouble didn't miss the chance to push her in the back. Double gave a cry as she stumbled forward and almost fell off the stage, before Tim reached out a hand and grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

Double glared at Trouble, and lunged. Tim pulled her back, and grabbed the back of Trouble's shirt as well. Holding them both off the ground as they scrabbled for each other, he huffed, blowing his hair out of his eyes. They always did this.

Tim walked off the stage, and out of sight. Elizabeth pulled her microphone closer to her mouth, and whispered into it. "Sadie, we're going through these faster than we thought. What's the next event?"

"Uh…", Sadie said, flipping through the stack of papers. But as this point, it was far too jumbled to make out, so she just made something up. "The Karaoke contest."

"Are you sure?", Elizabeth said. "Wasn't that supposed to be the last event?"

"Yes, and yes.", Sadie said. "Let's just go through with it."

"If you say so.", Elizabeth whispered, then smiled to the audience. "Alright, it's somehow time already for the next part of the show."

She pointed her finger up into the air, and bent at the knees. "The Karaoke contest!"

Brandy tapped Dan on the shoulder, and he leaned down. "Dan, let's go up there. I want to do it."

"I wanna do it too.", Dan responded. "That's why we came over here, remember?"

"Oh, right.", Brandy said, and tapped her chin. "I forgot."

Dan smiled underneath his helmet, and stood up, knocking over a stack of Goblins that had been about to steal his plume. "Then let's go!"

Elizabeth looked around the audience, searching for volunteers. The Karaoke contest was open, unlike the others which select Troops had preregistered for. But now, there was no shortage of volunteers.

"Okay, we got Brandy and… excuse me, who are you?", Elizabeth said, as her eyes fell on Dan for the first time since he had returned.

"Oh, right.", Dan said, and flipped up his vizor. "I'm Dan. Just a little bigger now."

"I see.", Elizabeth said, and turned her attention back to the crowd. "And there's Brenda and a Musketeer, and Kars and Webert. Alright, that's 6, we can start the first round."

"Meg?", Brandy gasped, and turned to see Brenda and Meg coming up the side of the stage. "Oh, you're Blue now!"

"Does it look good on me?", Meg asked, tapping her fingers together. "The uniform?"

"It looks great!", Brandy said. "You look like you've always been Blue."

Elizabeth stared, dumbfounded. "What are you all talking about?"

"Uh…", Meg started, before Kars broke in.

"This is Meg!", he shouted. "She's a Musketeer, as you can tell if you look! She used to be Red, then she came here for some reason and now she's Blue!"

"Aha.", Elizabeth muttered, then perked up. Even if that was weird and suspicious, there was a show to finish up.

"Sadie.", she whispered into her microphone. "Start the music on my command."

"Understood.", Sadie said up in the tech booth, heating up some noodles. "What's the song, and what's the command?"

"The Song.", Elizabeth whispered. "And don't worry, you'll know."

"Oooookay.", Sadie said, and took a long sip through the straw of her drink. "I guess that's fine."

Elizabeth pointed up into the air and closed her eyes, screaming into the microphone. "Alright everybody! Meet our contestants!"

Then her voice dropped back to normal, and she gave the crowd a low stare. "I mean, you all already know them. But you know what I mean."

The crowd cheered, and Elizabeth gestured to the wings. Several Goblin Stagehands rushed out from either side, distributing a microphone to each singer.

"The rules are simple.", Elizabeth said, strutting from one side of the stage to the other. "All three duos sing a selected song. Once all three have sung, you guys cheer the loudest for whoever you thought did the best."

A Goblin, deep in the dizzy stupor of drunkenness, stood up and screeched at the top of his lungs when he heard the word "cheer". Then he fell down, somehow into the same potted plant as the Bull, and he too laid there unconscious for the rest of the evening.

"Our first team will be Kars and Webert!", Elizabeth yelled with excitement. "Singing a song of their own creation, 'Rage and Bowling Combo!'"

Kars and Webert took center stage, and Sadie flipped a switch. Loud, nonsensical music began to blare from the speakers, and Kars opened his mouth to sing.

"Should I believe it?", he bellowed. Webert stepped up to his side.

"Just believe it!", he sang, a bit more on key than Kar's drunken yell. They bumped up against each other, and sang in harmony.

"Rage… Bowling… Combo!"

The music kicked in harder, and a dozen Goblin backup dancers emerged from the wings, all frantically and randomly throwing their arms in various directions.

"My name is Kars, the user of an aaaaaaaaxxxeee….", Kars said, drawing out the last note. He swung his axe for dramatic effect, the sound of the swing echoing through the microphone and off of the walls. "My card is the Lumberjack, and I work best in a pair!"

"With others, I shine!", he sang, hoisting up his bottle of Rage. "But with a Bowler? Will I be alright?"

The spotlight swung to focus on Webert, who put on an almost overly exaggerated frown.

"I am Webert- I throw a giant baaaaaallll…", he sang, holding up his huge rock. "I'm horribly slow, but I'm going to be very fast!"

He pointed to the sky, and a hologram of a Skeleton Army popped into view. "I'll take down all the swarms! My ball kills them, 100%!"

Kars and Webert swung around to face each other, bumping arms in a manly gesture. They held up an oversized Odds Card, one typically used by bet runners in the Arena.

"That says- that says-", they sang together, "Everything will go our way, right?"

Kars faced the audience, and slapped both hands to his face in an exaggerated gesture of shock. "That's amazing! I can hardly even believe it…"

"Our combo is indisputably good!", Webert sang, waving his hands to get the crowd more excited. "But what will the Arenas decide?"

"Everything will go our way…", Kars sang, and sliced his axe across the floor of the stage. "If only there's no air…"

"And if we fight exactly right!", they sang together, Kars taking a quick gulp of Rage before continuing. "We both believe in it! Rage… and Bowling… Combo!"

"Believe in me, bro!", Webert said, extending a hand.

"Okay! I believe in you!", Kars shouted back, fist bumping it in what sounded like a veritable explosion of thunder. They folded downwards, and dramatically posed.

"Rage… and Bowling… Combo!"

A bunch of Minions flew onstage, diving swoops and swirls around the two's heads. They mocked terror and started to slow-run offstage, still singing as they went.

"Even though our combo is great…", Kars sang.

"The fate of it is still decided in the air!", Webert finished, and the two vanished backstage.

Elizabeth stared, more than just a little shocked at the bizarre display that had just unfolded. She cleared her throat and stepped forward to the front, sweeping her arm out open wide.

"Well, that was certainly...something.", she said. "But hold your applause til the end- we still have two more acts to do. So get ready for Meg and Brenda, with…"

She was expecting music to start blasting from the speakers, but nothing happened. She quickly pulled her microphone up to her mouth, and spoke into it furiously. "Sadie, where's the music?"

Up in the tech booth, Sadie was flipping randomly through piles of records. "Uh...um…", she said. "I'm looking for it!"

"Well, you better find it.", Elizabeth said. "Because-"

A massive bass note blasted out of the speakers, and Elizabeth fell. She blinked and straightened her crown, then looked up to see the speakers physically vibrating with the force of the sound.

"I see you've found something.", she said dryly. "Wonderful."

"I don't even really know what it is.", Sadie said through the mike. "I think it's labeled, uh, am I reading this right? Echoes?"

"Yeah, probably.", Elizabeth said, then stood up. "So get ready for Meg and Brenda-", she shouted again, "With… Echoes!"

Song: Domastic and Anna Yvette- Echoes

As soon as the music picked up, Brenda went on the aggressive. She shot Meg a look from across the stage, and Meg startled a little bit. She wasn't used to this much attention, of any kind. Even her persecutors had gone after her at night, or in a rarely used hallway, or some other secluded place.

"Throw a rock into a pond…", Brenda sang. She had actually quite a good singing voice, with the Phantom having taught her. "Ripples fade away…"

Meg hesitated, not knowing what to do. She didn't know the words of the song, or how to sing, or what to do with her body. But she trusted Brenda, and she would try.

"Human hearts aren't so lucky…", came the words out of her mouth, surprising her. She hadn't consciously sung those words- there was some other force at work. "Love's battle scars remain…"

Brenda began a slow walk towards Meg, staring straight ahead the whole time. Meg almost cowered out of instinct, but found the resolve to stand her ground.

"I'm chasing echoes…", Brenda said, and held out her hand.

In that instant, the Phantom flew from Brenda's head into Meg's. The words of the song appeared plastered across Meg's vision, and she sang with confidence.

"Echoes of your ghost…"

Boldly, Brenda grabbed Meg's arm and pulled her around, their backs touching. Meg's eyes widened, and her face turned red. "Can't let go of the one thing I wanted most… chasing echoes…"

"Brenda, what are you doing?", Meg whispered, not loud enough for the microphones to pick up. "I- I thought you were-"

"Maybe I am.", Brenda slyly whispered back. "But who knows?"

Then she sang, loud and clear. "Echoes of your ghost!"

"La da da da da da…", Meg sang, and spun her arm around. Brenda let herself fall, landing in Meg's arms and almost on the floor. "La da da da da…"

Brenda licked her lips, and brought the microphone to her mouth. "La da da da da da da…"

She briefly Dashed, yanking herself off the floor and threw her arms around Meg, reversing their positions before there was even time to blink. "La da da da da da da da da…"

"What- what are you doing?", Meg whispered. "I don't know about this."

"Don't worry.", Brenda said. "It's fine."

Then the music erupted into a massive burst of sound, and Brenda spun Meg around on one foot. Meg closed her eyes, feeling one of Brenda's hands take her glasses off, and the other support her in a low dip. "Echoes…"

Sadie watched them with great interest. She didn't know who the Musketeer was, but she had barely known Brenda for some time. She didn't really know her- but she did know the dance they were doing was not a "let's dance for fun".

So focused on watching was she, however, that Sadie failed to notice a single Fire Spirit that had snuck into the control booth. He looked around, and saw an interesting looking lever.

Giggling madly to himself, he ran for it, leaving a trail of smoke in his wake. Too late, Sadie noticed. "

"F̷͠҉͝r̴̷̀́͡r̶̸͘͘I̵̵̧ķ̶̴̢͢s̷̵̛͢h̷̡͠i҉̴̕l̡̕ỳ͟͞҉!", she screamed, lunging for the giggling Fire Spirit. "Get away from there!"

F̷͠҉͝r̴̷̀́͡r̶̸͘͘I̵̵̧ķ̶̴̢͢s̷̵̛͢h̷̡͠i҉̴̕l̡̕ỳ͟͞҉ stopped on the control panel, right before hitting the lever. He looked up, covered his mouth with his stubby arms, and giggled.

"Okay, now step away from the lever.", Sadie pleaded, gesturing towards herself. "Nice little Fire Spirit, good little F̷͠҉͝r̴̷̀́͡r̶̸͘͘I̵̵̧ķ̶̴̢͢s̷̵̛͢h̷̡͠i҉̴̕l̡̕ỳ͟͞҉-"

F̷͠҉͝r̴̷̀́͡r̶̸͘͘I̵̵̧ķ̶̴̢͢s̷̵̛͢h̷̡͠i҉̴̕l̡̕ỳ͟͞҉ giggled once more, jumped on the lever, and turned it all the way to max. Now that he was on it, he could see that it read Bass.

"I'm chasing…", Brenda sang, looking into Meg's eyes. "Echoes…"

Meg stared back, transfixed. She couldn't look away. She couldn't move, or think, or even hardly breathe. The intoxicating atmosphere, the song, the way Brenda held her, it all combined to turn Meg into putty. "Echoes…", Brenda sang again, and drew closer. "Echoes of your-"

The speakers erupted in a titanic blast of pure sound, augmented by the bass boost provided by F̷͠҉͝r̴̷̀́͡r̶̸͘͘I̵̵̧ķ̶̴̢͢s̷̵̛͢h̷̡͠i҉̴̕l̡̕ỳ͟͞҉ and his antics. The song ended as the speakers broke down, Meg and Brenda both falling to the stage. The crowd both screamed and cheered, several of them instantly losing consciousness.

Meg blinked and shook her head, the spell broken. Brenda picked her up off the stage, and handed back her glasses. "Uh, sorry about that. Didn't quite know where I was going there."

"No, no, it's fine.", Meg said, and Brenda raised an eyebrow. "I- well, I think I liked it."

"Oh, you did?", Brenda asked, and the Phantom appeared behind her from the mental and emotional activity. "Well…"

She put her arm around Meg, who tried, and failed, not to blush. "Come on, Meg. After the contest is over, I'll go buy you a drink."

"I'd like that, thanks.", Meg said, brushing her hair behind her ears. "Let's do that."

While they had been talking, Bob the Builder had already fixed the speakers. With one last whack of his magic hammer, he grunted in age-old approval and gave a thumbs-up to Elizabeth.

"Okay, everyone, we're ready to begin!", she shouted, and pointed towards Brandy and Dan. "Please, everyone, give a great big hand to our third group, I'm sure you all know them, Brandy and Dan!"

Dan stepped out into the middle of the stage, and slammed his foot forwards in an intimidating pose. Brandy Dash-flipped onto his shoulder, and struck one of her own.

"Their song will not be revealed until it starts to play!", Elizabeth said. "You know, for fun. But don't worry you two, I'm sure you both know it."

She pointed up to the ceiling, and gave a big wink towards the control booth. Sadie knew, as sure as the two Princesses were sisters, that that was the signal.

"Here goes.", she breathed to herself, and slid in a single, dusty record. With a flip of the switch, the speaker system came to life, and the song began.

Song: Be my Lover

"Holy frick, I love this song!", Brandy screamed, as the first few iconic notes echoed across the room. It had been her favorite ever since it had started to be played on the radio, when the gods had announced Star Levels almost a year and a half ago. Brandy stood there for a second, soaking in the warm, rich notes, until she remembered that it was a karaoke contest, and that she had to sing. "Ah, sorry.", she said to no one in particular. "I'm just a little drunk, ha ha."

"La da da dee da da da da…", Brandy hummed, sliding down from Dan's shoulder. "La da da dee da La da da da dee da La da da dee da da da da da…"

She took a step forward, then swung back into Dan's arms. She looked up at him, and smiled.

A sudden burst of confetti fell outwards from the ceiling, showering the wowed audience in sparkles of blue.

"Be my lover, wanna be my lover…", Brandy sang, running her fingers up Dan's hand.

The song swelled, and Dan grabbed Brandy by the waist. Passion surged deep within him, fighting for some way to be released.

"Looking back on all the time we spent together- you oughta know by now if you wanna be my lover, wanna be my lover…", Brandy sang again, letting herself be embraced by Dan's immense arms. "Go ahead and take your time boy, you gotta be secure, before you make me mine, baby, you have to know you're sure, wanna be my lover, lover, lover…"

Dan decided that it was his turn to sing. He brought the microphone up to his mouth, channeling some Star energy into the space in front of his face. He hoped it would make his voice sound better. "La da da dee da da da da, la da da dee da da da da...", he sang, looking down at Brandy. Even though the audience was cheering loudly, Dan ignored them. In the moment, he could hear nothing but her.

"La da da dee da, la da da da dee da, la dee da da da da da…", they sang together, in perfect harmony. Golden light ran off of Dan's back, excess from the sheer emotion he had built up inside of him. Several moments passed where they should have been singing something else, but they were too locked up in each other to notice, until the seconds had gone. But Dan noticed in time for the next verse to start, and lowered his microphone to his face.

"I must confess, my thief, yes, I wanna be your lover, take a chance my love is like no other, on the dance floor getting down, hold tight I'll never let you go! My love is strong as it can be, I went from boy to man on bended knee, loving you all over, yes I wanna be your lover.", he rapped in one long breath, golden trails leaking from his mouth due to the exertion of oxygen.

Brandy breathed in, and a single blue light flickered behind her head, invisible to all but three. "I hear what you say, I hear what you do, I know everything I need to know about you! And I want you to know that it's telling me -"

She jumped up, onto his arm shoulder, wrapped herself around his neck, and hung there, staring directly into Dan's face. "I wanna be your lover."

"La da da dee da da da da, la da da dee da da da da, la da da dee da la da da da dee da, la dee da da da da da…", they again sang in harmony, and Brandy dropped to the floor. She spun around on her hands and knees, Dan booming out loud with his enormous voice.

Brandy closed her eyes, and swung out on her knees to the front of the stage. She continued to harmonize with Dan, trying to hit the last few notes of her favorite song just right.

"A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover… A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover… A ha ye heyee wanna be my lover… A ha ye heyee…"

The last few notes of the song faded away, leaving Brandy and Dan exhausted. "Be my lover… please?", Brandy whispered, just loud enough for the microphone to pick up. Dan looked down, and nodded. "Yes.", he said.

The crowd erupted into applause, and Elizabeth let out a loud whoop. Dan lifted Brandy to his face, and stared deep into her eyes. _Now, _he thought. _Let's do it._

Brandy understood immediately. _Let's, _she thought back, and they both leaned in for their kiss.

They drew closer to each other, and Elizabeth squealed with excitement. Far across the room, Terrence happened to look up. Nearly spitting out his cinnamon roll, he quickly elbowed Valia, who looked up as well. She, too, dropped her cake.

Oticat was across the room as well, but he did not look up. He was too busy trying to get wine stains out of his beard. For whatever reason.

Dan and Brandy were within mere inches of each other, when a stray bit of Star decided to make its move. It leapt from Dan's metal armor to Brandy's bare skin with a sharp crack, and her head snapped backwards. The crowd gasped, until Brandy gave a random thumbs up. She looked up, the shock of the electricity having blown her hood down. Brandy's hair stood a full 6 inches off of her head, the static rendering it a massive puffball.

_Shoot, that didn't work, _Dan thought. _Should we-_

_No, _Brandy thought back. _Remember, we do need it to be as romantic as possible. _

_Right, _Dan replied.

Elizabeth cleared her throat, and stepped forward to the front of the stage. "Well alright, everyone!", she shouted, and the crowd leaned forward on the edge of their seats. "I'm gonna just wave my hand over-"

She looked at the size of Webert and Dan, and realized that with her height of just 4'3, there was no way she could do that.

"I mean, wave my hand towards, each group, and you guys cheer the loudest for whoever you think won! Ready, go!"

Elizabeth gestured towards Kars and Webert, who had gotten back onto the stage. "Was it Kars and Webert, with Rage and Bowling Combo?"

The crowd cheered loud, but not overly so. They had been funny and entertaining, but their song had been kind of terrible. And they couldn't sing.

Elizabeth waved her hand towards an empty space. It was where Meg and Brenda would have been, if they hadn't let for the bar almost immediately after their song. "Was it Brenda and Meg, with Echoes?"

The crowd cheered louder. Both of them had sung very well, and the sheer electricity of what seemed to be their burgeoning relationship was almost palpable. Most of the audience had been thrilled by it, save one old, homophobic Goblin in the back.

"Or was it…", Elizabeth asked, and bent at the knees. She threw her hand towards Dan and Brandy, still posing. "Dan and Brandy, with Be my Lover?"

For a moment, the crowd went silent, and Brandy's heart dropped. Had they done badly? Why was no one cheering for them? Were-

But her questions broke apart and faded, as the entire audience, even the old Goblin, erupted into a standing ovation that echoed off the roof. For a brief moment, no one could hear anything but the wall of sound from the deafening applause. Elizabeth shouted something that was lost entirely, then bent down into her duffle bug. She withdrew a pair of small trophies, which she held in front of Brandy and Dan.

Finally, the crowd quieted down, and returned to their seats. Dan took one of the trophies, and Brandy the other. They were polished so sharply, Brandy could almost use it as a mirror. So she decided to do so- pushing her hair behind her ear, rubbing off a bit of frosting that had gotten onto her cheek, seeing the checkered top hat behind her-

Brandy turned around in shock. There, behind her on the stage, sat God. He appeared not to notice her, and took a sip of tea.

"You- what are you doing here?", Brandy asked. "Is there something wrong?"

"No, no, nothing wrong.", God said. "I was just checking up on how you were doing. And I'm glad."

"Of… what?", Brandy asked. "What did I-"

God suddenly went from sitting to standing, with a firm hand on Brandy's shoulder. "You won.", he said.

"The- the karaoke contest? What does that matter?"

"No, not that. Although I suppose you did win that too. But what I'm talking about is far more important."

All around her, Brandy could see everyone and everything slowly grind to a halt. She realized that God must have stopped time, and put all her effort into listening to what he was going to say next.

"I was… curious about whether you were going to successfully pull out of it or not.", he said, and took another sip. "Of course I thought that you would, but I was not quite sure. And judging from this evening's events, I say that you have, for the most part, moved beyond your trauma."

"I did?", Brandy asked. "But… I still have all the memories. Of what happened."

God nodded. "Yes, you will remember. The scars of what happened to you will never truly fade away. But with any luck, it will affect you no longer."

He sat down again, and slung his teapot and cup behind him into nothing. "The experience has changed you, that much is undeniable."

He started to flicker in and out of reality, and a sound like a slowly snapping rubber band came from everywhere at once as time started to flow once more. "But in time, I'll think you'll find…"

He winked, and tipped his hat. "That it has changed you for the better."

Then he was gone, as time and the stage went back to normal. Brandy almost fell forward, but Dan caught her just before she hit the floor.

"Okay, who's ready to dance?", Elizabeth shouted, and the crowd got more excited. "Sadie, hit that music!"

Up in the control booth, Sadie flipped a switch with all the grandiosity she could muster, and sat back down. It was the final switch of the night.

Song: Dancin (Kronos Remix)

The song came thumping through the bass speakers, and Elizabeth gestured to Dan and Brandy. "Come on, lead them.", she whispered. "Whoever wins the contest gets to lead the audience in dancing. It's tradition."

"Uh, okay.", Brandy said, and listened to the music, trying to find the right dance for it.

"Dan, how do we dance to this song?", she whispered, and Dan shrugged.

"I don't know.", he said. "Maybe we just…"

He tried to kick out his legs, and some members of the crowd kicked along with him. But nothing else much happened.

"Sway.", came the voice of the Phantom in Brandy's ear. "Just sway."

Brandy's eyes widened in shock, and she looked behind her shoulder. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Brenda give her a wide smile and a big thumbs up.

And Brandy swayed. Holding her arms above her head, she started to sway back and forth, bent at the knees. Dan noticed her, and started to do the same thing. The synchronized movement picked up momentum in the crowd, as more and more Troops began to sway back and forth. Kars and Webert started to sway, as odd of an image as that was.

The Ratzo brothers, in the audience, held their Ram above their heads and swayed back and forth. Agatha and Bowza, even across the room, held hands and did the dance as well. Dozens of members of the audience, all swaying as one, followed Brandy's every move. She smiled, and a single tear of joy dripped its way down her cheek. And then, out of the blue, she knew it. She knew that right here, right now, with the atmosphere of celebration surrounding her like a warm, comforting blanket, with her best friend turned lover by her side, that after so much trauma and pain, she had at last found happiness. It wasn't the cheap, fragile peace that she had taken for granted before the whole thing started. No, this was real joy, born of victory, and progression, and above all, love.

And so it was that the dance escalated into levels never before seen, and Brandy danced the rest of the night away, surrounded by her friends and loved ones, free from pain at last.

Far away, over the Clash ocean

Hailizi flew over the water, lost in thought. It had been quite some time since she had left her village, and they had to be missing her by now. Her time as a trainer and trainee at the Star encampment had helped her more than she had ever thought possible, but it was time to go back now. Oh well. At least she had been able to help one more poor soul before she had left. Dan's friend, the Bandit. She had been suffering from such a damaged mind-

Halizi stopped. She floated in midair, and realized what a terrible mistake she had made.

"When… when I saw that she was pregnant, I-", Hailizi thought aloud, realizing what she had done- or, more accurately, forgotten to do. "I just focused on her body. I didn't heal her mind. No, I…"

She grabbed her head in her hands, wondering how she could possibly have been so stupid. "I automatically pushed all of her negative feelings deep down into her. All her fear, all her guilt, all her Rage… it's condensing inside of her."

Hailizi swallowed hard, and looked toward the horizon. To her Healer vision, the Continent of the Clans appeared as a green smudge on the edge of the water, even though it was actually quite close- only 30 miles away. "But I have to get home now.", she said. "I'm sure nothing bad will happen…"

She flew away faster, praying silently to anyone who would listen. "I hope."

Even further away, in an evil place

Song: Un'altra Persona

Grrshknn stood over a control panel, its seemingly infinite depths flickering with dark lights. Dozens of appendages, tentacles of shadow, ran over it, tapping readouts and pulling switches.

"I thank you, TheBaldBalancer, for telling me of the situation.", he rumbled, addressing the Red King that sat somewhere behind him.

"It was really the least I could do.", TheBaldBalancer said, taking another look around the otherworldly room. "When I came back from vacation to discover my entire Clan dead, I knew that you would be the one to tell."

"Yes, I was quite busy.", Grrshknn replied. "Without your information, I wouldn't know what to do next."

"Ah, about that…", TheBaldBalancer said, and Grrshknn turned a single feeler towards him. "What are you going to do next? I'm just wondering."

"What am I going to do next?", Grrshknn asked. He looked up, dark lightning building around the bottom of his cloud of mist. "I have entrusted this job to my minions so far. However, as you can see, they have failed me."

His feelers withdrew, and Grrshknn drew himself together into the shape of a snaggletoothed bear. "So I'm going to do it myself."

TheBaldBalancer swallowed. To be in the presence of such overwhelming power was frightening, to say the least. He knew that if he said the wrong thing, it might be his death.

"I see.", he said, trying to play it safe, and Grrshknn raised a single paw. TheBaldBalancer flinched, but Grrshknn only smiled. "Go back to your home, King.", he said. "Build something new out of it."

TheBaldBalancer bowed his head and vanished by Grrshknn's spell, leaving the demon alone.

"So, they want to defy me.", he said quietly, and dark spikes jutted out of his back. "They wish to defy _me, _Grrshknn, the great slaughterer, eater of monarchs, breaker of worlds!"

He reared up on his hind legs, and focused on LosDementosCT's Clan Castle in his mind. With impossible precision, he started to fold and weave the fabrics of reality, making the beginnings of a portal. "They may be powerful, but even they are not strong enough to withstand the world-shattering might of Grrsk-"

Song: Arrest the President (instrumental)

Grrshknn stopped, and let his paws fall. His bear form dissolved altogether, fading back into a dark cloud. He could feel the intense bass of a theme all too familiar to him, one that was played wherever He went.

Grrshknn slowly turned around, and saw a tall figure in black armor looming over him, arms folded, a curious leer on his lips.

"Lord- Lord-", Grrshknn squeaked, and bowed. "Lord Blackness!"

The demon lord known only as Blackness stared for a few more seconds, then let out a low chuckle. He ruffled Grrshknn's forehead, and let him look up.

"Grrshknn, what did I tell you about this mission?", he asked, almost like a father scolding his child.

"That- that I couldn't interfere personally, Lord Blackness.", Grrshknn said, his voice trembling with fear. "That I had to do it only by my minions."

"Very good, Grrshknn!", Blackness said. "That is correct. So tell me, then…"

He leaned in close to Grrshknn's ear, causing him to let out an involuntary shiver. "Why were you just about to go after them yourself?"

"I-", Grrshknn said, and squeezed his eyes shut. "My minions couldn't do it, sir. I made some bad calculations, and now they're all dead."

Grrshknn braced himself for a mighty blow- that never came. Instead, Blackness just reared back his head and laughed, his long curled hair blowing in an invisible breeze. "Did you forget that you're a demon, Grrshknn?", he said. "To you and I, raising the dead should be easy!"  
"Oh.", Grrshknn said. For some odd reason, he had entirely forgotten that he could do that. "Well, I guess I did."

Blackness rose up into the air again. "Then do it, my student. Raise your minions to fight once more. Take the girl's soul, for me."

He pulled one fist up into the air, gathering strings of the deepest red. "And let the Crimson King be…"

He vanished, leaving behind echoes of sinister drumbeats and the smell of dark nothing. "Reborn."

,


	10. Chapter 10

It was a lovely sunrise.

Song: Morning Mood

Pure golden sunlight spilled in through the stained glass windows of Oticat's castle, covering the walls and floor in rich greens and blues. The joyful chirps of songbirds floated through the air, and the smell of sunflowers wafted through the peaceful halls.

After the party had ended, somewhere around 3:58 in the morning, and a few hours after Brandy had passed out on Dan's shoulder, Oticat and SpaceKrakenX had quietly figured out a way to use the teleportation pads to bring everyone back to their respective castles. None of them had realized it, of course, because they were all asleep.

Brandy, sprawled out upside down on her bed, slowly became aware of her own consciousness. It was an odd feeling, yes, yet still one that everyone went through every morning. She had been having a bit of an odd dream- one where there was some sort of party, and there were many, many people. She had been… dancing? In front of a huge audience, with Dan by her side- she thought. The dream was fading now, giving way to a splitting headache.

"Oh…", Brandy moaned, and sat up. Her hood fell off her head, revealing a huge poofy ball of hood hair. "What even happened last night?"

Brushing her stray hair out her eyes, Brandy's gaze fell upon the back of her hand. There looked to be some sort of marking, but it was too faded to make out in its entirety. There looked to be a 7, a 9, and a 12, but the rest of it was too worn to read.

Brandy rolled out of bed, sliding into her boots where they were waiting on the floor. The same thing happened every morning, but this time it felt… different somehow. Like she was bigger, without actually being so. Stronger, in some way, although Brandy couldn't imagine why.

Rubbing her eyes, she saw a small, green and yellow bird perching on her windowsill. It chirped twice, then pecked at the brick.

"You…", Brandy said, pointing at it. "I remember you. You show up a lot."

The bird tilted its head in a 90 degree angle, and squeaked. "Whatcha doin?", it said, and fluffed its feathers until it was round.

Brandy was a little taken aback. The small bird had just spoken to her. "You can talk?", she asked in amazement, and slowly drew slightly closer. "What are you?"

The bird bobbed its head, and closed its eyes. "Budgie.", it said. "Budgie, budgie, budgie, budgie."

"I've never heard of a Budgie before…", Brandy breathed. "Where did you come from?"

She took another step, and the Budgie suddenly opened up its eyes again. It noticed how close Brandy had gotten, and instantly slimmed down in fear. Before Brandy could make another move, it turned and hopped off the windowsill, flying off into the morning light.

Brandy frowned, and stepped back from the window. Whatever the small bird was, she would have to find out later. Maybe someone from the library would know. But for now, it was time to head downstairs. She could smell breakfast cooking…

The snoring of Dan was tremendous. Even from the next room over, it could still be heard like a chainsaw, splitting through logs like a Pekka on Rage. Fortunately, however, Dan's left neighbor was Kars, and he slept through anything. Even right then, he was sleeping on his back, bottle of Rage in one hand and axe in the other, somehow barely holding on to both.

Dan's neighbor on the right was Bowza, who was actually having quite a bit of trouble sleeping. For although he could control his senses at will, using that ability to block out Dan's snoring, he was just a little worried.

_Something's coming, _he thought. _I can feel it in the air._

Floating above his bed in mystic meditation, Bowza appeared calm on the outside. But on the inside, he was anything but. _I_ _can taste it upon the wind._

He absentmindedly ran his fingers up and down his bow, his fingertips tracing patterns even older than the Arenas. A worried frown creased his face, and his brows knit with tension. He could sense that something was upon the horizon- something big. But for the life of him, he just could not tell what it was…

Dan opened his eyes automatically, as the clock struck 8:00. The time had been drilled into him as the time to wake up by his time training, and his biological clock had learned fast. It had only been a day since he had left, so it had not even begun to wear off. He groaned and sat up, causing the entire front part of the bed to bend over and break.

_Man, how do Giants manage being so big?, _he wondered. _Everything just seems so tiny. And I break stuff._

He stood up, and the bed automatically snapped back into place with a neat _twang. _Dan looked behind him, and realized that _that_ was how Giants managed it.

His stomach roared unexpectedly, another side effect of being big. Dan estimated that he had to eat at least 40000 calories every day, or he would faint. And so far, he had eaten nothing.

Dan took a deep sniff, and a memory flickered on the edge of his mind. It was of him and Brandy, on some sort of stage. They were… dancing? And for some reason, an entire crowd of Troops was dancing in front of them. Was that what had happened at the party last night? Dan couldn't remember anything that had happened past just a few minutes in.

But such thoughts were best to be left for later. For now, it was time to go downstairs and eat.

Meg woke up face down on a couch in the entry room, her helmet on her back and her cloak wrapped around her left arm. She blinked, seeing nothing but dark blue fabric. She reached out one arm experimentally, and by chance grabbed her gun by the hilt.

She used it to push herself upwards, looking out bleary-eyed across the nearly empty room. There was a single Fire Spirit swaying back and forth in some sort of ancient dance, but Meg was the only other one in the room.

"What… happened?", she muttered, raising one hand to her forehead to try and block out a growing headache. But as she did so, she happened to see some sort of marking on the back of her hand.

"What the…", Meg mumbled, and turned her hand over to look. It was still sort of shaking, although not enough to stop her from reading. It said "Meg, 7. Brandy, 9. Brenda, 12."

"What? What does that mean…", Meg wondered out loud, then looked up and saw herself in a mirror. Her sight went to the level of her shoulder patch, where her level was proudly displayed, and then everything suddenly made sense. No longer did it read 3. No longer was she just a poor, helpless minimum level Musketeer, barely even able to fight for herself. No, Oticat had gotten custody of her during the night, and had enough spare Musketeer Cards in order to raise Meg to a glorious- well, not quite glorious, but respectable- yes, respectable level 7.

"Hey Meg, what's up?", came the voice of Brandy from the stairs, and Meg instinctively sat up at attention.

"Uh, nothing.", Meg responded. "Nothing at all. I just barely woke up."

"Oh. Cool.", Brandy responded. "Me too."

She turned towards the kitchen, making a quick gesture that was just a little Dash-boosted, and thus too quick for Meg to see. "Yeah, I was just gonna go grab a bite to eat. You wanna eat?"

"I…", Meg said, and smiled weakly. "I'd love that, thanks."

She stood up, and nearly tripped on where Jack the Goblin Brawler lay sprawled across the floor. He was still dead-out drunk, and thus did not even notice, but Meg nearly fell to the floor before Brandy Dashed across the room and caught her.

"Sorry about that, Brandy.", Meg found herself apologizing. "I just-"

"You don't have to apologize for that, Meg.", Brandy said. "You just tripped. You didn't do anything wrong."

"Oh.", Meg said. "Right."

She got back up, and the two kept on walking into the kitchen.

"Hey, Brandy. Hey, Meg.", said Dan, who was somehow already there. "What's up?"

"The sky.", said Brandy automatically, before sitting down. "What's up with you?"

Dan had been about to say something, before Brandy had hit him with the "the sky" retort. But he lost in his throat, and just sat there awkwardly for a second before he remembered what it was.

"Yeah, uh, do you remember anything from last night?", Dan asked. "I think there was this huge party, but I can't quite remember."

A little more of Brandy's memory clicked into place, but not really anything that she could get a grip on. "Oh yeah, there _was _a party.", she said. "I thought there might have been one, but I couldn't quite remember. And we were… dancing?"

"Yeah, I think we were.", Dan said. "But not with each other."

"Oh, no.", Brandy said. "Yeah, we weren't doing that."

They each expected the other to say anything, but neither of them did. So they just sat for a moment, feeling the tension of the moment slowly heat up. There wasn't really a lot, but it still increased, all the same.

"Good morning, everyone.", came the voice of Oticat, as he strode in through the Official Kingly Double Doorknob© that he had had installed last night for some reason. Sadie and Elizabeth flanked him on either side, both their bows at the ready, but still frantically getting ready to go everywhere else. Oticat slapped his hands down at a random table, and looked up with an excited grin. "Who's ready to Battle?"

Brandy and Meg exchanged a glance. Meg's was nervous, but Brandy's was full of excitement. Dan looked up, and bits of Star flickered around his arms at the prospect of finally, after so much time away, fighting in the Arena.

"I'm ready.", said Brandy. "Meg?"

"Uh… not right now.", said Meg, and pushed herself further away from the table. "I'm underleveled, besides. If you want to use a Musketeer, you should really use Kelly."

Kelly was the name of Oticat's first Musketeer, who was 2 levels higher than Meg was.

"Yes.", said Oticat in agreement. "But I'm not going to be using Musketeer this time around."

"Who's going?", Dan asked, slamming his formidable bulk onto the ground next to where Oticat was talking.

"Well…", said Oticat, and his face lit up. "You, and Brandy, and Agatha, and Bowza, and the Ratzo Brothers, and Randy, and Webert, and The Log. Just like old times."

For a brief moment, Brandy was lost in thought, remembering Oticat's old decklist. It, against all odds, actually was a very good deck. Even though it was almost as far from meta as it could be, it still somehow managed to work.

"Yeah…", Brandy sighed. "Just like old times."

Meg cleared her throat, and stood up. "Uh, I'm gonna go find a room.", she said. "I mean- my room. Or a room that could potentially be mine. Maybe I'll just share a room with someone else."

"That's fine, Meg.", said Oticat. "But I have something better."

He tossed her a single key, which Meg just barely managed to catch. She looked at it, seeing a musket lightly engraved on one side and an M on the other. "Is this…"

"Yes.", said Oticat with a smile. "That is the key to your own room. Floor 3, Room Number 7, on the far left. I had Jo build it for you last night."

Meg's lip slightly quivered, but she managed to keep herself under control for now. "Thank you, Oticat.", she said. "Thank you for everything."

She ran upstairs, key jingling in hand, trying not to let anyone see the tears of happiness starting to flow.

Brandy watched her go. She was glad that Meg had managed to survive. She was such an innocent soul, that it would have been a tragedy if-

Her thoughts were interrupted by the slam of Webert sitting next to her. "Hey, what's all this about a battle?", he asked.

"We're going to go do one.", Oticat said, and slammed his fist down onto the table. "You're part of the decklist. Just like old times."

Webert gave a wide grin, and slammed his fist down onto the table as well. It was a far larger blow than Oticat's had been. "Fantastic, sir."

Sadie tied her bow around her back, and looked towards the door. "Should I go get everyone, Dad?", she asked. "I don't think everyone's awake yet."

"Yes, that would be wonderful.", said Oticat. "You do that."

As Sadie and Elizabeth ran off, Dan stood up and stretched. Faint vestiges of something flickered at the back of Brandy's mind, but nothing that she could really get a grip on. They felt… red. But not the Red of Red kings- this was more of a natural, non-offensive red. She wasn't quite sure what it was.

Meg, upstairs, finally came to her room. It was unadorned, bursting with the promise of the future. With trembling hands, she took the key and slid it into the keyhole, where it popped it open with a satisfying _click_. Excitedly, Meg pushed open the door, looked inside, and gasped.

Her new room was beautiful, far more spacious than her old one had been. Instead of a cramped bottom bunk, there was an entire sheltered bed against one wall. Instead of a dresser hardly larger than a Goblin, there was an entire bureau taller than Meg was. Instead of a cracked hand mirror stapled to the wall, there was an entire picture mirror, cascading down from the wall like a silver river. And instead of drab, dark, moth-eaten walls and carpet, the sides and bottom of her room shone with bright blue bricks and a thick shaggy floor.

She threw herself onto her bed, and breathed in the rich scent of clean fabric. There was no one to burn her blankets, or steal her mattress, or tip or bed upside down and force her to sleep in the hall. Today, the rest of her life began.

For some reason, Meg found herself pulling out her communicator. But to her surprise, this was not the new one that had come with her Blue uniform. This was her old one, that she had when she was Red. _Weird… I thought I got rid of this one, _she thought. _Oh well._

She scrolled aimlessly through it, deleting the numbers of everyone she had left behind.

_LeChris? Yeah, you never cared about me. Deleted!, _she thought with a devious smile.

_Ava? Being 10 levels higher than me doesn't help you now, huh?, _she thought, remembering just one of the Musketeers she had been forced to share a room with. _Deleted!_

_Valeyrie? Hope you enjoyed the last time I had to "help" you, cause I'm never doing that again!, _Meg thought, remembering all the times Valeyrie had forced her to be the Valkyrie's plaything. "Deleted!", she whispered under her breath, and slammed her thumb down on the button.

_Bailey? I…, _she thought, then stopped. Bailey had been the only Troop that had been nice to her. Friendly, even. Strangely, a sharp pain of longing struck Meg's heart, and she looked up into nothing.

_Oh, I do miss you, _she realized. _Bailey… I wish you survived._

She blinked back sudden tears, and again looked at the number. Her sadness was compounded when she saw that Bailey's profile picture was in fact a quick selfie of her and Meg, snapped during the dinner. _I wish you were here to see me. And see this. I bet… you would have turned Blue too._

Meg's thumb wandered around the screen, then hovered over the Call button. _I think I'll call you… for old time's sake._

She pressed the button, knowing full well that no one was going to pick up. She let it ring- once, twice, three times. Even though there was no way anyone would answer, Meg still felt disappointment that no one had answered. But it was nothing compared to her total shock when on the fourth ring, someone did.

Song: Dark Rebirth

Shadows flickered around the crumbled castle of TheEvilOverLords. Insects crawled through the broken stone, looking for any stray bits of lost Elixir to lap up. But even as they did so, some of their number fell prey to the lurking darkness, crushed into bits and carried off to parts unknown. Haunted whispers echoed through the shattered halls, echoes of evil persisting long after they were whispered.

In the corner of what had once been the Grand Ballroom, a single claw appeared out of shadow. It was the first real movement that the site had seen in weeks, and the latent darkness crawled back in shock. But the horde of minor demons concentrated in droves once they saw who it was.

"Ryusei_Nakao69?", came the voice of Grrshknn, as he pulled himself into regular reality. "It's time."

There was no answer, save the excited chittering of the shadows.

"He's dead, Grrshknn.", came the voice of Blackness from somewhere else. "You have to bring him back before you can speak to him."

"Oh, right…", Grrshknn said. "I forgot."

He raised a hand, and the darkness began to swirl into the center of the room. Purple lightning flashed all across the spiral, and dark crimson strands flowed from all directions. They concentrated in the center of the room, and began to shape themselves into the figure of a man.

"It seems you've got the hang of it.", said Blackness. "I shall leave you to that. For now, I've got to go… take care of something."

Then he was gone, leaving behind the sensation of hatred, and the chase.

Grrshknn continued his work, dropping most of the impressive special effects that he had put in order to get more respect from his master. The spiral and lightning had vanished, and only the crimson strands remained. As they finally finished the figure's shoulders and built up the top of his head, the reborn figure gasped. He fell forward to the ground, as the finishing touches were applied to his new, barely human form.

"Ryusei_Nakao69.", said Grrshknn, and the King looked up. "How are you feeling today?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 coughed violently, expelling a splatter of blood from his still forming lungs. He shakily looked up, and bowed as soon as he saw who was talking.

"Lo- Lord Grrshknn.", he said. "What… what happened?"

"You were killed.", Grrshknn said. "For weeks you floated through eternity, until I thought that the time was right to bring you back."

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked at his hands, his scarred skin crackling with crimson string. "For weeks, I was in that… place.", he mumbled to himself, not really hearing what Grrshknn had been saying. "That horrible, lawful-"

"I said I brought you back, you fool!", Grrshknn thundered, and Ryusei_Nakao69 cowered against the floor. "Now listen to your master!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 hit the floor, not daring to make any movement beyond trembling. "And I listen, my lord."

"Good.", Grrshknn grunted. "Yes, the information that your friend gave me was quite beneficial. Without him, I may have never found out what had transpired."

"My… friend?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "What do you mean?"

"Good morning, Ryus.", came the voice of TheBaldBalancer, from the corner of the room.

Ryusei_Nakao69 didn't dare to look up. He certainly wanted to, but Grrshknn had not yet told him that he could. "TheBaldBalancer? Is that you?"

"It is, Ryus.", TheBaldBalancer said.

Grrshknn flicked one claw into the air, and Ryusei_Nakao69 knew that the gesture granted him permission to stand. He creakily got up, and saw his old friend coming towards him.

"You came back.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and the two shook hands. "Just in the nick of time."

"Once I heard what had happened, I decided my vacation was at an end.", TheBaldBalancer replied. "It was a hard, long road to get back home, but-"

He shrugged. "The hardest choices require the strongest wills."

"That they do.", Grrshknn rumbled, and stroked the air with a claw. "Now go. Ryusei and I have… much to discuss."

"Yes, my lord.", TheBaldBalancer said politely, and bowed. He turned to walk away, and was gone within seconds. Grrshknn's evil magic had sent him to the far end of the castle, making sure that he could disturb the conversation that was about to take place.

"Ryusei_Nakao69!", Grrshknn bellowed, and the King cowered. "You have been my loyal follower for much time. Even in death, you still served my purposes. And now, I have given you another chance. To prove yourself, and be beneficial to me one last time."

_One last time?, _thought Ryusei_Nakao69 with worry. He did not like the sound of that.

"Your current mission has not yet been completed.", Grrshknn roared. "Bring me the girl- the Bandit, and you shall be greatly rewarded."

But as Grrshknn bellowed his commands, Ryusei_Nakao69 was only half listening.

Song: Fight to Antagonize

He had had a long time to think, when he was dead. For weeks, he had been exposed to a curious sort of light, a strange sort of goodness. It had rubbed off of him, slowly scraping away bit by the thick coating of evil that surrounded his soul.

As Grrshknn continued to outline the plan, Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up. For the first time in months, the deep red that had coated his eyes began to lighten, and the long black scars below his eyes looked just a little shallower.

"Don't call me that.", he said, surprising even himself.

Grrshknn stopped in the middle of a sentence, and looked down at the King. "What?", he said.

"Don't call me Ryusei_Nakao69.", said the King. "That is not my name."

A small bit of pure black fire started to rise up on Grrshknn's spine. "Oh really?", he purred menacingly. "Then what is it?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 clenched his fist, and stared up at his demonic master. A tiny bit of good flickered into his long-depraved eyes. "I'm done following you, Grrshknn. I'm done taking orders."

Grrshknn reared up in utter shock. No one, not in thousands of years, had ever dared to defy him in this way. "Are you now, mortal? I think you've forgotten where you stand."

"No.", said Chrisintheair. "I've remembered it."

Digging deep inside of himself, he gathered all the power that remained. A shining red rope appeared around his arm, snapping into place with a shower of red sparks. His mind and memories opened, letting out every memory of every Troop he had ever caught. Every individual, unique, wonderful person that he had destroyed. Especially the first.

"This is for all the Troops you forced me to slaughter over the years.", he said defiantly, and Grrshknn flinched. Chrisintheair's eyes flashed, and he raised his fist to attack.

"This is for Penny!"

But as he leapt forward, red energy sparkling around him, Grrshknn simply sighed.

Song: Un'Altra Persona

As if the world was in slow motion, Grrshknn raised a single finger. A dark bolt of demonic strength leapt from his outstretched claw into Chrisintheair's chest, sending him flying backwards against the wall. Grrshknn pulled himself up to his full height of 84 feet, and roared with all the might and malice he could muster.

"HAVE YOU FORGOTTEN WHO YOU SERVE, INSOLENT MORTAL?", Grrshknn erupted, shaking the Castle with the strength of his anger. Thick ribbons of pure darkness ran from all directions, scraping stone off the sides of the Castle. "YOU ARE MY TOOL! YOU ARE MY PUPPET, AND TO SAY OTHERWISE IS FOLLY!"

He slammed his hand downwards, and it poured into Chrisintheair's head with a mighty crash of sound. The King's entire body convulsed with the power, his mind besieged by Grrshknn's overwhelming will. Ryusei_Nakao69 cried out in pain, then fell limp.

"YOU SERVE ME!", Grrshknn bellowed, then withdrew his arm. "Do not forget it."

"I…", said Ryusei_Nakao69, now filled to near bursting with the energy of demons. "I won't forget it, master."

He stood up from the wreckage, and looked up. "Please, tell me what I can do."

"Well.", Grrshknn said. "I suppose we can start with the plan."

He gestured with a tentacle of shadow, and an image of Brandy appeared, floating in the room.

"When I first gave you this assignment, I gave you one month. Any time in that month after you got her, you could use her however you wished. But after that…"

He clenched his fist, and the image of Brandy cracked and broke. "You were to give her to me."

"Yes, that was the plan.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Has it changed?"

"No, merely become more urgent.", Grrshknn said. "You see, much time has now passed. So I will be expecting Brandy delivered to me in…"

He held up 18 fingers. "18 hours."

Almost instantly, Ryusei_Nakao69's aura of calm confidence vanished. "Wha- 18 hours?", he asked, bewildered. "But- I don't even know where she is! How am I supposed to-"

"Oh, you'll figure it out.", Grrshknn laughed. "The desperate always do."

Grrshknn waved a hand, and the wreckage of the castle began to reassemble itself. Dozens more of the crimson strings started to wind in place, heralding the raising of the rest of the Clan.

"Now, I do suppose that you'll want the rest of your Clan raised in order to help you…", said Grrshknn, "...and I understand that. However, you must know this one thing."

He rose into the air, and the edges of a portal opened around him. Ryusei_Nakao69 stood, transfixed, as Grrshknn stared deep into what little now remained of his soul.

"I will be leaving with a soul.", Grrshknn hissed, and stepped backwards into the hole in space. "I would rather it be hers, but… I will not hesitate to make do with yours."

Then he was gone, leaving Ryusei_Nakao69 lost and afraid, as the rest of his Clan began to be wound back to life around him.

"Ryus?", asked LeChris, rubbing the side of his head in agony. "What… what happened? Are we… alive?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 clenched his fist, the pressure scratching open his skin. Rivulets of blood ran from his hand onto the still-forming floor. "It would seem so."

"Are you… angry?", asked thesenate, as he got up from underneath a pile of rubble. It wasn't the same one where he had died, but Grrshknn had a sick sense of humor. "Why?"

"Why?", Ryusei_Nakao69 whispered. "Why, you ask, am I angry?"

For a few seconds, he stood still as a branch. More Troops and Kings reformed, surrounding him with worried looks. A single tick came from a clock on the wall, and Ryusei_Nakao69 exploded.

"We were so close!", he roared, and lashed out his fist in a random direction. A bolt of black lightning snapped out from his hands and into the wall, sending a long, dark scar down the red brick. "We were literally seconds away from completing Grrshknn's order, and then everything had to go and get messed up!"

He sensed that Chad and Rick had reappeared behind him, and so he turned around in a fury. "You two! You could have killed her at any moment, and yet you did not. Why, may I ask, did you fail me so harshly?"

"Uh…", Rick said, glancing at Chad with the side of his eyes. Chad blinked, signaling that he was going to let Rick take this one. Rick gulped, and faced his raging King. "Because… I thought she was supposed to be alive?"

"No, you fool!", Ryusei_Nakao69 screamed, and Rick flinched. "I gave the order to kill her! How did you-"

The King turned, scratching the skin off his forehead as he tried to calm himself down. "But that's all behind us now. Yes, I need to calm down. Yes, I need to… move on. Find some different plan…"

While all that was going on, Bailey stared in fear from somewhere behind LeChris. She could hardly remember anything from the raid- save dragging her King through dark, burning halls, her sudden and violent death, and- Meg. The most vivid memory from those few chaotic minutes was how Meg had clung to her so tightly, following her every order with devotion.

She looked around- where was Meg? She should have reformed just next to Bailey.

But as Bailey stood on her toes to look over the crowd, she saw no familiar Musketeer.

So she did the next, logical thing to do. Bailey took out her communicator. She turned it on to call Meg- and stopped when she saw that Meg was already calling.

_Huh, _thought Bailey. _She called me first. Nice of her to show initiative for once. _

Bailey pressed the Pick Up button, and held the device to her ear.

"Hey, Meg.", she said. "What's up?"

Back at Oticat's castle, Meg almost dropped her communicator. She reeled in shock, her mind and head spinning. Bailey was dead. Meg had seen the rock fall herself, seen Bailey be crushed into nothing but Elixir with her own two eyes. The entire Clan Castle had been blown to bits, meaning that the presence of the Clan had been destroyed, and no one killed could have reformed. And yet, there she was, on the other side of the line.

"B-Bailey?", she whispered, holding the device closer to her ear. "Is that really you?"

"Of course it's really me.", Bailey said. "Who else do you think it would be?"

"Well, uh, I guess I don't know.", Meg said. "How… how did you come back to life?"

"I don't know, really.", Bailey said. "We all just sort of did."

Bailey looked around again, still seeing no sign of Meg. Ducking closer to the floor to lessen the volume of Ryusei_Nakao69's enraged screaming, she spoke louder into the communicator. "Hey, where are you?", she asked. "I don't see you anywhere."

Meg bit her lip. She wasn't sure if she should admit this, but- oh, screw it. Bailey was her friend.

"You can't see me because I'm not in the Castle.", said Meg.

"Oh.", Bailey said. "Did you go outside?"

"No.", Meg said. She swallowed, then continued. "I'm in a blue castle. I survived the raid, escaped, and switched."

Bailey blinked. Then she heard what Meg had said. Then she blinked again, understood what Meg had said, and her eyes widened in shock. "You what?", she almost screamed, just barely not managing to attract the attention of Ryusei_Nakao69.

"I did just what I said I would.", said Meg with pride. "I escaped, and I became Blue."

Bailey calmed her voice. She knew that there was an opportunity here, if only she handled the situation well, and with caution. "Good.", she said. "Uh, which King did you join?"

Meg didn't even hesitate for a second. "Oticat.", she said. "Brandy's King."

"Uh huh…", said Bailey, hurriedly committing everything to memory. "So now your Clan is… LosDementosCT, correct?"

"Right.", said Meg. "Just at the corner of Builder's Workshop."

Bailey knit her brow. "Is that so…"

She stood taller, gaining thesenate's attention with a little wave.

"Yes, Bailey?", he asked kindly. "What is it?"

"I have some news.", said Bailey. "And I think everyone's going to want to hear it."

"And we only have 18 hours in order to find her before Grrshknn comes and takes all of our souls!", Ryusei_Nakao69 screamed, continuing his berserk rant. "Add to that the fact that I don't even know where she lives, or where her Clan is based, or even why Grrshknn would want such an insignificant little wench in the first place! I don't know what to do, I don't know where to start, and to make matters worse, I-"

"Excuse me, sir?", said thesenate timidly. "You have a call."

"I have a call-", Ryusei_Nakao69 screamed, then realized what he had just said. "I- have a call? What?"

"It's from a Meg, LeChris's defective Musketeer.", thesenate explained. "She has some information that she wants to share with you."

Ryusei_Nakao69 waved a hand of dismissal, and his face heated up again. "Why do I care what some broken Musketeer thinks? Let me plan."

"But that's just the thing.", said Bailey, standing next to her King. "She knows where Brandy is."

Ryusei_Nakao69's expression immediately became one of immense curiosity. "Oh?", he crooned, looming over both Bailey and thesenate. "How?"

"Uh, she left.", said Bailey, with one finger in the air. "She somehow managed to get into Oticat's castle, and now knows everything that we need. His plans, where he lives, how to get to Brandy, everything."

Ryusei_Nakao69's cracked lips curled upwards into a smile. This had not been news he was expecting, but it was certainly most welcome. "Well then. Put her on."

Meg listened through her communicator, straining to hear everything that was going on. Muffled whispers crossed her hearing, but since Bailey's communicator was held tight in her hand, it was hard to hear anything. Until there was a click, and she could hear the heavy, slightly metallic breathing of Ryusei_Nakao69.

"Ah, hello, Meg.", he said, and Meg recoiled at his evil voice. "I hear you have some… information for me."

"What?", Meg asked. "I- no. No, I don't."

Ryusei_Nakao69's face and voice curled up in anger. "Oh really?", he spat. "Because your friend Bailey told me that you did. Now, if you don't start talking…"

He didn't need to finish his sentence. Meg already knew what sort of threat he planned to carry out. "Okay, okay.", she said. "I'll tell you what I know. But only if… I talk to Bailey alone."

"Hmph.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "Fine. I'll let you talk to her."

He gave the communicator to Bailey, who held it up to her ear. "Meg?", she asked.

"I really shouldn't be telling you guys anything.", Meg whispered, making sure that Ryusei_Nakao69 couldn't hear her, even with his cybernetic ears. "You were my home once, but… I'm Blue now."

"But are you?", Bailey asked, putting all the power into her voice she possibly could. "You may wear those Blue clothes, but on the inside, what are you?"

"I'm-", Meg began. She was going to say Blue, but Bailey cut her off.

"No, no, don't speak.", she said. "We both already know the answer to that."  
"What, that I'm-", Meg said, but Bailey spoke over her yet again.

"Have you forgotten about us so easily, Meg?", she purred, and Meg felt her heart shake. "We're your family, your friends. We're the ones who raised you, they're just the ones that took pity."

"But-", Meg began, but Bailey stopped her with just a word.

"No buts.", she said, and Meg could feel her mind start to waver to the strength of Bailey's voice and words. "You're ours. Always have been, always will be. There's no way you can change who you are. Now, tell me again, who are you?"

"I'm… I'm... ", Meg said. She thought she would say _I'm Blue, _but what came out was the exact opposite. "I'm Red…"

Bailey smiled. "Good.", she said. "I'm glad we could both come to this agreement. Now…"

She breathed heavily into the communicator, and Meg felt herself grow faint. "I need you to tell me everything you know. Tell me about Oticat. His plans, where he lives, where he's going today, and what he plans to do with Brandy."

"Are… are you sure?", Meg replied in a daze. "Should I tell you?"

"Yes.", Bailey smiled. "Because we're friends."

"Oh…", Meg breathed, and fell forwards into her blanket. "Okay, uh…"

She looked back in her memories, trying to remember everything she had learned. "Oticat lives near Builder's workshop. Third Castle on the right of Silverleaf Way, you can't miss it."

"Good, good.", Bailey said. "Where is he going today?"

"Um, Hog Mountain.", said Meg. "He's going to try and get to 3000 Trophies as soon as the Arena opens."

"Mmm, okay.", said Bailey, making sure to keep her voice as sultry as possible. She was well aware of the effect she was having on Meg's mind. "And what's his battle deck?"

Through the hypnotic haze, Meg focused on remembering what she had heard at the table. "Bowler. Knight. Witch. Magic Archer. Ice Spirit. Battle Ram. The Log. And Bandit. That's his deck that he is using."

"That's only 7 cards.", Bailey said. "What's the 8th?"

"Oh, no, sorry.", Meg said. "Knight and Witch. Not Night Witch. I'm sorry about that."

Even Meg didn't know why she did not mention that Dan had become a Mega Knight. Perhaps she had forgotten- but maybe, there was some other force at work.

"Magnificent.", Bailey said. "This is wonderful, Meg. You're being… such a good friend."

Meg's heart melted, and she fell further into her bedding. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold onto her communicator, but the euphoria of Bailey's words was all worth it.

"And Meg, one more thing.", said Bailey, and Meg made sure to listen.

"You are to go with him once he leaves. We will be there as well. Once you see us, come over to our side. Be with your family once more."

"Yes, ma'am.", Meg mumbled, and very nearly passed out.

"Goodbye, Meg.", Bailey said, and smacked her lips. "You're… a very good friend."

She hung up, and Meg finally did faint.

Bailey looked up, exhausted. She felt sick, for doing such a thing. Meg probably trusted her with her life, and Bailey had used her in one of the worst ways possible. Bailey had done plenty of bad things in her life, but she knew that what she had just done was up at the top.

As she looked up, she saw Ryusei_Nakao69 standing over her, beaming with joy.

"Good, good.", he said, clapping his hands. "Very good, Miss Bailey."

Then he stood tall to address the rest of the group. "Who's at the bottom of Hog Mountain?"

The various Kings all turned to look at each other. They all realized, as one, that although setting your required Trophies to 4.4K was mostly a good thing, it did apparently have its disadvantages.

A hand was raised in the back, and Ryusei_Nakao69 snapped his head around to look. With a single gesture, the crowd parted, revealing the nervous form of MarkHammer, a mere level 9 King.

"Ah, MarkHammer.", Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. "Excellent, most excellent indeed. I'm going to need your help to fulfill my plan."

"Understood, sir.", MarkHammer said, and saluted. "What do I do-"

But Ryusei_Nakao69 had already moved on, to more important things.

"Chad.", he said, and the Elite Barbarian stood at attention. "Yes, my lord?"

"You and Rick, go grab Valeyrie.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "Then Nidavaleer. I shall get Ted, and Tsarsus. I suppose we also have to pick up the Fireball and Rage from my room."

Rick started to leave, but Chad stayed behind. "Are you… building a deck, sir?"

"Yes.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, as he rubbed his nails together. "One that Oticat will have no chance of countering."

"I see.", said Chad. "But who's going to be the 8th card?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 thought for a moment, then tapped his crown. "Oh, who knows? I'm sure I'll find someone. Perhaps Mason, or Morgan, or Timothy, or maybe Kurizas. Someone…"

He crossed his arms across his chest, and dark fire started to build around him. "Everyone, listen very closely.", he said, and his eyes glinted with malicious intent.

"Here's the rest of the plan."

"Dad?"

The small, nervous voice had come from the corner of the room, where a small hatchway hung open. It was the entrance to one of the Castle's many cellars, protected from the explosion that had leveled the rest of it.

"Ch- Chloe?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked, and turned towards the source of the voice. "Is that you?"

A small, white, gloved hand appeared on the side of the hatchway. With a tiny grunt of effort, Chloe pulled herself above the ledge and onto the floor. A Barbarian scrambled out after her, and gently pulled Chloe to her feet.

"Chloe!", Ryusei_Nakao69 yelled with relief, and ran over to her. Almost as soon as Chloe had gotten to her feet, she was immediately tackled by her father, and swept up into the air.

"Chloe, what happened?", he whispered. "Did you survive the explosion? How?"

"He saved me, Daddy.", Chloe said, and pointed to the Barbarian. "He told me to get in the cellar once the fighting started. I didn't know what happened until all the noises stopped."

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked over at the Barbarian, who was now standing rather awkwardly at the center of attention. "Is this true, little one?"

"Uh, yep.", said the Barbarian. "Once the fightin started, I knew that a battle was no place for the little tyke. Popped her in my Barrel and rolled. Took her underground, I did. Fortunately, that was the one with the food storage or we would have been dead by now."

"Yes, good thing.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "Barbarian, what's your name?"

"My name's Jeff.", said the Barbarian. "Why?"

"Jeff, you're promoted.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "Whoever's King he is, double- no, triple his allowance."

"Uh, Ryusei_Nakao69, sir?", Jeff asked.

"What?"

"I'm yours."

"Oh.", said the King. "Well then, I'll make sure to triple your funds as soon as we get back."

He finally set Chloe back on the ground, giving her one more hug. "I'm so, so grateful nothing happened to you.", he said. "Thank Grrshknn for watching over you."

Then he stood up, and re-addressed his Clan. "Alright, everyone.", he said, his face and manner a little brighter. "Here's the rest of the plan."

Back at Oticat's castle, the mood was light.

In the main room, the Battle Deck team was warming up for what was sure to be a long day of combat. Brandy was doing her daily stretches, working her calves for optimal Dash range and speed. The last time she had pulled a muscle in the Arena, she hadn't been able to fight for days. But now finally, she was ready for her first time in the Arena for weeks.

Agatha stood in the center of the room, watching over her Skeletons. Larry was unpredictable, as always. This time, he kept on switching between sharpening his swords on his fingers and stabbing his blade into everything that moved- which, more often than not, were the other Skeletons. Garry stood in a daze, swinging his sword at seemingly random intervals as he stared off into nothing. Tarry ran around like a maniac, kicking the bottom of Troop's shoes as hard as he could. Even though he couldn't technically scrunch up his eyebrows in unexplainable anger, he looked like he was.

Bowza hovered a full three feet off the floor, his eyes open and shining white. His meditation was currently 7 minutes in, and growing deeper with every passing second. Only his hands moved, tracing and sketching ancient patterns along the length of his bow.

The Ratzo Brothers were warming up for battle by taking turns doing push-ups with their Battle Ram. One was on the ground, straining and sweating as he lifted the huge wooden Ram into the air. The other was leaning on the Ram, and offering words of encouragement. Every 50 reps, they would switch positions, and continue.

Randy bounded across the room in giant leaps and bounds, doing backflips and frontflips as fast as he could. Particles of stray ice fell off of him, then rejoined his body after a few seconds. Giggling madly, he ran past Dan, who was sitting on a bench in deep thought.

Dan wasn't quite sure what to do. As a Knight, he would alternate between practicing sword strokes and warming up his muscles- but as a Mega Knight, he wasn't quite sure what to do. So he just breathed in and out, focusing on refining his Star technique. A team of Goblins that had been assigned to help him with this task were currently hiding behind Webert, cowering in fear.

Out of all the members of the Battle Deck, Webert was currently the only one not getting ready. Normally, he would be very busy improving his aim and technique on whatever happened to be nearby, But today, he just sat there, stroking his chin.

Nearby, Oticat was looking through some replays of his past battles to familiarize himself with how his deck worked. It had been some time since he had used this particular one, and much had happened since then. He needed something to help jog his memory.

But as he chanced to look up, Oticat saw Webert sitting still. He walked over, and looked up into the Bowler's still face. "Webert? Is… anything wrong?"

"No.", Webert said. "No, your Majesty. It's just uh, well, I've been thinking."

"About what?", Oticat asked. "Please, if its anything important, tell me."

Webert said nothing. He merely stood up, then dropped forcefully to one knee. "You don't need me, sir."

Oticat sputtered in confusion. "But- what- no. I mean, yes. Of course I need you. You're my Bowler."

Webert continued his speech, as thought Oticat had never spoken. "You already have one big, expensive, splashing ground tank.", he explained. "You don't need another."

"I… see.", Oticat said. "Well, Webert, I commend you for your sacrifice. But, who should go in your place?"

"Hmmm…", Webert said, plunging into thought, when Brandy suddenly blacked out.

_Brandy saw herself in the Arena. She didn't know which- it looked like a strange mix of all of them. No, it looked like- it looked like Hog Mountain. And Legendary Arena. Neither, yet both. _

_Up on the Red King's side, Brandy could see herself Dashing into a tower from the side. Everyone in the vision were mere silhouettes, no features to be seen. The Red King pushed a button on his digital interface, and a menacing Royal Giant dissolved onto the battlefield. _

"Brandy, you alright?", came the voice of Dan, and Brandy opened her eyes. The Dreamer flickered once again into nothingness behind her head, but it was noticed by no one.

"Uh, yeah.", Brandy said, standing up and rubbing the back of her head. "Just, uh, stretched too much. I guess."

She overheard the conversation between Oticat and Webert, and walked over to look.

Song: Approach

"I think we should take Kars.", Webert said. "He's reliable."

"Yes, but Brandy already fills his role.", Oticat said. "We don't need two hatchets."

"Well then, how about a Fireball? Or perhaps a Cannon.", Webert suggested. "You've never really used Buildings before, and maybe we could benefit from a medium Spell."

"Yes, I don't often use Buildings.", Oticat said. "But that's because I'm terrible with them. But maybe the Fireball… hmm..."

"We're going to be up against a Royal Giant.", Brandy said, from behind them, and Oticat turned.

"We are?", he asked. "What makes you say that?"  
"I felt it.", said Brandy. "I fell asleep for a moment- and when I did, I saw us fighting against a Royal Giant."

Webert shrugged. "Maybe we do need a good swarm."

"Yes, I do suppose we are missing one.", Oticat said, and called over Sadie by his side.

"Sadie, go get the Skeleton Army.", he said. "Tell them that they've made the Battle Deck."

"But Dad, they're only level 8.", Sadie said. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely.", Oticat said. "They're pretty level independant, anyway. And besides, it's just Hog Mountain. What could go wrong?"

"A lot.", Sadie whispered under her breath. "A lot could go wrong."

She had been feeling some sort of itching feeling underneath her skin, ever since she had woken up that morning. She didn't quite know what it was, but to her, it felt like a chill of foreboding, and darkness on the horizon.

"I know exactly what will go wrong.", came the voice of Meg, who had just barely arrived at the bottom of the stairs where everyone was.

"Oh.", Brandy said. "What's u- what do you mean, you know exactly what will go wrong?"

Meg sat down, and began polishing her gun. She breathed onto a plate of metal, and wiped it clean with her shirt. "I know. You see-"

An image of Bailey suddenly flashed into her still-whirling mind. _You wouldn't tell them, would you Meg?, _she asked, her voice like cream on Meg's ears. _Because you're my friend._

Meg blinked, suddenly not remembering where she was, or what she was doing. She had gone upstairs for some reason, then had come down. But she just could not remember why…

"Uh, nothing.", she said, taking a wild grasp at whatever Brandy had probably been expecting her to say. "Nothing at all."

"Oh, well that's good.", Brandy said. "I certainly wouldn't want anything to go wrong during my first day back to the real world."

Oticat stood from his conversation with Webert, when he heard a pile of bones start dancing behind him. Turning around, he saw that Sadie had managed to successfully fetch the Skeleton Army from wherever they were downstairs. "Here you go, Dad.", she said. "We're ready now."

"So we are.", Oticat said, and clapped his hands. He stood up on the bench of the table to grab his team's attention, and hollered through his cupped hands.

"Hey everyone, we're ready and heading out! So if you aren't ready, don't come!"

Brandy's eyes lit up, and she pulled Meg closer to her. "Meg, this is it!", she said, almost squealing with excitement. "I finally get to battle again!"

Meg's face turned red, as she felt how close of an embrace Brandy held her in. "I-I'm happy for you, Brandy.", she squeaked. "Now, uh, could you please-"

"Oh. Sorry.", Brandy said, and released Meg from her surprisingly tight grip. "Sorry about that."

"There's no need to-", Meg said, but the boom of the doors opening covered her words.

"Alright, we're going!", Oticat said, and gestured towards the outside. "You two coming?"

Brandy smiled, and started walking. "You bet, Oticat. You bet."

Song: Limit Break x Survivor (Relaxed)

It was a beautiful morning at Hog Mountain. The sun was shining even brighter in the sky than it had been before. Birds and Goblins alike flew from tree to tree, singing their lovely songs. The shops and booths around the Arena were bustling with activity, the aura of feeling and life rising from the area like steam.

"So, this is Hog Mountain.", Brandy said, and whistled in appreciation. "Pretty nice place."

"Yeah, did you know that this actually used to be the old Legendary Arena?", Dan asked, walking next to her. "Before the gods all got together and built the new one."

"Really?", Brandy said, and Dan nodded. "Huh.", she said. "Where'd you learn that one?"

"I learnt it here.", said Dan. "During my training."

"Oh, during-", Brandy said, then stopped. "During your training? Hold on a minute. First you said you trained at Royal Arena, then at Frozen Peak, and then at Hog Mountain. Where was it?"

"All of those.", Dan said. "I enrolled at Royal Arena, did most of my training in a small valley near Frozen Peak with a burrito shop nearby, then finished at the very top of Hog Mountain."

"Oh, okay.", Brandy said. "Why did you mention the burrito shop again?"

"What?"  
"The burrito shop. You just mention it whenever you talk about that little valley near Frozen Peak with a burrito shop nearby-"

Brandy realized what she had just said. "Dang it!"

"Yeah, sort of just rolls off the tongue, huh?", Dan said. "Valley near Frozen Peak with a burrito shop nearby."

"Hold on.", said Brandy. "I'm gonna say it. Valley near Frozen Peak…"

She held it in for a few seconds, before she just couldn't anymore. "With a burrito shop nearby."

She looked up into Dan's face, who shrugged. "Why?"

"I don't know.", Dan said. "Must be magic."

"Hey, if you two are done talking about burritos or whatever, could you give me a hand with this?", came a familiar voice.

Brandy looked to her right, where the voice had come from, and saw Brenda, carrying something in a huge leather bag. "Oh, hey Brenda.", she said. "Wassup?"

"I'm just going to Hog Mountain for the day.", Brenda said. "Got a whole day pass. What's going on with you, my thief?"

"Oh, I'm just…", Brandy said, and posed. "Going to go battle in Hog Mountain for the first time in weeks!"

Brenda stared for a few seconds, then gave Brandy a huge high five. "Well alright! Nice to see you finally getting out of the castle."

"Yeah, it is nice.", Brandy said, then looked at the huge leather bag. "So, what's in the bag."

"Oh, you know.", Brenda said, stealing a quick look behind her. "Stuff. That I picked up."

"Picked up, or _picked up?_", Brandy said, making sure to emphasize the difference.

"Hey!", came the enraged voice of Villager and Builder from somewhere behind them. "Who stole my entire stock of pickles?"

Brandy and Brenda each gave a knowing look, and Brenda a sharp salute. "Welp, gotta go.", she said. "See ya!"

Then she Dashed off through the crowd, making sure not to drop her precious loot.

In the Stands of Hog Mountain, it was quite a chaotic sight. Brenda was not the only one that had gotten a day pass. The stands were actually full to bursting, unusually busy today.

Something about this particular date in time had attracted many curious individuals- from all over the globe, and even beyond. None of them knew precisely what was coming, but a few of them felt it.

A Mortis stalked through the seats, sniffing the air with his powerful nose. The scent which he despised most of all could be found in some small trace here. He didn't know why, but it could.

A Barbarian and an Archer took their seats just a few buckets apart from each other, not knowing of the other's existence. They longed to, but neither of them knew it.

A small, wrinkled, green midget rummaged around beneath the seats of the stadium, scrounging for any popcorn that anyone might have dropped. He was not a Goblin- no, he was something else entirely. His head hit the side of a wingtip shoe, and he grumbled in an alien language as he looked up into the face of a man wearing a pink suit and long, golden hair.

"Mmm.", said the midget. "Bumped into my head you did. Run you over with my 2001 Honda Civic I must."

"Hmph.", said the man in the suit, and gestured to the open air. "D4C! Get me some more popcorn! And get this little man out of my sight."

The powerful Stand known as D4C appeared next to Funny Valentine, shaking its head with disbelief. With a single, Lightning-fast kick, he sent Lego Yoda flying, over the Arena, past the edge of the Mountain itself, and far off into the sky. He screamed as he went, and vanished.

Up in the employee bathroom, a red-haired individual was furiously scrubbing his face in the sink. He was no Troop- he was something else. Hailing from a land almost mind-bogglingly far away, he had come to the Continent of Royale to rest and relax from the disaster that was his last career.

"Okay, Jimmy, you've got this.", he said into the mirror, and affixed himself with a look of sheer ferocity. "You're here, first day on the new job, nothing could possibly go wrong. No matter what happens here, it can't be worse than the last incident."

Straightening up, he dried his hands off with a quick shake, straightened his bowtie and glasses, and strode out the door.

"Yo, Jimmy.", came a whisper to his left, prompting him to turn around. Once he did, he saw a Crew Goblin holding a clipboard and messing with his headset. "We're on in 30."

"Okay.", Jimmy nodded quickly. "Just give me a second."

He did a few quick stretches to warm up, and sang a few notes to prepare his voice- as he always had before every single newscast. Finally, he grabbed his Microphone from a hovering Skeleton, cleared his throat, and stared into the camera. For a brief moment, his gaze lingered on the Arena field below, still being scrubbed and repaired for the first of the day's battles.

"In 3...2...1…", counted down the Crew Goblin, and gave a thumbs up to the Bomber working the camera. The Bomber flipped his hand, and pressed a single button.  
Jimmy stared into the camera as hard as he could, and flashed a wide smile. "This is Jimmy Firecracker, reporting live from Hog Mountain!"

He swept a wide arc with his arm, prompting the camera to turn to the stands. "As you can see, it's a beautiful day, with no clouds or storms in sight. The audience is getting ready for what is sure to be a long day of battling, and I'm sure we're all excited."

He subtly motioned to the Bomber to switch to the second camera. He did so, and the view on T.V Royale changed from Jimmy to an Executioner, sitting in the stands.

"Oh. Hi.", he said nervously, and tapped his fingers together. "Why am I on T.V?"

The view swung around again to Funny Valentine, who was currently munching down on some caramel popcorn from another dimension. "Good morning, uh… sir.", said the Villager behind the secondary camera. "Are you excited for today's battles?"

"I am indeed.", said the President. "I am ready to take the first napkin, and-"

He stopped, and put down his popcorn. He sniffed the air, looking around. The Villager, not wanting to film his activities, cut out her camera feed. The view instantly changed back to Jimmy, who had taken the time that he was supposed to have free to eat a hot dog. Upon seeing the gestures from the Camera Bomber, he threw it into the crowd and prepared his next words.

"There are Stand users in this crowd.", whispered Funny Valentine. "I didn't think I would find any here, but…"

His eyes flickered, as he detected every Stand user in the area. He saw Brenda, reclining her feet on the head of an Ice Golem. He saw Brandy, still walking towards the Troop entrance. And he saw a third figure, moving among the crowd, trying not to be spotted.

"Meg, you seem nervous.", Brandy said, as the group approached the monolithic gates that led to the inside of the Arena itself. Two titanic Hog Rider statues adorned the area, one Red and one Blue. "Is everything alright?"

"Yes.", Meg said, and tried to think. She knew that something was indeed wrong, but she just couldn't quite put her finger on it. Everytime she tried to remember what it was, it slipped away from her like the last water in a river. "I think."

"You think?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, you think? Something's either wrong or its not, there's no in-between."

"I mean…", Meg said. "I can feel something wrong, but I don't know what."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Yeah, I get that sometimes too."

She looked up, and saw the Red headband around the Hog Rider statue.

"Are you still scared of them?", Brandy asked. Meg just looked confused.

"TheEvilOverLords, I mean.", Brandy clarified. "Are you still afraid of them?"

Something tickled at the back of Meg's mind. She knew that her old Clan was no more, that they had all been killed weeks ago. And yet, there was some sort of nagging feeling, something she could not quite identify. "Yeah.", she said. "For some reason, I'm… afraid that they'll get me somehow."

Brandy put her hand on her forehead, looking up towards the sun. "Well, you don't have to worry about that.", she said. "No one does."

She turned towards Meg, as the group finally passed underneath the immense gate of Hog Mountain. "Meg, I promise you this. As long as we're here, no one will take you. Not now, not ever again. You got that?"

Meg smiled weakly, and held up her hand. Brandy met it in a fist bump. "Got it."

And with that, Oticat and his Battle Deck Team entered their side of the Arena.

As they passed underneath one final set of gates, Meg suddenly broke off from the group.

"Meg, where are you going?", Brandy asked.

"Uh, I gotta go to the bathroom.", said Meg. "I'll just meet Brenda up in the stands. You guys look for me, alright?"

Brandy gave her a thumbs up, and Meg ran off in search of the little Musketeer's room.

But as she ran, she felt some sort of strange pull. Almost like gravity, some bizarre force was pulling her towards one side of the spectator stands- the side of Red.

"What the-", Meg muttered to herself, as the force tugging on her grew larger with every passing step. "What is this? What's going on?"

Even as she tried to fight it, her mind grew more and more muddled. Meg stopped in her tracks and grabbed the sides of her helmet, trying to fight it off, but to no avail. It grew in intensity, until-

Meg let her hands fall to her side. She remembered now. She had successfully carried out her mission to guide Oticat and his team here, in the same moment when Ryusei_Nakao69 would be battling. And with her work complete, Bailey would be so proud of her.

"Meg…", came the voice of LeChris, in her ear. "Come to the Red side. Join me."

"Yes, my lord.", she said sleepily, and sharply turned. Heading away from the bathrooms, she instead crossed through the underground passenger tunnel, and over to the Red side of the Arena.

Once she was there, Meg looked up. In the stands, she could see Bailey gesturing towards her.

"Come join me.", the movement seemed to say. "Come join your true side."

Meg's legs moved seemingly on their own. She went up the seats, crossing two at a time, until she had reached the spot where her own King sat.

"Ah, there you are Meg.", LeChris said. "Come, sit down. You deserve a good seat for making all this happen."

"Thank you, sir.", Meg said in a daze. Looking around, she could see that many Kings from TheEvilOverLords had decided to attend this battle. There was thesenate right next to LeChris. TheBaldBalancer sat exactly in the center of the stands, perfectly balanced, just as he liked. Odurawaz sat a few rows down, next to some Kings she didn't recognize. But that was fine. Meg would have time to get to know everyone, after the battle.

"So, what's so important about this match?", she asked. "Why is everyone here?"

LeChris smiled. "Oh, don't worry about that, Meg.", he said. "Don't worry about it."

Song: Himeru Omai

For Glack the Goblin, this day was much like any other day. He waited for Kings to come into their color-coded side of the Arena, checked their credentials, handed them the controls to the Tower, then waited for the next contender to come along. Then he would do the same thing all over again with each and every King, all day, every day, until the point came where he just wanted to die. That point had come 4 years ago, and he was still doing the job. At least it paid well- 15 Gold per day. Or maybe it paid well. Neither Glack or anyone he knew had ever had any other job, so he couldn't really compare. But still, it was the same old, same old-

Until now.

Glack felt him before he saw him. The dark, creeping aura of Ryusei_Nakao69, as he slowly approached the Tower. Glack felt his skin crawl, and he started to instinctively look for a way to escape.

"Uh, good morning. Sir.", he said, as Ryusei_Nakao69 at last came into view. His Battle Deck Team was behind him- Elite Barbarians, Valkyrie, Royal Giant, Mega Knight, Electro Wizard, and regular Wizard. His two Princesses each held a Spell- Veronica Rage, and Stacie a Fireball.

"Spare me the pleasantries.", Ryusei_Nakao69 growled. "I have no need."

"O- okay.", Glack said quietly, and backed away a few feet before remembering his job. "Uh, if I may have your credentials? Sir?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 fixed Glack with a withering glare, and he backed up a few feet in fear. "Fine.", said the King, and withdrew a small card. "Here they are."

"Thank you very much, sir.", Glack peeped. With hands trembling from the unnatural fear aura of Ryusei_Nakao69, he inserted the card into a small machine. It beeped, displaying a green light.

"Alright, Mr. Markhammer.", said Glack, giving a big thumbs up. "Everything seems to be in order. Here's the controls to the castle, and enjoy your battle-"

The light on the card reader suddenly blinked again, this time a dark amber. Ryusei_Nakao69 stiffened, and Glack craned his head to look. "Ha ha, just a second. This old machine acts up sometimes-"

Glack quickly looked at the error readout, and internally freaked out a little bit.

"Warning.", the machine said. "False ID inserted. King name is Ryusei_Nakao69."

"Wha…", Glack whispered to himself. "You're kidding. This is…"

Glack started to back away from the machine in shock. He had heard tales of the King known as Ryusei_Nakao69. How he had given up battling in the Arena long ago, only showing up on very rare occasions. How Kings that voiced their disapproval of him disappeared in sudden, mysterious ways. How strange things prowled around his territory at night, things that should not be.

"Oh, man.", Glack mumbled. "I- I gotta go tell someone. I gotta go get he-"

He turned around, and Ryusei_Nakao69's finger immediately stabbed into his forehead. Glack gasped in pain, but found that he could not move.

"Hold still.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "This will only take a moment."

Being a Goblin, Glack's will was weak. It did in fact only take a moment for Ryusei_Nakao69's power to surge through his brain, erasing all resistance and opening him up entirely to the King's commands.

"You will let me battle.", Ryusei_Nakao69 growled, every word echoing through Glack's mind like an Earthquake. "There will be no trouble. And after I leave, you will forget I was ever here."

He withdrew his finger, leaving a mark in the shape of a dark claw in the middle of Glack's forehead, dripping with blood. Glack stood blankly for a second, before looking up and saluting.

"Understood, your Majesty. Is there anything else that you'd like me to do?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. "No, Glack. That will be all."

"Okay, everybody.", Oticat said, as they all entered the Arena. "I know this is some of you all's first battle in a while, but try to look sharp. If we win this, I get into Hog Mountain, so the stakes are high."

Brandy was only partially listening to what he was saying. Her gaze wandered around the Arena, taking in the unique and beautiful sights and sounds of Hog Mountain. A row of Barbarians rocked up and down in the Stands, doing the wave in order to generate hype. A trio of Minions flew overhead, taking shots from the cameras that they held in their reptilian claws. Ryusei_Nakao69 stood in the Red King's tower, staring at Brandy from across the Arena. There was a Giant holding an entire cotton candy stand, trying to decide between Pink and Blue. There was- _there was Ryusei_Nakao69 in the Red King's tower, staring at Brandy from across the Arena. _

Song: Shoot towards the decisive battle

Brandy felt her heart stop. Her mind and soul stuttered, as her brain raced, trying to find some way to explain away what she had just seen. But with another quick look, she knew that it was no mere illusion, or the result of not looking well enough. There, in the Red King's tower, was the real Ryusei_Nakao69. Somehow, he was alive.

"Oticat?", she choked out, and raised a trembling finger.  
"Brandy?", Oticat asked. "What is it?"

"Look.", Brandy squeaked, and Oticat looked where she was pointing. He gasped in shock, and Ryusei_Nakao69 smirked.

"But- that's impossible.", Oticat said. "He's dead. We killed him."

"Wha-", Dan said, and stood up. He, too, saw the villain, and his face contorted with rage underneath his helmet. "How the-"

Brandy felt her vision start to blur, and she fell to her knees. Her automatic shock response took effect, causing her to withdraw within her own mind. The outer effect of this, of course, was that she fell to the ground, and blacked out.

"Oh, looks like we've got ourselves a pretty nervous Troop there.", said Jimmy Firecracker, desperately trying to stall for time. "Guess she must be new."

He put a finger to his earpiece, suddenly hearing something coming through. "No. Hold on a minute, hold that thought. I'm getting something."

As the one on the other side told him information, Jimmy's expression rapidly changed. First, it was one of curiosity, then of shock, then of horror, then one of slowly dawning dread. He looked up, and gulped. "Trish?", he asked. "We might have to get a little deeper on this one."

"Brandy!", Dan shouted. "Brandy, wake up!"

Brandy felt Dan gently shaking her, and opened her eyes. She took a deep breath, and pushed herself all the way against the wall.

"I can't do this.", she said. "I can't, I can't. I don't know how he's here. I don't know why he's here. I don't-"

She fell forward, burying her head in between her knees. "Ooohhh…"

"Hey.", Dan said, kneeling down in front of her. "Brandy. Yeah, that's him. But you know what?"

"What?", Brandy asked, not even looking up. "Dan, it's-"  
"It's him.", Dan said. "People are starting to realize it."  
"So?", Brandy asked, taking deep breaths, trying not to hyperventilate from the terror that stormed her.

"So he just showed himself.", said Dan. "In public. With so many witnesses having a full knowledge of his crimes. Brandy, he'll be arrested."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "I… I guess you're right."

Her fear drained out of her, and she started to laugh. "Well, I guess that takes care of that problem-"

Song: Un'altra Persona

All across the Arena, there could be heard an immense clap of thunder. Clouds swirled out of nothing, forming into an immense storm. The eye was directly over Hog Mountain, though bolts of Lightning were already striking. There came another loud sound- that of a titanic low rumble, shaking the inhabitants of the stands off their feet.

"What?", Jimmy Firecracker coughed, trying to get up. "What the-"  
The clouds abruptly broke apart, then concentrated in a huge column. Pure force radiated outwards from it, blowing Troops at the top of the stands off their feet and into the crowd below. As everyone watched in amazement, the column cracked, to reveal a gigantic bearded man, clad entirely in shining white robes.

"D-Dr'ew!", shouted Jimmy, trying to be heard over the low roar that permeated the entire area. "Oh, great god Dr'ew! Why have you come?"

But unknown to everyone in the Arena that was not a member of TheEvilOverLords, the godlike figure was not Dr'ew at all. It was another being, even greater in strength- and far more evil.

"You!", shouted Dr'ew, pointing at Ryusei_Nakao69, who pointed at himself. "You are no ordinary King, are you?"

"Well, uh, no. My lord.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "I suppose you could say that-"

"And you!", Dr'ew bellowed, moving his finger to point at Oticat. "You have history with this opponent."

In the stands, Brenda could hear that there was something maddeningly familiar about his voice. But she could not, no matter how hard she tried, place it.

"You bet I do!", Oticat shouted in anger, lowering an accusatory fist towards Ryusei_Nakao69, who merely continued his smirk. "He kidnapped my Bandit! And then I killed him!"

The crowd gasped. Jimmy Firecracker's eyes widened, and he slowly motioned for Trish to listen to him. "Get me every camera we've got.", he said slowly. "This is gonna be good."

"Then it sounds that you two have a grudge indeed!", shouted Dr'ew. "But as we can already see, it cannot be resolved through ordinary means alone."

He put his fists together, pulling up a huge book. After pretending to flip through it for a few seconds, he slammed it shut. It disappeared with a puff of smoke, and Dr'ew made a humongous gesture towards the two opposing Kings.

"Then you may each make a demand.", he said, with a hint of an evil smile that was noticed only by Funny Valentine. But he did not care. "One that should you win, your opponent must follow through with absolute certainty."

Brandy's heart started to beat faster in her chest. She did not like the look of where this was going. "Um… Oticat?", she asked. "What does he mean by that?"

It only took Oticat a second to decide. Against any other King, he would not have wished anything. He just wasn't really that kind of guy. But now, he had the most hated man in the world right in front of him. Here was a chance to get rid of him forever. "If I win, Ryusei_Nakao69…", Oticat spat with cold justice, "You will end your reign of terror. Your Clan will be disbanded, and you will no longer be able to fight in the Arenas."

The crowd gasped, and Dr'ew's godly eyebrows raised. "What a stunning provocation!", he roared, and then pointed towards Ryusei_Nakao69. "And what about you? What do you want?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled. His plan was all working out perfectly, down to the last word. "Her.", he said, and stretched out a single bony finger to point out Brandy. "Should I win, Oticat, I want your Bandit."

A palpable chill ran through the crowd. Brandy's heart skipped a few beats, and her eyes clouded over. Several gasps could be heard, from Oticat, from Agatha, and from Jimmy Firecracker.

"Hey!", came the shout of a Rascal Girl, from somewhere in the audience. "He can't do that!"

"Yeah!", was the voice of a Barbarian. "That's like, 8 different types of illegal!"

For a moment, it looked like the crowd was in agreement. That the whole "demand" thing would be dropped, and that Ryusei_Nakao69 would be arrested. But a single motion from Dr'ew changed all that.

"Silence, mortals!", he boomed, sending a thunderous shockwave throughout the entire Arena. "Do you dare to defy the word of a god?"

The crowd quieted. None of them dared.

Brandy felt the blood drain from her face, as she looked up at Oticat. This was it. There was no way they could beat Ryusei_Nakao69, not in basic combat. He was a full 3 levels above Oticat, and most of his deck was maxed. Brandy hadn't even been upgraded once- she was still just a level 9.

_Actually, Brandy, you're level 10,_ came the quiet thought of Oticat from somewhere inside of Brandy's mind. _I upgraded you last night. _

_Oticat?, _Brandy thought in shock. _How did- since when could you-_

_You were thinking so loudly, I just couldn't help but overhear you, _Oticat thought. _And Agatha taught me. _

_Oh, _Brandy thought. _I- I guess that's nice. That I'm level 10 now. But… does it matter? Even the lowest level card he brought with him is still higher than any of us._

_Yes, _Oticat thought. _But we have what he doesn't. Will._

Brandy thought for a moment. _Who's Will?_

_What?, _Oticat asked. _No. I meant will. Like, the will to survive. _

_And you have another thing, too, _came another voice. It was unknown to Oticat, but Brandy found it shockingly familiar.

_God?, _Brandy thought.

_Yes, _was the answer, and Brandy heaved a sigh of relief. _Oh, thank you you're here. Quickly, if you can just get rid of-_

Even though she could not see him, Brandy somehow felt that God was shaking his head.

_Oh, Brandy. Have you forgotten my promise that soon? _

_What promise?, _Brandy asked. _What did you say?_

_I told you, _thought God. _I promised you that as long as you stayed in my domain, nothing bad could happen to you. And Hog Mountain, fortunately, is part of that domain. _

"Oh. Right.", Brandy said out loud. "Heh."

She stood up, and pointed a finger towards the other side of the Arena where Ryusei_Nakao69 stood.

"You hear that?", she whispered. "No, of course you don't. But-"

Her words were cut off abruptly, as Dr'ew again sent his commands booming throughout the Arena. "The two Kings have made their requests!", he shouted, and raised his arms. "However. As is the case with all grudge matches such as this one, there is a small, automatic bonus for the winner."

He waited, floating in midair. It took a few seconds for the first person to realize that he was waiting for a guess of what the bonus was.

"What is it, oh great and mighty Dr'ew?", Jimmy Firecracker asked. "What is that bonus?"

"I'm glad you asked, young Wizard!", Dr'ew shouted.

"I'm not a Wizard.", Jimmy said under his breath, but Dr'ew either didn't notice or didn't care.

"The bonus prize for the winner is…", Dr'ew said, and pointed towards the far side of the Arena. All gazes turned to look, and a pillar of golden light streaked down from the sky. It slammed into the ground and reverberated in all directions, slowly turning into the projected image of a pile of hundreds of Trophies.

"1000 additional trophies!", Dr'ew finished, much to the utter shock of the crowd. Even if this was the great and legendary Dr'ew himself before them, one of the gods of balance, they could still hardly believe a word he was saying.

"Hey, hold on a minute!", came the voice of Brenda from the stands. Dr'ew looked down, and raised a single eyebrow in curiosity.

"What is it, mortal?", he boomed, blowing Brenda's hair back and her hood clean onto her shoulders. "What could possibly be so important you have to speak to me directly?"

"That King- Ryusei_Nakao69- is evil!", Brenda yelled. "He's kidnapped dozens of Troops, and slaughtered hundreds more! Me and my Clan went on a crusade to kill him just a few weeks ago! Why are you letting him fight?"

Dr'ew put his hand to his chin, underneath the guise of thinking. But he really wasn't- he already knew the answer. He also knew the other answer, the one he was going to tell Brenda.

"Because- I mean, because,", he said, suddenly losing his voice for a bit, "I do what I wish. Am I not a god? Now silence, and bother me no more!"

He waved a hand of dismissal, but Brenda wasn't done.

"Phantom.", she whispered underneath her breath. "Find out everything you can about him. I don't think that's the real Dr'ew."

The Phantom popped into the world beside her, and took a close look at the towering figure in white. "Yes…", he mused. "He does seem somewhat off."

The Phantom made some otherworldly gesture, then looked at his hand. But to the intense magical field that surrounded Dr'ew, only a small bit of power made it through.

"I can't get anything, mistress.", the Phantom said. "I'm sorry."

"No, no, it's okay.", Brenda said back, attracting a single worried stare from a nearby Blue Villager. "I guess we'll just have to find out the old-fashioned way."

"Jimmy!", Dr'ew bellowed, and Jimmy Firecracker nearly fell out of his reporter's chair. Fumbling his microphone, he looked up into the bearded face of a god.

"What?", he squeaked, partly in admiration but mostly in fear. "What is it? What do I need to do?"

"I believe you can handle this from now on.", Dr'ew said, and the pillar of light started to descend. "Take care, follow my orders, and good luck."

With a titanic clap of thunder, Dr'ew withdrew into the sky. The entire audience began to breathe again, and Jimmy suddenly found himself, in his reporter's chair, magically hovering over the center of the Arena.

He tapped his microphone once, and the squeal of feedback rang throughout the Arena. He nervously brought the mike closer to his face, and tugged at his collar.

"Well, uh…", he said, suddenly full of stage fright. "I'm just following orders here, people. Really, this is just policy. I don't want to do this to you all."

"What is he talking about?", came some whispers from the audience. "Is he canceling the fight? I sure hope not."

Jimmy swallowed hard, and looked up towards space. "Oticat, being 15 lower Trophies than his opponent, is the challenger here. Which means that if he wins this battle, he will gain 1030 Trophies, putting him into Challenger 1."

Brandy felt a drop of sudden sweat fall down her face. This wasn't good.

"And that means that, per according to all rules…"

Jimmy took a deep breath, and pointed straight up into the sky. "We are going to Legendary Arena!"

"Oh, okay.", Brandy said. "I can handle that. Yeah, that is totally fine."

Or she would have said those things, if she hadn't actually been on the ground, eyes open in a daze, technically conscious but wishing she wasn't.

Song: Dark Rebirth

Ryusei_Nakao69's mouth cracked open in a wicked smile. The second step of his plan had come to fruition, and now there was less and less between him and his goal. Once he had his hands on Brandy's soul, he would no longer have to worry about his debt to Grrshknn. And with the promised one million Gems, he would be the richest King on the planet. All he had to do now was defeat Oticat in a 1v1. But that wouldn't be hard. After all, Ryusei_Nakao69 was three levels Oticat's superior. Most of his cards were maxed out, and he had built his deck specifically to defeat his opponent's. There was no way he could lose.

"Hey, uh, Dad?", came the voice of Stacie from behind him. "What does this mean?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 turned around to see his daughter holding her arm worryingly, pointing at some mark close to her elbow. "It just sort of appeared. Like, just barely."

He leaned over with his enhanced vision, and took a careful look. It was a cut, only skin deep. It bore the shape of a dark spiral, overlaid with a bear's claw.

"Oh, Stacie.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said with a smile. "That, my dear, is the mark of Grrshknn. I have one too."

He adjusted his crown a bit to reveal that he did indeed have an identical marking, up near the top of his forehead. His was a little larger, and deeper, but it was the same pattern.

"It just means that Grrshknn has taken a liking to you, that's all.", he said. "I'm proud of whatever you did to warrant it."

"Uh, yeah Dad.", Stacie said. "Me too."

She turned around, staring straight ahead at nothing. That conversation had not gone the way she had planned it to. It had taken her hours to make the exact mark on her arm, and it had hurt the whole time she was doing so. But Stacie had thought it would be worth it if she could just get her father to pay attention to her again. He hadn't done so for months.

Stacie, of course, enjoyed the dark power that Grrshknn had brought. But deep down, secretly, when she thought no one was watching or listening in, she yearned for the times before.

"Oh, would you look at that.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, looking up. "Our ride's here."

Brandy suddenly snapped back to reality, faint blue lights flickering behind her head. She had rehad the vision of the Royal Giant, but this time it felt different. She could definitely see that they were in Legendary Arena now, and that their opponent was indeed Ryusei_Nakao69. But a few things had been added to the vision- there was Meg, hovering over the Arena floor. A purple wind rushed through, and two waves of light fought at the center- one Red, and one Blue. They battle for dominance for several seconds, although to Brandy it seemed like minutes. But finally, to her horror, the Red wave overpowered the Blue one and pushed it into the floor.

"Brandy.", Bowza said, and pulled her to her feet. "I know that you're undergoing some flashbacks right now. Some resurfacing trauma and what not."

His eyes lit up, and his bow along with it. "I don't know how They came back, or how they found us, or what they're doing here. But I do know this."

His face grew more intense, and some sort of light seemed to radiate outwards from somewhere behind him. "For better or for worse, this has suddenly become the most important fight of our lives. And probably the hardest."

He looked up, and pointed towards the center of the Arena. "But now is no time for such thoughts. The Battle Blimp is here."

The Battle Blimp was what was used in order to bring passengers from the lower Arenas to Legendary Arena. It was usually only used for the first battle of a King, to bring him to Legendary Arena for the first time once he won. After that, he would be given a teleporter pad that he and his Troops could use any time they were to battle.

And this time was no different. Even though this particular battle was far beyond the stakes of any that Oticat had done before, some things never changed.

"Everyone.", Oticat said. "We better go-"

"Yes.", Agatha said somberly. "We should."

She looked to everyone there in turn, giving them a little bit of a mental boost to help with whatever was coming. "And we will."

As one, Oticat and his Troops silently filed out of their side of Hog Mountain, towards the top of the stairs down the mountain where the Battle Blimp was waiting.  
As they walked, Brandy looked around. She noticed that something was missing- and that something was a particular Musketeer.

"Where's Meg?", she asked. "I don't see her anywhere."

Dan broke away from his deep thoughts, and looked over the heads of the growing crowd that Oticat and the group were now walking through. "I don't see her either. Maybe she's with Brenda."

"Maybe…", Brandy said. She took out her communicator, and selected Brenda's number on speed-dial. "I'll call her."

Brandy pushed the button and held the device to her face, while still walking. It took a moment for Brenda to answer.

"Brandy?", came the voice of her friend through the communicator. "What is it?"

"Is Meg with you?", Brandy said. "I can't find her anywhere."

"I don't have her.", Brenda said, and Brandy's heart jumped even higher than it already was.

"Do you know where she is?", Brandy hissed.

"Um… where was the last place you had her?", Brenda responded.

"She said she was just going to the bathroom.", Brandy said, worry tainting her words. "I hope nothing happened to her…"

Brenda looked up, scanning the crowd below for the only Musketeer with glasses and faded marker still on her arm. "I don't see her. But maybe…"

_Phantom, _she thought, and the Phantom reared up behind her. _Can you find Meg for me?_

"Certainly.", said the Phantom, and closed his eyes. His magical mental web extended far across the Arena, searching for Meg's unique biosignature. His finger went along with it, pointing towards Meg's position. Once his finger stopped moving, he opened his eyes.

"There.", he said. Brenda looked, and her eyes widened. She slowly brought her communicator to her lips.

"I found her.", she said. "But I don't think you're gonna like where she is."

"Meg, are you coming?", Bailey asked, tapping Meg on the knee.

Meg jolted out of her stupor, and blinked. "What? Where am I? What the-"

She looked around, and fear shot through her. "How the-"

But a single caress from Bailey across the cheek was all it took for Meg's fragile mind to fall back into position. "Shh.", Bailey whispered. "You're with us, remember? Your friends, your family, me…"

Meg's eyes slightly crossed, and she stood up. "Oh. Right. I forgot."

She followed LeChris's and theSenate's Troops in a dazed walk, almost stumbling, as they went towards the spot where the Battle Blimp waited. "How silly of me…"

"Brenda?", Brandy asked. "Please don't tell me she is where I think she is."

Brenda winced. "She is. I don't why, or how, but-"

"She fell on her way to the bathroom and can't get up.", Brandy said, finishing what she thought Brenda was going to say. "Well, it could be worse-"

"What?", Brenda asked. "No. Brandy, Meg's with the Red side of the stands."

Brandy blinked, stopping in the middle of the path. The Ratzo Brothers bumped into her, but kept on going. "What? She's what?"

"Hold on. Don't say anything.", Brenda said, and motioned for the Phantom. Understanding his user's request perfectly, the Phantom scanned Meg's mind and brain for any foreign influences. He found one- of course. He gave Brenda a nod, and she heaved a sigh of relief.

"She's under some sort of spell.", Brenda explained. "I don't know who put it on her, but she's not over there because she wants to be."

"Well, that's good.", said Brandy. "I guess. How can we get her back?"

"We-", Brenda said, and looked up. "We shouldn't try right now. We can do it after the match, when you guys win. Now hold on, I gotta go."

"What?", Brandy asked. "Why?"

Brenda stared at the mysterious figure of Funny Valentine from across the Arena. D4C floated above him, and the two Stand users stared at each other in mutual curiosity. "I just gotta go. There's… something I gotta do."

"Huh.", Brandy said as the line went dead. "Yeah, okay."

She tucked the communicator back into her pocket, and ran to catch up with her group. They were boarding the Battle Blimp that very second, and Brandy had no desire to be left behind.

"Sorry I'm late, everyone.", she said, as she just barely leapt between the Blue Team doors, right before they closed. "I was doing stuff."

_I'm stuff, _Dan thought, but chose not to say it. He had no idea why he thought it, but he did.

"Glad you could make it, Brandy.", Agatha said. She seemed to be making motions with her hands, that looked like she was stirring tea. No one knew why. "You might want to sit down."

"Oh, right.", Brandy said, and jumped over a wooden barrier, landing on the bench where everyone else sat. The area in front of them was empty, save for another bench on the opposite side labeled Red Team. The audience and various hangers-on of the crowd rode in the front of the Blimp, in General Passengers.

Brandy tried to think of some way to make conversation. Something to break the silence of the Battle Blimp, and the intense tension of the whole situation. "Hey, uh…", she said.

"Anyone hear why using Hog Riders isn't allowed in Touchdown?"

"Why?", Bowza asked, sensing that Brandy was setting up for a joke.

"It's just too good of a strategy.", Brandy said. "So the gods just Bandit."

Dan chuckled. The Ratzo Brothers poked each other on the shoulder, and lightened up a bit. A bit of a smile crept across Agatha's face, and she covered it with her hand.

"Hey, I got another one.", said Sadie, looking up. "What do you call an Ice Spirit that talks?"

"What?", said Elizabeth.

"Nothing, silly.", Sadie said. "Ice Spirits can't talk."

Everyone's eyes turned to Randy, who just shrugged. He said nothing. Because he was an Ice Spirit.

"Okay, okay, I got one.", said Dan. "I picked this one up in Frozen Peak."

"Let's hear it.", Brandy said.

"What do you call a cross between a Bandit and a Royal Ghost?", Dan asked.

"Uh…", Brandy said. "What?"

"Leon!", said Dan, and looked around to mostly blank stares. "Come on guys, don't you get it?"

"What's a Leon?", Brandy asked, trying to rack her brain for anywhere that she had heard that name before.

"I think I've heard of Leons.", Oticat said. "From someone in the Clan… I think it was SpaceKrakenX."

"Oh, come on.", Dan said, and fell back into his seat. "I forgot most of you guys never did any out-of-continent research."

"I got it.", Bowza said.

"Oh.", Dan said, and brightened up just a little bit. "Did you-"

"Yes.", said Bowza. "I liked your joke."

"Indeed.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "I thought it was very amusing."

Song: Crucial Situation

"You-", Agatha hissed, and stood straight up. Bringing out her staff in front of herself, she affixed Ryusei_Nakao69 with a furious glare. He had just barely entered the room, and was heading his Battle Team as they sat down on their appropriate bench.

"Now, now, calm yourself.", said Chad, and brought up his sword to block Agatha's staff. "Save it for the Arena."

Brandy stood up, and pointed a shaking finger. "I'll show you save it for the Arena, you piece of-"

Valeyire lunged out from her seat, and slammed her axe down onto the floor. "Hold your tongue, you fragile little-"

The Ratzo Brothers stood up, and hoisted their Ram over their head. "You wanna say that again, you cow?"

"Cow?", Valeyrie shrieked, and Chad put out an arm to restrain her. "Come here, chickens! I'll tear you to bits!"

Randy frontflipped forward onto the floor in between the two Teams, and made various angry gestures with his arms. No one knew what they meant, because he was an Ice Spirit. But they got the message across.

"What's the matter, Brandy?", Chad laughed, staring at her trembling finger. "Afraid of us, without your precious Dan here to protect you?"

Dan stood from the bench, almost reaching the ceiling. A golden bolt played across his chest, and sliced into the floor. "I am here.", he rumbled, trying to be as menacing as possible.

Rick looked up at Dan, and planted his sword into the ground. "Well, well, well.", he said. "Look at you. Seems that you've grown-"

Dan growled, and Rick stumbled backwards in fear. Trying to play it off, he leaned on his sword and examined his fingernails. "You don't have to be so angry about it. Jeez."

As the two Teams continued to yell and scream at each other, Ryusei_Nakao69 fixed Oticat with an apologetic eye. "I'm terribly sorry about this.", he said. "Normally, mine are a little more… civilized."

"Oh, yes, mine too.", Oticat said with a laugh faker than synthetic stone. "Normally, they're not…"

Then his face grew colder, and he leaned forward in a glare. "Face to face with the most vile scum on the face of the planet."

The two Kings glared at each other, while their Troops's screaming match only escalated in intensity. Sheer, abject hatred flashed back and forth like wind in a gale, and the floor mixed Blue and Red between them.

"Please! Everyone!", came a voice from the entryway, and the two Kings both turned to look. There stood a King familiar to everyone there, his sheer confidence radiating outwards in waves. "Save it for the Arena."

"A- Ash?", Oticat said, his anger dulled in the face of such a star. "The Ash?"

"Yeah.", said Ash, reclining against the wall. "I'm him."

Even Ryusei_Nakao69 was a little starstruck. It mattered not that he consorted with demons on a weekly basis, Ash was a celebrity the likes of which he had never before seen. "Wow."

He slammed his hand downwards. For a second, a dark shield sprung up between his Troops and Oticat's, stopping the fight in its tracks. The two groups looked up to see what was going on, and they saw Ash.

"I'm sure you're wondering why I'm here.", said Ash, and gestured towards nothing. "The host of the show Clash with Ash. Well, I just had nothing to do today, and I was kinda bored, so…"

He looked up into the far right corner of the room, and gave a massive wink. "And I'm sure that our viewers at home would just love to see me unscripted, right?"

"Who is he talking to?", one of the Ratzo Brothers whispered.

"Hidden camera.", the other replied, before giving his brother the shut-up elbow.

Ash turned back to the two kings, his hands coming together to proudly show off his Inferno Tower tattoo. "But, of course…"

He suddenly grew far more intense. "You two. You all. Save it for the Arena. Or you won't get to battle at all."

"Yes, sir.", both Oticat and Ryusei_Nakao69 mumbled as one, and motioned for their Troops to sit down. Oticat would have actually liked to not battle, but he somehow knew that wasn't an option. Ryusei_Nakao69's life- and more importantly, his plan- hinged on him winning this fight. If he couldn't battle, then he had already lost.

Now that the two Teams were sitting down, nothing to do but stare at each other, Brandy found herself looking at Ryusei_Nakao69. She had never really gotten the opportunity to study him like this before- all the other times she had seen him, there had always been something going on.

To tell the truth, he barely looked like a regular King. Everywhere Brandy looked, she could see evidence of his evil. The bloody mark on his forehead. The dark crimson jewels on his crown, a far cry from the regular yellow. The thick black scars that ran down from his eyes, all the way to his chin- or what could be seen of it underneath his ripped beard. His frame was far more muscular than that of a regular King, swollen with unnatural might. Black smoke dripped into the air from various torn parts of his skin as he sat, slowly but surely corroding the wood above.

_Like what you see, Brandy?, _came his voice, suddenly echoing in Brandy's head. _Get used to it. You'll be seeing it a lot more from now on._

Brandy jerked her head away, trying to hide the face that her breath and heart rate had elevated dramatically. She looked to Agatha for help, who put up her staff. A thin blue wall appeared between the two teams, and Brandy felt herself relax. But still, she could not help but be nervous, as the Battle Blimp ascended further, towards what would almost certainly be the most important battle of her life.

In the Passenger section of the Battle Blimp, the mood was only slightly less serious. The crowd had been forced to find seats wherever they could get them- on the chairs, on the benches, on the floor, hanging onto the walls, hovering in midair, standing on other Troops, or somewhere else random. A Pekka lay down face first in the middle of the bay, hordes of Goblins climbing all over it. A Balloon gently bobbed up and down near the ceiling, an entire Skeleton Army struggling to stay in the basket. The whole crowd had naturally split into two sides- those that were Blue, and those that were Red. This division had created a sort of no man's land in the center. No one dared enter it, even though it was empty space.

"So.", Brenda said, struggling to breathe against the weight of a Royal Giant. "What was your name again?"

"Funny Valentine.", said Funny Valentine, and gestured patriotically. "I am the 23rd president of the greatest nation on Earth, and will do anything to keep it that way."

"Uh, cool.", Brenda said, having absolutely no idea what he was talking about. "What's your Stand?"

"This is Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap.", said Valentine, with a dramatic sweep of his arm. His hand knocked into a Goblin, sending it tumbling down the back of an Elite Barbarian. "I call him D4C for short."

"Cool.", said Brenda, and winced as a stray weapon jabbed her in the back. "That's a cool name."  
Funny Valentine's face softened. "I see that you're uncomfortable. Would you mind if we took this conversation…"

He leaned in closer, D4C hovering over him. "Somewhere else?"

Brenda nodded. "Yeah. That'd be great- wait. What do you mean, somewhere else-"

"D4C!", shouted Valentine, and his Stand Power activated with the blare of hidden trumpets. An American flag swept itself around him and Brenda, then fell to the floor. Various Troops suddenly fell backwards into the vacuum that the two had once been, and there was a soft pop as they were teleported into unreal space.

Brenda couldn't see for a moment. Then she couldn't see for a lot of moments, then she could see far more than she had ever wanted to, then she could see exactly one thing, and that thing was a dresser. Then it was a smoothie cup, then a paper plate, then she and Funny Valentine fell into the space between dimensions, pitch black and full of shards.

"Woah.", Brenda coughed, on her hands and knees, trying not to throw up all over unreality. "So that's what you meant."

"Indeed.", said Valentine, striding forward with an American flourish. "My D4C possesses the ability of dimensional travel and control. I can cross between them as I choose, bring objects or people with me, and teleport. He is also adept at all forms of physical combat, making him the most powerful Stand that I know of."

He brushed his fingernails, then turned back to Brenda, who was hurrying to catch up. "And it appears that even in this odd, backwater dimension, some people still possess them. So tell me, um…"

"Oh, right.", Brenda said. "Sorry, I'm Brenda."

"So tell me then, Brenda…", said Funny Valentine, and suddenly raised his hand. D4C's fist rushed forward in a blur of pink and silver light. The Phantom's sword raised out of Brenda's arm to block the blow before there was a second, but D4C's far superior physical strength tossed the weapon aside as if it were a mere toy. Valentine pinned Brenda against the wall, glaring with psychotic force. "Tell me all you know about the Holy Corpse."

Meg watched the side of the Battle Blimp, carefully tracking a butterfly. It had somehow gotten in during the boarding, and was now being watched by every Pekka and Mini Pekka in the room.

"Hey Meg?", asked Chloe, who was sitting beside her. "Can I ask you a question?"

"Sure.", Meg said, her vision blurring a little bit as she gently swayed back and forth. "Ask me anything."

"Where did I come from?", Chloe asked.

"Well, uh-", Meg said, and stopped. The question would have been difficult to answer, even if sober. But with Meg currently under Bailey's spell, it was nigh-impossible. She didn't even know where to begin. "What do you mean?"

"I was talking to some other Princesses…", said Chloe, "And they told me that each King only has two. Two for the towers, I mean. There can be another one unlocked through Chests, but I don't think I ever was."

Meg thought for a moment, her addled thoughts trying to connect together deep inside her brain. But even as they did so, Bailey's spell weaving around them started to weaken, and Meg began to wake up.

"Um, uh…", Meg mumbled, feeling that her brain was on the verge of something big. "I think that-"

With a final push of thought, Bailey's spell broke. Meg looked around in surprise, and her eyes widened. "What? Where am I?"

Her eyes flashed, as she remembered. She remembered doing something in her room, then… the middle of some huge crowd, surrounded by-

She felt a kiss on her cheek. A pulse of Red energy spread outwards and into her from it, settling over her mind once again like a weighted blanket. Bailey withdrew, but not before whispering nonexistent words into Meg's ear. Her spell took hold once again, and Meg collapsed into a euphoric heap.

Chloe looked from Musketeer to Bandit in shock, then back again. She tried to form words, but was clearly having some trouble with it. "Bailey? What did you do to Meg?"

Bailey just smiled, and patted Chloe's head. "Oh, don't worry. She's fine. Just needed a nap, is all."

Although Chloe was already Red, Bailey's magical voice affected her all the same. "Oh, okay.", Chloe said. "Can you answer my question?"

Bailey had been listening, and formulating an answer for when Meg inevitably couldn't come up with one. "Of course, Chloe.", Bailey said. "You see, Ryu- your father made you."

"Daddy… made me?", Chloe asked with wide eyes. "What the heck's that supposed to mean?"

"It means that he loved you so much that he knew that he wanted you, even before you existed.", Bailey explained. "So he grew you in his laboratory, slowly but surely moulding you into the perfect little Princess."

"Oh.", Chloe said, looking down at her hands. "Is that why I'm still little, while Stacie and Veronica are so big?"

"That's right.", said Bailey, and ran her hand down Chloe's face. "Now rest up. You've got a big day ahead of you."

"Rest up?", Chloe asked, and yawned. "But… I'm not… tired…"

Bailey's other spell took effect, and Chloe collapsed asleep onto Meg's shoulder. Bailey looked away, out the window, and tried not to feel sick. This wasn't her, was it? Hypnotizing people and putting them to sleep. No, that was a Witch's job. Not hers… was it?

Right?

"Holy… Corpse?", Brenda stuttered, trying not to look at D4C's hand on her throat. "I don't know what you're talking about. What's a Corpse?"

"Oh, surely you must know.", Valentine said, strutting back and forth. "How else would you get your Stand?"

D4C's grip tightened, and Brenda struggled to breathe. "I…", she squeaked out. "Got it from… an Arrow!"

"An Arrow?", Valentine asked, suddenly curious. His grip on the air loosened, and D4C's did as well. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I found an Arrow.", Brenda said. "I accidentally stabbed myself with it, and then the Phantom- my Stand appeared."

"So if what you're saying is true…", Valentine said, with a devious glint in his eye. "There's such a thing as an Arrow… that grants people Stands upon contact."

"Well, yeah.", said Brenda. D4C let go of her entirely, and she slumped to the ground. "How else would it work?"

"Well.", Valentine said, and offered a hand to Brenda. She took it with caution, and was yanked to her feet by the now cheerful Valentine. "Where I come from, Stands are granted by exposure to an ancient relic known as the Holy Corpse Parts. Once I assemble all of them, there will no longer be any obstacle in my quest of making America the greatest country in the world."

"I see.", Brenda said, although she really didn't. "You know, you mention this America a lot. What's it like?"

Valentine seemed not to hear her, or perhaps he just didn't want to take 18 hours answering her question. "Where is this Stand Arrow now?"

"It's…", Brenda said, but stopped. She had no idea if she could trust him or not. So far, he had seemed totally uninterested in anything other than his quest, but Brenda had to make sure. So with a nod, the Phantom took a quick look at his aura.

_He's clean, _he said. _If he gets the Arrow, he will go back to his own realm. There will be no harm dealt to ours. In fact, he considers here the second best place he's ever visited._

"It's in my room.", Brenda said. "Just resting on my desk. Do you want directions-"

"No, that won't be necessary.", said Valentine with a wave of his hand. "Your Stand has already told mine how to get there. Very nice Stand by the way… what do you call it?"

"The Phantom of the Opera.", Brenda said. "Although really, I just call him the Phantom."

"Well, good luck in your future endeavours.", Funny Valentine said, and made a quick gesture. Another American flag appeared, and twirled over both him and Brenda. "Now, I think its time for us both to go back to our own realms."

"Wait!", Brenda said, and the flag paused in its fall. "Once you use the Arrow for whatever you're gonna use if for, could you give it back?"

"Of course.", said Valentine, and grinned. "For all the help you've provided, that would be a small favor."

Then the flag fell. Brenda closed her eyes, and she tumbled head over heels through infinity. A few seconds passed, before the regular world resumed and she fell onto the back of a Golem.

"Huh.", she said, brushing herself off. "I wonder what he'll do with it."

Then she looked out the window, and gasped. For while she had been gone, the white fluffy clouds of the sky had given way to the darkness of the upper atmosphere. And there, at the very top of her sight, was Legendary Arena.

"Look.", said Oticat. He had felt it before he he had seen it. The cold wind of the highest sky, up where it seemed as though you could reach out and touch the stars. The dark that crept in through the windows, the light of the sun having been long lost behind the clouds. The aura of triumph and power that radiated outwards from Legendary Arena in waves, a shining constellation of both Blue and Red.

"Is this…", Sadie said, straining to see as far as she could outside the window.

"It is.", breathed Elizabeth. "Amazing…"

"Oh my.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said dryly, and pushed himself off of his bench. "I do believe we're here."

Oticat grimaced. "So it would seem."

The door dividing the Team area from the Passenger slid open with a wooden thunk, revealing once again the bright figure of Ash. "Well, we're here.", he said. "Everyone, come out."

"This is it, Dan.", Brandy whispered, trying to no avail to calm her beating heart.

"You seem nervous, Brandy.", he whispered back.

"I am.", she said, a little louder. "I mean, it's not like the fate of my future is hanging on this one battle or anything."

"Don't worry.", Dan said, and raised his fist. Golden light sparkled around it, burning small marks into the floor. "With my powers, they won't stand a chance. In fact, I'd estimate that I'm…"

He stared off into space, doing some quick calculations in his head. "Anywhere from 30-45 times stronger than I was then. Nothing they have will be able to stop me."

"But Dan… you won't be.", Brandy said. "In the Arena, we're all just regular Troops. You can't use your Star."

Dan stopped, and his face turned a little whiter. "Oh.", he said. "I… I forgot."

Then he put up his chin, and continued walking. He and Brandy were the only ones still in the Battle Blimp, everyone else still having left. Except for a single member of the Skeleton Army, Ledoot. He stayed behind them, tagging along behind Dan's giant heels.

"But still, don't worry.", he said. "As a Mega Knight, I'm the strongest counter to Elite Barbarians that exists. And you counter Wizard, and the Skeleton Army counters Royal Giant, and I'm sure we can figure out some way to take care of that Valkyrie."

"Yeah, but it's not that I'm worried about.", Brandy said, and held on to Dan a little tighter. "It's the levels. They're so much higher than we are."

"I know.", said Dan, and brought Brandy a little closer to himself. "But there's no point in worrying, is there? No. We just have to fight."

"Careful there, Dan.", Brandy said. "You're starting to sound a little like Bowza."

Dan, despite the blanket of tension that weighed down the whole situation, chuckled a little bit. Increasing his step, he and Brandy at last left the Battle Blimp and touched down on the stone steps of Legendary Arena, ready to face their destiny.

Song: Be my Lover

Brandy heard the notes, echoing out of the massive pair of speakers that jutted out of the sides of the walls of the Arena. Red and Blue confetti poured from enormous golden Trophies, one on each side. Groups of Minions hovered overhead, holding a massive sign.

"Legendary Arena: Grand Re-Opening!", it read, in gigantic golden letters.

"I… I love this song.", Brandy gasped, feeling the music roll over the entire area like a vast wave. "Where have I heard it before?"

"I don't know.", said Dan. "But you're right… it does feel familiar."

"And Grand Re-Opening- what's that all about?", Brandy asked, pointing to the sign.

"Oh, I know that one.", said Brenda, who had suddenly materialized next to Oticat. "Legendary Arena was closed for a couple of seasons. Now today's the first day of the newest one-"

She spread her arms out open wide, and gave an appreciative whistle. "Be Legendary!"

"We're at 5k.", said SpaceKrakenX, who had also suddenly appeared. "We had the privilege of battling in those other two temporary Arenas, but-"

"There's just something so special about this one.", said Avaya, SpaceKrakenX's Witch. "Right guys?"

"Too right.", said Brenda again, and flicked her finger against her forehead. "Legendary Arena's the best."

"Wha-", Oticat said, after he had politely waited for everyone to finish talking. "Where did you all come from?"

"We heard about what's going on.", said SpaceKrakenX. "And so we all came. If that bastard wants this final battle in the Arena, we gotta be here for it."

"I see.", Oticat said. "Well, in that case, seeing as how you're at 5k and all… would you mind giving me a few tips? I'm worried."

"Ah, my boy.", came the voice of ChupilickytwaCT from behind him. "I use a somewhat similar deck. I can help you."

"Oh.", Oticat said. "Great."

ChupilickytwaCT put his hand on Oticat's shoulder, and led him off down a different path. Of course, it still pointed towards the entrance- they all did. "Now, the first thing you need to know about Elite Barbarians is…"

The rest of the entourage continued on the main road, slowly meandering down the astro gardens and black and white pebbles. Even though they maintained a steady conversation, the general mood was one of nervousness, apprehension, and fear.

"Brandy, what can you see?", Brenda asked. "Use your Stand."

"Oh, uh…", Brandy said, and scratched her forearm. "I can't use it on command."

"Aha.", Brenda said. "Well, tell me if you see anything."  
"Don't worry.", said Brandy, and looked up at the gates. "I will."

"Woah…", Meg breathed, stepping out of the emptying Battle Blimp and onto the path towards Legendary Arena. "So this is it."

"Yup.", Bailey nodded, coming up from behind her. "This is the one and only."

With a flicker of wind, Bailey's finger traced a pattern on Meg's ear, and the Musketeer shivered.

"Bailey?", Chloe asked. "Why are you playing with Meg's ear?"

"Um…", Bailey said, and looked down at Chloe. Then up at the sky, then Meg, then back at Chloe. She smiled, and put a little more power into her voice.

"Oh, nothing.", she said, and stroked Meg's ear again. "Just letting her know how much of a _good friend_ she is…"

Meg's mouth curled upward in a hazy smile, and she almost fell to the ground.

"Yeah, you like that.", Bailey said, much to Chloe's increasing worry. "You like being a good friend, don't you? Yes, we all like you, just so, so, much…"

But even as Bailey spoke those words, she came to a realization. She hadn't been able to project so much influence with her voice for long- just a little right before she had died in the raid. But her mind and memory flashed backwards to long before that, when she had been chosen as one of the Troops to receive some of Grrshknn's power.

She could not remember his exact wording, but he had told her that her power would manifest itself eventually. And now, it appeared that he had been right. Fred had gotten immense superstrength and berserker tendencies, Chad and Rick had gotten regeneration and inhuman durability, and she had gotten some sort of mental control.

_Hmmm…, _she thought to herself, as her group kept on walking. _I'll have to figure out just what I can do with this._

"Gooooood morning everyone!", shouted Jimmy Firecracker from his elevated podium, as he saw the immense crowd file into Legendary Arena. They were now of an even larger number, from the many Kings that had hurried to the Arena as soon as they heard what was going on.

"Or is it night?", Jimmy boomed through his microphone, then laughed at his own joke. "You can't quite tell up here, up in…"

He pointed towards the star-studded sky, making sure to really yell for the best effect. "Space!"

The crowd cheered, the sound almost shaking the seats. The effect was enough to make even Jimmy Firecracker forget where he was for a second, before he pulled himself together and signaled to the Ground Goblin that he wished to be lowered.

Down in the dugout, Brandy held her hands in between her knees, concentrating her Dash in her hands and fists. She squeezed as hard as she could with her thighs, trying to prevent her hands from escaping, but they always burst out. She did it again, with the same results.

"I see that you're nervous, Brandy.", said Bowza, looking down at her. "Let me help you with that."

"Yeah, I'm nervous.", Brandy said, before realizing what Bowza had said. "Of course I- what?"

"Here.", Bowza said, and offered her a small pill. "Take this."

"Okay…", Brandy said, and took it. Holding it up in front of her face, she could see that it was pink and bore no markings. "What is it?"

"It's a Pill of Luck.", said Bowza with an enigmatic smile. "I picked it up down in the Lab. It improves the fortune of whoever consumes it."

"Oh.", Brandy said, and chewed it up. "I could use everything I can get."

Bowza smiled, both outwardly and on the inside. The pill was actually just sugar- but Brandy didn't need to know that. As she herself had said…

"We should use everything we can get.", Bowza mumbled, and closed his eyes in prayer.

Ryusei_Nakao69 ran one finger down his scars, feeling their arcane patterns race through him. Grrshknn had managed to bring everything together, all for this one glorious moment. All Ryusei_Nakao69 had to do was defeat Oticat in single combat, then everything he had ever wanted would be his. Fame, glory, immeasurable riches, eternal life…  
"You know, it doesn't seem right.", said Valeyrie, and Ryusei_Nakao69 turned his eyes.

"What doesn't seem right, Valeyrie?", he asked, and the Valkyrie sighed.

"I don't know. It just seems that even though you- we, have all this power, and we've gone to such lengths to do everything… it doesn't seem right that it all ends like this."

Ryusei_Nakao69 laughed, startling a Goblin that had poked his head over the Tower. "Sir? They're uh… they're ready for you now. To battle."

"Yes, yes, I'll be there in a moment.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said with a wave, then addressed Valeyrie with a wide grin. "It might not seem so. But it is so. After all, what better way for this to end…"

He turned again dramatically, flipping his cape over his shoulder in a flash of dark wind. His eyes narrowed, and evil strength flashed within them. "Than in the Arena."

A hush fell over the crowd, no one wanting to miss this historic moment. The very first battle in the brand new Legendary Arena. The fight that even the gods had cared enough about to intervene in. Both Kings silently took their place atop their towers, and looked to their daughters. All four Princesses, in the towers beside them, completed the age old ritual, giving a quick thumbs up to signify that they were ready.

_It's just a battle,_ thought Ryusei_Nakao69. _Nothing more._

_This is _the _battle, _Oticat gulped. _This is everything._

Jimmy Firecracker, up in the booth, would have normally reached for the slip of paper to announce the names of the competitors. But there was no need. He knew these two Kings by now- much of the entire Royale Continent did. Instead, he just picked up his microphone, cleared his throat, and spoke. "Oticat vs Ryusei_Nakao69. Entry into Legendary Arena."

Standing up, he pointed towards the Arena, though no one but the ones around him could see. "Let the battle…"

Every single Troop and King in the entire Arena leaned forward, on baited breath. A hush fell over the entire area, and the music stopped playing. In that moment, it seemed as though the entire world was watching. Both Kings leaned forward, staring into each other. Everything hung in the balance of these three minutes. Every single event of the last few weeks had been leading up to this moment. Jimmy Firecracker took a deep breath, and flung his hand forward.

"Begin!"

Song: Fierce Battle Against a Mighty Foe

Like a shot, nothing happened. Other than both Oticat and Ryusei_Nakao69 flinging their fingers across their digital readouts, there was no activity in the Arena. This was the most important battle of either of their lives, and they knew it. They had different reasons, but the outcome would affect both of them in life-changing ways.

They watched each other across the Arena, daring one another to make the first move. They knew each other's decks, having seen them while on the Battle Blimp. Only now did Ryusei_Nakao69 regret having made his deck the way he did. It had been tailored specifically to counter Oticat's, but now that he had changed it, it would no doubt be less effective.

Ryusei_Nakao69 watched his Elixir bar ever so slowly tick up to 10. He would wait until it was full, then strike hard and strike fast. That was his plan- it always worked. Especially when Oticat was so underleveled compared to him. But as the bar at last reached 10, he broke off his thoughts and placed his finger on the bar.

"Good luck!", he said, and laughed. The high technology of Legendary Arena read his voice and actions, immediately broadcasting a hologram of a laughing King above his head and the same words that he had spoken. "Thanks!"

He dragged his finger forward, indicating exactly where his first card placed was to go. The Elixir bar emptied all the way down to 3 as he lifted his finger, and the colossal figure of Nidavaleer the Mega Knight slammed onto the ground with a colossal blast of sound, right in front of Veronica's right tower. The entire Arena rumbled, and Nidavaleer stood up. He made no sound as he landed, unlike most Mega Knights- for he had been mute since birth.

"Shoot.", Oticat mumbled under his breath. Such a bold action needed a response- and Dan was the perfect one. Sure, he was one level underneath Nidavaleer, but Oticat knew that levels weren't everything. If he had just the right placement, Dan could come out on top. With a quick flash of his hand, Oticat both selected for Dan to drop in front of his own right tower, and clicked the screaming Hog Rider emote. The high pitched scream, however, was lost in the thunder of Dan crashing down onto the stone ground.

The two Mega Knights stared each other down, all the way across the river. Dan could see the shining red "11" that hovered over Nidavaleer's head, broadcasting his strength for all to see.

_If only I could use the Star…., _Dan thought, and gritted his teeth. "This guy wouldn't stand a chance."

He took a huge step towards the bridge, his opponent doing the same. The pair of armored titans flexed their muscles, both preparing to jump.

"Oh, we've got a bold battle here, folks.", said Jimmy Firecracker from his spot up in the sky. "Two Mega Knights, about to rip and tear into each other like a wild pack of dogs- I mean, Minions!"

The crowd roared, and several of them stood up to get a better look, craning over the heads of their fellows.

"Bandit best girl!", shouted rwbyfan433, a King in the front row. "Go Blue!"

"Bandit can suck my-", shouted another King, but was hit with a hard elbow to the face.

"Shut up, Jeff.", whispered BlipBlox, another King. "No one cares."

Dan and Nidavaleer both reached the bridge, Red only slightly ahead of Blue. Sheer power could be felt radiating outwards from the center of the Arena, as both Mega Knights prepared to jump. The ground almost buckled from the weight, but managed, magically, to stay strong.

Dan bent down, feeling the weight of the crowd's stares weighing down on him. As he breathed, he tried to stay calm, tried to prevent the Star from flowing out of him. If he accidentally used it, then the battle would be declared over. Oticat would lose automatically from cheating, and Brandy would be gone.

As he saw his foe prepare for his own mighty leap, Dan used that thought to motivate himself. With a deep, throaty roar that seemed to come from somewhere beyond, steam rose off of Dan's body. He pushed himself into the air, suddenly grateful for all those 5 AM leg routines. He saw Nidaveleer do the same, and closed his eyes to brace for impact.

With a titanic crashing sound, the two collided in midair. A veritable shockwave spread out across the whole Arena, slamming into the shield that protected the audience. Ripples of Blue and Red spread out from the impact point, the audience cheering as Dan and Nidaveleer landed again. Both of their health bars dropped, Dan's slightly more than his foe's. With a grim determination, they both turned around, and bent at the knees to do it again.

"Should we… send in someone else, Dad?", Veronica said, and Ryusei_Nakao69 turned in interest.

"Dad?", said Stacie, and Oticat took notice. "We should play someone."

"No, not yet.", both Kings said, not noticing the other's exact actions. "I want to see how this plays out."

Dan and Nidavaleer slammed into one another yet again, and the crowd roared. They hit the floor of the Arena with a mighty crash, and their health bars both dropped. Nidavaleer groaned in pain, and Dan was a little taken aback. Fighting in the Arena usually didn't cause any real pain- but maybe this Troop was different. Or, Dan thought as he felt the own hurt start to creep into him, maybe it was this time. Or this Arena. _But those things don't really matter right now, _Dan thought as he turned around again- because it was time to jump again.

He roared, and leapt. Both huge mace hands spread out, Dan soared over the river, towards his opponent. He didn't close his eyes this time. No, this time, he wanted to see every bit of pain he could inflict on Ryusei_Nakao69's troops.

As they met in midair, they just passed through each other. It was a strange interaction, but one that hurt. A lot. A dull pain slammed into Dan, as he dealt his own damage to Nidavaleer. As they again hit the ground, the crowd started to think that their bizarre exchange had gone on just a little too long.

"Hey, give us something else!", a Villager yelled, throwing her drink into the Arena.

"Yeah, how about you make it a little more interesting, huh?", shouted a Barbarian.

Ryusei_Nakao69 turned just ever so slightly to face them, his eyes burning with unnatural hate.

"Silence!", he roared, and invisible dark waves swept across the crowd. They felt themselves sit down, as fear suddenly burned its way into their unprotected hearts. Ryusei_Nakao69 resumed his watching of the battle, and sighed. "Honestly. Can they not watch a good battle in peace?"

Dan looked at Nidavaleer's health bar. It was low- very low. It couldn't have been more than 10, or maybe, _maybe _15%. Just one more jump would do it. But there was just one problem- Dan had been taking more damage than Nidavaleer this whole time, and his health bar was lower to start with. This next exchange would finish off Dan too.

But, Dan thought as he squared his feet and prepared for the next jump, it was a price he had to accept. He had bided time for almost 15 seconds- practically a lifetime in just 3 minutes of battle. There was little chance for a win here. If it was at all possible, Oticat had to force a draw.

Dan took a deep breath, careful not to make it too deep. With a mighty bellow of rage, he flung himself into the air towards Nidavaleer, met him head on- and vanished.

As Nidavaleer landed on Oticat's side of the Arena, badly injured, Dan reappeared back on the bench. He coughed from the pain, before he felt the regenerative magics of the Arenas knit him back together again.

"Dan, you're hurt.", Brandy gasped, and jumped on top of him. "How?"

Dan coughed again. "Looks like… the system's still got some things to work out.", he said. "Grand reopening of the Arena, and all."

"Yeah… looks like you're healed up now though.", said Brandy, and jumped off of him. "Good job out there."

"Heh.", Dan coughed, and sat up. "It was dumb."

"Well, folks, that certainly was a unique clash!", Jimmy yelled into the microphone, and squinted down at Oticat's tower. He could see that Oticat was putting a finger up to his readout, at last playing another card. "It seems as though Oticat's playing another card. I can't quite see what it is. It's… it's-"

Oticat tapped his finger right in front of Sadie's tower, where it was on his digital map. With a frosty chill and a giggle of insanity, Randy appeared on the floor.

"He's- he's played his Ice Spirit.", said Jimmy. "Goes by the name of Randy…"

A pair of Barbarians wearing suits suddenly slammed open the door to the studio, and rushed into the room.

"I get the spinny chair!", shouted one, and dived for the seat next to Jimmy.

"I get the spin-", began another one, then swung his arm. "Dang it man, you always beat me."  
"Yeah, that's cause I'm faster.", said the first brother, and grabbed the microphone.

"Hey- hey- hey, what do you think you're doing?", Jimmy whisper shrieked, trying to grab his microphone back against the much stronger Barbarian.

"We're here to help you commenterate. Commentate. Whatever.", said one Barbarian. "I'm Joe, and this is Rogan. Now, let me just-"

Even as Nidavaleer stomped with iron boots towards Sadie's tower, Randy felt no fear. He was incapable of it, having a mind only capable of comprehending ice, snow, jumping, parties, combat, and the immortal secrets of the universe. Tiny patches of ice were left behind with every step he took, sprinting towards the Mega Knight with the speed of raw insanity.

"Randy's in a place we've never seen him before.", said Joe, and Rogan tried to grab away the microphone. "I think he's-"  
Nidavaleer knelt, and pushed off the ground as he flew into the air. Randy just giggled, and jumped in a perfect arc.

"Watch out watch out-" Rogan yelled, and the entire Arena screamed in excitement. "Oh my Se'th! K.O in midair!"

He was right. Even though Nidavaleer had won the battle, Dan had left him with very little health. The damage of Randy's frosty impact, meager though it was, had been enough to finish off the Mega Knight, and empty the field of Troops. Oticat looked down at his interface, thinking about who to send it next.

"Uh, Dad?", Sadie said nervously. "I really think that we should-"

"Yes, Sadie.", Oticat said, a little more forcefully than he would have liked. "I'm deciding."

A single bead of sweat dripped off his brow, and he selected a card. With a flick of his finger and a burst of blue light, the one that appeared on the right bridge was none other than Bowza.

"Let's see how you respond to this, Ryusei_Nakao69.", he whispered under his breath, and tapped his interface again. An image of the Rascal Girl Birthday emote flashed above him, as if to flex.

Ryusei_Nakao69 stared down at Bowza, as he slowly approached his firing range.

"Oh, thank you.", he said, and Oticat flinched. "That was probably the best move you could have made…"

His hand moved, and Valeyrie flashed into being a few feet from the center of the Arena, on the right side. "For me."

Bowza saw Valeyrie drop down on his left, and calmly nocked an arrow. It was a decision between her and the tower- but he had been played to scout and bait Ryusei_Nakao69, not deal tower damage. His main focus at this point was to take out Valeyrie, before she got to Oticat's own towers.

The red 13 above her head shone, having been increased from 12 just a few hours ago. Her axe shone, and her knee-high boots clinked against the stone floor of the Arena. A smug grin crossed her face, rich with anticipation of slashing her weapon against Bowza's skin.

But Bowza was far from fearful. He drew back his magical bow, took a deep breath, aimed, and fired. The arrow of light passed through the air, shot neatly through Valeyrie's torso, and-

The shot hit Ryusei_Nakao69's King Tower, making a small chip out of the stone. The crowd groaned, and the King jumped up in mock surprise. With a yank of a hidden lever, his sparkling golden cannon rose up out of the top of the King Tower, sliding into place with a perfect click.

Both Valeyrie and the tower were barely even damaged. Both Bowza's long range and low damage had been taken advantage of by Ryusei_Nakao69's plan.

"Oh, bother.", Bowza whispered underneath his breath. "I didn't mean to do that."

As he saw Valeyrie draw closer with each step, swinging her axe menacingly in her hands, Bowza thought that there was at least no way that he could make the situation worse. If he had damaged the King tower once, he could very well do it again. So he drew back another arrow and fired, this time going through Valeyrie's shoulder. She grit her teeth in pain, but continued on unhindered. Her health bar barely went down- Bowza's 222 damage had barely scratched her 2406 HP. Bowza nocked and fired another arrow, grateful that at least he was out of range of Ryusei_Nakao69's Princess towers.

Finally, Valeyrie reached Bowza's position. She swung her axe up behind her shoulders, and prepared to strike. "I gotcha now, wimp!", she yelled, and spun. The very end of the axe spun so fast it could hardly even be seen, slicing through the air like a hot knife through butter. Bowza's health bar dropped dramatically, Valeyrie's 322 damage wreaking havoc on his mere 490 HP.

"Perhaps.", said Bowza, and smirked. "But I-"

Valeyrie swung again, and Bowza splattered into Elixir. It lay briefly upon the ground, before disappearing.

"What's that?", Valeyrie said, and continued walking. "Couldn't quite hear you there, old man."

Bowza reformed back on the bench, already in his trademark hover. "-have the-", he said, before realizing that he wasn't on the battlefield anymore. Sitting down, he looked down and sighed.

"Sorry about that, guys.", he said. "I didn't know that's what was going to happen."

"No, no, it's alright.", said Agatha, putting her hands on his shoulders. "You did as well as you could. And who knows? That damage might come in handy."

Bowza smiled. "Yeah…"

Up in Oticat's view of the field, he wasn't quite sure what to do. Nothing in his hand really countered Valkyrie that well. He had Agatha- she would stand no chance against Valeyrie's splash. There were the Ratzo Brothers, yes- but he needed them for tower damage, not for pointless defense that wouldn't even work. There was The Log- yeah, that wouldn't do anything. Besides, he wanted to save it for later. There was the Skeleton Army- that would be a dumb play. A Skeleton Army could be shredded in a single second by a Valkyrie. There was no way he would play it-

Then, he got an idea. What if… there was a way he could drop the Skeletons right? As he thought faster and faster, an idea of the perfect placement came into his head.

"Your levels are impressive, Ryusei_Nakao69!", he shouted, and his opponent looked up in mild curiosity. "But in the end, it does not come down to that."

Oticat slammed his finger onto his interface, and selected the Skeleton Army. "No, in the end, what it comes down to is-"

Oticat dragged his finger up to the center of his digital map, and let it go with a flourish. The Skeleton Army popped into view, every one of them brandishing their tiny swords with all the ferocity they could muster. "Placement!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 craned forward for a better look, then threw his head back in laughter. "Are you really doing this, Oticat?", he laughed, and spread his arms open wide. "Trying to counter a Valkyrie with- with a Skeleton Army?"

"I'm not trying.", said Oticat, and gave a slight smile. "I'm doing it! Look!"

Down on the field, Valeyrie could scarcely believe her eyes. For some reason, Oticat had thought that playing a Skeleton Army in the center would be a good idea. That a bunch of mere level 8 Skeletons could possibly hope to stop her, a mighty level 13 Valkyrie. The thought made her give a low chuckle, and she continued forward.

Valeyrie knew that she just had to slice apart a few Skeletons, and then she would be free to slice apart the towers and win her King the match. Yes, just slice them apart, really quick…

So focused on these thoughts was she, that Valeyrie didn't even notice Elizabeth's arrow hit her in the side. She didn't notice her health bar drop a bit, nor the very particular, planned way that the Skeletons were placed out.

With a powerful swing, Valeyrie sliced the first Skeleton into bare Elixir. He soaked into the ground, and would not reform until all his fellows had been defeated. But it would not be long.

"Come here, you little buggers!", Valeyrie said, and prepared for another swing. "I'll slice you all into pieces!"

As she swung again, taking out another three, Valeyrie noticed that most of the Skeletons weren't technically in her general proximity. They were on the other bridge, stuck between trying to go forwards or fight her. None of them were in range at the moment, so Valeyrie swung her axe up onto her shoulders and started again her long, slow walk.

Jimmy, up in the announcer's booth, stared in utter disbelief. "I- I don't believe it!", he whispered, the words being blasted at high volume throughout the massive surround speaker that hung over the Arena floor. "He's actually playing a Skeleton Army- in order to stop a Valkyrie! And what's more…"

Jimmy leaned forward, being able to just barely see Valeyrie's health bar going steadily down. "I think it's actually working!"

And indeed it was. As Valeyrie slowly strode from one side of the Arena to the other, taking out a group of Skeletons every few seconds, the combined, continuous fire of Sadie and Elizabeth were slowly wearing her down. Valeyrie was enjoying destroying the Skeletons too much to even notice that her HP had already gone below 50%.

"Come on, come on, get some!", she shouted, and again swung her axe. It decapitated the last of the Skeleton Army, and the members fell to pieces. Reforming on the bench a few moments later, they briefly exchanged high fives, then formerly sat down.

"Well, that was a waste of both time and Elixir.", Valeyrie laughed, and turned towards Sadie's tower. "My time… your Elixir."

With a bold stride forward, she only then realized that the two Princesses were hitting her. Taking the small amount of pain like it was nothing, Valeyrie prepared to strike. She raised her axe- and noticed her reflection in its polished surface. To her utter shock, her health bar was practically empty.

"Wait, wha-", was all she could get out, before Sadie fired one more arrow and the Valkyrie exploded into purple rain.

The crowd cheered, excited to witness such a seemingly impossible feat of skill. SpaceKrakenX, up in one of the highest seats, whistled appreciateivly and looked up at ChupilickytwaCT, hanging his head over the back of the seat.

"Fine young one, isn't he?", he asked, and ChupilickytwaCT nodded. "Indeed."

Valeyrie appeared back on the bench, with her eyes and mouth hanging wide open. She dropped her axe in shock, and stumbled to a seat. Her hands trembled, and she stared at them as if seeing them for the very first time.

"But- but-", she said, almost unable to even process what had just happened. "It was just a Skeleton Army. And I'm a Valkyrie!"

She raised her fist towards the sky, shaking with anger and the promise of vengeance. "I'm supposed to kill any swarm. I'm… strong…"

Jimmy yanked the microphone out of Rogan's hand, and shouted into it with sheer excitement. "You saw it here first, folks! This is one King that just proved that skill matters over all else!"

Oticat, with a surge of confidence from the reactions of the audience and the high-skill move that he had just pulled off, flicked his interface. The screaming Hog Rider appeared once again, prompting a massive wave of laughter from the audience.

"Now how about this?", he shouted, and selected another card. "Will you, Ryusei_Nakao69, help me prove once again that skill beats all else. Really, you've just been so helpful…"

Ryusei_Nakao, with a slow blink, activated his specially enhanced vision. In an instant, he saw Oticat's hand, and what card he was about to play. The corner of his mouth turning up in a grin, he chose his own card. "Hmph.", he said, and looked Oticat in the eye. "Don't get cocky, Oticat."

A chill suddenly ran through the Arena, originating from Ryusei_Nakao69's King Tower. "I promise you, it will be the last thing you ever do."

With a flick of his wrist, Oticat carefully selected his next card. Down in the dugout, the image of the Ratzo Brothers appeared on the front wall's screen, and they both stood up.

"Guys, you're up.", he said. "I want to see how his defensive game is against you."

"Alright, sir.", said one of the brothers. Hoisting their Ram up and onto their shoulders, the duo ran onto the platform, and disappeared among shouts of encouragement.

There was a flash of blue light, and the Ratzo Brothers materialized at the right bridge.

"It seems that Oticat's playing his deck as Bridge Spam!", shouted Jimmy, up from the control booth. "That's a very bold move, considering that-"

Rogan grabbed the microphone out of his hand, then had it stolen again by Joe.

"Considering that his opponent plays Elite Barbarians!"

"Yes, I'll have to watch out for them.", said Oticat under his breath. "Fortunately…"

He looked down to his interface, where his Mega Knight card was waiting. "SpaceKrakenX and ChupilickytwaCT taught me just how to deal with those. Thanks, guys. Couldn't be doing this without you."

The Ratzo Brothers advanced forward, stepping slowly at first. But they picked up speed as they went, a golden aura appearing at the edge of the Ram as they began to run. The general roar of the massive audience grew in intensity as the Battle Ram grew closer to the tower, closing in on the distance like a -

Like a nothing, now, because they had suddenly been stopped in their tracks. A shrill cry of "Electricity!" had come from the sky above, and Tsarsus the Electro Wizard had zapped directly onto them. Their momentum was broken by the shock of electric force, and they slowed down again to a slow walk. The crowd sighed, and sat back down.

"How's that for placement, Oticat?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked, crossing his arms in a gesture of triumph. "My Electro Wizard, Tsarsus, just so happens to be its veritable King!"

"Electrons!", Tsarsus shrieked, and twin bolts of lightning popped out from his outstretched hands. They slashed across the hard wood of the Battle Ram, leaving a pair of burn marks all along the side. Any momentum that the Ratzo Brothers had managed to build up was again zapped to nothing, and they froze in place for half of a second.

"Come on guys, you can do this…", said Sadie encouragingly, but she knew that they couldn't. Battle Rams were fragile, their hitpoints having received a small nerf a few months earlier. Even though it was a mere 5% reduction, it had been just enough to matter. And now, it looked as though Tsarsus would never let the Ratzo Brothers reach the tower.

But they still kept on pushing, through the constant battering of Electricity, now feeling Stacie's arrows pierce into their Ram, just trying to keep on going, keep on pushing, keep on fighting, keep on trying until they reached the tower-

But as Tsarsus shouted "Zap!" one more time, and fired a final volley of electric pain, it became all too clear that they couldn't. The Battle Ram's health bar dropped below zero. It shattered into nothing, soon to reform on the bench. The Ratzo Brothers, as soon as it disappeared, both nodded and drew their swords. They were, conveniently, already within striking distance of Tsarsus.

A spectator in the audience cast his sign up into the air, revealing the notorious emote of a Barbarian picking his nose. The Ratzo Brothers both stabbed their swords upwards, and attacked.

"Electrons!", Tsarsus screamed, and thrust his hands forward. Two flashes of lightning hit the brothers right in the chest, but they kept on moving, motivated by thoughts of duty and revenge. One of them slashed his sword, leaving a deep cut across Tsarsus's shoulder, and the Electro Wizard shrieked as his hitpoints were dramatically reduced. He tried to fire again, but was met with a stab to the stomach that dropped his health bar even further.

Tsarsus grit his teeth, and raised his hands. They sparkled with yellow, wild energy, and hummed with the might of 3000 volts. "Zzzzz!", he yelled, and fired again.

His attack hit both Barbarians at the same time, reducing their HP to zero- but at the same time, Tsarsus felt just the tiniest bit of regret. For although he himself was fast, his attack speed was just a bit too slow. Even as he landed his finishing blow, each of the Ratzo Brothers had landed theirs.

"Well, darn.", he said, and he dissolved into Elixir a half-second later than his opponents did.

Tsarsus appeared back on the bench, and put his head in his hands. "I did all I could, sire.", he said timidly, making sure to exercise caution. "I didn't-"  
"No, no.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, flicking a downwards hand of silence. "You did precisely what I wanted you to. And now…"

He tapped a single card on his interface, hovering his middle finger over another. "Now, the real fun begins."

His eyes lit up with maniacal glee, and Ryusei_Nakao69 pushed the button.

"Hey, what's that you're talking about over there?", Oticat said, trying to annoy his opponent. "Can I add something?"

But Ryusei_Nakao69 wasn't even disturbed. He merely gestured to his left bridge, Oticat's right, and grinned. "Oh, nothing. I was just explaining to everyone that now is where the real fun begins."

A massive shape appeared right behind the bridge of attention. A trio of horns played from somewhere beyond, and the shape coalesced itself into the formidable shape of a Royal Giant.

"Oh, that's not good.", Oticat whispered, and looked down, searching for any Troop that would be able to halt the Royal Giant's advance. His face lit up when after just a few seconds of deciding, Oticat found the right one.

He flicked it out onto the field with a majestic flourish, the place he designated turning purple for a second with magically colored smoke. Once it cleared, Agatha stood behind the center of the bridge.

"Ah, good move, good move.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, giving Oticat a soft, polite clap. The updated Legendary Arena interface automatically read his thoughts and intentions, broadcasting the Clapping Royal Ghost emote above his head.

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up in annoyance- _would it quit that?- _then looked down again. "Your Witch would most certainly counter my Royal Giant, if it wasn't for…"

The Royal Giant placed one massive foot on the bridge, and prepared to cross. Agatha raised her staff, summoning a trio of Skeletons. They clacked their swords together, saw the Royal Giant, and ran off towards it, screaming ancient Skeleton curses that no one else could understand, or even hear, because they were a Witch's Skeletons, and thus could not speak.

"This!", shouted Ryusei_Nakao69, and flicked forward his other finger. In a flash of red, a bottle of Rage appeared above the Royal Giant's head, just in front of him. It fell to the ground and burst open, purple liquid spreading across the floor of the Arena in a giant circle.

"No, that's not good.", Agatha said to herself, and raised her hand to fire. "Hopefully I can take it out before it has a chance to-"

But the Royal Giant was already in position. The purple light and glow of the Rage spread across his body almost instantly, boosting his attack speed to ridiculous proportions.

"Crush… you…", the Royal Giant grunted, almost too deep to be heard. In Oticat's dugout, Bowza shivered a little bit as he remembered his battle with Fred the regular Giant. Well, not regular, exactly- but he had been- _was, _now, a basic Giant at heart.

"Crush you!", bellowed the Royal Giant, this time far more aggressively. Loading one cannonball from his pocket into his cannon at nearly instant speed, he fired.

The cannonball went soaring over the heads of the Skeletons, over the head of Agatha, firing her beams of energy as fast as she could, and crashed right into the tower of Sadie, who ducked to block the blow. A visible crack spread up the side of the stone tower, having dealt a monstrous 370 damage. Sadie's tower now had only 2164 HP left.

"Dad?", she said, looking out at the enraged Royal Giant before her. She quickly fired off an arrow, but it did little to stop the rampaging menace, who even now was loading another shot.

"I don't think Agatha can stop it in time!"

"I can, Sadie!", Agatha shouted from the field, and summoned up another batch of Skeletons. "Just keep firing!"

"Okay-", said Sadie, and another massive cannonball slammed into her tower's walls. The crack widened a bit, with the HP now only at 1794. At this rate, it would not be long before her tower was completely gone.

Agatha fired off another quick blast, its paltry damage doing next to nothing to the Royal Giant's vast 3708 HP. Even though there were 6 Skeletons all hacking at the beast simultaneously, she feared that Sadie's tower would indeed fall before the Royal Giant did.

"Dad!", Sadie yelled, firing another shot. As the arrow slid into the Royal Giant's shoulder, he responded with a shot of his own, bringing Sadie's tower HP down to 1424. "I really think you should play someone!"

"No!", Oticat shouted, his face slightly redder than normal. "I can't!"

_Because if I do…, _he thought, _He'll play those E-Barbs of his right down the opposite lane. I can't take that risk. Better to lose one tower than to lose both. I… have to keep my Elixir high. No matter what._

"You get crushed!", boomed the Royal Giant, and fired another shot. Sadie nearly stumbled, but managed to keep on her feet. Her tower HP dropped down to 1054- it was almost defeated. Agatha took a deep breath, and raised her staff to fight all the harder. Her Skeletons kept on hacking, but their damage just wasn't enough to take the monster down. Agatha, and thus the Skeletons she summoned, were only level 8. In a tournament, she would have been able to counter the Royal Giant easier- but this was Ladder.

Yet another cannonball struck Sadie's wall, and her HP fell to just 684. Two more shots was all it would take, and Oticat would be one third of the way to defeat.

Sadie screamed, jolting Oticat out of his stupor. He frantically looked over his cards, trying to think if anything could help the situation. He was at 8 Elixir now- probably enough to stop the Elite Barbarians and play a card. Probably. Brandy and Dan were both in his hand- Brandy would be able to help take down the Royal Giant. So he hovered his hand over her card, and-

_Your heart is wavering, Oticat, _came a voice from somewhere behind him. _Do not play it. It would certainly be folly._

"What-", Oticat spat out, and looked behind him. But there was no one there, save the audience. Oticat hurriedly looked back towards the Arena- only to see yet another cannonball sink deep into his daughter's tower. She was only at 314 HP now. Just one more hit would finish her off.

Oticat tapped Brandy's card- and stopped. He could see that the Royal Giant was only one more hit away from fallin. Even though the damage of Agatha and her Skeletons had not been large, it was enough to take the monster down eventually. So Oticat, hard as it was, decided not to play anything else.

Larry, with a ferocious grunt of effort, sunk his sword deep into the Royal Giant's toe. The blade went deep, just as the last hitpoints of the Royal Giant finally ran out. With a wavering cry, he splashed into a vast deluge of Elixir- but not before one final shot rang out. His last cannonball flew straight as an Arrow, and smashed right through Sadie's tower. She shrieked in terror, clutching her bow and crown to her chest as the magics of the Arena activated.

Sadie dropped to her knees right in front of the bench, staring up at her father in disbelief.

"Dad…", she whispered. "He didn't save me. Why?"

"He has a plan.", Bowza said. "I can feel it."

But out on Oticat's King Tower, he didn't really have much of one. He just tried to calm down his frantically beating heart, as he pulled the lever that released his own cannon. With trembling hands, he looked over his cards again- they were still all the same. The only difference was that Oticat was now losing by a huge margin.

"Too weak, Oticat!", Ryusei_Nakao69 boomed from across the Arena, and the Blue King looked up into his evilly glowing eyes. He gave a slow clap, and Veronica made an exaggerated yawn. Legendary Arena heard and saw her action, showing the Yawning Princess emote above her head.

"I don't think you can win this one, Oticat.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, and held up one finger. "If you surrender now, I'll give you something special to make up for the loss."

Oticat held up one finger of his own as well. But it was not his index finger, as Ryusei_Nakao69 had done. It wasn't his ring finger or pinky, and it was not his thumb.

"You really think I would surrender?", Oticat said, and scoffed. "If you think that, then…"

His eyes narrowed, and he seemed to stand a little taller. "You're the stupidest King I've ever known."

Song: Overdrive

"Stupid, you say?", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, faking his hurt. "Stupid, you mean, as in low skill. Low skill, you mean, as in those that beat you. So really, what you're saying is-"

"Did I stutter, Ryus?", Oticat snapped, and a cheer rose from the crowd. "I said you're stupid. Now stop talking."

Ryusei_Nakao69 simply stared, then swept his hand across the board. Two things happened. One was that the emote of the Trophy Kissing Goblin appeared over his head, and the other was that Chad and Rick appeared at the bridge, accompanied by a blast of magical trumpets.

Oticat suddenly understood, in a flash of epiphany, what the voice had been saying. He had needed that 10 Elixir in order to counter this move. If he screwed this up at all, his other tower would be gone. "Brandy.", he said. "Get out there."

Brandy stood up from her spot on the bench. She didn't know what was going on the battlefield, but she hoped it was something she could handle. Maybe the Wizard, or some empty space that Ryusei_Nakao69 had left out for her. As she disappeared into the blue light, she hoped that it would be something that she could do.

And as she reappeared out on the field, and saw the two Elite Barbarians of her nightmares charging right at her, any hope that it would be easy instantly vanished from her mind.

"What?", she whispered to herself. "Are you serious?"

Struggling to get herself to even move, she saw the two draw closer. They moved at high speed- not as fast as a charging Prince, or Hog Rider, but still about as fast as her. She saw their eyes, seemingly boring right into her.

But even as the fear threatened to overtake her, Brandy knew that she had to fight. This was, after all, all that this really was. Just a fight. She had to keep on thinking that.

Brandy yelled in defiance, and charged forward. Oticat hovered his finger over another card, waiting for the perfect time to play it. The Elite Barbarians continued their confident run, and were soon closer to Brandy than she ever would have wanted. She swallowed hard, and prepared to Dash.

"What's the matter, Brandy?", said Rick. "Afraid?"

But Brandy didn't answer. Instead, with a ferocious yell, she Dashed forward, and kicked Chad right in the stomach. He sucked in a breath, and the two Elite Barbarians stopped in their tracks.

The blow had felt wonderful for Brandy. To land such a satisfying hit on the single individual that she hated the most was therapeutic, at the very least.

But Chad knew her weaknesses. He could see it in the way that Brandy ran, the way she looked at him. She, despite all that she had been through, every bit of recovery, was still afraid of them. Afraid of them, and what they had done to her.

"We're still level 13, cutie pie.", Chad said, trying to play off of Brandy's fear to the fullest. He raised his sword to strike, and Rick did the same. Even a level 13 Bandit stood no chance against them, and all three knew it. "You _still_ can't touch us."

Brandy threw her arm back, ready to strike with all the ferocity she could muster. The Elite Barbarians swung their swords downwards- and would have hit Brandy too, if not for the colossal impact of Dan, slamming directly between them with a clap of thunder that rivaled even the mightiest storms.

The Elite Barbarians stumbled back, their forward momentum shattered by the strength of Dan's impact. Chad planted one foot in the ground and raised his sword, preparing himself to attack.

"Why, Dan!", he said. "Look how you've grown."

But Dan didn't listen to his taunts. Instead, he looked down at Brandy, still beside him. There was fear in her eyes, but it was far less than it had been before.

_You ready?, _he thought, and Brandy perked up.

_I am ready, _she thought back, and curled her open hand into a fist. _Let's get em._

Chad and Rick bellowed, and rushed forward, swords in the air. Brandy and Dan yelled back, even more ferociously, and attacked.

Sheer, abject hatred flowed through Brandy's arm, as she swung upward. Her stick collided with the bottom of Chad's chin, snapping his head back with a sharp crack. His healthbar dropped- but not by all that much. Brandy's attack had only dealt 179 damage, out of his remaining 971 HP.

But Dan was an entirely different story. As he slammed his metal gauntlets to the ground, the shockwave erupted over the Elite Barbarians with a power born of pure rage. Their health bars both dropped again- this time to 749 HP.

With both Brandy and Dan having attacked, it was the Elite Barbarian's turn to strike back. Both their swords fell, targeting Dan. The powerful strokes of their blades combined to deal 876 damage, bringing Dan's HP down to 2424.

_This is frustrating…, _Dan thought, and gritted his teeth. He raised his hands for another blow, and Brandy did the same. _If I could use my Star, they would be no match. But I can't._

He roared, and threw his fists to the ground as hard as he could. Brandy threw her fist forward, the damage stacking up for two powerful blows- one to Chad, and to Rick. Chad, who Brandy had targeted, took 392 damage, leaving him at 327 HP. Rick took only Dan's attack, so he was at the much higher HP of 527.

"Is that all, Dan?", Chad said, and raised his sword above his head. "I had thought you would be stronger!"

But as the Elite Barbarians prepared again to strike, they both realized that they had forgotten something. They, along with Dan, couldn't hit that fast. But Brandy could- and she was able to hit again now. With a cry of anger, she struck out from behind Dan's massive arms, and jabbed her stick right into Chad's stomach for another 170 damage.

"You little-", Chad spat, noticing with dismay how far his health bar had dropped. "I'm going after you now!"

With a slight nod from his brother, Chad changed his target. No longer did he target Dan- that was up to Rick. Now, he was going after Brandy.

The two Elite Barbarians swung their swords, towards two different spots. Chad's slammed into Brandy's torso, knocking her back a bit. Her entire body flashed, and her health bar went all the way down to 387. Rick's sword slashed down all the way across Dan's arm, kicking his HP down to 1996.

Brandy bit back a scream, and readied herself for another shot. Just one more hit, that would be all it took. All it would take, to bring down Chad.

"Dorra!", she yelled, and swung her fist forward. She had meant to hit Chad, but to her surprise, she collided with It collided with Rick. His health bar dropped, all the way to 357. Even though she had missed, Dan would still be able to bring them down.

Chad and Rick both grunted in pain, and swung their swords. Chad, trying to see through the haze of the dust that had been picked up, missed Brandy and hit Dan. Rick, who had not changed his target, hit Dan as well, slashing him down the chest. His health bar shivered, dropping all the way to 1120.

But even as the pair struck, Dan attacked as well. His massive iron fists hit the ground with a huge shockwave that brought Rick down to 105- and Chad down to 0. He screamed in pain as he dissolved, to float through space until Rick had been defeated as well.

Rick gasped, and stared down at the spot where Chad had fallen. A faint smudge of old Elixir still tainte the area.

He looked up, and growled. Slashing his sword forward, he hit Dan on the leg, bringing his once-high HP down to a mere 638. But even as he attacked, all three of them knew that it was over. Brandy and Dan had triumphed over their foes, the Elite Barbarians.

Brandy lashed out with her leg, catching Rick on the knee and sending him to the ground. Dan raised his hands, ready to crush- and then slammed then down again, splattering Rick into a puddle of purple that quickly soaked into the ground.

The two stopped for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued towards the bridge. Even in their weakened conditions, they could still cause vast damage to Ryusei_Nakao69's towers, and he knew it. Which is why, with an evil grin, he selected another card from his deck. With a swipe of his finger, a bright flame appeared at the end of it.

"Interesting…", he said. "Bandit and Mega Knight. Who would have thought they'd make such a great combo. Perhaps I should use it someday…"

Then, as Brandy and Dan crossed the bridge, he grinned, and threw the Fireball.

Dan looked up, and crossed his arms in some instinctual form of defense. But such things did not work in the Arenas- and so the Fireball exploded in a massive burst of 832 damage, turning both Brandy and Dan into Elixir.

With a crash, they reappeared back on the bench. It almost shattered underneath Dan's weight, but magically managed to hold. Brandy fell back, letting out a deep breath.

"Woah.", she said. "That was… therapeutic."

"Yup.", said Dan, staring forward. "Even if we both got taken out by that Fireball, we still proved that those little bastards are no match for us- even without our abilities."

"Yeah.", Brandy said, and clenched her fist. The feeling of triumph was almost enough to offset the oppressive aura that settled over the Arena as a whole- almost. But in the end, the stakes were too high to forget. Brandy's own soul was riding on this match.

Oticat looked over his cards, trying to decide. Playing both Brandy and Dan together, even if it had saved Elizabeth's tower and forced Ryusei_Nakao69 to play his Fireball, had taken all 10 of his Elixir. So he had to play it safe for a bit, just until he had enough Elixir left to do anything. Just maybe cycle a bit, and test the waters a little more. Yes, Randy was the obvious choice.

So Oticat flicked his finger forward, and Randy appeared on the field with a frosty giggle. Despite the intensity of the battle, he seemed mostly unaffected. Seemed, of course, was the operative word- one could never truly tell the innermost thoughts of an Ice Spirit. That is, of course, if they wanted to remain sane.

Randy skipped up the path at high speed, heading straight for Stacie's tower. Giggling madly to himself, he crossed the bridge, and into the Red half of the Arena.

Stacie nocked, aimed, and fired an arrow, which sunk into Randy with a soft hiss. Randy, totally incapable of feeling pain, kept on going at exactly the same rapid clip. Within seconds, he reached jumping distance of the tower, and paused. Another arrow sliced into him, reducing his HP to a single digit number.

But Randy did not care. He lived to die, to jump into enemies over and over again. Even though one more shot would finish him, he didn't mind- for he intended to do that job himself.

With a deep, icy laugh that sounded like shattering icicles on speed, Randy flung himself forward. He broke into a puff of snow and ice upon Stacie's tower, dropping its HP by exactly 82 damage.

"_Hinjaku, hinjaku, _Oticat!", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, using some words he had managed to pick up around the Castle. He didn't actually know what exactly they meant, but they seemed to fit the mood. "You think that would threaten me?"

"No.", said Oticat, and played another card. Within a second, purple smoke swirled out onto the Arena floor, and Agatha emerged. "But this will."

Agatha looked back and up at him, and Oticat coughed. "I mean, uh, she. She will."

"That's better.", Agatha muttered, and strode out further onto the field of battle.

Up in the stands, the mood was a little lighter. But not by much. The Blue side of the spectator seats were taken up mostly by the Kings and Troops of LosDementosCT, while the Red side was made up almost entirely of TheEvilOverLords. Both sides stared at each other with a quiet hatred, far more so than the regular rivalry between the two colors.

These two Clans, despite having never even met before just a few weeks ago, now had unforgettable history. And that history was being decided, down on the field in front of them.

"You know, it should be me down there.", SpaceKrakenX said, from his spot in the box seats. "I'm on his level. My deck is practically a perfect counter to his. I could-"

"No.", said ChupilickytwaCT, beside him. "This is how it should be. This whole thing started because of Oticat. It should finish with him."

"Yes, it should.", said SpaceKrakenX. "But I fear that it could not."

He gestured towards the scoreboard. It showed that Ryusei_Nakao69 had a clear 1-0 lead over Oticat, and a 93.6% chance of winning. "Look at that, Chup. I think we might have made a mistake."

"No, we did not.", said ChupilickytwaCT. "Besides, what does your Stand say?"

SpaceKrakenX took a look at his watch, and whispered into it. The dials spun around at speeds too fast to see, then landed on some numbers that had materialized onto the surface.

"Hmmm…", said SpaceKrakenX. His Stand Diamond North could be very useful at times, but this was not one of them. This time, the numbers that it had given him seemed to make no sense.

"123.", he said. "21. 69. 245."

He flicked his sleeve downwards again, and nestled his head in his fingers. "I'm not sure, Chup. I'm just not sure at all."

Agatha walked as fast as she could towards Veronica's tower. She would run if she could, but her speed was restricted by the Arena's magical field. With a pulse of magical energy, a trio of Skeletons ran out from somewhere underneath her long dress- Harry, Tarry, and the mischievous Larry.

"I see.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and ran a long, sharp fingernail down the side of his face. "But to be honest…"

He tapped his digital interface, and his tower beeped as he played another card. "I'm not threatened at all."

In a flash of orange-red, Valeyrie appeared right in front of Veronica's tower, a grin on her face that dripped of insanity. With a proud spin of her axe, she took a step forward, then turned to face her King.

"Thank you, sir.", she said. "For giving me such an ea-"

Ryusei_Nakao69 stabbed his finger downward, and Valeyrie suddenly felt a sharp pain in the back of her head. "Stop talking. Go fight."

Valeyire was a little shocked by her King's anger, but did turn around again to keep walking. "Okay. Fine. Jeez.", she whispered under her breath.

Larry saw Valeyrie striding confidently towards him and his mother. With a jump and a wave, he quickly alerted Agatha, but she raised her hand to signal that she had already seen her. "I know, I know. But don't worry, Larry."

She took a long look at Valeyrie's distance from the tower, and her purple eyes glinted. "I have a plan."

Agatha stopped, once Valeyrie was in range of her attacks. Her Skeletons kept on going, just barely within range of Veronica's arrows- all as Agatha had planned.

"Come here, you little fricks!", Valeyrie yelled, and raised her axe. Agatha's energy strike hit her in the shoulder, but she barely even felt the blow. "I'm gonna rip you all to-"

Then, to her surprise, the Skeleton that she had been about to target abruptly vanished. An arrow was still stuck in the ground where he had been, its tip soaked with Elixir. Valeyrie blinked, and tried to work out what had just happened.

Another blast of blue energy hit Valeyrie on the arm, and her health bar started to show signs of wear. Larry and Tarry both stabbed her in the knees, dealing some more damage.

"Okay, now I'm really gonna-", Valeyrie yelled, and swung her axe up behind her shoulder again. But just before she was about to attack, Tarry vanished in a puff of purple, and Valeyrie found herself again unable to hit. She furiously whipped around, and saw Veronica pulling back her bow.

"Hey, do you mind?", Valeyrie yelled, now able to understand what was happening. For some reason, she and Veronica kept on targeting the same Skeleton. But Veronica would destroy it a half second before Valeyrie attacked, forcing her to lose her target each time. "I'm trying to fight!"

"Yeah, so am I!", Veronica yelled back, and stuck out her tongue. "Just target some different Skeletons!"

Agatha raised her hand, and three more Skeletons popped out of the ground- Marry, Barry, and Garry. A half-second after, she shot another bolt of blue, striking Valeyrie on her exposed arm. Larry slashed his dagger across her foot, and she grit her teeth in pain.

"You little pieces of trash!", she screamed, and raised her axe all the way above her head. "You can't-"

She swung her axe as hard as she could, but halted in midair as Larry vanished, impaled through the middle by Veronica's arrow. Another of Agatha's shots hit her on the shoulder, and her healthbar dropped even further.  
Valeyrie stopped fighting for a moment. She turned around, put her hands on her hips, and her face twisted with anger. "Hey! Veronica! Stop it!"

"You stop it!", Veronica shouted. "How about you stop attacking the exact same Skeleton that I'm trying to get rid of?"

Agatha tried to suppress her smile, but failed. With another flick of her wrist, a shot of energy hit Valeyrie's leg, on the exact same spot that Garry stabbed. Her health bar dropped again, to worrying levels.

Valeyrie growled in frustration. She threw her axe up behind her shoulder, readying for another strike- and then she heard it. A small, almost unhearable sound, coming from one of the front seats. Nobody heard it, but Valeyrie. It was a giggle, the laugh of a child Villager.

"Look, mommy!", laughed Cookie from her front-row seat, and pointed at Valeyrie. "The Valkyrie can't hit Skeletons!"

Upon hearing those words, Valeyrie's anger elevated. Her face turned crimson with sheer rage, and she felt like she was going to bust a vein any moment. With trembling arms, she slowly turned to where Cookie sat, and snarled.

"You wanna come over here and say that, you little brat?", she screamed, making every effort to keep herself from running over and slicing Cookie's head off. "Huh?"

But Cookie, perhaps unwisely, only laughed again.

Up in the announcer's booth, Jimmy Firecracker chuckled a bit as well. Joe and Rogan both let out a low snort, but they chose to say nothing. It was probably best to not anger Valeyrie so much that she actually did something illegal.

"Valeyrie!", Ryusei_Nakao69 bellowed. "What are you doing? Fight!"

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", Valeyrie yelled back, and raised her axe to try and get in at least one good strike. "But Veronica over there won't even let me!"

Veronica, just a little hurt by Valeyrie's constant outbursts, stopped firing for just a moment. She took her hand off the bow, and inhaled a deep breath to try and calm herself down.

That was all that Valeyrie needed. With a sharp yell of triumph, she swung her axe, taking the heads off of 3 Skeletons at once. She was finally in, or out of, synch with Veronica. She didn't know- whichever one allowed her to finally deal damage.

But even though her opponent was now able to target her, Agatha was not afraid. She just kept on looking at Valeyrie's health bar, steadily going down. Down, with each attack that Agatha landed. Down, with every Skeleton blade that hit her flesh. Agatha raised her arm, and yet another trio of Skeletons emerged from her skirts.

"You're dead Elixir!", Valeyrie screamed, and swung her axe again. The fresh trio of Skeletons was cut down- but not before each of them had had a chance to attack.

Valeyrie felt her health bar go down, a sign that she had started to reach critical levels. But it didn't matter. For even though all the forces of the universe had conspired to keep her from victory, she, Valyrie the Valkyrie, would triumph.

Agatha fired off another shot, noticing how low Valyrie's health had begun. She had to wait a bit before summoning more Skeletons, but it hardly even matted at this point.

Valeyrie took another step, finally within range. She grinned a maniac grin, the hints of insanity written across her face. With a groan, she hoisted her axe over her shoulder, ready to slash Agatha all the way back to the bench.

"I've won!", she roared, and swung, free of any Skeletons blocking her way. "Die!"

The axe slashed across Agatha's chest, bringing her down to half of her health. She stumbled back a bit, but was still able to hit Valeyrie with one more shot of energy.

Valyrie swung her axe over her head again, with a burst of effort that took more than it should have. "It's over, you bi-"

But she never got to finish her sentence, or even her insult. For what came out of her throat then was not words, but merely a pained gurgle. For her health bar, high as it was, had finally reached zero after the constant battering. She looked down, to see Larry with a sword sticking out of her shoe.

"You…", she managed to spit out, then vanished, leaving behind a mere puddle of Elixir.

Jimmy's eyes widened, and he leaned forward. "I- I don't believe it, folks!", he shouted into his microphone. "Here, Oticat has managed to, not once but now twice, defeat a Valkyrie with nothing more than Skeletons! And being underleveled, no less!"

Among the cheers and laughter, Valeyrie felt herself hit the bench. Her face went from the deep red of anger to the pale white of shame, dropping her axe with a clink onto the stone floor.

"I… I don't believe it.", she said, her voice hollow. "I lost to a Skeleton Army. And a Witch. Me, a Valkyrie."

She folded in on herself, trying not to cry. "I'm supposed to handle swarms! Countering Skeleton Armies and Witches is my whole job! What's… what's wrong with me?"

She looked up at Veronica, sitting ever so smugly in her tower. This was all _her _fault.

"Hey, Veronica!", she shouted, and Veronica looked down. "This is all your fault, you know that?"

"My fault?", Veronica asked, gesturing to herself. "Who kept on targeting _my _Skeletons!"

"Come here, you little-", Valeyrie growled, and suddenly felt a dark force lock her in place. She looked up, to see Ryusei_Nakao69 pointing down at her, his finger coated in shadows.

"You two.", he said, a deep, unnatural rumble underneath his words. "Stop talking."

"Yes, my lord.", said both Veronica and Valyrie quietly, and dutifully resumed their regular positions.

As she sat, Valeyrie felt Chad's warm hand on her shoulder. She looked up, to see that he had scooted all the way up to her.

"Hey, don't worry.", he said. "We're still winning. 1-0. Even though that guy's got some kind of BS going on, he can't beat Ryusei_Nakao69."

"Yeah, but…", Valeyrie said, and looked down. "That's no thanks to me. I was useless."

Chad grimaced, trying to think of something to say. He thought for a moment, then came upon the first thing that came to his mind. "Hey, don't worry about it. In fact- I'll let you have first crack at the Bandit once we get home. How about that?"

In hindsight, that was probably the worst thing he possibly could have said. And as he saw Valeyrie's face start to redden, he began to realize his mistake.

"Excuse me?", she said, louder than they had been speaking before. "Are you kidding me? Is _that _supposed to make me feel better?"

Chad tried to say something, but Valeyrie slapped him across the mouth. "What? Do you think I'm gay?"

"Uh…", Chad said, holding his hand in front of his mouth so that he could talk. "I don't know. You're into that sort of stuff, right?"

Valyrie stared at him in shock, suddenly realizing how her boyfriend of 5 months knew so little about her. "No! No, of course I'm not!"

"Oh- uh, but, um…", Chad said, trying to bluff his way out of the situation. "I must be thinking about someone else."

But Valeyrie wasn't about to let him off so easily. "And for another thing- why are you so obsessed with that Bandit? I can't even remember her name, and yet here you are- she's probably all you can think about! You're not thinking about me- you're just fantasizing about going home and sinking your teeth into her!"

"Come on, Valeyrie.", Chad said, reaching out. "She's just a pair of holes to me, come on-"

"Yeah?", Valeyrie shouted, and flung his arm aside. "Well so am I!"

"Wha-", Chad said, and Valeyrie forced her axe against his chest.

"Yeah! You always bring me stuff, and bring me servants, and introduce yourself as my boyfriend, but you know what you haven't done? Say that you love me!"

"I-", Chad said, but Valyrie refused to let him get in even a single coherent word.  
"You've never said it to me! In fact, I bet you can't even say it now! Go ahead, try it."

Chad opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly found that he couldn't. Some strange force held his tongue, and he just stood there with his mouth agape.

"Oh, that's it.", Valeyrie hissed, and pushed herself away. "I knew it. You were only using me, weren't you? You just wanted my body, huh? Yeah, mine and every other girl you ever laid eyes on! Why did I ever let you talk me into an open relationship, anyway?"

"Babe, I-", Chad said, trying to reach out to Valeyrie, but she didn't even look at him.

"You know what?", she hissed, crossing her arms. "We're through. Don't ever talk to me again."

As an awkward silence descended over the Red dugout, they all heard something odd. The last few lines of the conversation, repeated over what seemed to be a loudspeaker.

"And there you have it, folks!", Jimmy yelled, as the audience screamed with excitement. "Thanks to our hidden dugout camera, we managed to capture every moment of what was probably the most awkward conversation of either of their lives! Heh, isn't modern technology great?"

The giant replay camera hanging over the Arena now showed Valeyrie picking up her axe, and swinging around in a rage. She stared intently at the walls, but didn't come close to where the camera was located.

"It looks like she's looking for our camera.", said Joe, who had suddenly managed to grab the microphone again. "But she probably won't-"

Then the feed cut off, as Nidavaleer the Mega Knight slammed his fist into the side of the wall. The camera was punched to bits, and he nodded in respect.

While all that had been going on, Agatha had been able to attack the tower uncontested. Even though her strikes had done little damage, the Skeletons that accompanied her had done a surprisingly high amount- far more than Ryusei_Nakao69 had planned on. And the additional Skeleton trio that had spawned upon her defeat had thrown him for a loop- he didn't know that was a thing. This was the first time he had battled in the Arena in months.

"Curse… it…", he muttered under his breath, and gripped the bridge of his nose. "This is not going as well as I'd hoped. But at least I'm still winning…"

Oticat selected another card, and held it over his interface. "Okay guys, you're up.", he whispered. "Hopefully, he'll have that Electro Wiz out of rotation."

He let go of the card he was holding, and breathed out. With a flash of blue light, the Ratzo Brothers appeared at the left bridge.

"And you too.", Oticat whispered again, as he played another card. "Go and support them- you know, just in case."

Brandy flashed onto the field behind them in a crouch, then took off running, the Ratzo Brothers beginning to charge ahead of her.

"Oh, that old trick?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked, and played a card of his own. "I assure you, it won't work this time either."

He gestured to the spot where the Ratzo Brothers were now charging through, as Tsarus popped out of the sky. He landed with a shrill cry of "Electricity!", halting the Ratzo Brothers in their tracks.

The audience booed, their faces contorted with anger at Ryusei_Nakao69's defense. Even though some of them did not know of the previous rivalry between the two Clans and the two Kings, it was quite clear who was the villain here.

The Ratzo Brothers tried to get running again, but another blast of twin bolts of lightning from Tsarsus sent them back to standing still. One of Stacie's arrows scratched against the side of the Battle Ram, almost destroying it.

Brandy, still on Oticat's side, willed herself to run faster. She had been played in the back, perhaps unwisely. It would take her a little while to get to a place where she could finally Dash.

"Zap!", Tsarsus screamed, blasting the Ratzo Brother's Ram with another volley of painful electrons. With a scream of snapping wood, the Ram vanished, leaving behind the two Barbarians.

"Raaah!", one yelled, and swung his sword. It hit Tsarsus in the side, his already fragile health bar dropping by no small amount.

Brandy ran as quickly as she could to help the Ratzo Brothers, but she wasn't quite fast enough. By the time she reached Dash range of Tsarsus, they might have already fallen.

"Electricity!", Tsarsus yelled, and blasted again. Two bolts of pure energy flew out of his hands and into each of the brothers, and they grunted in pain. Stacie shot a single arrow that hit the shoulder of one of them, and his health bar dropped to almost nothing.

Both of the brothers yelled as hard as they could, and swung their swords downward. Tsarsus's health bar dropped dramatically, now at a mere sliver of health. Even though he was very high level, his base health was still quite low.

_Come on, almost there-, _Brandy thought, then stopped running. Because she was now, in fact, there. Within Dash range of Tsarsus.

Tsarsus set his jaw, and raised his hands for one more final strike. If he couldn't beat the Barbarians, then he would just have to settle for a trade-off.

Both of the Ratzo Brothers roared, and swung their blades. At exactly the same time, Tsarsus struck, and Brandy Dashed. Lightning flowed into the Barbarians, metal blades struck the Electro Wizard- and they killed each other in exactly the same moment. Elixir hit the ground in a three-way puddle, but Brandy continued her Dash. She realized with a jolt that she had no target- where would she go? She certainly wasn't stopping. With a sudden fear in her heart, Brandy reached the spot where her target would have been- and vanished, leaving not a trace behind.

Oticat leaned forward, unable to process what he had just seen. Sadie gasped, and nearly dropped her bow. A murmur ran through the audience, as they began to take in what had happened, right in front of them. Ryusei_Nakao69's eyebrows flew all the way off of his head, then fell back down to their proper placements.

Jimmy scrambled for the microphone, trying to think of what to say. "I- I-", he stammered, then managed to pull himself together. "I don't believe it, folks! That Bandit has just, for seemingly no reason at all, vanished into thin air!"

Brenda stood up, and the Phantom immediately appeared behind her. "Phantom.", she said, not caring that a Builder and a Hog Rider next to her were staring at her sort of funny. "I want-"

The Phantom knew what she wanted, even before she had finished saying it. "Me to find her?", he asked, and they both nodded. "Very well. I will."

The Phantom stretched out his thoughts and presence, searching the surrounding area and beyond for any sign of Brandy. But after searching for a few seconds, he opened his eyes in alarm.

"Mistress…", he said nervously. "I cannot find her. She is gone."

"Gone?", Brenda asked, and started to sweat. "What do you mean, gone?"

"I mean that she has totally and utterly vanished.", said the Phantom. "I cannot find her anywhere."

"Should we, uh, call off the battle?", Joe whispered, although to him, it was more of just a hoarse voice. "Due to the sudden, um, disappearance of a member?"

"Vat?", shouted a Goblin in the back of the room, who had been standing there for some time. "Of course not, you buvvoon!"

"Wha-", Jimmy said, and turned around. He saw a very old, very wrinkly Goblin, a shock of white hair decorating his fragile head. He sat in a wire chair, slowly rolling forward at the clink of a button.

"Of course ve should not cancel!", shouted the Goblin, then his ornery old face suddenly became very bright. "Ze ratings on this battle are- are through ze roof! If we cancel now, ve vill lose ze biggest show of the month!"

He pulled himself all the way up to the window, and put a hand on both Jimmy and Joe's shoulders. "In vact…", he whispered, as if telling some huge secret, "I vant every camera ve have to focus on this fight."

He stared at Ryusei_Nakao69, just barely able to make out a mysterious, hulking dark shape behind him. "Yes, every single von."

Song: Virtuous Pope

Brandy did not know how long she floated. Even though it was mere seconds in real time, the strange dimension in which she now found herself could have assigned hours to her rest. Strange amounts of darkness floated around her, unplaceable voices adding to the general confusion.

"We've only got 16 hours til-"

"There. It's just over that rise."

"-failed, I shall succe-"

"Oh, please. Give me some ideas."

"That, then, is the true-"

"Well then. Let's go."

Brandy opened her eyes, and saw nothing. The only thing that even registered in her blurred, aching vision were strange, seemingly sentient blobs of grey that floated past and into nothing. Some of them looked like jellyfish, some looked like squares, others defied description and molded past unharingly.

_What…, _Brandy thought, pulling herself upwards to a seated position. _Where am I?_

_You're nowhere, _said one of the blobs authoritatively. _This is a place where the things that do not exist come to gather._

_Don't… exist?, _Brandy thought, rubbing the back of her head. _But… I exist. And if I can see you, that means that you must exist too._

_No, I am far from real, _the Blob said. _But if you are indeed existent, then why are you here?_

_I don't really know, exactly, _Brandy said, and started to fall backwards. _I just Dashed at nothing, and then I ended up here._

The Blob scoffed gently, and seemed to extend in all directions and no directions at once. A dimension popped out of him and kindly ran away to join its exuberant fellows.

_Well then, you must leave. Can't have existers going around here, just existing as they please, _it said, and pushed Brandy away. She started to feel a slight tugging sensation on her back, growing stronger with each passing second.

_Wait, who are you? What's your name?, _Brandy said, and the Blob seemed to retreat.

_Ah, yes, _said the Blob. _Names. I'd quite forgotten some beings had those._

Then the tugging grew too strong for Brandy to resist, and she fell backwards into sheer white light.

Among the chaos, it was Meg that first saw Brandy reappear. There was a strange white flash at the edge of the Arena, somewhere behind Veronica's tower. She felt a little strange, like being sick without actually being so.

With a roar that sounded like a tear in space, Brandy stumbled out of the crack and skidded across the stone. Several more members of the audience saw her, and pointed in excitement.

Meg watched her, trying to remember her name. It was… Bailey. No, that wasn't right. Bailey was the Bandit that sat right next to her, watching her think. Her name was… was…

"Brandy.", Meg breathed, and suddenly sat bolt-upright.

"Wha-", she said, and looked down at herself. "What am I doing?"

Somehow, while she had been under the influence of Bailey's voice, her tunic had changed from Blue to Red. But now that she had thrown off the magic, its original color was starting to seep in from the bottom. She turned, and saw Bailey looking at her in shock. "What are you doing to me?"

"Meg…", Bailey said, and reached out. "Look at me. Remember? I'm Bailey. Your best friend?"

She put every bit of effort into her words, trying to wrench control of Meg's mind again. But Meg stood there, and refused to move.

Brandy didn't know exactly what had happened to her. She didn't know why she had vanished, or what bizarre world she was in for those few seconds, but now an opportunity had been given to her, and she was not about to waste it.

Ryusei_Nakao69 grabbed the switch on his cannon, and turned it towards Brandy. Veronica began to open fire as well, but stopped when the steam of an impending Dash started to rise off of her body.

With a yell of triumph, backed by a roar of excitement from the audience, Brandy Dashed. She slammed right into Veronica's tower with a burst of damage, and a large crack snapped up the stone.

Another arrow pierced through Brandy's shoulder, one of Ryusei_Nakao69's cannonballs hit her in the chest. She raised her club to attack, but felt herself fade into Elixir before she could do so.

_Oh well, _she thought. _I did what I could. And that's a lot of damage to his tower._

Meg struggled against Bailey's enchanting voice, trying as hard as she could not to fall under her spell again. Bailey just looked so pleading, so heartbroken that Meg wouldn't obey her.

"Come on, Meg.", she said, reaching out her hands. "It's me, Bailey. Your one true friend."

"My… friend?", Meg asked.

"Yes.", Bailey said, and took Meg's hand in hers. "Now come on. Sit down-"

But to her surprise, Meg's hand only slapped her across the face. Bailey fell to the bleachers, as Meg stood over her, a fire in her eyes. "You're not my friend.", she hissed, suddenly braver than she had ever been. "I don't need you anymore. I don't need Red."

She stared down at Bailey, making sure she noticed that her eyes were now a light shade of sky blue. "I have Blue."

"So, you're Blue now, eh?", came the voice of LeChris from up above her, and Meg looked up. The white-bearded King stared down at her, and gestured to Fred. With a single quick gesture that defied his massive size, Fred grabbed Meg around the waist, holding her up in front of LeChris's face. He stared into her eyes, boring deep into her still-damaged soul.

"Then by all means.", he said, and gave a small signal with his hands. "Go to them."

Fred cocked his arm back, and Meg understood what he had meant.

With a grunt of slight effort, Fred threw Meg into the air. She flew over the Arena, attracting the attention of many members of the crowd. They gasped, and several pointed at the random Musketeer that had been thrown at high speed.

"What the…", Jimmy muttered, with the elderly News Goblin still standing behind him. "What's going on down there?"

Oticat squinted, just barely managing to catch a glimpse of glasses as Meg flew by.

"Meg?", he breathed, but was suddenly torn out of his thoughts. A bell rang, and his Elixir bar began to fill up twice as fast. It was Double Elixir time- there was 1 minute left in the match.

"What?", he asked himself. "Already?"

But really, it made some sense to him- most of the match had just been the two Kings staring each other down, each waiting for the other's actions before playing anything. Now that he had only 60 seconds to recover from a 1-0 Tower disadvantage, he had to move quickly.

"Alright.", he whispered. "I think… I think I know what he's going to do. I hope."

Oticat took a deep breath, and hovered his finger over another card.

Meg landed with a massive crash in the Blue side of the Arena, the expensive metal seats buckling the force of her impact. But the regenerative magic that filled the entire area nullified the damage within seconds, and both she and the seats were good as new.

"Oohhh…", Meg groaned, and rubbed the side of her head. She took her helmet off, using its shiny surface as a makeshift mirror. "That hurt."

"Oh, hey Meg.", said Brenda, and Meg looked up to see the Bandit smiling at her.

"Nice of you to drop in.", she said, and slapped the seat next to her. "I was wondering when you decide to come over. Wanna sit down?"

"Uh..", Meg said, and nodded. She sat down next to Brenda, who raised a single eyebrow. "Yeah, that would be great."

"Gum?", Brenda asked, and held out a piece. Meg nodded again, popped the piece into her mouth, and began to chew.

"What flavor is this?", she asked. "I've never had it before."

"Oh, you know.", Brenda said, and scooted just a little closer to Meg. "Gum flavor."

The mood up in the seats was relatively light, considering the dire situation. But down on the field, the intensity was fully felt.

"Oh my gosh, there's only one minute left.", Brandy breathed, looking at the timer that was on the far wall of the dugout. "And… we're down a tower. Still."

"Yes.", said Bowza, and stood up. "But do not fear. Oticat has a plan."

"I know, I know.", said Brandy, and her head started to spin. "But-"

A field of black washed across her vision, and she fell to her side. "Oohhh-"

_She saw herself, out on the field. Oticat had lost both towers, and Ryusei_Nakao69's side of the Arena was covered in a thick grey smoke. Visions of ethereal troops ran by her, and flashes of purple came from all around. Red and Blue confetti fell through the air, and a bizarrely Green light flashed from somewhere within the smoke. A gigantic clock ticked in the air, the numbers spinning around at random._

Brandy snapped back to reality, falling against Dan. "We're going to survive.", she said. "I just saw the battle- in overtime."

"What?", Dan asked. "What do you mean, you saw it?"

"It's-", Brandy said, and gripped the sides of her head. "It's my Stand again. The Dreamer. And you know what they say…"

She looked up, and tried to flash a confident smile. "The Dreamer is never wrong."

Out on the field, Bowza appeared in a puff of blue and white mist. He got up from his mystical crouch, and stared out over the battlefield. There was Ryusei_Nakao69's tower, just barely out of his range. But, to his hidden delight, he saw that it was only at 600 HP. If everything went exactly as according to Oticat's plan, Bowza could take the tower.

"So, you plan to chip down my tower with a Magic Archer behind the bridge.", Ryusei_Nakao69 muttered, then grinned. "A good effort, Oticat. But, ohohohoho-"

He tapped his interface, and selected a card of his own. "Your pathetic little Magic Archer's just a little too underleveled for that. He just won't deal quite enough damage…"

The Royal Giant landed on the ground in front of Ryusei_Nakao69's right tower with a mighty thud, and looked up. Gently sliding a cannonball into his huge cannon, he took a single ponderous step forward.

"You fought well, Oticat!", Ryusei_Nakao69 boomed, and spread his arms open wide. "But now, I'm afraid that this duel has come to a close."

He stared across the Arena with a frightening leer, letting every bit of his near-demonic nature show. Darkness started to spread across his skin like water, and his teeth grew slightly longer and sharper. "So, I must say-"

He was about to say Thanks. He was about to deliver the ultimate insult to the opponent he thought he had beaten, but was stopped. Stopped, by Oticat suddenly cracking a grin.

"What?", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "What is it? What's so funny?"

Oticat looked down, to where the Royal Giant was still stomping forward, Bowza right in front.

Bowza pulled back his magical bowstring, letting loose another arrow of light. It flew straighter than an iron rod, plunging deep through the Royal Giant's stomach, out the other side, and sliced off a part of the tower. Veronica's eyes widened, as she realized just how little HP she now had left. "Uh, Dad?", she asked, fumbling with her bow. Bowza was, infuriatingly, just barely out of her range.

"What-", Ryusei_Nakao69 snapped, then saw Bowza as well. His face softened, and he put a hand in front of his mouth as he laughed. "Oh, Veronica. There's nothing to be worried about. He's just a Magic Archer. He won't deal enough damage to take your tower before the time runs out!"

"But… shouldn't we play someone?", she asked. "You know, just in case?"

"No.", said Ryusei_Nakao69. "For that is the ultimate taunt, is it not? Just standing there, doing nothing, while your opponent's best efforts fall and break all by themselves?"

He threw back his head, and laughed. The sound of it spread across the entire Arena, a menacing _ohohohohoho _that chilled the bones of everyone present.

But unknown to Ryusei_Nakao69, there was one small, tiny, but ever so important detail in his plan. He had forgotten that he had been dead for weeks. He had neglected to check up on any important things that might destroy his plans, such as, say, a small damage buff to the Magic Archer, or a small nerf to the amount of HP that Princess Towers at level 13 had. And as luck would have it, one of those things had happened.

The arrows that Bowza shot were now 6% stronger, piercing through Veronica's stone tower that much better. And as Bowza shot one more, he knew that without a doubt that Oticat's plan had worked.

"This is it, folks.", Jimmy said quickly, up in the control booth. "This is the moment where it all comes down to. If that Magic Archer can destroy the tower in time, we enter Overtime and the fight continues. Otherwise…"

The crowd, not needing to hear the rest of Jimmy's words, loudly booed the Red King. There were cheers of desperate support from the Red side and every single member of TheEvilOverLords, but they were mostly drowned out by the massive roar of the Blue.

"Come on… come on…", Brandy panted, her eyes focused on the camera that broadcast live footage of the Arena. "I…"

She turned and buried her head in Dan's arm, and he pulled her closer. "I can't watch. I can't watch this."

Dan looked up, and finally made up his mind. It may have been cheating, what he was about to do, but anything was better than losing Brandy to TheEvilOverLords. So he took a deep breath, looked out into the air, and expelled. A thin cloud of Star Energy, invisible to anyone around him, streaked through the air at high speed. It flew right through the stone and ground of the dugout, through Oticat's King tower, across the Arena floor, and struck Bowza in the back with a soft pop.

Bowza looked at the tower, then looked at the clock. His heart fell, and he suddenly realized that Oticat's plan had failed after all. Veronica had 134 HP left, and there were 2 seconds left on the time. There was no way he could take it down in time after all- unless. Unless the prediction he had made had come through, and Dan had sent him some emergency Star energy.

_Thank you, Dan, _he thought, and he could feel that Dan had heard. _I needed that._

Bowza took one last deep breath, pulled back his bow, and fired.

"Everyone, I don't know if he's going to make it or not.", Jimmy rattled from the booth, his glasses all but shaking from his own excitement. "This has all come down to the Magic Archer- will he make it, or not?"

"Yeah!", shouted the Blue side of the Arena as one, shaking the stands with the force of their agreement.

"No!", the Red side screamed, their harsh tones sending shivers down the spine of hundreds.

Brenda punched her fist into the air, then realized something. She looked up at the clock, then remembered how fast the three minutes had gone- while these last few seconds seemed to take forever. "Hey, wait a minute.", she said to no one in particular. "Why is time being all weird? Is this some kind of Stand abi-"

But she stopped talking, as every single member of the audience held their collective breaths. The Royal Giant looked down at the arrow of perfect light piercing his stomach, passing painlessly through him. Ryusei_Nakao69 stared down at it, slowly flying through the air, noticing the strange golden aura that hung around it like a curtain. And as the glowing tip struck her tower, Veronica shrieked, hitting the Eject button on the side.

The clock at last reached 0, and a harsh buzzing sound blared out across the entirety of the Arena. The match was over- but it wasn't. For in the very same moment, Bowza's Star-Charged arrow had dealt Veronica's tower the last of the damage needed to destroy it, and tied the score.

Brandy heard a harsh buzz sound throughout the dugout, and her heart stopped. Cold, heavy dread began to build at the bottom of her skull, and she felt her skin start to crawl.

"No, no, no, no, no-", she said, then stopped, when she heard the ecstatic cheers of everyone else in the dugout.

"Yooooo!", the Ratzo Brothers screamed as one, giving each other a fistbump that knocked them both onto the ground. "He did it! Bowza did it!"

Agatha put her hands together, and stared up into the sky. "Thanks, honey.", she said, knowing Bowza could hear. "I knew you could do it."

Brandy stared for a second, then punched the air in triumph. "Yes!", she yelled, so loud that her screams could be heard even through the sound-resistant walls of the dugout. "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!"

Dan grabbed Brandy from behind, bringing her close in a crushing hug. He said nothing- the tears of joy running down his face was proof enough of what he thought.

"We did it, Brandy.", he whispered. "We survived."

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "But it's not over yet."

She stared at the screen, which now read "OVERTIME" in bright red, flashing letters. "Far from it."

Bowza placed a hand on his bow, drawing out another arrow of light from the air around him. He couldn't chip the tower anymore, but he could still deal damage to the Royal Giant.

"Well.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, and placed one finger on his interface. "Looks like we need to push a little harder."

He selected his next card, and dragged it to behind the Royal Giant.

"I fully expect him to play that Skeleton Army of his…", he muttered. "Too bad I'll just-"

He suddenly stumbled, a loud crash erupting from somewhere in the dugout. He turned around, and saw Chad and Valeyrie, practically at each other's throats. Rick and Nidavaleer tried to hold them back, but the rage between them was too strong.

"You two!", he roared, and the two looked up. Ryusei_Nakao69 practically steamed with anger, dark cracks appearing in his face from the stress.

"Sit down, right now.", he growled, staring right at them with all the force he could muster. "Or so help me, I will kill both of you."

Rick gave one last yank, and pulled Chad back onto the bench. Valeyrie wrenched herself underneath Nidavaleer's grip, and sat down beside him, unable to see Chad. She gave a huff of anger, and blew her hair out of her face.

Ryusei_Nakao69 turned back to the field, and forced a wicked smile. Oticat's Skeleton Army landed in front of the Royal Giant, squeaking fierce battle cries as they ran to attack.

"Too bad, Oticat.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, and withdrew his finger from the interface. "My Wizard will certainly make short work of your-"

He stopped mid sentence, and looked again. He had meant to drop his Wizard right behind his Royal Giant, but no one was there. Looking down at his interface, he could very clearly see that the Wizard was not in his hand- he had played it. And yet…

The Skeletons closed in on the Royal Giant, and started to stab it over and over with a dozen tiny blades. Bowza kept shooting all the while, each precise shot taking off a little more of the Royal Giant's health. Ryusei_Nakao69 kept searching for his Wizard, his eyes sweeping back and forth across the Arena- until he found him.

Mason the Wizard had appeared at the opposite bridge, adjusting his glasses and looking rather confused. He took a look at the Skeleton Army and Bowza on the other side of the Arena, both Troops that he would be easily able to defeat, then up at his King in confusion.

"How the-", Ryusei_Nakao69 began, trying to figure out how he could have misplayed, then came to a sudden, awkward realization. It was the bump. The bump that had been caused by Chad and Valeyrie's fight in the dugout had caused his finger to slip, and misplay Mason.

"Curse… it…", he growled, and the dark scars under his eyes began to glow a ghastly red.

With a moan of agony, Ted the Royal Giant at last collapsed into Elixir. The puddle of purple liquid splashed between the feet and legs of the Skeleton Army as they advanced across the bridge, Bowza following up from behind in confident strides. Mason started to walk across the bridge. Even if he had been misplayed, he was now determined to do as much damage as possible.

"Brandy, go get em.", Oticat said, and flicked his finger forward. "You can take out that Wizard, easily."

There was a flash of blue and green, and Brandy materialized onto the field, right in front of Oticat's left tower. "Right.", she said, and cracked her knuckles. "That'll be easy."

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked at the scene unfolding before him, and clenched down on his teeth so hard that they almost broke. But, despite his anger, he knew exactly what to do next.

Placing his hands over his interface, he played his first card, finally using his full Elixir.

With a shrill cry and a pop of lightning, Tsarsus landed in the middle of the Skeleton Army, blowing most of them to Elixir and taking off a fair chunk of Bowza's health.

The rest of the Skeletons turned, converging on Tsarsus, and Bowza took aim.

Song: Fight to Antagonize

"Electricity!", Tsarsus shrieked, and shot a combined bolt of plasma straight at Bowza's head. The electrical charge hit him, instantly resetting his position to what it had been when he entered the battlefield. But this fight was not only between him and Tsarsus- there were Skeletons as well. Four of them had managed to survive Tsarsus's flashy entrance, and were eager to enact their revenge.

With fierce faces and even more ferocious screams, they sunk their dimunitive blades into Tsarsus's legs. He grit his teeth in pain, but he was far from dead.

As Mason strode down the lane, he saw Brandy running right at him. He swallowed hard, and almost tripped on the stony ground. Even if he was 1 level Brandy's superior, she could still easily counter him- especially with the help of a tower. He pushed his hands together, preparing to throw a ball of flame, but deep down, he knew it was useless.

"Fire!", he yelled, trying to maintain a confident air like any proper Wizard should, and shot forth his blazing projectile. Brandy yelled and Dashed forward at the same moment, the flame sliding off of her now-invincible self like water off a rooftop. At nearly sonic speed, she collided with Mason's stomach, knocking a lot of HP off his health bar.

"Fireball!", he said again, and blasted a stream of flames directly into Brandy's face. No longer protected by her Dash, the impact hurt. But not enough to take her down.

With another quick strike, more of the Wizard's HP dropped off. He coughed, and tried to keep on looking professional. "Magi-", he began, and concentrated another burst of heat in between his hands.

But Brandy's hit speed was too fast for him. As another of Elizabeth's shots whisked by her and sliced Mason in the face, she knew that his fireball wasn't going to land.

"Dorra!", she yelled, and punched upwards, her fist solidly connecting with Mason's fragile jaw.

His fireball dissipated into nothing in his hands, which fell to his sides. He slowly dissolved into a puddle of Elixir upon the ground, soaking into the Blue stone within moments. Brandy wiped a drop of Elixir off her cheek, crouched, and again began to run.

"Electrons!", Tsarsus shrieked, and launched another burst of lightning. It arced over the heads of the Skeletons that were still attacking him and flowed right into Bowza, striking off the very last of his hitpoints. With a simple cross of the arms and a close of the eyes, Bowza vanished into the ground.

"Ah, I finally got him.", Tsarsus said, and grinned. "Now I can-"

He felt another four blades sink into his foot, and felt a distinct fizzing sensation. He looked up, and saw his healthbar drop to nothing. He looked forward again, a totally deadpan look crossing his face.

"Oh, I'm dead now aren't I-", he said, and dropped into a puddle.

"My, my.", said TheSenate from up in the seats. "Ryus isn't doing all that well, is he?"

"No, it would appear not.", said LeChris with a stroke of his beard. "He's rusty- but that's to be expected. After all, how long has it been since he last fought in the Arena? 6 months? 7?"

"8.", said Chloe, a very small voice. "He said to me that the last time he did an Arena battle was 8 months ago."

"Heh.", said TheSenate, and tried not to look worried. "Should have been one of us."

"Should have?", LeChris asked. "No. This is his fight. His problem, his debt that he has to get out of. Who could it be… but him?"

Brandy ran down the left lane of the Arena, trying to go faster. Even though the Arena's magical field wouldn't let her, she still tried anyway. She had to try as hard as she could, if Oticat was to win.

"Come on, come on…", she whispered. "Don't play anything… don't notice me…"

But notice her Ryusei_Nakao69 did. He grinned deviously, as he searched through his hand for something to counter her. There was Chad and Rick- but he wanted to save them for later. There was Valeyrie- the same reasoning. There was- huh. That was odd. He blinked, and took another look at the third card in his lineup. It made no sense, but…

"I certainly won't complain.", Ryusei_Nakao69 laughed to himself, and tapped the card.

"This is one intense battle, folks.", Jimmy Firecracker said, trying to keep all the sweat on his forehead from dripping onto the microphone. "And now that it's in overtime, the stakes are higher than ever. Both Kings have a good shot for the next crown here- this could very easily go either way."

"Jimmy, Jimmy.", said the Old Goblin, and gently clapped him on the back. "You're taking up too much space. Look, down there."

He pointed down at the field with a fragile, shaking hand, and Jimmy followed, not entirely sure what he was getting at. "Zat's what the audience wants to see. Not you."

"Uh…", Jimmy said, more than just slightly offended. "Okay. Sir."

"Zat's my boy!", the Goblin said, and rolled backwards. "Now, keep those ratings afloat. We're bound to hit 80% soon!"

"Okay, sir.", said Jimmy. He looked down, trying to keep the microphone from falling out of his hands.

Brandy stopped, now within Dash range of the tower. She crouched and took a breath, as she felt the steam start to rise off her body. Within a mere second, she would hit the tower.

Or she would have, if a bolt of lightning had not struck her in the back, and Tsarsus once more come falling from the sky.

Most of the audience immediately looked shocked. Ryusei_Nakao69 did not have a Mirror in his deck, and his cycle was not nearly quick enough to be able to play the Electro Wizard again.

Brenda stood up, and stared. "Phantom, he's cheating.", she said. "What's going on?"

The Phantom closed his eyes, and took in the situation. He saw a massive aura settling over the area like a massive orange blanket, and understood.

"Do you not feel it, mistress?", he asked. "That vast, impossible aura of chaos? Permeating the entire Arena, messing with order?"

"No.", Brenda said, trying her hardest to feel what the Phantom felt.

"Well, that's what's causing it.", said the Phantom, and retreated back into her. "This is no ordinary battle. Here… anything could happen. Yes, anything at all."

Brandy staggered back, in utter shock. She had just seen the Electro Wizard go down only seconds earlier, on the other side of the Arena. There was no possible way that Ryusei_Nakao69 could possibly have played him now- and yet, there he was.

But it didn't matter to Brandy. Tsarsus, remarkable as his reappearance may have been, was still just an enemy to be defeated. And even if she couldn't Dash at such short range, she would have to try.

With a sharp cry, Brandy smacked her bat across Tsarsus' face. His head snapped back, then cracked back to normal as he launched twin bolts of electricity out of both of his hands. They flew into Brandy's arm, illuminating her nervous system with the sheer voltage.

She felt a sharp pain run through her- her health bar was dangerously low. She set her feet and struck again, slashing her bat all the way down Tsarsus's arm with a bizarre hatred.

"Electricity!", Tsarsus shrieked, and fired again. Brandy stopped moving, and felt herself dissolve into Elixir as everything went black.

"My, it really was a good idea to bring Tsarsus along, wasn't it?", Ryusei_Nakao69 mused, as he saw him handle yet another threat. "I'm glad I thought to do it."

"Yes…", said Chad from the dugout, and Ryusei_Nakao69's mechanically enhanced ears perked up to listen.

"But what about us, sir?", Chad continued, pointing towards himself and Rick. "You've only played us once. Are we not your favorites? Are we not your finest Troops?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 only smiled, and ran his fingers down his cheek. A thin trail of blood appeared in his torn skin, dripping onto the edge of his tower. "Yes, Chad. You are. But I cannot play you right now. When the time is right, you'll win for me."

He grinned wider, a tiny black symbol appearing somewhere within his crimson eyes. "Yes…"

Brandy fell back down onto the bench, and buried her head in between her hands.

"That was dumb.", she said. "I didn't even get any tower damage, and somehow Ryusei_Nakao69's cheati-"

Then she looked up, and her thoughts began to race. "Hey wait a minute, he's _cheating!_"

She stood up, and grabbed the sides of her head in intense thought. "If he's cheating, then he just forfeit the match! We can get him thrown out! We can-"

"I wish that was true, Brandy.", Bowza said. "But unfortunately, it is not."

He gestured outwards, bringing Brandy's attention to the copy of the digital interface that was projected along one wall. "Do you see that?"

Brandy looked, and her eyes widened. The positions of cards were switching back and forth at unsettlingly high speeds, the regular rotation gone.

"What's happening?", she asked, hoping that Bowza knew. "What's going on?"

Bowza just sighed. "I don't know exactly. But there is some sort of aura over the whole Arena- some vast field of chaos. I'm not sure where it came from, but…"

He stared forward deeper into the metaphysical realm, trying to make sense of it. "This is no longer any ordinary match."

"Electrons!", Tsarsus yelled from above, and an arrow struck him in the shoulder. The lightning erupting from his hands ceased, as the bottoms of his feet began to turn into Elixir.

"Ah, crap-", he said, and collapsed into a pile of Elixir before he could finish his sentence.

"I did it.", Oticat whispered. "I finally caught that Electro Wizard of his out of rotati-"

Then he stopped, realizing how little that meant at this point.

"Or at least I probably did.", he said, and hovered his hand over his interface. "And luckily for me, it appears that I'm keeping him on the ropes. As long as he doesn't get to play that Royal Giant or Mega Knight, I am good…"

Oticat let his hand fall, and the Ratzo Brothers once again appeared at the bridge. Normally, they wouldn't be in rotation, but Ryusei_Nakao69 was not the only one who had learned to take advantage of the strange conditions.

"Alright guys, you've got this.", he said, and the Ratzo Brothers began to lumber forward. "Go get em."

"Oh?", Ryusei_Nakao69 chuckled, as he saw the Battle Ram coming closer. "You think that just because my Electro Wizard is probably out of rotation, that you can play your little Battle Ram without any reconciliation? Think again."

With a flick of his wrist and a lightning-fast broadcast of the Yawning Princess emote, Ryusei_Nakao69 played another card. There was a flash of red and orange, and his Wizard appeared in the middle of the lane.

"Have you forgotten about him?", the King asked jokingly, and grinned. "Or did you just want your Battle Ram to fail?"

Oticat chose to say nothing, merely instead planning his next move. The Ratzo Brothers charged forward, and Mason gathered another shot of flame.

"I don't like what's going on here.", Brenda said, looking out over the crowd. "This chaos isn't normal. In fact… I think this might just be the work of an enemy Stand."

"No.", said the Phantom. "It is not. I can sense hostile Stands, and there are none here to be found. Rather, I think this has something to do with Grrshknn."

Brenda's face turned a shade paler, though it was noticed by no one. "Grsshknn?", she asked slowly. "Do you think he might be here?"

"I saw him.", said the Phantom. "Although you may have referred to him as Dr'ew."

"Oh.", said Brenda quietly, and she suddenly felt that she had to sit down. "Oh."

"Fire!", Mason yelled, and launched a blazing blast at the Ratzo Brother's Ram. They came charging down the aisle, finally having picked up enough speed to do so- but their health bar was becoming dangerously low. At this rate, it would only take a few more shots from Mason to finish them off.

"Fireball!", he yelled again, and another wave of heat ripped down the sides of the Ram. They were approaching the tower at high speed- but even as they did so, the arrows of the Princess started to deal them additional damage.

"Come on!", shouted one of the brothers, and they both ran a little faster.

"Let's go!", yelled his partner, and redoubled their efforts. Mason stood in their path, pulling together another fireball from the air, but the Ratzo Brothers pushed him aside like a fist through water on their way to the tower.

The shining stone of the tower was now only within feet of their impact range. Both the Ratzo Brothers gave one final push, heaved the Ram over their heads- and stopped as the last of the Ram's hitpoints ran out, only half a second before it had hit.

The audience groaned, and some members of the Blue side looked away. The Red side cheered, several of them standing up and doing a stupid little dance known only as "The Egg."

The Ratzo Brothers crashed to the ground, instantly picking up their swords as they did so. Affixing Mason with an angry stare, they gave a yell of conquest and walked towards him.

Mason pulled up yet another blast of flame, and launched it straight at the Brothers. It exploded against their faces like a cloud of smoke, dropping both of their HP bars dramatically.

Nevertheless, they persisted, pushing onwards through the smoky ground. With twin roars of anger, they swung their swords directly at Mason's head.

He yelped in pain, and gathered another blast of flame. The Ratzo Brothers tried to attack, but their slow speed was nothing in comparison to the notoriously quick hitspeed of the Wizard.

With a burst of Elixir, the blast of flame finished the two off, Mason still at a fair bit of health.

"Oticat?", Brandy said from the bench. "Should I- should I go out there again?"

"No.", said Oticat, carefully watching every second of the battle unfolding. "I still need you for something. You and Dan both. If we want to take out that Wizard of his…"

There was a soft tap as he played another card. Bowza nodded, stood up, and disappeared.

"We have to play smart."

Ryusei_Nakao69 held two fingers over his interface, ready to play both at any moment. Even if it had been many months since he had fought in the Arena, he still had a lot of knowledge stored up from before that. And with such a close, intense match, it was all coming back.

"Your Magic Archer, eh?", he said, as he saw Bowza confidently stride to where Mason was waiting. "You know, no matter how hard I try, I just cannot imagine that being a good counter. In any way."

Mason kept on walking proudly closer, trying to put on a good air. But far out of his range, Bowza stopped at the edge of his. With a deep breath, he grabbed, nocked, and fired an arrow.

It pierced Mason all the way through his torso, vanishing in a puff of magic some steps behind.

"Magic!", Mason breathed, his voice suddenly giving out on him, and kept on running. After he finally found Bowza within his range, he stopped, putting his hands together in preparation.

"Howda.", Bowza said underneath his breath, in a deep gravelly voice. He fired another arrow, this one entering through the middle of Mason's chest and exiting out the back of his spine.

But the damage was not quite enough to finish off Mason yet. No, he could pull of one final shot if his life depended on it. Which, judging from Ryusei_Nakao69's typical reactions when he lost, it most likely did.

"Fire!", he yelled, and launched a blazing hot ball of flame.

"Howda.", Bowza breathed, and shot the perfect arrow.

The two magical projectiles barreled towards each at top speed, both aimed straight and true. They did not collide upon hitting each other- such an even would have unintended consequences indeed. Instead, they flew through and past each other, both striking their target dead-center in the head.

Bowza nodded, and dissolved into Elixir. Mason clenched his fist, and did the same.

"Now, Dad?", asked Veronica. "Is it time?"

"No, not yet.", said Ryusei_Nakao69 with a wave of his hand. "We must wait until he does something. Then, and only then, can we afford to strike.

Oticat saw them talking. He couldn't quite hear what, but he knew it was important. So he just flicked his fingers across the digital bar on the interface, and played his cheapest card.

With a puff of ice and a maniac laugh, Randy popped into being in front of Oticat's own tower. Setting his sights on Veronica's tower, he ran off in chase.

"Now?", Veronica asked, seeing the look on Oticat's face. "He looks really worried. Should we-"

"No, no, and now.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, with a heavy sigh. "Once again, we need to wait before he plays something heavy."

Randy hopped, skipped, and jumped up into the air, over the bridge, and deep into the Red territory. Veronica shot a single arrow, but it only took him down to ⅔ of his health.

"Okay, n-", Veronica asked, but was instantly shot down by the look given by her father.

Randy splashed against the tower, managing to bring down the health just a little bit.

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up, then back down at his own readout. His Elixir bar was almost at 10, just a little more was needed. And he had the exact rotation that he wanted, provided that it didn't try to suddenly change on him.

Oticat took a look at the field, and felt a cold sweat break out all over his face. He knew that Ryusei_Nakao69's tower was still far ahead of him in hitpoints, and would be of course heavily guarded. But Oticat also knew that he had not one, but two secret weapons.

"Oticat…", Ryusei_Nakao69 thought to himself. "What is your 8th card? I have not yet seen you play it…"

A breeze blew from somewhere behind him, flipping his hair forward. The curtain it briefly created across his vision seemed to hold an image, one of Oticat's tower collapsing in on itself.

"Yes…", he whispered, not noticing that his hand clenched on its own. A drop of blood fell from his fist. With bloodshot eyes, Ryusei_Nakao69 stared into the future. "I see what lies ahead of me. This is my certain victory."

Oticat stared ahead, just waiting for his Elixir bar to fill up. Just a little more, just a little more…

Ryusei_Nakao69 flipped through his cards again, not wanting anything to screw them up. There they still were, all in their proper placements.

"30 seconds left!", shouted the audience, as they saw the readout on the massive orbiting Score Platform change. Both Oticat and Ryusei_Nakao69 stopped thinking and planning, and knew that it was now time to do.

Song: The Power to Resist

"Guys.", Oticat said, and dragged two fingers to the middle of his interface. "You're up. Take us home."

Oticat's Elixir bar emptied, as two flashes of light appeared in the middle of his side of the Arena. Brandy and Dan came into being, right in front of the river.

"Why did he play us here?", Brandy said. "There's nothing blocking the tower."

"He has a plan.", said Dan, and looked forward, trying to restrain the Star within him. "Oticat always does."

Ryusei_Nakao69's own finger had already hit its mark, not noticing Oticat's double play. With a burst of red illumination, Valeyrie appeared up the river from Brandy and Dan.

Ryusei_Nakao69 only then noticed what Oticat had done. He inwardly cursed himself, realizing that both the Mega Knight and Bandit where Troops that could cross the river in their special attacks. "Wha-"

Oticat laughed, and a large illuminated "Thanks!" appeared next to his tower. The crowd roared, and Oticat pointed a finger towards his opponent.

"I gotta say, I wasn't sure that maneuver was going to work. But thanks to that Valkyrie placement, you made it all happen."

He took an exaggerated bow, and Ryusei_Nakao69 felt his mind twist with anger.

"You… you think you've won?", he growled, and the air started to heat up around him. "Do you really think you can beat me, with such foolish actions?"

Oticat perked up. "Hm?"

Brandy crouched, and Dan did the same. Steam rose off of both their bodies, as they prepared to leap the river. Valeyrie would be crushed beneath their combined assault- they both knew it.

"You ready?", Brandy whispered, trying to calm her beating heart. Even though they both made a powerful force, they only had one chance to do this. If they failed, it would all be over.

"Only as ready as you are.", Dan said, and slightly moved. He nudged Brandy's shoulder, almost knocking her over.

"Love tap.", he said, and Brandy looked up.

"Wait, what-", she started to say, then stopped. There was no more time for words. No more time for thinking. All that remained now was the battle, and the survival of her very soul.

"Haaa!", she screamed, and launched herself forward. As she flew straighter than an Archer's arrow, over the river and towards the other side, Dan leaped forward into the air.

"Rrrrhhhaaa!", he bellowed, as he flew high over the river, nearly crashing into the airborne score sign.

"Come and get it, you little bugge-", Valeyrie growled, and shifted into a defensive stance as the pair came flying towards her. But even her strength and preparation crumbled into nothing, as Brandy collided into her leg with a small explosion.

Valeyrie's health bar dropped, and she swung her axe up behind her to strike. "You brat-"

But she was interrupted yet again, with the mighty impact from Dan's landing. She staggered back, nearly dropping her axe.

Ryusei_Nakao69's eyes suddenly lit up with evil glee, and his face broke open into a wild grin that almost seemed to stretch beyond the confines of his cheeks.

"You fell for it, fool!", he shouted, and swept his fingers across his interface. "You spent all your Elixir! Good luck trying to counter my…"

With a puff of red, Chad and Rick slammed down at the bridge, beating their swords against their chests. "Elite Barbarians!"

Oticat's confident air suddenly dropped into nothing. His face paled, as he looked down at his cards. 0 Elixir, and both Randy and the Log weren't in his hand. He had just made a terrible, terrible mistake.

"Brandy! Dan!", he shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth. "You're our only hope!"

For just a second, Brandy looked back. She saw the Elite Barbarians charging towards Oticat's tower, and her heart dropped out of her chest.

"Brandy!", Dan roared, and smacked his massive fists into Valeyrie's face. "Don't get distracted!"

Brandy turned back, and roared as she slashed her bat as hard as she could. But Valeyrie was still a powerful tank, able to take more damage than the two could dish out at once.

"You lost!", she sang, and swung around, damaging both of them. "Too bad, so sad!"

With trembling hands, Elizabeth nocked another arrow. She let it fly into Chad's shoulder, hoping to at least slow them down, but the Elite Barbarian hardly even felt the blow.

"Dad, I don't think I can hold them!", she screamed, and her eyes widened in fear.

"No.", Oticat said, and flicked his finger across the board. The strange magic that affected the card rotations had activated again. "But he can."

"He?", Elizabeth asked, then saw Randy appear out of the air right in front of the two Elite Barbarians. With a laugh and a jump, he burst all over them, freezing the pair for a second.

"You think we lost?", Brandy yelled, and swung again. Her bat snuck in between Dan's enormous blow, and Valeyrie's health dropped again, now to almost nothing. "We're the ones winning here, in case you haven't noticed!"

But even through Brandy's confident words, her fear still crept through. Like an ugly black tar, she could feel it creeping up the back of her throat and gnawing at the back of her brain.

"Get some!", Valeyrie screamed, and swung her axe again. Brandy felt her health bar drop, almost to the point of defeat. Dan's was dropping as well, but he was still stable. But if Brandy fell here, they wouldn't be able to take down Ryusei_Nakao69's tower before Chad and Rick took Oticat's.

The Elite Barbarians stood stock still for a brief moment, allowing Elizabeth to get in two more shots. But they were at their maximum level, and the attacks did very little to damage them.

Finally, with the sound of shattering frost, they broke out of their icy prison, and began to run forward again.

"Dad?", Elizabeth said, trying and failing to keep the fear from her voice.

"I'm working on it, Elizabeth!", Oticat said, trying and succeeding to keep the fear from his own.

"I just need a little… more… Elixir…"

Valeyrie cocked her axe behind her shoulder, and grinned in a wide, smug arc. With the beginnings of a yell of triumph, she started to swing- only to burst into a puddle upon one more solid hit from Brandy.

"Let's go.", she said, and crouched to Dash again.

"Yeah.", said Dan, and did the same.

Ryusei_Nakao69 grinned- this was still his plan. He could not quite take out Dan, but he could finish off Brandy. Her last memories of fighting for Blue would be of defeat, he could ensure that.

With a dramatic flourish, the tip of his Fireball appeared in his hand. It had been the one to bring the two down before- the irony was almost too much for him to handle.

"Good game, Oticat.", he whispered, suddenly dead serious. "Good. Game."

Then his face returned to its regular insanity, and his threw the Fireball forward. "Kyyeaa!"

But as the Fireball flew towards her, Brandy felt no fear. She felt no hesitation, or doubt. She felt only a strange sort of peace, as she initiated her Dash, Dan right beside her.

No one saw exactly what happened next. But everyone knew what happened.

In one glorious moment, both Brandy and Dan jumped forward at the same time. The Fireball crashed harmlessly to the ground behind them, and they slammed into Stacie's tower with the combined force of a maxed-out Rocket. A small bit of silver light trailed behind Brandy, but it was noticed by nobody.

Stacie's tower shook, its health dropping dramatically. Ryusei_Nakao69 recoiled, instantly regretting the choice to BM a little bit instead of just throwing the Fireball right away.

Chad and Rick both bellowed a menacing battle cry, as they finally reached Elizabeth's tower. The two twin blades slashed a pair of deep cuts in the stone, the HP dropping like a stone.

"Dad, are you gonna help me?", Elizabeth yelled, and Oticat made his move.

The Log flew forward, catching both the Elite Barbarians at the ankles and sending them face-first into the dirt. But even though Ryusei_Nakao69 had been ever so eager to find out what Oticat's eighth card was, he was too busy looking at Brandy and Dan to find out.

Brandy and Dan both attacked again, the structure of the tower beginning to crack open. This was it. They had to do this. If they didn't, every effort any of them had made for Brandy's protection, ever since the beginning of the whole thing, would have meant nothing.

Brandy's heart beat faster, as she tried as hard as she could to attack as quickly as possible. Putting all of her hatred into each blow, she could see that each of her attacks, astonishingly, actually began to do more damage.

"Brandy!", screamed Oticat, as the two Elite Barbarians started hammering on Elizabeth's tower once more. "Dan! Finish it!"

As one, the entire Blue side of the Arena leaned forward in anticipation. "Do it!"

Chad swung his sword downward, letting his demonic strength begin to flow through him. He did not care if wasn't legal- nothing he had ever done was. He felt the lust deep within him course throughout his entire body, lending his arms unnatural strength.

Rick attacked as hard as he could, filled with nothing but the desire to kill and destroy. His entire life had been spent under Chad's shadow, and he knew it. But he was happy with that fate- it let him be exactly who he was. A hungry, berserk monster.

Brandy and Dan raised their arms, at exactly the same time. As if on cue, a single beam of sunshine burst through the clouds, and illuminated the two, caught in perfect harmony.

Dan's heart beat like a raging storm, sending waves of both anger and passion through his mind and his body. His entire being united into one unstoppable, destructive force, and he swung his fists downward as hard as he possibly could.

Brandy's mind cleared, and she saw the exact place where she should hit. With a precision born of some unknown source, she lashed out with her bat, striking her opponent's tower exactly where it would hurt the absolute most.

And as they did so, Brandy and Dan pushed up against each other, and screamed. They screamed a scream of anger, of hatred, of violence- but it was more a scream of triumph. It was one of unity, friendship, and, most importantly, of love.

The clock hit Zero, and there was a tremendous, echoing crash of pure force. Twin shockwaves of colliding Reds and Blues tore out from both towers, enormous gusts of winds that blew spectators off their feet. A gigantic cloud of dust billowed up from the Arena floor, completely obscuring the views of everyone that tried to see.

"Jimmy.", whispered the Old Goblin, right into his ear. "Vat are our ratings like? Are zey good?"

"Well, uh, they're actually-", Jimmy began, but the Old Goblin wasn't done.

"Are zey 80? No, zey're 90. No, don't tell me- are ve actually at 100%?"

"Sir, if you'd just-", said Jimmy, but the Old Goblin instantly shut him up.

"We've been getting viewers from as var away as Retropolis and the Rushlands.", he said. "I knew zat ze very virst battle in ze Legendary Arena 2 vould be popular, but I never imagined zat-"

"Uh, sir?", said Joe, holding up a busted camera. "That explosion just blew out all of our cameras. We're… we're totally dark."

"Vat?", said the Old Goblin, and recoiled in shock. "But- but ve don't even know who von!"

He pressed his ancient eyes to the glass of the spectator booth, trying in vain to see the outcome. "Who von? Who was ze victor?"

The entire audience tried to see around the enormous cloud of smoke, some attempting to blow it away. The Stage Goblins were backstage, trying to get the fans to work, but it was a slow process. They hadn't been used in months, and some of them were apparently still in their plastic wrapping from the time they had been shipped.

"Uh, Phantom?", Brenda said, messing with her communicator in an attempt to call Brandy. "Do you think that you could do something about-"

_No, _the Phantom said. _My powers are mostly mental- there isn't really anything I can do to remove a giant cloud of smoke. _

"Come on, little squid friend.", said Cookie, down in the front row seat. "Let's get rid of this smoke together!"

Her Stand, gained the night before, chirruped happily, and spun its tentacles around in a circle. The fan effect generated did manage to blow away some of the dust cloud, but it hardly made a dent in its sheer size.

Oticat's entire dugout held their breath. If Brandy and Dan had managed to destroy the tower first, then they would still be out on the battlefield. But if they hadn't been quick enough, then they would be appearing in just a few seconds.

_Don't appear, don't appear…, _Agatha thought, her hands together in pleading. _Come on…_

But her heart dropped into a pit of black despair, as there was a flash of Blue light. Brandy and Dan fell out of the air, landed on the floor, and… cheered?

"We did it!", Brandy yelled, swinging her fist in a wide, reckless arc. "We took the tower!"

Her Dash flared around her, slightly tinged with a ring of purple. "Woooooooooo!"

"But-", Agatha said, then figured that it was not the time for questions. If they had taken the tower, then that certainly meant victory. And that was good enough.

Dan looked down at Brandy, and his eyes dripped with tears. Fighting back his roaring heart, he grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her up to his face.

"Dan, what-", she said, then Dan's vizor flipped up. She could see his face, glowing with passion, and knew what was to be done.

Brandy closed her eyes, and leaned in. Dan let his own fall shut, and brought Brandy closer to him, the waves of harmony filling the air.

"Oh, what's this?", Rogan said, trying to attract the attention of the audience. "Everyone, would you please look over here to our Blue team dugout, there's finally something to see!"

The audience all turned as one, even the Red, persuaded by the raw energy crackling off of Rogan's excited words.

Valia, up in the top row, gasped. Terrence pumped the air with his lance. Brenda cracked a wide grin, and Meg's face turned red.

The entire audience, as one, opened their mouths to speak. "Kiss caaaaam!"

With a burst of pure love, Brandy and Dan's lips met. He pulled her closer to him, not wanting to lose any part of this moment. She wrapped her arms around his neck, burying herself in his purity, finally able to feel safe. They had won, after all the trouble. They had won, after all the pain. And as their kiss continued, she felt the memories rushing back.

The night before, during the party. They had confessed their love to each other, that they only now realized had been there all along.

Bowza put his arm around Agatha, and she put her head on his shoulder.

"You know, it kind of reminds me of when we were first dating.", he said, and Agatha gave a warm smile.

"Yeah.", she said, and rolled her eyes upwards to stare into his. "Those days aren't over, you know."

She ran her fingers up his shoulder playfully, and wrapped one leg around his. "We can pick them up again, anytime we want…"

Sadie smiled, feeling the romance flow through the cramped dugout like a cool air in a desert.

"It's wonderful, isn't it?", she asked to no one in particular.

"Yeah.", said Elizabeth, still straightening her crown from the fall she had taken into the dugout. "It really is."

Song: Approach

Sadie's smile suddenly dropped from her face. Ever so slowly, she turned her head to stare at her sister, who's sudden appearance in the dugout meant something very, very bad.

"Elizabeth?", she said, trying to keep her voice from trembling. "Please, please tell me that you didn't just fall from your tower."

Elizabeth winced, and stared down at the ground. "Well, I would.", she said. "But that would be lying."

Brandy and Dan finally broke off their kiss, each of them taking a huge gulp of air. Their ecstatic moods were suddenly shattered, when they heard the last bit of the conversation between the Princesses. Brandy, still held up in the air by Dan, looked down.

"Wait, what?", she said, trying to figure out what had happened. "But- if we destroyed their tower, and they destroyed yours, then…"

She slapped the sides of her head, and shrieked. The smoke cleared enough to reveal the now-empty Arena, all four Princess towers lying in rubble upon the ground. The audience shared their next words with Brandy, all of them in confusion and shock.

"We tied?"

As the murmurs from the audience began to grow in intensity, Chad and Rick appeared on the bench of Ryusei_Nakao69's dugout. "Sir.", said Chad, and looked up.

But the King knew it already. "Yes, yes.", he said. "We tied…"

His eyes tightened in glee. "But that is a good thing, yes? I think I've finally managed to figure out how to beat Oticat now. He has one glaring weakness that so far, I've somehow failed to exploit…"

"Uh, sir?", Mason said timidly. "You can't."  
"Can't what, Mason?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69.

"You can't fight him anymore.", Mason said, trying to look as unassuming as possible. "The match is over."

Ryusei_Nakao69's smile dropped off of his face. The corner of his eyes twitched, and a furious rage worked its way into his heart.

"Curse…", he whispered, staring at Oticat on his own tower. "You…"

"We tied.", Brandy said again. "That means… that means…"

She looked up, and again into Dan's face. "We did it. We escaped him."

Dan's eyes widened, and he pulled Brandy a bit closer. "You're right. Even though it was a tie, we basically just won!"

"Do you hear that, you fat ugly bastard?", Brandy yelled, and pointed in a random direction, hoping that she was facing towards the hidden location of the dugout camera. "You can't get me anymore! I win!"

Even though she was facing the opposite direction from the camera, her voice still came through loud and clear. The entire audience heard what she was saying.

"What?", LeChris whispered, and recoiled in shock. "Ryusei_Nakao69… lost?"

"What happens now?", Bailey asked. "Do we… just go home? Should we try to get her later?"

"No.", said thesenate, and stood up. He tapped his Kingly communicator frantically, trying to open up a channel to Ryusei_Nakao69. "I have a better idea."

"What happened?", Meg asked blearily, blinking her eyes open. She had fainted for a few seconds, unable to process the excitement of not knowing the battle's outcome. "Who wo-"

She was immediately bowled over by Brenda Dashing into her, carrying her up several flights of steps in a tight embrace. "We won!", Brenda shouted, not caring that she knocked over several lines of Troops as she went. "Meg, they won!"

Then she stopped, and stared into Meg's eyes. "Well, I suppose not technically, but seeing as how our goal was just to win or get a tie, and they did one of those…"

Meg closed her eyes, and tried to focus on the sky above. _Thank you, _she thought. _Anyone who let this miracle happen… I'm grateful for that. _

"What happens now?", Jimmy whispered, crouching under his desk. He wasn't quite sure why, but it just felt like the right thing to do.

"How am I supposed to know?", Joe shot back, crouching underneath the spinny chair. "You're the fancy, high-ranking reporter guy here!"

Jimmy shot an angry look, and jabbed his thumb towards himself. "Yeah?", he hissed. "Well, it's my first day on the job!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen.", the Old Goblin said, waving both his hands down. "There's no need to fret. I'm sure something will come up-"

Song: Un'altra Persona

There was a flash of purple thunder, rippling across the edges of sky above. For a brief moment, the stars seemed to glow brighter, before mysteriously dimming to almost nothing at all. A titanic stormcloud materialized in the center of the arena, lightning flashing around it at high speeds. A low roar could be heard over and under the whole thing, and a crushing auru of both chaos and authority descended over the crowd.

There was a burst of pure sound, and the column of thunder fell away to reveal the godly form of Dr'ew, his arms folded in stern anger.

As soon as he saw him, Ryusei_Nakao69's anger turned to sadistic glee.

_Yes…, _he thought. _I knew he would not forsake me. Not when I, Ryusei_Nakao69, truly need him most._

He clenched and unclenched his hands, black blood dripping down from his fingers to the stone. Now, he knew that he had it. Within mere minutes, Brandy's soul would be his, and he would at last be free from Grrshknn's debt. The thought made his claws tremble with anticipation. Both of glory, and of freedom.

"Dr- Dr'ew!", Jimmy shouted from the podium, flinging himself down to the ground in a bow.

But Dr'ew sneered, and flicked his hand upwards. "Get- get up, mortal. You look ridiculous."

"Oh, uh, sorry.", Jimmy said, and stood up. He quickly took the time to dust himself off, then looked up towards where Dr'ew floated. "Dr'ew, why… why have you come?"

Dr'ew sneered in contempt, then spread his arms open wide. "It seems that this battle has not ended with a victor."

"Er, yes.", said Jimmy, forcing himself to nod. "Come to think of it, we were just talking about that before you came-"

The edges of Dr'ew's fingers snapped with starlight, and Jimmy yelped.

"Silence, mortal!", he boomed. "I am speaking!"

Dr'ew turned his attention to the audience. For just a few seconds, everyone in the entire Arena was able to see him as though he was standing right in front of them individually.

"Everyone!", he shouted, shaking the stands with the sheer might of his voice and presence. "This contest may have ended formally in a tie. But are you satisfied with that?"

"No!", shouted the entire Red side of the Arena.

"Yes!", yelled the entire Blue area, even louder.

"No!", Dr'ew boomed, louder than all of them combined. "For I am not! This is no mere duel between Kings, for a prize as trivial as trophies- no, this is duel of fates! Souls hang on the line!"

He jabbed an enormous finger at Oticat's dugout, and Brandy instinctively flinched.

"For whatever reason, fate has chosen this day, and this Bandit!", he thundered, his godly voice heard rumbling for miles. "And this battle cannot end in a mere tie!"

He pointed again, this time towards the Old Goblin. In a flash of orange light, Ash appeared next to him in a daze. "You two.", Dr'ew said. "Instigate Super Overtime."

He gave them a wink, and grabbed the sides of reality. "You know what to do."

And with that, Dr'ew disappeared, leaving nothing but the smell of wood and a ringing in everyone's ears.

Ash blinked, still rubbing his head. "Yeah…", he said. "I guess that would probably be the best idea."

"Yes.", said the Old Goblin, and stroked his chin. "After all, we didn't ever get to use it when it was developed…"

"Oticat, what's Super Overtime?", Brandy asked. Oticat sighed, and closed his eyes.

"I don't exactly know.", he said. "All I know is that it was something that was devised for the World Finals all that time ago. It was never used."

"Dang, that was before I was born.", Brandy muttered, and looked around. "Anyone know what-"

"I do.", said Bowza. "Sort of. I remember reading about it somewhere. It had something to do with portals, and mist… but most importantly, there was no time limit."

"No… time limit?", Dan asked. "That's weird."

"Yes.", Bowza said. "But…"

"But it was never even tested.", Ash said. "There's got to be dozens, maybe even hundreds of kinks still in the program."

"Indeed.", said the Old Goblin. "But if Dr'ew himself thinks this battle important enough to use it on…"

He flipped a switch, and barked some instructions into a loudspeaker. Down below the Arena, teams of Stage Goblins began initiating the Super Overtime procedure. The Old Goblin turned back to Ash, and grimaced. "Then use it we must."

Song: Desperate Plan

"Attention, everyone!", came the voice of Ash, booming through the loudspeaker at top volume. "We are currently attempting to get several systems online for Super Overtime."

His words echoed throughout the audience, as they all stared in anticipation. None of them knew quite what would happen next.

"In the meantime, feel free to take a short break. Walk around, get some food and Elixir, go to the bathroom, whatever. And as always, this is Ash, star of the hit network show Clash with Ash, and remember that Miner is the best Troop."

The feed unceremoniously cut off, and the audience's normal chatter resumed.

Ryusei_Nakao69 snapped his fingers, and faded. A midnight whisper flew from his tower and appeared in the dugout, then reformed into the figure of the King.

"Does this look bad to you?", he asked, with a glance at Tsarsus.

"Me?", Tsarsus asked. "I mean, uh, well-"

"Because it's not.", Ryusei_Nakao69 said. "This is far from bad. In fact, this is quite good."

The corners of the King's mouth twisted up in a tortured smile, and his eyes danced with a harsh red light. "In truth, this is perfect. This could not be possibly going any better at all."

Stacie could see the insanity, now stark apparent in her father's eyes. Or, rather, the eyes of Ryusei_Nakao69. There was hardly any of her old father left, at this point.

"Dad?", she asked, and his eyes rolled back. His face took a few more seconds to turn.

Ignoring the grotesque display, Stacie found the courage to ask a question. "How is this perfect? We're going into Super Overtime soon. Wouldn't perfect be winning in the first round?"

Ryusei_Nakao69 flashed over to Stacie in less than a second, running his tortured hands through her hair like a dog. She tried to pull away, but her father's grip was far too strong. "Oh.", he said. "Oh no, no, no, no, no! You see, that would have been too easy. Too quick. Far too…. An-ti-cli-mac-tic…"

He drew out each syllable in the word, trying to give it as much depth and emphasis as he could. "No, it is far better this way. This is the best parting gift that Oticat could give me, and the best possible way to finish off this whole business."

His twisted smile widened, finally reaching beyond the corners of his face. Bone twisted and flesh broke, yet Ryusei_Nakao69 only reveled in the pain. "A… perfect… death."

"Brandy?", Brenda asked, fumbling with her communicator for the third time in a minute. "Are you there?"

She waited for a few seconds, but there was no answer. Tapping her foot, she started to get just a little bit worried.

"Uh, Brenda?", Meg asked from behind her. "Shouldn't we move out of the way?"

Brenda looked up, realizing only now that there were dozens of Troops behind her, all trying to get out of the seats and get a snack.

"Oh, right.", she said, and Dashed to the side. A Giant passed her, grumbling something about "arrogant legendaries" as he did so. Brenda held the communicator up to her face one last time, and crossed her fingers.

"Brenda?", came the voice of Brandy over the other end. "What is it?"

"Brandy, where are you?", Brenda asked. "Are you still in the dugout?"

"No.", said Brandy. "Where are you?"

"I'm in the line to get nachos.", said Brenda. "But where are you? I can't see you anywhere."

"I'm… on the other end.", said Brandy. "Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

"Other end of what?", Brenda asked. "Where are you-"

Brandy hung up the phone, and tried to concentrate. She could not have any distractions.

She sat on the very edge of the Legendary Arena, on a simple concrete balcony. Behind her was a lush garden of stone, and in front of her was nothing. A drop of 14 miles yawned immense, and the clouds waved slowly by. Taking another sip of spiced Elixir to calm her nerves, Brandy looked outwards, and saw the entire world.

The entire continent of Royale was spread out underneath her like a rich tapestry, the unique and varied biomes of the separate territories strange in their beauty. There was Pekka's Playhouse, the glowing light volcanoes visible even from that height. There was Electro Valley, its distinctive blue stone a hallmark of the area. And if Brandy really concentrated, she imagined that perhaps she could see her own Castle, a tiny dot just off of Builder's Workshop.

Across a smallish sea was the Continent of the Clans, a vast area devoid of order. She had heard many stories about it- how there were no Kings, only strange beings known as Chiefs that led vast armies into battle every single day. How more Gold than she had ever seen in her entire lifetime was spent as if it was mere pocket change. How enormous armies of Goblins prowled the land, destroying and stealing whatever they ran into. And in the center, a vast mountain rose huge above the rest of the entire continent that was said to be home to an ancient, sleeping Dragon. Brandy didn't know if any of the rumors were true- perhaps she would have to go there sometime. If- no, _when, _she reminded herself, _when- _this whole business with Ryusei_Nakao69 was sorted out.

Taking another sip, Brandy looked to the Southeast. She could see the rugged mountains and metallic spires of Brawltopia- a land which, if the tales were to be believed, was not unlike her own. Teams of strange beings fought endlessly for Trophies and glory, Boxes were opened, and the fighters all stayed in one big, happy home. But it was also far different- the technology there was reported to be far beyond anything that the Royal continent had managed to dream up. Robots and strange constructs were commonplace, and a strange invention called Internet had recently made its debut. Perhaps she could visit there, too.

Far off in the North were several more strange lands, that Brandy knew very little about. There were the Hay Day farms, of course, providing food and supplies to every other Continent across the globe. There was also a large chain of islands known collectively as the Boom Beaches, which she had heard were somewhat similar to the Continent of the Clans. And the furthest continent was the newest one, a mysterious realm known only as the Rushlands. Very little information was known about it, and none that Brandy had heard of- save that it apparently wasn't actually a very exciting place.

Brandy's voidchair tourism was interrupted by a small chirp from beside her, and a light weight coming to rest on her shoulder. Brandy turned her head, and saw a small green and yellow bird, bobbing its head.

"Watcha doin?", it asked, and chirped again. "Watcha doin?"

"Hey, little guy.", said Brandy, and brought her finger up to its chin. The small bird nibbled at her finger, then rubbed its forehead and neck vigorously against Brandy's nail.

"Who's a pretty birb... " it crooned, closing its eyes in happiness. "Pretty little- pretty baby- who's a baby birrrrrd…"

As Brandy watched the mysterious bird groom itself, she realized something. This looked almost exactly like the bird that had led her to the Gem Box, in the canyon. It looked a lot like the bird that had appeared on her windowsill sometimes, while the Phantom had still been after her soul. It looked suspiciously similar to the bird she had seen in the woods the night before, only minutes before Dan had appeared.

"Have we… met?", she asked, and the bird looked up. "Have we met before?"

The bird blinked, then ruffled its feathers. "Canyon.", it said. "Windowsill. Forest."

Brandy gasped, and jumped backwards. The bird shrieked in alarm, but managed to stay on.

"You are the same bird!", she yelled, a bit angrily. "Every time you've appeared…"

She didn't say it aloud, but knew it all the same. _Was before a big change. A very big one._

Brandy grabbed the sides of her head, and stumbled backwards on the rock. Her head began to spin, and the edges of her vision slowly faded to black.

"No, no, no, no, no…", she mumbled, and then stood stock still as The Dreamer took effect.

_Brandy saw herself, surrounded by orbs of blue light. A line of red squares stood in another group, right next to them. She felt herself being pulled between them, the sockets in her arms struggling to stay connected. But after what seemed like an hour of struggle, the blue side let go. Brandy flew into the grip of the red, and her vision was clouded over by a deep crimson haze. She both saw and felt the red squares grow arms, grabbing her by every available inch of skin. As the blue orbs suddenly materialized into her team, she felt a red arm plunge deep inside of her chest._

The vision suddenly broke off, and Brandy fell to the ground. The bird hopped onto a decorative birdbath, and chirped in alarm. Brandy grabbed the edges of the birdbath, and stared into its waters. She could see the panic reflected in her face, the echoes of her vision still clattering around in her mind.

_This is it, _she thought. _There's no way that vision could mean anything else. I lose. We lose._

Staring into the birdbath, she felt ready to throw up. She almost felt like running to the edge of the garden and throwing herself into oblivion- better to die than to be a slave to Ryusei_Nakao69.

But as Brandy heard the bell ring, signaling the end of the break, she was startled out of such thoughts. And with a heavy heart, Brandy began to walk back towards her dugout.

"Ryusei_Nakao69?", came a voice. "We're ready for you now."

Ryusei_Nakao69 looked up from his dark meditation, and saw nobody. "Who's there?"

"I am.", said the voice. Everything around the King came to sudden, grinding halt, although he did not notice it.

"Who?", asked Ryusei_Nakao69. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Oh, you know.", said the voice. With a crash of trumpets, a terrifying form appeared in the dead center of the dugout. His pitch-black hair flowed freely, and his armor glowed with dread mist.

"Y-you…", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, with a tremble in his voice. He tried to throw himself onto the ground, only to find that he could not move. "You're… Grrshknn's master. Aren't you?"

Blackness applauded, each collision of his hands producing enough power to level countless worlds. "Very good, Ryus. You're a bit of a smart one. Now, before you start asking questions, let me give you an answer."

He leaned close, and grinned. Ryusei_Nakao69 felt the sanity and humanity suddenly get knocked back into him by the demon lord's overwhelming existence.

"Remember to save your Elixir.", said Blackness, much to Ryusei_Nakao69's surprise. "Don't overcommit to anything. But also be sure to make the first move. And when the time comes…"

Blackness's eyes flashed, and Ryusei_Nakao69 shivered with primal fear. "Don't be afraid to win."

"How…", Ryusei_Nakao69 asked. "How do you know about Arena combat?"

Blackness rolled his eyes, and a deck of 8 cards appeared in front of him. "I do this in my spare time. Not in this dimension, of course- a rather different one. But the basic strategies are the same. I like your deck, by the way- very similar in strategies to mine."

"Thank you, sir-", Ryusei_Nakao69 began, but Blackness had already disappeared.

"Dad?", Veronica said from behind him, and he realized that time had resumed. "It's time."

Ryusei_Nakao69 was silent for a few seconds, then he drew a strange line across his brow.

"Yes, Veronica.", he said, suddenly filled with a grim determination. "So… it… is…"

"Brandy, you don't look so good.", said Agatha, as she saw the Bandit slowly enter the dugout. "Is everything- well, anything alright?"

Brandy hopped up on the bench next to Dan, and hugged her legs. "I had another vision.", she said quietly. "We lost."

A heavy silence settled over the dugout. Eyes shifted between every Troop, nobody knowing what to say- until Dan decided that it was his turn to break the silence.

"Brandy.", he said, and grabbed her by the shoulders. "Listen to me."

Brandy looked up, and Dan stared her in the eyes with all the courage and power he could muster. "I don't care what your Stand says. We're not going to lose."

"B-", Brandy began, but Dan refused to have it. He kept on talking, a golden fire in his eyes.

"Do you hear me, Brandy. We are not going to lose. That isn't just some inspirational speech- it is fact. We are literally incapable of losing here. So get it out of your head. Rip any thought of losing straight out of your perfect little head, and replace it with the undeniable truth that when one of us walks away the victor today, it is not going to be that bastard Ryusei_Nakao69. Do you understand?"

Brandy's eyes quavered, and she pitched forward in a hug. Wrapping herself around Dan's arm, she placed her head against his bicep. "Thank you, Dan.", she whispered, and snuggled closer. "I love you."

She heard a low rumble, as the entire audience let loose with a collective "Aaaaww." Then she heard another one, and realized that Dan was… was… purring.

"Dan, are you-", she began, then the ground shook underneath her. Dan stumbled, and Brandy fell onto the floor. Landing in a crouch, she saw what was going on in the front-wall camera.

"Ooh, frick.", she said under her breath. "Here we go."

"Everyone!", shouted Jimmy, trying to sound as official as possible. In reality, he had only a vague idea of what he was even saying. "We thank you for your patience, and now we please ask that you return to your seats."

Brandy felt her heart beat faster, like it was trying to break our of her chest. A bead of sweat dripped down her brow, and splashed against the floor.

"Brandy.", said Dan, moving closer to her. "Remember what I told you."

"That we can't lose, yeah.", she said quickly. "How it's not possible. But…"

She looked up, and Dan could see the sickly fear reflected in her eyes. "What if we do?"

Dan tried to think of something to say that would help the situation. But there was nothing. There was nothing he could say- no. There was one thing.

"Brandy, have I ever lied to you?"

"No.", said Brandy. "I don't think you've ever lied at all."

"Exactly.", Dan said. "I've never lied, not even once. So why would I start now?"

Brandy said nothing, merely folding herself up into Dan's grasp. He put his arms around her, and waited.

As he saw the crowd finally settle down and settle in, Jimmy took a deep breath.

"Alright, everyone!", he boomed, trying to remain confident. "We are proud to announce that for the first time ever, here today, you will all see the long-awaited debut of… Suuuuuper Overtime!"

He threw his hand downwards, signaling to Ash and the Old Goblin that it was time to start. They both quickly spoke into their communicators, informing the Stage Goblins down below the Arena floor that it was time to start.

As one, every Goblin took up their stations. No words were spoken, for no words were needed. Each and every one of these Goblins had been a master of their craft for a very long time, and it showed. It took mere seconds for the gears to begin turning, and the flame generators to heat up.

Up top, the entire Arena floor began to shake. The audience gave a collective gasp, as immense spikes of jagged stone burst out of the floor at random, sharp enough to puncture the armor of a Pekka. A sheet of flame erupted throughout the whole thing, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke that could barely be seen through. From far above, Blue and Red confetti started to fall, cascading gently over both the audience and the Arena. The clock on the side of the walls that designated the remaining time began to spin at incredible speeds, designating the lack of any time limit. Finally, as a finishing touch, all the side lights went out at once.

The audience murmured in a mixture of shock, awe, and a little bit of fear at the ghastly appearance that Legendary Arena had suddenly taken on. It no longer looked like a friendly Arena- it seemed more like some wild, horror-strewn battlefield, or the birthplace of an ancient cult.

"So.", Jimmy said, and whistled appreciatively. "That's Super Overtime."

"Yeah.", said Ash. "Me and the boys thought that it should have some special appearance. With the World Finals going on and all. I'm just glad that we finally get to actually use it. But dang, did it have to be for _this_?"

"Yeah…", said the Old Goblin. "That Ryusei_Nakao69 seems like an odd fellow. I don't like him one bit."

"There seems to be something off about him.", said Ash, his eyebrows knitting together in suspicion. "Something that I just can't quite put my finger on."

Oticat took one last look back at his team. With a trembling heart and matchless courage, he slowly walked up the stairs, emerging into the cold purple light as he finally took his place atop the King Tower. Staring right at him from all the way across the Arena was Ryusei_Nakao69, his entire body practically dripping with evil energy.

"Kings, are you ready?", asked Jimmy. "We don't want to do this without both of you being prepared."

"I am ready.", said Oticat, setting his jaw. The entire battle so far had been nothing, compared to what was coming now. He searched himself for bravery, and found it in droves.

"Junbi ga- I mean, I am ready as well." said Ryusei_Nakao69, the spirit of some bizarre language forcing its way onto his tongue. He practically salivated with sheer, undiluted malice, ready to sink his teeth into Oticat's fragile tower.

"Then we are ready as well.", said Jimmy, and raised his hand. "Let Super-Overtime…"

Utter silence hung in the air, the fabric of destiny woven between every second.

Jimmy let his hand fall. "Begin!"

Song: Decisive Battle

_Offense, _thought Oticat. _I've been responding to his moves this whole time. If I attack first, I might catch him off guard._

"Ratzo Brothers! Skeleton Army!", he shouted, and flicked his fingers across the interface. "You guys go! Opposite lanes!"

With a barbaric growl and a chattering of bones, the two Troops assembled themselves on different lanes. The Ratzo Brothers were on the left, and the Skeleton Army was on the right.

_Alright, you bastard, _thought Oticat, trying to keep himself composed. _Let's see how you respond to this._

Jimmy was about to say something, but knew that he should be quiet. So he just set his microphone down, and watched the battle unfold alongside everyone else.

The Ratzo Brothers jogged down the lane, picking up into a run as their Ram gained momentum. They let out a mighty yell, crossed the bridge- and vanished.

The audience let out a gasp, and recoiled. Oticat jumped up from his tower, leaning forward to try and see what had happened. "What- what?"

But as everyone watched, a glowing blue circle grew around the area where the Ratzo Brothers had disappeared. It solidified into what seemed almost to be a Mirror, yet it was filled with darker smoke.

"Oh, right.", said Ash. "I totally forgot about the portals."

His words were broadcast over the entirety of the Arena, and Oticat looked up in fury. "P- portals?", he spat. "Where did they end up?"

He looked to the other bridge, to check on the Skeleton Army's progress- only to see half of them walk into another portal and vanish off into parts unknown. Oticat grimaced- half of them could still probably deal some damage to the tower. If they were lucky.

"Hey, you guys!", he yelled, and the Skeleton Army looked up. "Go get him-"

But he never finished his sentence. With growing horror, Oticat saw the front line of Skeletons vanish into puffs of purple smoke. The next bunch vanished just a second after, crushed under a massive metal fist. Oticat's face paled in fear. Somehow, after all that had happened, he had forgotten about the Mega Knight.

His eyes flew to his interface- Agatha was in his hand. If placed properly, she could help take Nidavaleer down. He grabbed her card in between his fingers, and slammed it down on the glass. Even if he had just played 7 Elixir, he should have had just enough to play Agatha-

But he did not. Oticat checked his Elixir bar, wondering why it wasn't as fast as normal- only to see that, to his utter horror, the bar was only at 2 Elixir.

"What?", he hissed underneath his breath. "Did Elixir production slow down?"

He heard the crunch of shattering bone up ahead of him, and knew that Nidavaleer had finished off the rest of the Skeleton Army. But he kept on looking at his Elixir bar, and his worst fears were confirmed. Unlike regular overtime, Elixir generation had been cut in half.

"Shoot.", he said to himself, as he saw the massive figure of Nidavaleer stomp towards his tower. "This is bad. This is really, really bad."

Ryusei_Nakao69 laughed, and clapped his hands. "Good, Nidavaleer, good!", he shouted, the force of his unholy voice pushing back some of the clouds. "But I think you'll need a little something to help you…"

He selected another card, and flung it forwards. There was a sound of breaking glass, then one of a distinct, instantly recognizable roar. Nidavaleer's muscles seemed to swell, his eyes glowing a rich purple as the effects of the Rage took hold.

Nidavaleer growled, but did not speak. Even though the power of the Rage pulsed throughout his entire body, he was still mute.

"No, no, no, no-", Oticat mumbled, and aimed his cannon at Nidavaleer's head. He may not have been able to play anything, but he was still going to fight.

"Rrrrrnnnnhhh!", the Mega Knight roared, and slammed his massive iron fists into Oticat's tower.

Oticat stumbled, and nearly let go of his cannon. The health on his King Tower dropped by 268- a small amount, but still an important one.

"Come on, come on…", Oticat hissed, watching his Elixir bar slowly, ever so sluggishly fill up towards 5. If he could play Agatha, then her Skeletons could take down the Mega Knight from behind. He would take a lot of damage, but far less than if he just stood there and took it.

Nidavaleer, his eyes glowing with sheer, intense hatred, threw his fists downward once more. The stone of Oticat's tower suddenly grew a small crack, the audible snap of breaking stone spreading throughout the Arena.

"Folks, this is quite the battle.", whispered Jimmy Firecracker, underneath the dashboard of the announcer's booth. Even though he wasn't directly announcing anymore, it just felt wrong for him to say nothing. He had been a reporter for years, and he wasn't about to quit now.

"Bro, who are you whispering to?", said Joe, who was crouching underneath one of the swivel chairs. He didn't know why he was doing it- he had just seen Jimmy hide underneath something and thought that he should as well. "We're right here."

"Yes, you are.", Jimmy sighed. "So I'm talking to you."

Joe took a moment, as this groundbreaking revelation made its way through his brain. "Oh.", he said. "Yeah, I guess that you are."

Nidavaleer's huge iron fists once again impacted against Oticat's tower, the crack growing slightly larger. Oticat fired his cannon in desperation, but even the cannonballs were doing almost nothing against the titanic figure of the level 11 Mega Knight. It was like throwing sand at a mountain. Oticat took another look at his Elixir Bar- it was at 4 and a half. Just a few more seconds until he could play Agatha. Just a few more…

"Dad!", Sadie shouted from down below. "Play The-"

She was about to say The Log, but Oticat stopped her with a single connected thought. "I can't!", he said. "It's not the right time!"

"What do you mean, not the right time?", Elizabeth screamed. "It's the perfect time!"

"NO!", Oticat yelled back, and kept on firing. "I need to wait!"

He took another look at his Elixir Bar- it was now at 5. Agatha was ready. With a single fluid motion, Oticat both fired his cannon, stumbled as Nidavaleer attacked again, grabbed Agatha's card, and flung it onto his interface.

"Yes… yes…", Ryusei_Nakao69 said to himself, and licked his lips. "Play that 8th card, Oticat. Show me what you have. Reveal your deepest, darkest secrets unto I, Ryusei_Nak-"

But the purple light glowing right behind Nidavaleer turned out to only be Agatha, not the mysterious 8th card. Ryusei_Nakao69's eyes narrowed, and he spat onto the ground.

"Fine, then.", he said. "I don't care. Take that secret to your grave!"

He spun one finger around in the air, magically prompting Nidavaleer's damaged mind to somehow notice that Agatha was right behind him.

"Fell every last one of them, my champion.", he whispered, not wanting anyone else to hear. "Prove your worth, every last Gold piece."

Agatha raised her hand, firing a light purple blast that was more blue than red. It exploded against Nidavaleer's armored back, and his health bar dropped by a miniscule degree. The Mega Knight barely seemed to notice, even when the trio of Skeletons started to stab at his thighs. But Ryusei_Nakao69's spell and message had gotten directly to his brain, and so turn around he did.

"Wait, wha-", Agatha began, before a pair of enormous metal gloves smacked her straight across her entire front side, knocking almost a fourth of her HP clean off. The Skeletons, upon seeing her damaged without warning, redoubled their efforts. But Nidaveleer's HP still remained high.

"Nrrrrrrhhhh!", he bellowed, and attacked again. Agatha's Skeletons were crushed to bits of purple beneath his fists, although Agatha herself escaped the attack's radius.

_How?,, _she thought, and fired off another blast. _How did he turn around to attack me? How did he know?_

Then, she felt a paper-thin mental trail emanating from Nidavaleer's damaged mind. It could be felt all the way back to Ryusei_Nakao69, and Agatha understood at once.

_He told him, _she realized. _Ryusei_Nakao69 can-_

Then another slam smacked her on the top of the head, and Agatha stumbled back. Her health bar was now dangerously low. Nidavaleer's had been lessened as well, although to a much smaller degree.

Nidavaleer felt the sting of Oticat's cannonballs on his back. He felt the sharp twang of Skeleton blades, sinking into his feet. He felt the slap of Agatha's attacks, hitting him on the arms and chest. Even though his own fists rose and fell, they did little to dull the pain. The constant, annoying, _enraging _pain. It poked at Nidavaleer's mind like a waterfall, provoking him into even deeper levels of Rage.

He growled, and slashed downwards with all the force he could muster. The ground broke under the force of his fury, sending up another stone spike. It lashed upwards and stabbed Agatha right through the chest, completely out of nowhere.

Agatha gasped, looked down at the rocky spike that had just stabbed her through the heart, closed her eyes, and vanished into Elixir. Another trio of Skeletons popped out of the puddle right as it faded, and brandished their diminutive arms.

"Oya oya, Oticat.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, folding his arms. "That doesn't look good for you, no…"

Nidavaleer slammed his hands down onto the group of Skeletons, flattening them instantly. Now that there were no more threats to distract him, he slowly turned once more towards Oticat's tower. The effects of the Rage spell itself ended, but the purple field around him stayed.

_What, _thought Oticat, _kind of crap is this? Seriously, how did any of this happen? This entire match has been nothing but weird crap, and now there's more. _

He looked down at his Elixir bar. It had exactly 1 Elixir, not enough to cast anyone in his hand.

"Well, shoot.", he said to himself.

Nidavaleer roared again, and bashed the front of Oticat's tower. He was dealing too much damage, too fast. Oticat needed a solution, but there was no one to be found. He had spent far too much Elixir on playing his Battle Ram and Skeleton Army in the very beginning of the match, and now he was paying the price.

There was another attack, and another, and another. Oticat kept on desperately firing, hoping beyond hope that it would take the rampaging menace that was Nidavaleer out. He couldn't afford to think of the alternative.

"Oticat?", Brandy shouted from down below in the dugout, as she started to get very worried. She could see every detail of the assault, and could only watch as the thing standing between her and certain doom was rapidly being destroyed. "Everything okay?"

If Oticat could hear her, he did not listen. Every bit of his focus, 105% of his effort, was focused on the match. If he could not find out a way to stop Nidavaleer, then he might as well have kissed his tower goodbye.

"Come on, come on-", he said, trying to fire faster- and stopped. His final shot sunk far deeper into Nidavaleer's armor than it should have, the surest sign of defeat. Nidavaleer groaned in pain, and collapsed to his knees. The huge metal maces on his hands split and fell to the ground, revealing a pair of regular, if pale hands. Then he was gone, leaving only a huge puddle of Elixir.

Oticat could not celebrate. For even though he had gotten rid of Nidavaleer, he was only Ryusei_Nakao69's first attacker. He was bound to send many more, that Oticat might not be able to fight off. And what was more, Oticat realized as he took a look downwards, the Mega Knight's rampage had left his tower at only 483 health.

Oticat's head spun, and his breathing tightened. Beads of sweat dripped down his face, getting stuck in his beard. His crown hung disheveled on his head, an outward manifestation of the sheer panic coursing through him. His heart and brain beat fast, trying to find a good way out of the situation. But there was none, not that he could see. He didn't even know what Ryusei_Nakao69's tower was at. The Ratzo Brothers might have been attacking it at that very moment, for all he knew. He didn't know where the Skeleton Army had all went, or at least the half of it that hadn't been crushed by Nidavaleer.

Oticat waited for his Elixir bar to fill up again. From now on, there were to be no mistakes. Absolutely no rash plays at all, no gambles, no risk of any sort. If he made even one mistake… Brandy would be gone. And that was something he could not let happen.

There was a flash of blue at the right bridge. Oticat looked up, flabbergasted as to what it might be. It seemed to be coming for his own tower, yet it distinctly carried the light of Blue with it. He squinted his eyes through the haze, trying to work out what it might have been- then he saw it.

For whatever unknown reason, the Ratzo Brothers were charging to beat death at Oticat's own tower.

"Guys! Guys!", he shouted, waving his arms to try and get attention. "What are you doing?"

But the Ratzo Brothers did not hear him. Once they had begun to charge, somewhere in the mist that flooded the Arena, their higher senses had gone a bit offline. They did not know they had gotten turned around in the mist. They had no idea that the tower they were no charging was not Ryusei_Nakao69's, and was in fact their own beloved King's.

"What happens if they hit him?", Sadie asked breathlessly. The pair's damage output was easily enough to take a tower at 483 health. If they dealt damage for some reason…

"Bowza, what happens?", she asked in desperation. "Do you know?"

Bowza knew what he was going to say, although he stroked his chin a bit for inspiration. "I do- I think.", he said. "I don't believe that it will damage Oticat's tower, but we'll have to check."

Oticat, unfortunately, had not heard any of that. He assumed that although it would probably be much less than normal, the impact of the Brothers would still deal at least some damage. So as they drew closer, he sucked in a breath, closed his eyes, and-

There was a terrible, sickening crunch. The entire Blue bench winced, and Oticat opened his eyes. To his immense relief, the impact had dealt no damage. And once the Battle Ram had collided, both of the Ratzo Brothers had been teleported back to the bench.

"Both of you.", said Bowza, mere seconds after they had reappeared. "How much was his tower at? Where were the Skeletons? What did you see?"

One rubbed his head, and looked up bleary-eyed. "I don't know, man. We never saw any of that stuff."

"Yeah.", said the other. "We just charged, got lost in the mist, kept on charging, and now we're here. Real shame we hit our own tower. Heh."

Ignoring them completely, Bowza went over to the wall. He quickly tapped out a message, picked up and understood almost immediately by Oticat.

_Tower state unknown, _it read. _Proceed with utmost caution._

_I hear you, Bowza, _came the tapped response. _I hear you loud and clear. _

Oticat flicked his fingers across the interface. He had to choose the next card exactly right. There was absolutely no room for error. If he took too long, playing too defensively, Ryusei_Nakao69 could just very easily Fireball Cycle him to defeat. But if he played too offensively, Ryusei_Nakao69's vast array of punishment cards would beat Oticat into the ground. So after taking all the possible factors into account, Oticat's finger landed on Brandy.

"Go on.", he said, and slid his finger neatly into place. "You're up."

Song: Determinazione

Brandy stood, and walked onto the teleporter. Her heart beat faster than she could run, yet she somehow felt a strange sort of calm. A realization came over her that this, right here, was truly it. Ryusei_Nakao69 had tormented her day and night over the past few weeks. And now, one way or another, it would all come to an end. She turned, and saw Dan holding out his hand.

"Brandy, I…", he said, and Brandy could see that he held a single Rare card. "I wanted to give this to you."

"What is it?", Brandy asked, and took it from him. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that it was an Ice Golem. The card itself was a little beaten up, but still useable.

"I found it near their Castle.", said Dan. "Before we rescued you. I held on to it, and wanted to give it to you, but… I guess I never really found the time."

Brandy gripped the card tight, then tucked it into her pocket. "Thank you, Dan.", she said, and leaned forward. "I love you."

"I love you too, Brandy.", said Dan. "Good luck.",

Brandy remained for a moment, then stepped onto the teleporter and vanished.

With a whiff of blue smoke, Brandy reappeared out on the battlefield. She looked around, and realized that her vision from earlier had come true. Oticat had indeed lost both Princess towers. Smoke rolled across the ground, obscuring everything around her. Blue and Red confetti fell like rain, and she could just barely see vague outlines of mysterious objects through the mist.

_But there's one thing missing, _she thought. _The purple lightning. There's none of that. And if there's no purple, then… then the vision wasn't completely true. And if that vision wasn't true, then that means that the rest of them might not have been either. And that means-_

Brandy snapped straight up, and her heart lifted. "We can still win."

She gathered up all of her courage, and ran off into the smoke.

Ryusei_Nakao69 felt a strange chill on the back of his neck. He shivered, knowing subconsciously that it was Grrshknn coming to check up on him.

_The girl, _he felt inside of his mind. _Do you have her yet?_

_No- __I mean, no, _thought the King. _But I will have her. Very, very soon._

Brandy ran through the mist_, _keeping a careful eye out for anything that might stop her. Oticat had played her partially for chip damage, and partially to check on the state of Ryusei_Nakao69's tower. Hopefully, some of the Skeletons still wandering in and between the portals had at least damaged it. If not, Oticat would be even further behind.

"Where is it?", Brandy muttered to herself, as she sprinted through the angry fog. "It should be just around here-"

Then the mist parted, and Brandy paused. She could just barely see the outline of Ryusei_Nakao69's King tower through the heavy cover. Luckily, she was still out of his cannon's range. Unluckily, his HP readout still read 5832.

Brandy's heart fell, and she almost collapsed to her knees. Even if Ryusei_Nakao69 did nothing at all to defend, she still couldn't even come close to taking it on her own. And even if she did attack, the next push that Ryusei_Nakao69 made would almost certainly take Oticat's tower. But even if his defense was perfect, and could manage to stop whatever would be thrown at him next, Oticat had no way to defend against the Fireball. It would only take 2 shots to victory for Red. There was no way to win.

"D- dang it.", Brandy whispered, and felt her face grow hot. "I'm… still… so weak."

She punched the ground in frustration, and yelled out into the air. "I'm still too weak! I can't… do anything!"

She was obscured from the view of the crowd by the vast cloud of smoke, but some of them in the front row began to hear her cries. A Villager leaned forward, curious as to what could be causing it.

"Just like then…", Brandy growled, and a single lick of purple flame appeared behind her, arcing up into the sky. "Just like then!"

Her mind flashed back to the canyon, and exactly what had happened there. Her skin began to crawl, and a burst of violet suddenly flashed down her arms. "I couldn't… do anything!"

Then the violet energy disappeared, and Brandy felt a tear drip down her cheek. "Just like then… just like now. I still can't do anything. I'm just… a Bandit…"

All of a sudden, the Arena in front of her disappeared. The red and blue tiles of Legendary Arena gave way to pure darkness, accented with very dark blues and greys.

"What?", Brandy asked, turning around to try and see anything, but there was nothing to see. "What's going on?"

With a flash of silver fire, a man appeared in front of her. He wore an ornate purple robe, and his eyes were solid gold. Flecks of what appeared to be precious metals adorned his slick black goatee, and his boots shone with the brilliance of stars.

"Just a Bandit, Brandy?", the man boomed, growing much larger. "Is that how you think of yourself, _daughter?"_

Brandy gasped. "Dad?"

Her father smiled warmly, then pointed downwards again. "When your mother and I sent you out into this world, we did not expect a quitter. We did not save you just so you could fall to the hands of a mere King."

"Wait, what-", Brandy said, her mind reeling with questions, but the image of her father seemed not to hear her.

"Listen carefully, Brandy.", he roared, and began to glow. "You may curse your limits. But in truth, a limit is not a bad thing to have. For a limit is not as far as we can go, but merely something to be broken. It is realizing and breaking those limits that makes us better."

"I…", Brandy said, then clenched her fist. "I understand… father."

"Good.", boomed the man, and smiled. "Now go. Make your father proud."

The entire vision vanished, and the blue lights of The Dreamer faded behind Brandy's head. Legendary Arena once more appeared before her, in all of its wonderful glory.

A flash of purple fire erupted deep within Brandy's eyes. She felt an intense rage bubble up within her, fighting to be released. And with a ferocity she had never before felt, she threw back her head and began to scream.

Song: Limit Break X Survivor (Instrumental Version C)

The mist began to part around her, blown back by the force of her primal scream. The audience noticed the roar of anger, and strained to see what was going on. Great flashes of purple energy began to spark throughout the mist, breaking it apart into smaller chunks.

With a surge of effort, Brandy leaned forward. The purple flame around her accelerated its growth, shooting out in all directions in a display of pure power.

"Bowza.", Agatha said from the bench. "Do you feel that?"

Bowza nodded, and stood up. "I do. It feels like Brandy."

"But her energy…", Agatha said. "It's suddenly huge. Huge, and bizarre."

Her eyes widened, and three Skeletons appeared around her, formed from her stress. "Just what is going on?"

Brandy stopped her screaming, but the tower of energy coiling around her grew no smaller for it. Her eyes glowed a pure purple from the immense power, awakened by her latent Rage. "I…", she whispered, and thought back to her conversation with Meg earlier.

"_Are you still scared of them?", Brandy asked. Meg just looked confused._

"_TheEvilOverLords, I mean.", Brandy clarified. "Are you still afraid of them?"_

"_Yeah.", she said. "For some reason, I'm… afraid that they'll get me somehow."_

_Brandy put her hand on her forehead, looking up towards the sun. "Well, you don't have to worry about that.", she said. "No one does."_

_She turned towards Meg, as the group finally passed underneath the immense gate of Hog Mountain. "Meg, I promise you this. As long as we're here, no one will take you. Not now, not ever again. You got that?"_

_Meg smiled weakly, and held up her hand. Brandy met it in a fist bump. "Got it."_

"I…", Brandy said again, and the magnificent corona of Rage grew even taller. "I have to keep my promise to her!"

Brandy felt her muscles swell. The mist surrounding her finally broke, and the audience gasped at the sight. Sparks of Rage flew outwards, sending bits of energy directly into the surrounding walls.

"Never again… will they threaten anyone!", growled Brandy, and her hood slipped off from the sheer outpouring of energy. "Not me, not her… not anyone!"

Jimmy looked to Ash, desperate to know what was going on. "Ash, you're our resident Champion here.", he said, with eyes wide. "Do you know what's going on?"

Ash looked down at Joe, who was still fiddling with the camera. "That camera's busted, right?"

Joe stabbed it another time with his screwdriver, then looked up and shrugged. "Dead as a rock."

Ash looked up, and answered Jimmy's question. "I have no fricking idea."

As the energy around her increased, Brandy's hair began to rise. The Rage soaked into it, and its normal white color turned a light shade of purple. "Right now, I am the only one who can defeat you.", she said, and glared at Ryusei_Nakao69. "So that's just what I'll do!"

Every bit of pulsed with sheer Rage, held back for the moment only by her other feelings. Her fear, her guilt, her sorrow- they all rushed around her in equal amounts of strength.

Ryusei_Nakao69 stared, utterly transfixed. _I see…, _he thought. _So this is why Grrshknn wanted her so badly. Had I known she had this much potential, I would have gotten her sooner._

"You gave me this power, Ryusei_Nakao69.", Brandy spat, feeling the hatred rush through her body like a rampaging waterfall. "You twisted and broke my body, then put it back together brand new. And now, you're facing the consequences!"

She looked up, her eyes blazing wide open with Rage. With one last push of effort, Brandy threw back her head once more, and screamed as loud as she could.

A rush of energy exploded outwards from her, a blast of purple wind that ripped all the way upwards to the floodlights surrounding the Stands. Dozens of Troops were blown onto their backs, ducking to protect themselves from the falling glass as all the lights shattered at once.

Brandy felt all her feelings surge in uncontrollable amounts around her. She struggled to hold them all- yet even as she did, she felt one slowly overpower the others. Somehow, all her guilt and sorrow were simply no match compared to the overwhelming power of her Rage.

As the entire Arena looked on in shock and fascination, a cocoon of purple surrounded Brandy entirely. Her screams could still be heard, albeit a bit muffled.

Brandy felt her guilt attack in its entirety. Every time she had blamed herself for anything, every time she had lashed out in anger. Everything she had blamed herself for slowly withered down to nothing, burned to ashes by the power of her Rage.

She felt her sorrow well up from below, seemingly attempting to drown her. Every single second of the weeks of depression, every time she had ever tasted defeat. Every loss she had ever experienced, every setback, every overwhelming sadness. She could see a dark blue arm reach for her face- and then be burned to nothing, as her Rage consumed that as well.

Agatha felt what was going on, deep within Brandy's mind and soul. She smiled, and unclenched her staff.

"I feel it.", she said. "Brandy's finally done it. She's breaking her limits."

Agatha watched, as a shaft of purple light blasted out from Brandy's cocoon. "All her terror and sadness turn to nothing in the flames. And as she dives into a state beyond, there she will find…"

Finally, Brandy acknowledged her fear. It hovered in front of her like an angry demon, its deep red a grim reminder of everything that had happened. From the way she had been taken, the things that had been done to her, every single time she had almost died. The hold that Ryusei_Nakao69 had held on her, all culminating into a deep-seated terror that went down into her very soul. But now, even that was beginning to burn away.

_I'm ready, _thought Brandy. _There are no more limits. This is it._

She gave one last, triumphant scream. The shell both within her and on the outside shattered with a sound like a thousand thunders, and a wave of purple light spread throughout the entire Arena like a Flood.

The entire Arena leaned forward, none of them knowing who or what would emerge. The mist around the explosion zone slowly cleared, to reveal a figure burning with pride.

There Brandy stood, the Rage in a controlled aura around her. Her hood had been ripped off, her hair standing in a sharp violet wave above her head. Her clothes floated ethereally, pushed upwards by the sheer energy. Her eyes burned with determination, particles of starlight floating around her in a halo of strength. And most shocking of all, her level flickered. Up until this point, it had been displaying a mere 10. But now, every second, it changed between that and a beautiful, glorious, golden 21.

Brandy stood a step forward, and clenched her fist. She stared up at Ryusei_Nakao69, who could feel himself instinctively flinch.

"This is everything I have…", she growled. "Crimson king!"

Song: Cornered

Brandy took a single step forward. The ground underneath her boot cracked, purple lightning flowing into and out of it. Ryusei_Nakao69 recoiled, and scrambled to find his next card. He wasn't sure just how powerful Brandy was now. He absolutely had to find out.

"Ash, is this… legal?", Jimmy whispered, stabbing his finger downwards at the Arena floor. "What she's doing?"

Ash took another look, and his normally serious face burst forth into a wide grin. "Of course it's legal!", he shouted, and slapped Jimmy on the back. Then his voice shrank to a whisper, and he leaned in. "To be honest, I'm not sure if it is. But just between you and me, I really want Blue to win this one. You know?"

Jimmy shook his head, thinking about just how much Brandy's transformation reminded him of his last few jobs. "I feel the same way, sir."

Brandy took another step, still just barely out of the range of Ryusei_Nakao69's cannon. She gently exhaled, and crouched. Steam started to rise off of her body, as she prepared her Dash.

_My offensive power is level 21, _she thought, with perfect calm. Even though her power was brought about by Rage, her mind was as still and tranquil as a pool of water. _That means that I will deal…_

She thought for half a second, making some quick calculations to determine just how much damage she would deal upon a hit. But she had never been all that great at math, and so she gave up. _I'll just have to see for myself._

Brandy released the intense energy building within her. There was another flash of purple Rage, and she Dashed forward right at Ryusei_Nakao69's tower.

Ryusei_Nakao69 stopped searching for a card, and looked up. Even though his vision was both mechanically and magically enhanced to an acute degree, he could barely even detect Brandy as she sped towards his tower. His hands lashed out to the side of his tower, bracing himself for the impact. He closed his eyes, and-

"Doora!", Brandy yelled, and collided with Ryusei_Nakao69's tower. A massive burst of pure concussive force shook the entire Arena, blowing dozens of lighter audience members off of their feet. Oticat gasped, as the mists covering the floor blew back- but he could not quite see anything that was happening.

From the sidelines, on the first row, the audience members screamed in shock and celebration. They were the only ones with a view good enough to see that the health of Ryusei_Nakao69's tower had dropped dramatically- all the way down to 4800.

Ryusei_Nakao69's skin crawled. A bead of strange sweat fell down his evil brow, and he felt the back of his throat ache. _What power…_, he thought. _What strength!_

"Dorra!", Brandy yelled again, and lashed out. She didn't even bother to use her club- instead, her fist slammed into the tower with the force of a Pekka's swing, bringing Ryusei_Nakao69 down another 500 HP.

Ryusei_Nakao69 finally grabbed his cannon, and began to fire. His first shot merely bounced off of Brandy's blazing aura, reflecting off the ground and rolling into the river. His breath grew shallower, as he saw Brandy revving up for another hit.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I- I simply do not believe it!", Jimmy shouted. He somehow felt that now was the right time to resume commentary. "This Bandit has somehow… somehow…"

He stopped, looking for words. _It's just like what that kid and that hillbilly did at the Cell Games, _he thought. _Only now she's purple instead of yellow. _

The Phantom pushed his hands in front of Brenda's face, and they became translucent. His unique physical properties allowed his hands to act as goggles, and Brenda could suddenly now see through the smoke.

"Oh my…", she gasped, and ordered the Phantom to put one of his hands over Meg's right eye. "What is that? Is that somehow the work of her Stand?"

"No.", said the Phantom. "That is no Stand that I know of. That is her own strength."

He slapped a hand over Meg's eye, and she fainted.

"Doraoraoraoraora!", Brandy screamed, and delivered two lightning fast punches. The stone of Ryusei_Nakao69's tower cracked with a loud snap, a visible fissure spreading up one side.

The Blue side of the Arena began to chant excitedly, even though only some of them could see what was going on. All it took was the front row- then the rest of them were stomping their feet and screaming. "Bran-dy! Bran-dy! Bran-dy!"

There was another blow, sending dire energy all the way up Ryusei_Nakao69's tower. He stumbled backwards, only barely managing to grab onto the side of his interface to check his Elixir. He had only three.

"I- I'm going to lose!", he realized. A cold shock of real fear shot through his heart, and he could almost already feel the dark claws of Grrshknn down his back. "I, Ryusei_Nakao69, am going to be defeated!"

Brandy wound back her arm, and roared. She had let her Rage consume her entirely, her eyes and mouth glowing with purple luminance.

"Dorrra!", she boomed, her voice seeming to come from somewhere deeper within her. Her shining fist slammed into the tower once more, and two more cracks spread up its side. The tower, through Brandy's sheer, overwhelming strength, was now almost broken, hanging on by a mere sliver of its once insurmountable HP.

_How do you like that?, _she thought. _After all this… after everything… I've finally won! Just one more shot! One more, and you're dead, Ryusei_Nakao69!_

But in her berserk rage, Brandy had forgotten to account for one thing. Even though her offensive power had now risen beyond any other Bandit, her HP had not changed. And through Ryusei_Nakao69's near constant - he had missed a few times - attacking, her HP was almost down to 0.

"It's over!", she roared, and drew back her fist. It erupted with a flash of purple energy, a bare hint of white sneaking in. "Die, Ryusei_Nakao69!"

Brandy threw her fist forward, and the entire audience screamed. The Blue side screamed in celebration, and the Red in the first true fear they had felt in months. Brandy's fist drew closer to Ryusei_Nakao69's tower, as the second hung frozen in midair. She almost connected-

When out of nowhere, there was the shriek of "Electricity!", the shock of lightning, and Brandy's vision went totally dark.

The audience gasped, as they saw Brandy vanish into Elixir from Tsarsus's fateful strike. But they were appeased a little bit as they saw the wreath of energy that had been surrounding her lashed out in a wicked vengeance, slicing through Tsarsus's body and severing his head from his shoulders. Even as he burst into Elixir himself, the Ragelightning flowed into the puddle, pushing it deep underground. No one noticed Ryusei_Nakao69's tower suddenly glow with a harsh purple light that was more Blue than Red- no one, that is, but him.

"That just… gave me Elixir.", he realized. "Enough to play…"

He looked down at his cards, and saw one light up. He smiled evily, and hovered his finger over it. "Oh yes.", he said. "That's the one."

Brandy appeared back in the dugout, landing on the ground with a hard thud. She groaned in immense pain, bits of her skin still flickering with the energy of her spent Rage.

"Brandy!", Dan shouted, and rushed to her side. "What happened? Did you do it? How much is his tower at? What did he do?"

Brandy's right eye fluttered open. Her left was sealed shut from the pain. She let out a slow, pained chuckle, and gripped Dan's arm. "I… beat… him.", she said, and winced. "His tower just needs one more shot… to take it down. The Log… that should do it."

Dan looked up. "Oticat!", he shouted. "He's at-"

Brandy finished his sentence. "He's at 100!", she yelled, putting all of her remaining energy into her message. "LOG HIM!"

Ryusei_Nakao69 placed down his card behind his tower, and looked up. A large portion of the mist had been blown away by Brandy's rampage, and he could now see Oticat grinning widely.

"You've been wanting to know my 8th card… haven't you?", he asked, and cracked his knuckles. "Well, here it is. Just in time to defeat you."

"What?", Ryusei_Nakao69 snarled, trying to buy time for his strategy to work. "Defeat me? What do you think possibly can?"

"Brandy brought your tower down to barely any health.", Oticat said, and selected both an Emote and a card from his interface. The projected image of the Crying Log appeared above his tower, and the audience roared. "Now it's here to finish the job! Behold, the one, the only-"

He flicked his finger forward, right at the spot where it would hit Ryusei_Nakao69's tower. His eyes shone, and he flashed a confident grin. "The Log!"

With a burst of blue sparkles and a mysterious chorus, The Log rolled forth from Oticat's tower. It hit the side of the river, bounding across and landing on the other side. Through the mist it rolled, the shining spikes reflecting light from the flames that adorned the Arena floor at random angles. Even though there were huge spikes of rock jutting from the ground, The Log crashed through them like a mythical archon of justice. Nothing stopped it as it rolled towards Ryusei_Nakao69's tower, ready to finish the battle for good.

First, there was silence. Both sides of the audience, both Kings, both benches- they were all silent, just watching The Log roll. The only sound that could be heard was the stomping of thick leather boots, as two figures approached the bridge.

Then, there was a crash, as enchanted wood and metal hit stone. The entire Blue side let out a cheer- only for it to die in their throats.

Song: Shoot towards the Decisive Battle

Oticat's breath caught in his throat. He stared forward, refusing to believe what he was seeing. It was not possible. Ryusei_Nakao69's tower health stared back at him defiantly, with 1 HP remaining.

"Randy…", he muttered, looking for the Ice Spirit among his cards- but he was not there. "He can get the job done-"

But he stopped talking, and his eyes widened in fear. For there, at the right bridge, he saw the pair of Elite Barbarians charging out of the mist.

Ryusei_Nakao69 let out a small chuckle. Then another, then a third. His grin contorted into a twisted smile, then a maddening laugh that shook the Arena, a terrifying_ ohohohohohoho _that clawed at the hearts of everyone who heard it.

"So this is how it ends, Oticat.", he laughed, spreading his arms open wide in triumph. "With me at a mere 1 HP, you unable to do anything about it, your finest fighter foiled, and mine destroying your tower with the greatest of ease!"

He performed a mocking bow, still laughing all the while. "Thanks!", he said, and flicked the emote of the Crying King. "Thanks!"

"No.", Oticat said, and selected one more card. He had just barely enough Elixir left to play it- his final action. "It's not over yet."

With a quick motion, Oticat windmill slammed the card down on his interface, and a purple light on the battlefield turned into Agatha. She raised her staff, right in front of Oticat's tower. "Your Elite Barbarians are not match for-"

But his words meant nothing, as the mist overhead turned orange with heat. A perfectly predicted Fireball soared out of the air and slammed right into Agatha, turning her into Elixir and bringing Oticat's tower down to the barest sliver of HP.

The three deathspawned Skeletons popped out of the ground to fight, rushing at Chad and Rick with furious expressions and raised swords. But it was hopeless.

Oticat no longer had any Elixir left to counter. The Elite Barbarians would take out the three Skeletons, and then destroy the tower.

It was over. They had lost.

Song: Final Hope (Dbs)

For Oticat, the pain came from his own failure. He was not just sorrowful that Ryusei_Nakao69 had won- it was because he had done so honestly. If anything, Oticat had cheated. Whether through Valyerie's stuttering on the Skeletons, Brandy's teleportation or limit breaking, or anything else that had happened, Oticat had been given every chance to win. And he had still failed.

"Brandy.", he whispered, and folded his arms. A single tear fell from his eyes, squeezed shut from the pain of loss. "I'm sorry."

For Bowza and Agatha, the pain came from their own hearts. Brandy had always been like a daughter to them. They had made a promise, when they had adopted her, to protect her. To always keep her safe, no matter what. And now, when it mattered most, they had failed to do so. When it came down to it, they had failed as parents.

Agatha looked towards Brandy, who was starting to process the fact. "Brandy.", she said. "I'm…"

But she could not finish. For she knew not what to say. Bowza bowed his head, trying not to let anyone see the tears that freely flowed.

For the Ratzo Brothers, the pain came from the let down they had been. They were the Battle Ram team, the win condition, the ones that you could always count on to get the job done. But they had done very little in this fight. Brandy and Dan had gotten off the most damage out of anyone, not them. And as they looked to Brandy, they realized that even though they were in a deck together, they had never really gotten the chance to know her that well. And now, they regretted it.

For Randy and the Skeleton Army, feelings did not work the same way as they did for humans. But deep within their bony skulls, deep within whatever ice block Randy had that passed for a heart, they too felt the sharp pain of remorse. Randy slowly walked over to Brandy, and looked up. He tried to say something- but he could not. He never could.

For Dan, the pain came from his own lack of strength. When Brandy had been kidnapped, he had not hesitated to rush headlong towards who knew what enemy. When he had not been strong enough to save her on his own, he had headed into the mountains on his own will, exiling himself for weeks to become the strongest he possibly could. And now that he was the ultimate warrior? He had still failed. The ones who had taken her were about to take her again, and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

He wrapped his arms around Brandy, and felt his chest heave with deep sorrow. He failed to form words, tortured golden light pouring out of him and fading against the ceiling.

For Brandy, she did not feel pain. She felt only fear. A powerful, overwhelming fear that started at her feet, and began to climb. They were going to take her again, make her theirs this time. And there was absolutely nothing that she could do to try and stop it. Her skin crawled with terror, and the back of her head burned with the heat of raw panic. Her breathing turned harsh, and her hands started to shake. Even though she thought she had burned past all of her fear, it was still here. Still here, and ready to devour her whole.

"Brandy.", Dan whispered, finally finding his words. "Don't worry."

Brandy looked up. "What?"

"When they take you… we'll just come and get you again.", Dan said, trying to think his way out. "That's what we'll do. Don't worry."

"Dan, you…", Brandy said, choking back tears. She forced herself to say the words. She hated them- yet knew they were the truth. "You can't. You can't do that."

"Don't.", Dan said. "Don't you dare say that. Of course we can. We will!"

"Last…", Brandy said, and swallowed hard. "Last time was a fluke. You guys… caught them off guard. And you had a lot of help. This time… they'll be ready."

Dan's face burned hot, and he held Brandy tighter. "No.", he said. "Don't say that! Don't say it!"

"If you try and come and get me... ", Brandy said, her mind twisting with agony. "You'll all die. I'm not worth… not worth the sacrifice."

Dan, although he tried to fight it, knew that Brandy was right. His massive chest shook with horror, and he brought Brandy closer to his body.

"You have to let me go, Dan.", Brandy whispered, her mind starting to shut down. "You have to let me go."

"I love you, Brandy.", Dan whispered. "No matter what happens… don't you ever forget that."

Brandy, despite her impending doom, somehow managed to smile. Perhaps it was the way Dan held her, and spoke into her ear. Perhaps it was her mind beginning to crack under the pressure- it was not known. But smile she did. "Oh, Dan.", she said. "I will. And I love you too."

The two embraced, knowing that it was the last time that they could ever do so.

Chad and Rick finished off the Skeletons in a single blow each, and continued their run towards the tower. Their minds burned with insane lust, each one of them a craving that could not be satiated. When they had been reformed that morning, Grrshknn had reprogrammed them with one goal in mind, and one goal only- _get the girl._

They arrived at the tower, and raised their swords to strike. The Blue side of the Arena gasped. The Red side of the Arena cheered. The announcers looked away, and turned off their microphones. Brenda looked to the Phantom- but he just shook his head. This was far beyond his abilities.

Ryusei_Nakao69 only continued to laugh, his face twisting into ever more unnatural and grotesque forms as he did so. His cheeks split open, red energy glowing from underneath in an unholy display of his practically demonic self. There was no man, no King anymore. The only thing that Ryusei_Nakao69 was at this point was an undying force of sheer corruption.

"This is my victory, Oticat!", he bellowed, the force of his voice blowing away the last clouds of mist still surrounding the bottom of his tower. "I will be the one to survive! Luck has sided with me, at the very end! After all my hardship, I, Ryusei_Nakao69, have triumphed! My soul will be mine to keep, as I ascend ever further!"

He slashed at the stone of the tower, the rocks cutting open the skin of his arms. But he didn't care at that point- pain was just another bizarre entity circling through his broken mind.

"I thank you, Oticat!", he roared. "For allowing me to take this easy victory, even though your Bandit struggled as hard as she could. But now-"

In that fateful moment, he chanced to look down. And what he saw sent a shock through his heart.

Larry didn't know what had been happening over the last minute or so. All he saw was his fellow Skeleton Armymates be slowly cut down by the cannonballs of a King, one by one appearing back onto the bench. Once he had finally managed to get within sight of the tower, he had been the only one left. But even then, some strange portal had opened up and swallowed him, sending him back to the beginning of his run.

It had taken Larry a while to get to where he was now, but it had been worth it. Another portal had appeared just a few seconds earlier, and helpfully dumped him right in front of his target, ready to strike. And it was for that reason that Ryusei_Nakao69 panicked. For he had taken his hands off of his cannon, and had no way to respond. For there, standing right next to his tower, was Larry, sword in hand.

Ryusei_Nakao69's hand flew to his cannon- but it refused to respond. He looked upfield- only to see Chad and Rick's blades clatter harmlessly against Oticat's stone tower. Their expressions of shock were nothing compared to the confusion he himself felt. He looked down- and saw the reason why. For Larry's blade had already gone out of his hand, and was now sticking out of the bottom of Ryusei_Nakao69's tower.

The King blinked, and felt the bottom of his tower start to crumble into dust. "Oh, are you fricking _kiddi-", _he started to say, then was forced to stop when the rest of his tower exploded.

Song: Jonathan Joestar Theme

For just a brief second, silence covered the sky. Both halves of the audience watched in shock and awe as they saw Ryusei_Nakao69's blow up, the stone flying all the way across the Arena as the King himself was teleported into his own bench.

Then, once they had all taken enough time to register what had just happened, the screaming started.

The entire Blue half of the spectators erupted into a massive roar of excitement, their shouts blasting the entire Arena with a wall of pure sound. The spark of the victory Teslas popping up all around was completely drowned out by the volume of hundreds of Troops screaming at once, especially after they had just witnessed what was probably to be the single most exciting battle of their entire lives.

"They did it!", Brenda screamed, grabbing Meg by the shoulders. Meg was suddenly jerked awake, her glasses flying to the bench below her. "Wha-"

Brenda shook Meg back and forth like crazy, causing the Musketeer's helmet to almost fly off of her head. "They did it, they did it, they did it!"

Meg blinked, trying to figure out why she couldn't see. "What? Who? What's going on?"

The Phantom slid Meg's glasses back onto her face, and she blinked again in confusion.

"Meg, they won!", Brenda screamed, turning Meg's face to look down below. "They won!"

"They… won?", Meg asked shakily, realizing what this meant. "You mean… I'm safe?"  
Brenda grabbed Meg by the back, dipping her all the way down. "Yes.", she said slyly. "You're safe… but not from this."

Then she kissed her as hard as she could, as the wild shouts of the audience around her only grew in their rapture.

"You have to let me go.", Brandy mumbled, still buried in Dan's chest. "I don't want you to die."

"No, no.", Dan growled, trying not to squeeze any harder. "I can't, I won't-"

Then he stopped, and looked up. He saw the rest of the team in the dugout, all standing. They were looking at the screen in shock, none of them moving an inch.

"Brandy?", he asked, his voice growing in excitement. "Look."

"No, I can't.", Brandy said. "I won't look at it. I can't look at them anymore."

"Brandy.", he said, and his face shakily burst forth into a smile. "We won."

Brandy looked up, and sniffed. She wiped her tear-streaked face with one sleeve. "What?"

Then she looked as well, and saw the live video feed of Ryusei_Nakao69's collapsed tower.

"Holy Se'th.", she said. "We won."

It took only a moment for her fear to vanish, it's source now thoroughly removed. Her eyes shone with a sky-blue sparkle, and she put one foot on the floor.

"We won!", she shouted, then stopped. "We won? But- how?"

Then she looked closer, and saw Larry standing next to the rubble of the tower. He seemed to be performing an odd dance of some sort, although Brandy could not tell exactly what.

"Larry just got a little lost, is all.", said Agatha, and chuckled. "Thank the gods for that."

"There are many individuals we should be thanking, honey.", Bowza said, and stood up. "The gods are merely some of them."

He slowly turned around the room, facing everyone in turn.

_Sadie. Elizabeth, _he thought, although everyone could hear. _The Ratzo Brothers. Randy. Skeletons. Agatha. Brandy. Dan._

He saluted, and gave a wry wink. _Thank you all. For everything. _

Ryusei_Nakao69 landed on his back in the middle of his dugout, in complete and utter shock. He lay there for a few seconds, feeling the dark energy that had enveloped him so completely before leak off, and fly off to parts unknown. "I… lost?", he whispered.

He felt Nidavaleer gently push him to his feet. He brushed himself off, and stared ahead at the wall. "I lost.", he said to himself. "To a King who's highest level card was 10."

"Uh, Dad?", Stacie asked shyly. "We should really be going now."

"Yes…", Ryusei_Nakao69 growled, and snatched his crown off the floor where it lay. He affixed everyone in the small, crowded room with a menacing glare, each in turn. "We may still have one more shot."

"Jimmy! Ash!", came the excited voice of Joe, as he finally lifted his camera aloft. "I think I got the camera to work!"

"Great, bro.", said Rogan, who had not spoken this entire time. "Just in time to miss the battle."

Joe was about to retort, but Ash stepped in just before he did. "That's wonderful, Joe. I think we may just yet be able to make use of it."

Oticat strode proudly out of the dugout, to a crowd of snapping pictures and screaming fans. His team stayed a little bit behind him, not really wanting to venture forth into the fray.

"Oticat!", shouted a Villager, trying to wrestle her way to the front. "How do you feel after such an amazing battle?"

"I-", Oticat started to say, but the Villager was shoved aside by a frazzled looking Electro Wizard.

"Oticat, sir!", he yelled, his microphone almost flying out of his hands. "Do you think your troops will ever be able to replicate what happened here?"

"Uh…", Oticat said, but the Electro Wizard vanished abruptly. He was instantly replaced by a regular Wizard, who stood on top of an Ice Golem in an effort to stand out above the crowd.

"Oticat!", the Wizard said, and winked. "That left Princess of yours- is she single?"

His question was answered immediately by a pair of arrows, one from each Princess, hitting him in the shoulders. He fell to the ground, and disappeared.

"Everyone, please.", came the voice of Ash, and the crowd automatically parted. "Let them have a little space."

Ash and Jimmy came down the aisle, stopping in front of Oticat. "So. You'd better go collect your trophies."

"Yes…", said Oticat. "I really should. Although I loathe having to see _him _ever again."

Ash just slapped Oticat on the back, in a good natured rib. "Oh, it's fine. We'll have the security Pekkas there. They're level 14, it's gonna be fine."

Jimmy raised his hands, and the crowd parted just a little further. Oticat and his Battle Team walked slowly towards the Rewards Station located to the west, soaking up all the praise they could along the way.

A few seconds into the walk, Dan looked over at the other edge of the Arena. He could just barely see Ryusei_Nakao69's team, walking dejectedly out. A sly grin came over Dan's face, and he shot a loud blast of Star into the air. "Hey, you guys! Look at this!"

The Red Team looked over on instinct, as well as most of the news cameras. Dan looped the Star around his middle finger, and raised his hand into the air. "Star…"

"Dan, what are you doing-", Brandy asked, but Dan just flashed her a crazy grin.

"Finger!", Dan shouted, and the Star activated. It extended his finger all the way past his head and high into the air, a 4 meter flip off that was seen by every camera there.

Cheb the Prize Goblin whistled out a patternless tune, as she swung a keychain around her finger. She hadn't been able to see what had been going on in the Arena, so she had no idea what she was about to face as the two Kings came into the Rewards Station, each from opposite sides.

Oticat saw Ryusei_Nakao69 enter small area, and stiffened. Even after such a humiliating defeat, the Red King still carried an atmosphere of dominance and pride. Oticat's entire Battle Team backed up a little bit as they saw him enter.

Yet, strangely enough, Ryusei_Nakao69's own battle team was not with him. It was only him and Chloe, tightly gripping his hand as the two walked.

"If it isn't the one himself.", Oticat said, and took a step closer. "Here I was, thinking that you might not even show up."

"I don't need any of your wit, Oticat.", growled Ryusei_Nakao69. "Let's just get this over with."

"Ah, yes.", Oticat said. "Your trophies- 1030 of them. That's a lot, you know."

"Yes, yes, whatever.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and made some dark gesture. An old Giant Chest, presumably loaded with Trophies, popped out of the air and landed on the ground in front of Oticat. "There you go. 1030. You can check them yourself."

"No, I believe you.", said Oticat with a wink. "But don't forget your other condition."

Cheb looked back and forth in confusion, not knowing what was going on. 1030 trophies was not an amount that could be gained or lost by a single battle, and she certainly didn't know what they were talking about when they said "other conditions."

Ryusei_Nakao69's eye twitched downwards so hard it was almost wrenched from his head, but he managed to stay calm. "Fine.", he spat. "My… my…"

"Go on, say it." said Oticat, putting one hand to his ear. "I know you can. I believe in you."

"My Clan will be disbanded.", Ryusei_Nakao69 groaned, and closed his eyes. "I will never fight in the Arena again."

"See, there you go.", said Oticat. "I knew you could do it."

But even as Ryusei_Nakao69 maintained his calm composure, his mind was anything but.

_Oticat, you fool…, _he thought to himself. _Did you really think I would ever do such a thing? The path back to your castle is narrow, and unguarded. You will be easy pickings for my forces…_

But his plan needed to be as secret as possible. He knew full well that if he even thought about it too hard, someone was bound to pick it up. So he just turned around in a huff, tugging at Chloe's hand.

Song: Virtuous Pope

"Chloe?", he snarled. "It's time to go."

But Chloe dug her little feet into the ground, refusing to move. She looked beyond Oticat, and saw Brandy. She had never been anything but nice to Chloe, even in the depths of her humiliation. Even when she could have killed Chloe in sleep, she had never done so. And in the Arena, where Chloe's narrow mindset had been challenged for the first time, everyone seemed to act as though the Blue team were the good ones.

Chloe then looked at her father, who was practically the very picture of demonic rage. She could see the red light shining out from his eyes- and for the very first time, it scared her. From somewhere deep within her, she could feel a vague memory stir, sheer hatred of Ryusei_Nakao69.

To everyone's shock, Chloe yanked her hand away, and stepped over to Oticat. She threw her crown onto the ground, and stuck out her tongue.

"Sorry, Daddy.", she said. "You've been drawing on the walls."

Deep within Ryusei_Nakao69's already damaged mind, he finally felt something snap. As he saw his perfect daughter, the one he had practically created himself, the one he planned to inherit his entire operation eventually, step away from him to join the enemy, his last vestige of self control finally withered away.

"You…", he snarled, the muscles on his arms starting to swell to vast proportions. "You took my trophies. You took my pride."

His teeth grew long, and his eyes lost their pupils, now just a solid marble of deepest crimson. "And now, you take my daughter?"

"Dad?", Sadie whispered, slowly nocking an arrow. "Maybe we should-"

Ryusei_Nakao69's arm shot out against the wall, slashing at the stone. Within half a second, he had broken a decorative sword free of its moorings, surrounding it with crackling dark energy. He held it aloft, and roared. "I'll take your life!"

Ryusei_Nakao69, or whatever he had become, leapt forward at Oticat- and stopped. A loud crack rang out, like the shot of a gun. Ryusei_Nakao69 stopped in midair, and abruptly landed.

His arm shrank back into its proper socket. His teeth became square again, and his eyes lightened to their regular shape. With shaking hands, he felt around to the back of his head, and felt a hole.

He slowly withdrew the musket ball that had lodged itself 4 inches deep into his skull, still dripping with black blood. Holding it in front of his face, his eye twitched. An insane smile crossed his face, before Ryusei_Nakao69 collapsed to the ground.

As he fell, everyone there could see Meg, knelt on the steps. Smoke still rose out of her gun, even as an expression of sheer horror crossed her face.

"I…", she said, and her hands started to tremble. "I meant to aim for the sword. I- I didn't mean to-"

Brenda put a hand on her shoulder, and Meg looked up. "No, Meg.", she said. "You did well. That, right there?"

She pointed to Ryusei_Nakao69's body, his blank eyes still staring ahead. "That is what was meant to happen."

Chloe looked at her father's body. She thought that she should have been feeling sadness, or loss, or even at least some strange sense of remorse. But she felt nothing- nothing, that is, but a newfound sense of freedom.

"So.", Brandy said. "That's it, then. He's dead."

Dan looked over the group, and carefully inspected Ryusei_Nakao69's body. There were absolutely no signs of life. "Yep.", he finally said. "Weird, I would have thought that it would take a lot more than one bullet to stop him."

Chloe still stared, not sure what to do. But then, she saw her father's fingers twitch.

"Hey, Mr. Oticat?", she said, trying to be polite as possible for some odd reason. "I have to tell you something."

"What is it, Chloe?", Oticat asked, as he looked away from where he had been about to deal with Cheb. "Can this wait?"

"I don't know.", said Chloe. "It's just that he's not dead."

Oticat whipped around, and saw Ryusei_Nakao69 hoist himself up off the ground. "What?", he hissed. "Sadie, shoot him!"

Sadie quickly nocked an arrow, but not before Ryusei_Nakao69 took a small bottle of a thick, dark red liquid out of his pocket. In one lightning fast motion, the cork was off and the bottle was to his lips, quickly draining.

Sadie's arrow shot directly at Ryusei_Nakao69's head. It would have hit him straight on, had a massive fleshy growth not suddenly burst out of the King's back and catch the arrow midflight.

"**I didn't want to have to use this.", **Ryusei_Nakao69 snarled, his voice far deeper than himself. **"But if I must…"**

Before anyone could act, dozens more tentacles forced their way out of his back. They lashed directly into Oticat's battle team, forcing them backwards with dozens of quick, calculated strikes. One of the tentacles flew into the bleachers, slamming Meg down to the ground and wrapping around Brenda's torso. **"I will do anything it takes to repay my debt! No matter what!"**

The two security Pekkas rushed forward to act from the sides of the bleachers, the golden 14s above their head signaling their strength. " .fly.", one said, and raised her blade.

But even their might was nothing before the unnatural power that was suddenly flowing out of Ryusei_Nakao69. A dozen more tentacles flew from his split back, wrapping up both of the Pekkas in a tight wall of moaning flesh.

"Overdrive!", Dan shouted, and flung his fist forwards. A blast of golden energy tore a vast hole in the forest of tentacles, but it regrew within seconds, even thicker than before.

"What is he?", Brandy shouted, leaping backwards to avoid a grasping appendage. "What did he drink?"

"**Nothing shall stand before me and my deserved power!**", Ryusei_Nakao69 boomed, and even more tentacles flowed forth. They pushed against the walls of the passageway, and the ancient stone threatened to break. "**My destiny shall be fulfilled!"**

A huge paddle of pink flesh rammed into Sadie and Elizabeth, sending them flying through a window. Oticat cried out, but two walls of jiggling tentacle slammed down on either side of him, trapping him away from anyone else. "**All who oppose me will meet their end, as sure as the day dawns!"**

A huge tentacle, larger than the others, grabbed Oticat around the waist, lifting him up. The fallen blade from earlier was brought up next to him, running across his neck in anticipation.

A veritable wall of sickly flesh now blocked Oticat from his battle team, no matter how hard they tried to break through it. Ryusei_Nakao69 smiled, pleased that his experiment had finally paid off.

"**And I will be happy to start by killing you!"**

The blade fell forward, and someone screamed. The shining edge came closer and closer to Oticat's neck, closer, closer, closer- until the cutting edge fell harmlessly on a purple and white gloved hand.

Ryusei_Nakao69 gasped, and his mutated body reared back. The tentacle controlling Oticat stiffened, then fell to the ground. Oticat rolled away, seeing the walls of evil flesh trapping his team slowly collapse into dark red Elixir.

Brandy coughed, and wiped the thick droplets of the stuff from her face. She looked forwards, and saw the glowing figure of a Grand Warden, one hand holding back Ryusei_Nakao69's entire assault, a look of utter boredom and contempt upon his ancient face.

"Ryusei_Nakao69.", he said, and summoned a floating scroll with his other hand. "You are guilty on the following, although not limited to, accounts."

With another flash of light, the last of the tentacles retreated back into Ryusei_Nakao69's torn body with a soft pop. The Grand Warden took a deep breath, and began to read.

"Assault. Kidnapping. Unethical Troop experimentation. Tax evasion. Building without proper code. Falsifying an ID. Troopslaughter. Grand theft. First degree murder. Rape. Animal abuse. Consorting with demons. Illegally crossing the border of every continent on the planet. Attempted murder of another King, and now-"

The Grand Warden took a disdainful look at the empty bottle that Ryusei_Nakao69 had drunken from, and kicked it aside. "Experimenting with Blood Elixir. Sentence…"

He looked up again, and his eyes narrowed. Holding up his staff, the end began to glow with a strange white light. "Damnation."

Ryusei_Nakao69's hand flew forward, in some last ditch attempt to fight. But it was now too late. The Grand Warden made a single, arcane gesture, and the Red King stopped in his tracks.

A white light shot all the way up his body, and the top of his head began to dissolve into bits.

"What…", he gasped, but was powerless to do anything about it. "No! This can't be happening!"

The ends of his arms and feet began to disappear, and his eyes grew wide with panic.

"But- but-", he said in utter shock, all the while struggling to move. "I'm- Ryusei_Naka-"

The Grand Warden sliced his staff across Ryusei_Nakao69's face, and his mouth disappeared into the air. "Silence, no one."

Everyone there stared in shock, as Ryusei_Nakao69's body completely faded away, scattered on the wind.

The Grand Warden put on a cheerful smile, and turned towards the group. "Nice to meet you all.", he said. "Grand Warden Tef. SCP Foundation."

For a second, no one moved. They were all too busy staring at the spot where Ryusei_Nakao69 had just been seemingly erased from existence, a single white mark noting the location.

"Did…", Brandy finally said, her voice full of awe. "Did you just kill him? Is he dead?"

Tef shook his head. "No, no.", he said. "I merely transported him to our nearest prison, 17.12 lightyears away from her."

"Oh.", Brandy said, and felt a wave of cool relief wash over her. "That's… that's good. Yeah, that's…"

She stumbled backwards, and into Dan's arms. "That's really good."

"So…", Oticat said. "That's it then? He's really gone."

"Yes, you could put it that way.", said Tef, taking a careful look at his fingernails. "We'll deal with his crimes. Neither you nor anyone else on this planet will ever have to deal with him ever again."

"This planet…", said Oticat, trying to wrap his head around the fact. "Where did you say you were from? Who are you? Why did you come here?"

"Yes.", said Tef, and his face brightened with the enthusiasm of someone who had been waiting to be asked something. "Well, I came as soon as I got your call. Of course, I had many, many other things to attend to in this area alone, but it looked like I arrived just in time anyway."

"Who called you?", Oticat asked, and looked around. "Did anyone-"

But he was met with confused looks. No one knew who had called- until a deep, baroque voice from behind the group spoke up.

"But of course, it was I. For as soon as I heard the news that Ryusei_Nakao69 (that dastardly villain) had reformed, I knew that the proper course of action in this situation was to call the authorities (of course). To be totally honest with both you all and myself, I'm surprised that no one thought to do it earlier."

All eyes and heads turned towards the back of the group, to see Randy standing there alone.

"Randy?", asked Agatha. "Did you… say something?"

But Randy, of course, said nothing. Because he was an Ice Spirit.

"Hey!", came a voice from the far side of the prize area. All heads turned to look- and saw Chad and Rick standing there, shaking with anger and shock.

"You just- you just killed our King?", shouted Rick, and he came stomping forward.

"Just who do you think you are?", Chad roared, and started to run.

"It's about time.", growled Dan, and stood up to his full height. "I've been looking forward to this moment for weeks."

A golden aura flared around his body, and he pounded one fist into the other. "No Arena limitations. No rules. Just me and them now. I'm gonna-"

"Dan.", said Brandy, and began a slow walk towards them. "Don't."

"What?", Dan asked in surprise, and Brandy looked back.  
"I'll handle them."

Tef had already raised his staff. If these Elite Barbarians were to attack him, he was under strict orders to send them all the way back to their King. But he sensed Brandy somewhere behind him, and turned around.

"Allow me.", she said, with total calm in her voice. A single flicker of silver and purple sparked off of her right hand.

"Of course.", said Tef, and took a step back. "It seems that you have something of a personal vendetta with these two."

_You could say that, _Brandy thought. She didn't say it, but Tef still heard her, all the same.

Brandy and the Elite Barbarians met in the exact dead center of the Prize Area. She stared up at them, towering a full 2 feet and 6 inches above her, weighing three and a half times as much as she did. Both in and out of the Arena, either one of them could defeat her easily. Out of all the things that Brandy had suffered through, these two were responsible for the most and the worst of it. They had started the whole thing.

"What are you doing, Brandy?", Chad said, and his mouth began to drool. "You wanna come home with us? Is that what you're doing?"

"Yeah, come home with us, Brandy.", Rick said automatically, and slowly stretched out his hands. But before he could even blink, it was punched backwards into his stomach, sending up a burst of sand from the stony ground below.

"I figured it out.", said Brandy, and put her hands in her pockets. Only out of sight could she pull this move off.

"Figured what out?", Chad asked, and put a single finger forward. But it never made it to Brandy's chin- there was another flash of movement, and his hand was back where it had started.

"Why you want me so badly.", said Brandy calmly, and began to withdraw her hands from her pockets. "Why everything you've done over the past few weeks has all been to make me yours, and your King's."

She breathed in, and her left foot slightly shifted back. "I stole your hearts."

Chad scoffed, and waved his hand. "What? No.", he said. "We stole you, but you didn't-"

Brandy's hands flashed forward, then back again into her pockets.

There was a sudden wet pop, one from each Elite Barbarian. Brandy smiled.

"And would you look at that.", she said, and held up her hands. "I just did it again."

Both Elite Barbarians looked down in disbelief, at the gaping hole that was now in both their chests. They looked up at Brandy, who now held both of their hearts in her hands. The Dash energy fell off of her in waves, with such a large amount needed to turn her hands intangible and grab something within somebody's body.

Chad tried to say something, but nothing came out besides an inarticulate, bloody gurgle of pathetic pain. He took a single step forward, then fell. Brandy looked down with a gaze of incalculable disgust, as the two Elite Barbarians both fell dead upon the floor.

"Ah.", said Tef, and let out a short burst of applause. "Very nice."

Brandy stood there for another second, staring as the bodies of Chad and Rick dissolved into dark purple Elixir. The twin puddles lingered there for a second, but eventually the ground accepted the tainted substance, and the last traces of the Elite Barbarians vanished from the world.

"It's over.", said Brandy quietly. "It really is over this time."

She felt Dan suddenly come up from behind her, and sweep her up into a huge hug. "It is.", he said, speaking directly into her ear. She felt her heart jump. "They're never coming back from this."

There was a groan from the side of the room, as Sadie and Elizabeth stumbled in through a door. Webert was behind them, Sadie cradling what looked to be a disjointed arm from the nasty fall. Their eyes almost popped out when they saw the Grand Warden, Brandy holding a pair of raw hearts, and the circle of white ash on the floor.

"What the…", Elizabeth stuttered. "What happened here?"

"It ended.", said Brandy. "They are no more."

Sadie looked around for a moment, before making a bit of an observation. "The whole clan?", she asked. "You killed the entire clan?"

Brandy blinked, then slapped her forehead. "Shoot, no! The rest of the Clan is still out there! They're probably on their way home by now!"

"No, no.", said Tef, and smiled. "I've already called my associate. He'll be taking care of them."

"Your… associate?", asked Oticat. "What do you mean?"

"Well.", said Tef, and puffed up his shoulders. "As a proud member of this division of the SCP foundation, I share membership with many, many esteemed members across the universe."

"But what is the SCP foundation?", asked Oticat. "You never told me."

"Yes…", said Tef, and scratched his chin. "I suppose I could tell you all about it on the way back. I understand that you should be heading home right about now."

Oticat looked around at his team. They all looked exhausted, but proud. One of the hardest fights of their lives, that had gone far beyond anything an Arena battle should. Yet they had won, even if they almost shouldn't have.

Oticat smiled, and began to walk out the front door of the Legendary Arena. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

He turned back to his team, and waved his hand. "Come on guys, let's go home."

Brandy nodded, and hopped up onto Dan's shoulder. "Yes, let's."

Agatha put her head on Bowza's shoulder, and intertwined her leg with his. "That sounds just right."

The Ratzo Brothers hoisted their Ram up on their shoulders, and bumped fists. "Good idea."

Randy jumped backwards into the Skeleton Army, and did a little dance. But he said nothing, and neither did the Skeletons. Because he was an Ice Spirit, and they were Skeletons.

Sadie and Elizabeth crossed arms, and looked up into the sky. "If we stay here much longer, we'll probably get mobbed."

And so it was that Oticat and his Battle Team headed on back for home, free from the menace of Ryusei_Nakao69 at last, and forever.

Later that evening

The vast superstructure of TheEvilOverLord's castle lay totally abandoned. No sound was made, and not a mote of dust was moved. Every single member of the Clan knew that they had been legally disbanded. But that did not mean they did not show up.

Underneath the castle, directly below the empty Grand Ballroom, their membership was as full as ever. The secret basement that someone had dug out long before now once again proved its usefulness, hiding the members of TheEvilOverLords from sight.

Dozens of Kings and hundreds of Troops all milled around seemingly aimlessly, there being no designated place to sit or stand. Goblins ran among the crowd, stealing what they could. A haze of confusion and near panic covered them like a coarse blanket, the recent death of their long-time leader still fresh in all their memories. It had been practically all the news outlets played for the last several hours. That, and Ryusei_Nakao69's stunning, near-miraculous defeat.

Bailey sat crouched next to a freshly dug stone pillar, worry etching into the sides of her mask. She stared at a small puddle on the floor, the water rippling every few seconds from all the Giants and Golems wandering around the cave.

"What happens now?", she asked, just in case anyone was listening. "Where do we all go?"

"I don't know.", said thesenate, trying and failing not to scratch at his fingernails in worry. "Perhaps someone will tell us."

"Who?", asked Kurizas, striding over to the two on his pony. He, along with the rest of Ryusei_Nakao69's troops and children, had been allowed to live. They, unlike the Elite Barbarians, had not resisted the King's arrest.

"Everyone!", boomed LeChris from the front of the room. All heads and eyes turned to look, as he sat down upon an ancient looking, ornate wooden chair. "Alas, tragedy has befallen the Clan. Our beloved leader, Ryusei_Nakao69, is dead. And as such…"

LeChris put his hand on an ancient symbol in the middle of a chair, and dark crimson energy began to flow into him. "The position of Leader falls to me. I _do_ have the highest trophies in the Clan- 5686."

A special crown, full of ornate markings and features, appeared in the center of the chair. LeChris tenderly picked it up, placing it upon his head with the utmost delicacy.

"Although I loathe it, in truth…", he said, and sat down. A puff of Red smoke emanated outwards from the chair, obscuring his lower half from view. "I see no other choice if our Clan is to survive."

LeChris punched a fist into the air, and stood up triumphantly. "For I shall take this Clan in a bold new direction. No longer shall we busy ourselves with taking random Troops, the puppets of a mad demon. No, we shall do more! We shall progress! The groundwork was already laid for us to become masters of science. And now, we shall-"

Before he could say "Use it!", a blur of strange red flashed across his vision, disappearing into the far wall with a maniacal laugh.

LeChris blinked, rethrust his fist into the air, and continued his speech. "And now, we shall-"

There it was again, an oddly shaped blur of red and white that seemed to warp his vision. It laughed at it spun away, a maddening chuckle that seemed to make mockery out of LeChris's words.

LeChris growled, and looked around. "What is that?"

As if in order to answer him, the rushing figure appeared. He seemed to be a small, portly figure, with a beard not unlike a Lumberjack's, only pure white. A simple round, red hat covered the top of his head, long pointy ears sticking out on either side of it. His nose was large and bulbous, the end of it almost as red as the hat. He wore a simple blue tunic, tied in the middle with a tight belt. His pants were dark brown, but not as much as his boots, the tops of which extended a full 4 inches past his thighs.

"What the…", LeChris muttered, and stood up. "What are you?"

The figure laughed, bending its body back unnaturally. "Oh, me old chum!"

"It's that new card!", shouted someone from the audience. "The- the- oh what was it called- the Gravity Elf!"

The strange being hopped back and forth, its impossibly springy feet propelling it far out of LeChris's sight- and then, oddly, back again in a single bound. "I'm g'not a gn'elf!", it laughed.

"Are you a… Goblin?", asked LeChris, not wanting to get any closer. In fact, he backed away a bit.

"I'm g'not a g'noblin!", the strange being shouted, and folded his arms in front of his chest. LeChris's eyes grew wide, as he sensed what was about to happen.

Deep within the audience, one other managed to sense it as well. That someone was Nidavaleer- his muteness had given him certain other abilities. He immediately started looking around, searching for a certain two troops.

"I'm a G'nome!", shouted the Gnome, and unfolded his arms. A vast glow started to emanate from his chest, scraping at the eyes of everyone near or looking at it.

"Everyone!", shouted LeChris. "Get clear!"

He threw himself off of the stage, curling himself into a ball for protection.

Nidavaleer didn't even waste a second. His two targets just so happened to be next to each other- protection would be easy. With one titanic jump, he leapt over the heads of the crowd, and directly on top of Bailey and Kurizas.

"G̸̗̖̬̲͇̩̜̥̜̿̊̑̋͝ͅŃ̷͖̞̇O̷̮̗͛̀̂̿͑̿͗͐̕̕M̸̗͎̳̯̀͗̋Ë̸̡͖̼̟̰̟̺̞͓̝̙̠́͗͂Ḑ̶̨̰̙̖͉̖̱̋̓͋̈́͒̀̀͘̚͝͠!", boomed the Gnome with eldritch force, and unleashed 1% of of his power in a blinding light.

There was a tremendous explosion from underneath the ground, and TheEvilOverLord's Clan Castle was blown to bits for the second time in as many weeks. But this was far different from the last one- this explosion was far more precise, and even more deadly.

A massive bubble of pure destructive force spread itself outwards, engulfing all that it touched. Every time the ominous bubble expanded, there was another line of explosions that dissolved concrete, shattered brick, atomized metal, and turned wood to ash. The tortured screams of the building shattered the still silence- but that was nothing when compared to the cries of anguish of TheEvilOverLords.

The entire Clan was caught in the bubble, their flesh and bone burning away like an Ice Golem in an Inferno. The light constantly grew to fill their vision, it being the last thing many of them ever saw.

Once the light subsided, the Gnome looked around, hands on his hips. He admired his handiwork for a moment, and whistled in appreciation.

The entire Castle had been blown to practically nothing. A vast smoking crater, several miles in diameter, was all that remained of TheEvilOverLord's castle.

"Well, shooee.", the Gnome chuckled, and turned to leave. "Tef made it sound like they'd be hard."

The Gnome hopped off of the cracked pillar that he had been standing on, and heard a noise. It was a slow groan of pain and anguish, coming from a smaller sub crater to the left.

The Gnome instantly teleported over to the source of the sound, and his eyes lit up with genuine surprise. There, in the pit that he had dug, was Nidavaleer. Most of the armor on his back had been burned off, and his skin bubbled from the heat, but he was alive.

"Oh, looks like I've got meself a survivor.", the Gnome chuckled, and raised his hand above his head. "Gotta take care of that real quick, and then I can-"

"Noggin, wait!", shouted a voice, firm and full of authority. The energy in the Gnome's hand faded away, and he turned.

"Oh.", he said, as he saw the black-robed man come swiftly walking into the smoking crater, hopping smoothly over several broken doors. "Vetinari. I didn't think that you'd come."

"Of course I'd come, you dolt.", sniffed Lord Vetinairi. "I knew your thirst for destruction would need some sort of temper."

He finally reached the spot where Nidavaleer lay, and looked in. His eye twitched, as he stared with a terrifying intensity.

Vetinari made some sort of arcane gesture, and Nidavaleer slowly floated out of the pit and onto the ground. Underneath where his formidable, damage-soaking bulk had been were Bailey and Kurizas- burned, stunned, and in a state of total shock, but still very much alive.

Vetinari scowled, and smacked the Gnome on the head with his cane. "See what I mean, Noggin? If I had not come along, we might have lost these fine looking young ones as well."

He pointed towards the horizon, and Noggin began a slow walk of shame out of the crater. "Now go, while I speak to them. Meet Artix and Moorlein back at the ship. And be sure to tell Zaphod that I found his second-best suit."

Then he turned to the pit, and put on the warmest smile he could. "Hello, children. Now, tell me…"

Bailey slowly blinked, looking up at the strange man who had apparently just saved her life. "Huh?"

Vetinari lowered his hand down into the pit, grasping Bailey's arm. He pulled her up, giving her a reassuring look and the friendliest pat on the head he could. "Do you believe in angels?"

Song: Cheerful Journey

"...and that's how the organization works.", said Tef to Oticat, as the group walked along the path. After a totally uneventful Balloon ride, in which everyone had thankfully gotten their rides without a hitch, they had landed a fair bit away from home. They had all decided that a nice walk would be the best thing to do to unwind a bit.

"Fascinating…", Oticat breathed, stroking his beard with one hand. "Is there any chance that I could join?"

Tef's eyes closed, and he waved his hand down. "No, no.", he said. "The SCP foundation requires that its new members must leave behind any and all traces of their previous lives in order to protect. And you seem to be doing quite well for yourself."

Oticat thought for a moment, then nodded. "Yes, I do suppose that you're right."

There was an explosion from somewhere behind him, and Oticat jumped a full four feet off of the ground. He and Tef turned around, only to see that the explosion had come from Dan. He stood on the side of the path with his hands outstretched, an enormous cone of destroyed terrain spreading out from him in a single direction.

"Dan!", Oticat shouted, and Tef put away his staff. "What the frick are you doing?"

Dan took a step back, and scratched the back of his head. "Well, uh…"

He looked around, and grabbed Brandy by the waist. "Brandy wanted to see how strong I was now. I guess that I never really got much of a chance to show it since I got back."

_I did not-, _thought Brandy, but then she realized that she actually did.

"Can confirm.", she said, and arched an eyebrow as she moved further into Dan's grasp. "I wanted to know."

"Hmm…", said Oticat, then turned back around again. "Just don't destroy anything important."

"Oh, don't worry sir.", said Dan, and put Brandy onto his shoulders. "I won't."

_But something's gonna be destroyed once we get back home…, _he thought slyly, and Brandy's eyes widened in guilty shock.

Off the path up ahead, there was a bush. It was not an ordinary bush, but it was not a special one either. It was really more of just an above-average bush, slightly above the rest. It did not stand out from its fellow bushes in any way, nor was it better. The only thing that set it apart was that there was a group of people all huddled inside of it.

"Alright, guys.", whispered George. "This is it. This is our chance."

"I don't know, man.", grumbled Joe. "Isn't Ryusei_Nakao69 dead? Why does getting her even matter now?"

"It doesn't.", said Phil, a bottle of old Elixir in hand. "But we were assigned to do this job, and we are going to do it."

"Yeah, assigned like 3 weeks ago.", said Ed. "What's the point in doing it now?"

"Shut up, everyone!", hissed George. "Here she comes!"

Oticat's group walked into view around a bend, and the group of five Barbarians tensed, preparing to crouch. They felt slightly less prepared when they saw Tef leading them, as a maximum level Grand Warden was not something they felt prepared to deal with at that moment. They felt even less prepared at the sight of Brandy riding on Dan's shoulder, his thick black armor sparkling with golden light.  
George blinked, and looked down at his stacked up brothers. "You know what, Joe?", he whispered. "Maybe you're right. Maybe we shouldn't do this after all."

"Oh, now you think?", Joe muttered. "Of course. Once you know that we're at a disadvantage."

"I think we should go.", said a gruff, raspy voice. "Take the plunge, you know? Just go for it, dude."

George looked around in confusion. "Who said that?", he asked.

"Not me.", said Phil.

"I didn't.", said Ed.

"That was not me.", said the other two, in oddly perfect unison.

"Then who the…", George mumbled, trying to puzzle his way out of the situation, when he looked up and directly in front of him. His eyes widened, as he saw the shine of a golden nose ring.

"Afternoon, gentlemen.", said the owner of the bush the group had hopped into, as he pumped his shotgun. A maniacal grin overcame his face, and the Barbarians began to shake. "Somehow, I don't think this is your bush."

Brandy cocked her head, as a high pitched screaming reached her sensitive ears. "Do you… hear something?", she asked, trying to figure out what it was.

Dan looked up and around, trying to hear anything that was out of the ordinary. "Not really, no."

"Huh.", said Brandy, as the shouts of agony faded. "Guess I must have just been hearing things."

"Yeah.", said Dan. "It's probably nothing to worry about."

And as the last of TheEvilOverLord's physical influence on the face of the planet was beaten into submission by a territorial Bull, Oticat's group and family headed on towards home.

"Yo, Brenda!", shouted Jessie, one of SpaceKrakenX's Princesses. "You coming?

"Yeah, just a second!", yelled Brenda back, through one of the message tubes running through the walls. "I just gotta get my stuff!"

"Okay, hurry up.", said Jessie back. "We're leaving in a few minutes."

Brenda hopped over an empty Magical Chest that someone- probably her without realizing it- had left in the middle of the hallway, and slammed open the door to her room. It was unlocked as always, but the traps were this time disabled.

"Come on, where is it, where is it-", Brenda muttered, frantically digging through her drawers for her Stand Arrow fragments. "I could have sworn that I left it right here!"

She looked up, about to try another row of cupboards- and gasped.

There, on the top of her dresser, lay a brand-new Stand Arrow. It seemed to have been polished, and it shone with bright blue paint. It was tied with a red and white ribbon, a piece of thick parchment lying underneath.

"It's… repaired?", Brenda said to herself, picking up the Arrow and paper with caution. "Phantom, what do you make of this?"

The Phantom appeared above her, stretching out a finger to touch the ribbon. He felt it for a few seconds, then withdrew. _It does not seem harmful, although I do sense another Stand. Be careful._

"Of course you sense another Stand, you goof.", said Brenda, as she unrolled the paper to see what it said. "It's a Stand _Arrow._"

Once the paper was unrolled, Brenda held it up in front of her, and began to read.

_From the desk of President Funny Valentine,_it began. Brenda's eyes shot open in recognition, and she continued to read.

_Brenda SpaceKrakenX. I hope this letter finds you well. That might seem obvious, but I make it a habit to give all who help me good fortune. And I thank you beyond conventional measure for your help this morning. Without your Stand Arrow, I don't think I would have ever managed to unlock my D4C's true abilities. I was able to make America the greatest country on Earth, and all who previously opposed me were swiftly defeated. A young Stand user known as Johnny Joestar was one of my opponents, but I was able to make him one of my cabinet members after his defeat. He somehow was under the impression that I would destroy the rest of the world for America's sake- oh, heavens no. I would never do that. And I was even able to bring his Italian friend back to life with D4C's newfound powers. _

_Unfortunately, your Stand Arrow fragments were destroyed in the process. However, I was able to procure you a new one within a short time frame, which I had painted the colors of America as a celebration. Good luck in your future endeavours, Brenda. May you take your own First Napkin. _

_Signed- _

_President Funny Valentine _

Brenda smiled, and hugged the letter to her chest. She grabbed the brand-new Stand Arrow between her thumb and finger, twirling it around in the soft golden light of the room.

"He says he somehow used the Arrow to make his Stand stronger…", she mused. "But how? What did he do with it?"

She stared at the Arrow's intricate patterns for a few more seconds, then set it back down. She pulled her hood further over her face, and turned towards the door.

"Oh well, I'll figure it out later.", she said. "It's time to go."

And with that, Brenda ran towards the door and to the outside, where SpaceKrakenX's caravan was waiting.

At Oticat's Castle, the mood was tense. Everyone had been watching the battle play out on every TV that Oticat owned, but when the cameras had cut out, they had no way of knowing what had happened next. Some of them stood guard on the walls, waiting to see if Oticat would come back. They knew the stakes well.

"I hope Meg's alright.", said Kelly the Musketeer, running her fingers up and down the custom-carved lines on her gunbarrel. "She seems so innocent."

"Meg, yeah.", said Webert, aimlessly spinning his ball around on a fingertip. "I just hope that Brandy's okay. First battle without me in 2 months. Hope everything hasn't just gone to crap."

Tom, a Wizard, slapped his Dark Mirror, trying to get it to work. After several seconds of the strange artifact not responding, he pushed it to the sides of the ramparts in a huff.

"Blasted thing…", he growled in frustration, not taking his eyes off of the horizon. "I paid 80 Gems for that, and it doesn't even do anything."

"Oi.", rumbled Grant the Giant, and put a huge bottle to his eye. "Shut up and watch."

"What is that supposed to be?", Tom snapped, and jerked a thumb towards Grant's bottle. "A telescope?"

"Yes.", said Grant matter of factly, and continued looking.

But even his impromptu telescope did little to reveal Oticat's location. The plain in front of the Castle was huge, and rather deep. A single line of Troops and a Wagon traveling through it would be very difficult to spot.

"So, uh, Grant.", said Sally the Archer, flicking her finger off her bow. "Anything yet?"

"Nope.", said Grant with a grunt, and adjusted his bottle a bit to help with the blurriness. It didn't change, but he did feel like he had done something, so there was at least that.

"Here.", said Tom, shoving a telescope towards Grant's waist. "If you're going to use a telescope, at least use a proper one."

Grant took the telescope, and held it up to his eye. He let the glass bottle fall, and be just barely caught by Webert's outstretched hand.

"Hmmm…", said the two at once, each of them taking another good, long look through their respective reflective devices. "Nope. Nothing yet."

"Are you sure?", asked Kelly. "Really, truly sure?"

"I'm sure.", said Grant with an affirmative nod.

"I don't see anything.", said Webert with a polite nod of his own.

"Well, tell me when you do.", Kelly said, and flipped open a lid on the ramparts. She was about to head down, when she heard the wind suddenly pick up.

"Kelly?", she heard Webert say. "I'm telling you."

Oticat put his hand up to block out the sun, managing to make out the comfortable silhouette of his own castle. It shone brightly in the light, a familiar sight to behold.

"Guys.", he said, and stretched his arms up into the air. "We're home."

Hardly had he even spoken those words when a great cheer rang up from the walls of his castle, although it only sounded like a dull roar to him. Dozens of Troops jumped up and down, rejoicing to see their King arrive safely back home.

"What the…", Oticat mumbled, and scratched his head. "What's all the fuss about?"

"Oh, I don't know Dad.", said Sadie, the sarcasm flying right over Oticat's head. "It's not like you just won the most important battle of your life, and everyone else wasn't able to see it because the end of overtime blew all the cameras out."

"Right, right.", Oticat said, not really listening. He gave the command for the Skeleton Gatekeepers to roll down the drawbridge, and the group crossed into the inside of the castle.

As soon as the air of the castle's interior hit her, Brandy took a deep breath of beautiful air. It was the air of home, of peace, of final, well earned, victory. The Blue tint covering the walls and floor had never before seemed so welcome, contrasting just how close Brandy had been to losing her soul.

"So… what happens now?", Brandy asked to no one in particular. "Do we party?"

Oticat winced. "Well, we did kind of have a party last night.", he said. "And a pretty big one at that."

"Yeah, but that was the Clan's party.", Brandy said. "Not ours."

"I guess…", Oticat said, scratching his chin. "Well, we'll see-"

The curtain of Oticat's carriage popped open, and Chloe poked her little head out. "What is that I hear about a party?", she asked, and grinned.

Oticat looked to the ceiling, then threw his arms open. "Okay, fine.", he said with a laugh. "Party it is then. Why not just have a party every night, then?"

"That sounds fine to me.", said Elizabeth.

"Yeah.", said Sadie, and the two Princesses secretly high fived. "Why not?"

"Oh, come on.", said Oticat with a roll of his head. "I didn't mean it literally-"

"Heeyyyy!", came the drawn out voice of Brenda, from a small side door. Brandy looked, accidentally sliding off of Dan's shoulder as she did so.

"Looks like you folks are having a party.", said SpaceKrakenX, as he entered via the side door as well. "Good thing my premonition was correct, then."

"Your… premonition?", Oticat asked, a bit flustered at the dozens of Troops suddenly all entering the room at once. "What- what is going on?"

"Oh, relax, Dad.", said Sadie, and leapt off of the carriage. She landed in a crouch next to an open bar, and waved her hand. "Hey, everybody! First round of anything is on me!"

"Welp, guess the party's on.", said Elizabeth, and got off the carriage as well.

"Come on, Dan.", said Brandy, tugging at his massive hand. "Let's go find a seat somewhere. We can, uh… _continue _where we left off last night, hm?"

Dan sighed happily, and followed her to a large table in the center of the room. "Yes. Let's."

As they walked, they noticed the tall shadow of Tef looming over them. They realized for the first time just how staggeringly huge he really was- he stood even taller than Dan. The ceiling, made to accommodate even the very largest of Troops, scraped at the top of his hair.

"Hey, uh, Tef?", Brandy asked. "Why are you following us?"

"He's not the only one.", said Meg timidly, speaking up from somewhere to Brandy's right. "I'm- oomf!"

The squeal of surprise came as Brenda suddenly clamped her gloved hands over Meg's face, leaning in close. "Guess who?"

"Brenda?", Meg said, and Brenda moved her hands to Meg's shoulders.

"Correct!", Brenda said. "Now you've got three people following you."

It was only a second more of their quick walk until they reached the table in the center of the room. Max was already there, pad of paper in one hand and jar of cheap Elixir in the other, waiting to take their order.

"Good afternoon, all.", he said with an impeccable voice of politeness. His armor shone with a curious brilliance. "May I take your order?"

"Meat.", said Dan, as he sat down. "And lots of it. I'm starving."

"I'll just have some toast.", said Brenda, as she maneuvered both her and Meg into their close seats. "And Meg will have the same."

Meg almost spoke up, but realized that she did indeed want some toast. And so she just sat still, feeling ethereal fingers wind around her waist.

"I apologize, but I cannot eat.", said Tef. "I'm sure that your cooking is wonderful, but I gave up material sustenance years ago."

"Of course, Grand Warden.", said Max with a nod, and turned towards Brandy. "And what would you like?"

Brandy was about to order something. Maybe a salad, or some chocolate, or some soup, or maybe all three. But her mind wandered for just a second, and she looked up at Dan. A thought entered her brain, and she knew what she had to do.

"Okay, I have an order.", she said. "But it's very special, so I'm going to have to whisper it into your ear."

"Okay.", said Max, and leaned in closer. "Tell me what it is that you would like."

Brandy whispered into his ear, and Max's eyes slightly widened. His gaze flew from straight forward, to Dan, then back to the ground again. But he managed to keep his professional courtesy, and stood up straight once Brandy had finished talking.

"Understood.", he said, and bowed. "I will be back with your meals in just a few moments."

He lifted his armored feet off the ground and took off, the wheels in his shoes courtesy of the teachings of a certain Mini Pekka.

"So.", Brandy said, grabbing herself a quick cup of Elixir while Max was getting stuff ready. "There's still one thing I don't get."

"What?", asked Dan, gulping down a whole pitcher in one swig.

"Tef?", asked Brandy. "Why did you save me?"

Tef almost choked on the air, before recovering and gesturing wildly with his hands. "Because…we received a call. Remember?"

"Yes, I do.", said Brandy. "But why me? Why did you prioritize me over anything else that you could have been doing in the situation?"

Tef blinked, and stared straight forward, crafting his answer's wording in his head. Finally, he looked down and tapped the table nervously.

"If you must know…", he said. "We were paid quite a handsome figure. The Foundation, I mean."

"Really?", asked Brandy intensely. "By who?"

Tef looked up. "Your parents."

Brandy almost spat out her Elixir. She slapped herself on the back, her face turning red. She looked up in shock at Tef, who had suddenly decided that now was the best time to inspect his staff. "You- you know my parents?"

"Indeed I do.", said Tef. "Great individuals are they."  
"Where… where are they?", Brandy asked. "Do you know?"

Dan stared in confusion. "Brandy? What are you talking about, parents?"

"Oh, right.", Brandy said. "I guess you didn't know. Long story short…"

"Unfortunately.", said Tef, breaking into Brandy's sentence. "Your parents also paid me not to reveal their exact location. They left only this letter."

Tef withdrew a fancy-looking letter from his pack, which Brandy snatched up almost immediately. She took in the rich, ornate paper, coated with delicate coats of arms.

"They… were really just a Wizard and an Archer?", she breathed, and Tef stiffened.

"Not just, but yes.", he said. "They were- are, a Wizard and an Archer of extremely high level and prestige. They left this letter to you, if you should ever decide to go looking."

"I… I will.", Brandy said, carefully tucking the letter into her pocket. "Once this party is over."

"Brandy, what do you mean you have parents?", Dan said, leaning in close. "You never told me that."

"I didn't know myself up until two days ago.", Brandy said back. "But I'll tell you everything afterwards."

"Alright.", said Dan, and hugged her gently. The two embraced for a few seconds, until a slight, polite cough broke in. They looked forward, and saw Max holding two trays.

"Your food is ready.", he said, and Brandy's heart jumped.

"Hi! My name's Chloe!", said Chloe, trying to gain the attention of Kelly the Musketeer. "What's yours?"

"Oh, I didn't see you there.", said Kelly, looking down from the bar. Her brow knitted in confusion at the sight of the unusually small Princess. "Say, you're kind of little."

"I know.", said Chloe. "My dad always used to say I just hadn't grown all the way yet. He made me, you know."

"Yes, yes…", said Kelly, wondering what Chloe could have meant by that. Normally Princesses came from- Kelly blinked. Where _did _Princesses come from? She would have to check, after the party. "My name's Kelly, by the way. Nice to meet you, Chloe."

A table over, SpaceKrakenX stopped halfway through his burger. He slowly turned to look, and his jaw dropped. The gears and wires inside his head started to spin and hum, and he stood up. His chair fell to the ground and was instantly stolen by Goblins, but he did not care.

"Chloe?", he whispered, drawing closer. "Is that… you?"

Chloe withdrew in unease from SpaceKrakenX, a King totally unfamiliar to her. "What?"

SpaceKrakenX withdrew a small monocle from a random pocket, and held it up in front of one eye. He tapped the side of the instrument various times, each action gaining another reading from Chloe. "Unbelievable…"

"Hey, mister?", Chloe asked, automatically backing up behind Kelly. "What are you doing?"

But SpaceKrakenX was too deep into his thoughts. All that mattered were the results of his current tests. He used one last mode on his Inspection Monocle, then folded it back into his pocket with a stare of amazement. "It is you."

"Hey, I think you're scaring the kid.", said Kelly, putting a protective arm around the worried Chloe. "Leave her alone."

"Ah, but that's just the thing.", said SpaceKrakenX excitedly. "She's not a kid. Not a kid at all!"

Chloe stared in childlike fear, yet the back of her head tickled with something strange.

"Oticat, come over here.", said SpaceKrakenX, and waved his hand. Oticat had already been somewhat nearby, so it took only a few seconds for him to arrive. "What is it?"

"Do you remember Dabriel?", said SpaceKrakenX.

"That one King that went missing?", said Oticat, scratching his chin as he tried to remember. "Yeah, I think so."

"He had a Princess named Chloe.", said SpaceKrakenX, waving his hands around. "Remember?"

Oticat's eyes widened, and he looked to Chloe and Kelly. "Yes… yes I do."

He stared at SpaceKrakenX's wide grin and insane eyes. "SpaceKrakenX, are you suggesting that-"

"Not just suggesting.", said SpaceKrakenX with a wave of his fingers. "I know. When Dabriel went missing, it was because Ryusei_Nakao69 somehow got to him. And Chloe here was somehow the only survivor. I'm not sure why she turned young, but…"

Chloe stared at her hands in shock. The limits of her young mind struggled to process this new information. If what SpaceKrakenX was saying was true, then everything she had ever known- how Ryusei_Nakao69 had created her out of nothing in order to be the perfect daughter, how she was his and Grrshknn's chosen- was all not true.

"I'm… someone else's?", she asked, attempting to put her complex thoughts into words. "And my real daddy… is dead?"

"Fraid so, kiddo.", said Oticat with a reassuring smile. "But you can stay with us, if you want."

Chloe thought long and hard- which for her, was about 2 seconds. "Can I really?"

"Yes.", said Oticat, with a pat on her head. "Really."

"Really really?", Chloe said.

The smile on Oticat's face grew less sincere. "Really, really."

"You mean, like, really _really _really?", Chloe asked, beaming up into the King's face.

"Listen kid, you wanna stay with us for not?", Oticat growled under his breath, but still kept on his happy face.

"Oh, I do.", said Chloe. "And I want my own room."

"Of course you do, kid.", said Oticat, massaging his forehead with his hand. "Of course you do."

"But…", he said. "All of our rooms are filled at the moment. You'll have to bunk up with someone else until we manage to build you a new one."

"Why?", Chloe said. "Can't Kings just build a new room whenever they want?"

"No.", said Oticat. "Where did you hear that?"

"My old castle.", Chloe said matter of factly. "There were a lot more rooms there than there are here."

"Yes.", said Oticat, and put his hand onto Chloe's head. "But we're not at your old castle, are we?"

He turned her around the room, the Princess's eyes spinning. "Now, take a look, and see who you want to bunk with for a few days."

"Uh…", Chloe said, trying to get her bearings from the spinning. She pointed out in a random direction, her finger's trajectory falling on Meg. "Her."

"Ah, Meg.", said Oticat. "Excellent choice."

Meg, a few dozen feet away, saw Oticat gesturing to her. She turned to Brenda, and whispered. "I'll be right back."

Meg walked over to Oticat, almost tripping on the tile- but managed not to. "What is it, sir?"  
"Chloe wants to share a room with you.", said Oticat. "You know, until we build her one of her own."

Meg winced, and scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, uh, well, about that…"

"Meg's actually not staying here.", said Brenda, who had come up from behind her. "She's moving in with me. And…"

She wrapped her arm around Meg's shoulder, pulling her close. "We're sharing a room."

"Ah.", said Oticat, trying not to think about that too hard. "Well then…"

He slapped his knees, and bent down to stare Chloe right in the face. "You're getting your own room, kiddo! Right where Meg's used to be."

Chloe just looked up, with childish wonder. "What did she mean, they're sharing a room?"

Oticat closed his eyes, and put one arm on Chloe's back. "That's... not... anything you need to worry about right now. Now come on, let's go up to your new room."

He gently shepherded her away from the hustle and bustle of the party, to somewhere were the young Princess would be able to rest, in the gently darkness and soft twilight of the castle's empty upper layers. "A party like this is no place for someone like you anyway."

"Yep, there's our food.", said Brandy, cautiously taking her platter of soup. "Go ahead Dan, take it."

Dan looked at her just as funny as she was acting, but took the double-decker meat platter anyway. "Yes."

Brandy put her spoon in her soup, but did not take it out. She stared at a certain spot in Dan's tower of meat, hoping that he would actually use his fork for once.

"Aren't you going to eat your soup, Brandy?", Dan asked, and picked up the entire first steak.

"Uh, yes.", said Brandy, and dipped her spoon in again. She slowly swished the soup around, still waiting for Dan to try and cut up his steak.

Dan looked at Brandy out of the corner of his eye, silently willing her to actually eat her soup. Find what was hidden. But as the seconds passed, and she only stirred it around, Dan thought that it might be better to just wait. So he grabbed his entire tower of meat, held it up to his face, and-

"Wait don't!", shouted Brandy, throwing out her hands. Dan stopped, the steak tower mere inches from his mouth.

"What?", he asked, and set the dinner down. "What did I do?"

"Uh, I mean…", Brandy said, and picked up his fork. "You're supposed to use your fork while you eat. Like this."

Dan took the fork from her hands, all the while not taking his eyes off the still untouched soup.

"Okay, I'll use my fork.", he said. "But only if you eat your soup, okay?"

"Dan, why are you so obsessed with me eating my soup?", Brandy asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Just eat it, Brandy.", he said. "It's good for you."

"Okay…", said Brandy, and plunged her spoon deep into the bowl. Dan sliced off a large chunk of steak, and held it to his mouth.

Brandy bit down on the spoon full of soup- and felt something hard jab into her gums. Dan's teeth sliced through the tender steak- and stopped on something that was solid and unyielding.

"Ah!", they said, both at exactly the same time. "What the…"

They both fished inside of their food for the offending object- and actually gasped out loud when it was finally brought to light.

The object that had been hidden in Brandy's soup was an ornately carved ring, inlaid with rivulets of Gold. A massive Gem sat carved into the shape of a mask and fist atop it, glittering with a beautiful emerald hue.

The object that had been somehow sneaking around in Dan's steak tower was a ring as well- a very large one. It had been carved out of the purest while platinum, small dots of exotic crystals covering the sides. An even larger and brighter Gem than Brandy's was perched on top, carved into the shape of a hood and helmet.

Both Dan and Brandy stared at each other's offered rings for a moment, then up and down to look at each other.

"We-", Brandy began.

"Had the same idea.", Dan finished.

They stared at each other some more, before Brandy rushed forward and wrapped herself around Dan's chest in the tightest hug she could possibly manage to pull off.

"We're getting married.", she said. "As soon as we can."

"Yes.", said Dan, and kissed her on top of her head. "We are."

Then the stool under Dan broke, sending them both sprawling across the floor. But they didn't care, and only laughed. For that was love.

Somewhere very far away, in some sort of orbital prison spinning round a long-dead planet, there was a small, cramped jail cell. Inside was Ryusei_Nakao69, still staring at the walls in shock.  
"What's with him?", a guard whispered, jostling her partner with her massive gun.

"Dunno.", her partner grunted. "Maybe he's in shock."

He cracked a small grin, and jabbed one thumb in Ryusei_Nakao69. "Look at him. Does he think he's a king or something?"

"I was a King.", said Ryusei_Nakao69, and slowly stood up. "Once- no. No, I still am. I am the mighty Ryusei_Nakao69, and I demand you let me free at once!"

He leapt over to the window of his cell, brought back his fist, and attacked- only to bounce harmlessly off the strange material that surrounded him.

"What kind of name is that?", laughed the male guard, and his partner laughed with him. "Ryusei_Nakao69? Sounds like a gamertag."

Ryusei_Nakao69 continued to punch the wall, with still no avail. His guards, knowing full well that he stood no chance of breaking out, turned around.

"Let's go grab lunch.", he said. "I'm starving."

The two guards left, leaving Ryusei_Nakao69 alone with his thoughts. That, and a creeping black shadow that began to coalesce at the very edge of the room.

Song: Un'altra Persona

Ryusei_Nakao69 felt Grrshknn's presence before he saw him. He turned around in both joy and shock, seeing the tall, muscular figure of the demon rise up from below.

"Lo- Lord Grrshknn!", he said, throwing himself down onto the floor. "I knew it. I knew you wouldn't let me down."

Grrshknn stared, moderately amused, as Ryusei_Nakao69 squared his crown and dusted himself off. "I know that went very, very wrong back there. But if you just get me out of here, I could-"

"No.", said Grrshknn with a single wave of his hand.

"I could-", said Ryusei_Nakao69, then stopped. "No? What do you mean, no?"

Grrshknn loomed higher and larger in the small cell, and Ryusei_Nakao69 began to instinctively look for some way to escape.

"Remember what I said when I brought you back?", said Grrshknn, flicking a single massive claw towards Ryusei_Nakao69's forehead. Instantly, the memory came flooding back, in explicit detail.

_Grrshknn waved a hand, and the wreckage of the castle began to reassemble itself. Dozens more of the crimson strings started to wind in place, heralding the raising of the rest of the Clan. _

"_Now, I do suppose that you'll want the rest of your Clan raised in order to help you…", __said Grrshknn, __"...and I understand that. However, you must know this one thing."_

_He rose into the air, and the edges of a portal opened around him. Ryusei_Nakao69 stood, transfixed, as Grrshknn stared deep into what little now remained of his soul._

"_I will be leaving with a soul.", __Grrshknn hissed, and stepped backwards into the hole in space. __"I would rather it be hers, but… I will not hesitate to make do with yours."_

Ryusei_Nakao69's throat constricted, and he scrabbled backwards on his hands and knees. The long black scars underneath his eyes began to ache in unbearable pain- before they burst, sending long rivulets of blood rushing down his terrified face.

Grrshknn raised a massive hand, and Ryusei_Nakao69 could see the echoes of the true Void that howled within. His mind raced to try and think up a way to save himself- and then he had it.

"Wait!", he squeaked, right before Grsshknn struck. "If you're really going to kill me… could you at least tell me why you wanted the Bandit so much?"

Grrshknn stopped, sighed, then raised a finger. "Very well.", he rumbled. "If you really want to know. I think I could oblige a dying slave's last wish."

The very tip of Grrshknn's claw made contact with Ryusei_Nakao69's forehead. There was a flash of thunder- and he understood.

Ryusei_Nakao69 reeled backwards in utter shock, attempting to make sense of everything that he had just seen. He groaned, attempting to somehow remember everything that he had been taught.  
"Oh, _Se'th.", _he said. "I… I never knew. But, now that I do…"

He carefully looked up at Grrshknn, who began to curl his paw somewhere behind his back.

"Could you… perhaps, give me a second chance?", Ryusei_Nakao69 said, willing Grrshknn to remember all the times he had been so faithfully served. "Now that I know?"

But Grrshknn only shook his head. A shock of terror and panic ran through Ryusei_Nakao69's heart, and he backed up- right into the wall. There was finally nowhere else for him to go.

"You know how it goes with demons.", Grrshknn rumbled, as he slowly drew ever closer. "You may feel powerful for a time, but in the end…"

He held up a single long claw, almost like a scythe in shape. "We always, _always, _come to collect."

Ryusei_Nakao69 tried, and failed, to form words. He stood there, transfixed with utter horror, as he slowly felt all the power that Grrshknn had given him drain back into the demon. His muscular stature withered, his clothes now baggy on his significantly smaller body. The dark aura that surrounded him dwindled into nothing, marking him as just another ordinary King. The scars under his eyes that had practically become his trademark shrank and withdrew back into his skin, removing all traces of the power that he had once held.

"I told you.", said Grrshknn. "It was either her soul… or yours. And seeing as how you failed to bring me hers…"

Grrshknn's eyes flashed with malicious intent, and the center of his body opened wide into a massive, yawning portal of doom. "It's hardly been a pleasure. Goodbye… Chris."

Grrshknn rushed forward, and Chrisintheair finally found the strength to scream.

There was a horrible, shattering noise.

There was a horrible, shattering silence.

Then the concentration of darkness in the cell turned around, folded in on itself, and vanished off to parts unknown.

The ceremony of marriage took place on the following Wednesday, at exactly 2:00 PM.

Song: I Want You

The Grand Ballroom of the Clan Castle had been temporarily repurposed and redecorated for the occasion. The regular medium Blue of the walls had been covered with a thin coat of white, giving the whole building a look of shimmering crystals. Ivory streamers hung from the ceiling, green and purple flowers softly waving in the cool breeze. A small green and yellow bird sat on the windowsill, overseeing the whole thing. All of Oticat's Troops had assembled in the center of the room, where the carefully constructed alter had been built. Some others were allowed to come via special requests and invitations, but they were still mostly Oticat's.

Everyone sat in dozens of plain white chairs of varying sizes in front of the altar, dressed in their absolute best.

Kars sniffed, and wiped his eyes on a nearby Archer's cape before she realized it. "It's enough to make a Lumberjack cry.", he said, and sniffed again.

He felt his cheek get wet, and looked down. A tear had begun to wind its way down his cheek, stopping when it felt itself get looked up. It looked up to Kars for approval- but he only clenched his fist with glowing pride.

"Yes, even this Lumberjack.", he said, trying not to cry any more. "You go, tear."

Chloe sat next to Sadie and Elizabeth, aimlessly playing with the tassels on her ceremonial skirt. She hummed out a tuneless song, not looking up at what was going on.  
"Hey! Chloe!", whispered Sadie, tapping her on the shoulder. Chloe looked up in confusion, and looked around.

"Look up!", Elizabeth said, only slightly louder and with just a bit more force. "They're getting married! Maybe you should watch!"  
"What's married?", Chloe asked with an almost birdlike tilt of her head.

"Uh…", Sadie said, and trailed off. She looked to Elizabeth, who only shrugged. "I'll tell you later, okay? For now, we should just watch."

"Okay.", said Chloe, and readjusted in her seat, looking up at the stage.

"This seems familiar, doesn't it?", asked Agatha, leaning against Bowza's shoulder.

"It does.", said Bowza with an enigmatic smile. "It's just like when we were young. When we got married."

"I remember those days.", said Agatha with a wistful smile, staring off into space. "It's kind of hard to believe that Brandy's doing it now. Our little Brandy, all grown up."

"That's the thing about time, isn't it?", Bowza said. "Hard to believe it passes, until you realize that it already has."

"Isn't that just the truth.", said Agatha. They both looked up, and saw the love.

"Brandy.", said Oticat, who was acting as the sealer. "Do you, today, take Dan to be your one and only true eternal companion in marriage, never do you part?"

"I…", Brandy said, and looked up into Dan's eyes. His armor had been brightly polished, and his helmet lay by the side of the stage. Nothing stopped her from gazing deep into him. She remembered everything he had done for her. When she had needed him most, he had been there. Saving her life, without even a thought given to the safety of his own.

"I do.", she said, and the audience let out a deep, satisfied sigh.

"Dan.", said Oticat, turning upwards towards Dan. "Do you, today, take Brandy to be your one and only true eternal companion in marriage, never do you part?"

"I…", said Dan, and looked down into Brandy's shining gaze. She had taken off her hood, allowing herself to shine forth freely. He remembered everything she meant to him. She had always been the shoulder to cry on, whenever anything bad had happened to him. She was the glue that held Oticat's team together, always an ear to listen and a plan to form. And he knew without a doubt that he would gladly lay down his life if it meant that she could be saved.

"I do.", he said, and the audience practically melted along with their hearts.

"Then let it be written.", Oticat said, and brought down his hands in a tight circle. "The sealing is complete. I, Oticat, now pronounce you husband and wife, forever and for all eternity, may never you part."

The audience, as was customary, all threw a miniature crown into the air. Several Goblins that had been hanging from the ceiling let go of their baskets of streamers, letting them fall into the audience.

"And yes.", Oticat said. "In case you were wondering, you may now kiss the bride."

But Dan had something even better in mind. With hardly even a thought, golden energy flickered around him, and he and Brandy began to fade.

"Wait!", said Oticat in shock. "Where are you going?"  
"Yeah.", said Brandy, tight in Dan's arms. "Where are we going?"

But Dan just smiled. "We're married now. You know what happens next, right?"

Brandy's face reddened, then she ran a pair of fingers up Dan's arm. "Oh, Dan, you-"

Then, in a burst of golden light, they vanished.

Then with another flash of Star Energy, they reappeared in front of a door, inside of Oticat's castle.

"Dan, this couldn't have waited until after the party.", said Brandy.

"Sorry, I just couldn't wait.", Dan said.

"Yeah.", Brandy nodded. "That's what I said too."

Dan smiled, and Brandy snuggled deeper into his arms. With a single mighty blow, Dan kicked open the door, and walked inside. Their massive, specially built bed stood in the center of the room, sheets pulled back and empty.

"Come on, Dan.", Brandy said. "Show me what you got. Make me feel like a woman."

"Don't worry, Brandy.", said Dan, and flicked his finger behind him. "I will."

And as they both fell together onto the bed, Dan's burst of energy hit the door, causing it to slowly close.

In the center of the Clash Continent, at around the same time

A dark, mysterious shadow floated through the corridor of a long empty cave. He could feel the darkness around him, hear it twist into tiny little shapes. But he felt no fear, for he was practically darkness personified.

He broke through a thin section of stone, and stopped. He had found his destination. There, in front of him, was a gargantuan stone mound.

But this was not just any stone mound. The various odd shapes poking out of it at several angles proved that much. No, this was the ancient prison of something dark, evil, and very, very powerful.

Grrshknn alighted delicately on the top of the stone, and tapped it with a single claw. He brought his face down to the edge, and whispered.

"Ryusei_Nakao69 has failed me.", he said, and he felt something within the stone begin to stir. "But I know that you, the far greatest of my minions, cannot possibly disappoint."

He spread his arms open wide, illuminating the extent of the cave with a light of pure darkness. "For what was Ryusei_Nakao69, in the end, but a mere King? A mortal, a man. And you, DRAGONLORD, are much more indeed."

Grrshknn gathered a huge amount of energy on the tip of his claw, and brought it down onto the surface of the stone. The pulse of dark rebirth echoed throughout the cave, draining the life force from the dozens of Bats that had decided to make it their home. Their bodies and Elixir fell to the stone below, and were absorbed.

But Grrshknn was not finished- he still had to say a very specific word in order to complete the ritual. So he leaned in close, and whispered as quietly as he could. "The time has come, my champion. It's time to…"

A vast aura of potential spread throughout the cave, the possible energy of the entire world shivering at what was now transpiring. Grrshknn scratched his mark into the side of the stone, and completed the phrase. _"Wake. Up."_

Song: Awaken

A massive crack suddenly blasted across the stone, sending bits of shattered rock and molten lava spraying into the air. Grrshknn faded away, his work done.

An immense, blood red wing shot from the rock, spreading across the entire cave and slamming into the ceiling. Rocks fell from above, falling through the holes that the ancient wings already had.

Another one burst forth in menacing light, the two massive wings casting a gigantic shadow across the entire cave. Far down below, the rest of the rock began to stir as strange, bizarre Troops awoke from their own millennial slumber.

With a roar that shook the continent, an enormous armored head erupted forth from the stone, and shook itself off. The eyes of the Dragon shone with a blazing hatred, having been tended for hundreds of years in his fitful slumber beneath ancient stone.

Four limbs of unbelievable proportions slashed out from the rest of the rock, the final vestiges of the once-powerful prison having turned to dust from the destruction of the Dragon's awakening. He slowly turned his mighty head downwards, to see that his army had almost finished waking up as well.

"Master…", said one of them, her voice etched with the tones of a serpent's hiss. "Why do we wake?"

"Silence, foolish wench.", boomed another, staring out from underneath an empty ring of pure nothing. "The Master will speak when he wishes."

The entire army all looked up, seeing their master look forth for the first time in hundreds of years into the faint strings of sun that found their way, against all odds, into the chamber.

"Sunlight…", he said, the wods crackling with the stone still in his throat. "Now that is a sight that I have not seen in a long, long time."

He looked down, and saw his army. He flexed his wings again, trying to get the ache of centuries from his bones.

"Master…", said one of the Troops. "What happens now?"

"What happens now?", the Dragon repeated. "The Plan, of course. I assume that you can all remember it."

The Troops looked among themselves, nodding in agreement. The Plan had been simple enough to remember, when they had been told.

"Good, good.", said the Dragon, speaking to himself. "Yes, this is it now. This time, I will not make the same mistake. This time, my word will be realized. My world will be perfect."

He looked down at his Troops, most of which were still struggling to free themselves from the rock. But some of them- his very best- had already managed.

"And there's no need to call me Master anymore.", he said, cracking his knuckles and looking up. "The time for that has long since passed. No, call me by my name. Call me…"

His eyes narrowed, a deep crimson red from anticipation of what was to come. He dug his claws into the stone, and stared into fate.

"Dragonlord Rakastamos."


	11. Chapter 11

Nearly three weeks had passed.

Song: Cheerful Journey

Three weeks since the final battle with Ryusei_Nakao69 went down, securing Oticat and all his Troops a spot in the world's memory forever.

Well, not quite forever. The attention span of the continent of Royale was short, and what had happened during the first battle of the third Season had already faded from most of the public consciousness. However, it had been enough to bring Oticat some fairly neat royalties- and that's what he was doing now, counting his bonus Gold.

"11006, 11007…", Oticat muttered to himself, selecting another piece of Gold and pushing it aside. He sat alone in his counting house, with only Brave the Baby Dragon curled up at his feet in front of the fireplace for company. The lights were low, and Oticat steadily felt his eyes begin to slowly flutter close. "11008, _yawn,_ 11009…"

The fire snapped a large spark into the air, and Brave awoke with a huff. Oticat's eyelids snapped open, awakening him from his field of boredom-induced stupor.

"Hey, uh, Oticat?", came the voice of Brandy, as a small side door creaked open. "Are you awake?"

"Uh, I think so.", said Oticat, rubbing his eyes. "What is it, Brandy?"

"Me and Dan and some others were thinking of going down to Electro Valley this afternoon. You know, see the sights, do some shopping, catch a battle, maybe go to a movie later. Mind, uh, lending us some Gold?"

Oticat stared blearily at the mountain of Gold in front of him, still looming huge compared to how much he had already spent. "Sure, Brandy.", he said. "Take as much as you need."

"Yay!", said Brandy, and Dashed over. She scooped up a whole pile of Gold in her arms, and walked backwards out the door. "Thanks, Oticat. You're the best."

Oticat just waved his hand, and massaged his forehead. "Don't mention it."

Brandy, with a well aimed kick, closed the door shut behind her. She giggled maniacally to herself as she looked at the Gold's lustrous shine. Her brain worked fast, the special senses of a Bandit telling her that she now held no less than 2,478 Gold.

_I can work with that, _she thought to herself. _That can definitely buy some things._

"Hey, Brandy.", said Dan, as Brandy rounded the corner and into a large room. "You got the Gold?"

"I do, honey.", Brandy said, and nodded her head. "2478 of it."

"Nice.", said Dan, and stood up. "Here, let me hold it."

Brandy held out her arms, grunting from the effort, and Dan scooped up the Gold into one massive hand. "Thanks, Dan.", she said. "That was getting kind of hard to hold."

Brandy affectionately rubbed Dan's hand. He didn't actually wear his metal gloves most of the time- they got in the way of everything but battling. As he responded with a tiny bolt of Star that ran around the edges of her ears, Brandy could not help but smile. The last few weeks, living with Dan, had been beyond wonderful. She had heard many things about life with love, but she had never imagined that it would be anything like this.

"Say, did you look at the news this morning?", Dan asked.

"No.", Brandy said, neglecting to mention the fact that it still was this morning. She hated to offend.

"There's something about an entire village going missing on the Continent of the Clans.", said Dan worryingly. He unfolded a massive newspaper, and pointed to an article somewhere on the back front page. "See, right there."

"Hmmm…", said Brandy, leaning through Dan's arm in order to take a look. "Think it has anything to do with that explosion a few weeks ago?"

"The one in the Clashcrush mountains?", Dan asked. "Hm. Maybe…"

There was a rush of movement from the side of the room, and Brandy instantly turned her head around to look. But it was just Bowza, rummaging through the fridge and combing down his hair at the same time.

"No, no, don't mind me.", he said, trying to conceal his grin. "You kids go back to whatever you were doing."

He put his hand all the way back in the fridge, and grabbed what he was looking for- a bottle of 3-year Elixir. He stood straight back up, and hurried back up the stairs, already beginning to unbutton his coat again.

"So, we going on patrol?", said Webert, scratching his enormous belly as he walked into the room. "Hear we're all going out somewhere or something."

"What's good, fellas?", Kars shouted, stretching out his arms from the couch where he sat. His axe and Rage magically appeared in his hands, as he rolled and popped his neck.

"Hold up.", said Dan, pulling his arms up behind his head. "Where's your pose at?"

Kars blinked, then arranged his hand into a fan in front of his face. "Apologies, boys. Let's get to work."

The three all bumped fists, then posed once again. Brandy cracked a grin, as she watched them revel in their manhood for no other reason than to do it.

At first, it was just going to be Dan and Brandy's date. But one thing had apparently led to another, and now many people were coming on what was sure to be a group excursion.

"11025, 11026..", Oticat said, and glanced up at the clock. It was only 9:00 in the morning, yes, but Oticat had been counting since 3. Perhaps he should have taken a break, or gotten up to rest his eyes. But a knock at the outside door changed all that.

Oticat, grateful for at least some interruption, stood up and staggered over to the door, swinging it open with all the grace and enthusiasm of a dead man.

There he saw SpaceKrakenX, who seemed to be fiddling with some sort of small multicolored cube. Once he saw Oticat staring, he tucked it behind his back and stood straight up.

"Ah, good morning Oticat.", he said. "I was wondering if you could help me with something, even in your clearly exhausted state."

Oticat just sighed, and blinked his tired eyes. "What is it, Space?"

Only then did SpaceKrakenX move aside, revealing a huge line of Troops from behind him. A few gave small waves, and Oticat's eyes widened in fear.

"I sold my Castle to buy a mountain and then I sold my mountain to buy a village.", said SpaceKrakenX, without even missing a beat. "Can I- we, stay here please?"

"Wh…", Oticat said, struggling to form words. "What?"

"It's a long story, but I basically don't have a Castle anymore.", said SpaceKrakenX, scratching the side of his beard. "And I need someplace to stay. We all do."

Oticat put his hand on the doorknob, contemplating on whether or not to just shut it and resume his counting. But his close friendship with SpaceKrakenX won out, and he opened the door further with a sigh. "Sure.", he said. "Now, we'll have to work together to find places where everyone can stay-"

"Yeah, yeah.", said SpaceKrakenX, as he hurried inside. He turned to his troops, raising his hands.

"You guys go through the other way!", he shouted. "This is a small room, there's nowhere for you guys to fit!"

Not waiting to hear what his troops had to say, he slammed the door shut and propped himself against it.

"Okay.", he said. "Now that we're alone, there's something I'd like to talk to you about._ Alone."_

"Uh… okay.", said Oticat, not quite sure what it was that SpaceKrakenX was getting at. "What?"

SpaceKrakenX unfolded a rolled up newspaper from his pocket and held it up in front of his face, pointing to a story on the back page. It was the same one that Dan had showed Brandy.

"Does this seem, I don't know… just a little bit suspicious to you?"

Oticat took a closer look, and saw something in the upper right corner of the grainy, black and white picture that had been provided. He wasn't quite sure what it was- but to him, it looked an awful lot like the tail of a Dragon.

"Okay, so who's going?", Brandy asked, spinning around to look at the entire room. "Me and Dan, of course, and then there's Kars and Webert…"

"Can I come?", Brandy heard Chloe ask from the far side of the room. She turned to see her arrive at the bottom of the stairs, her hair still a tangled mess underneath her tiny crown.

"Sure, Chloe.", Brandy said. "You just need to do your hair first."

"Let me do it.", said Dan, and held up his hands. "I think I could."

Brandy stared, noting without words how each of Dan's fingers was almost as thick as Chloe's forearm. "Uh ... okay.", she said. "If you really think so."

There was the ring of a doorbell, and Brandy's head instantly turned. "I got it!", she yelled, Dashing to the door and almost tripping over a random Skeleton.

As she reached the door, she could hear a strange commotion coming from the other side of it. It sounded like there were a great many Troops on the other side, for whatever reason. Perhaps they were early Clashoween carolers, or they were trying to sell something. Or maybe…

Brandy grabbed the doorknob, and threw open the door. Her heart jumped, as she saw over a hundred Troops all standing there in what could sort of be considered a rough line, if your definition of line meant "more or less some form of group."

"Sup, Bandit.", Jessie said, with a raised hand. She didn't know Brandy, so she was using the acceptable honorific for the situation. "Is Sadie around?"

"Uh… I don't know.", said Brandy, trying to make sense of the situation. "What's going on? Why are you all here?"

"Yeah…", Jessie said, scratching the back of her neck. "Dad sold his castle for some reason, and now we don't have a place to live. So we figured that you guys could take us in."

"He… sold… his castle.", Brandy repeated. "Why?"

Jessie just shrugged. "Dad does a lot of weird things. Most of them don't make sense until later. But we really need to get in, so if you don't mind…"

She gestured at Brandy's feet.

"Oh, sorry.", Brandy said, and hopped backwards to let in the flow of Troops.

"Are you really gonna do my hair?", Chloe asked, looking up at the massive form of Dan with more than just a hint of trepidation.

"Yep.", said Dan, getting down on his knees. He still towered over Chloe by a good 9 feet, but it was better than nothing. "Now just hold still…"

Chloe nervously complied, and Dan put his hands around her head. Golden Star concentrated in between his palms, snaking into Chloe's frazzled hair and jerking it around.

"Straightening Overdrive!", Dan said, and shot a stronger bolt. It jet through Chloe's hair, smoothing it into a straight style within moments.

Chloe gasped in shock, and felt her hair. "Uncle Dan! What did you do?"

Dan just laughed, and stood back up. "Just a little Star, Chloe.", he said. "That's all."

But inwardly, he smiled. _Uncle Dan... , _he thought. _I like the sound of that._

"Hey, Jessie!", came the voice of Sadie from across the room, Princess running towards Princess with an enthusiastic wave. They met in a friendly hug, and immediately headed for the stairs.

"Good morning.", said Marc the Giant Skeleton, ducking to avoid the top of the door. At a monstrous 27 feet, Giant Skeletons were the tallest of any Troop.

"What's happenin?", rasped a Dart Goblin, sprinting past the entryway and into a side hallway.

"Good to see you all.", said Avaya the Witch, floating just barely an inch off of the floor. She continued off in some random direction, hoping she could find a sink. "I hope you're ready."

"Hey, Brandy.", said Brenda, as she slid stylishly into view. "How you've been?"

"Wassup, Bre-", Brandy said, and stopped. The edges of her friend's skirt seemed different, shining under the interior light. Her bat looked polished, and the edges of her mask glowed with a deep blue light. A wingtip rose from the back of her shoes, sparkling with gold dust.

"Don't tell me...", Brandy said, leaning down to feel the material. It was, indeed, different. It felt far richer and smoother than normal, flecks of light falling off of and around it with every movement.

Brandy stood back up again, and spread out her arms. "You're maxed?"

"Star level 2!", Brenda shouted back, and raised her hand. Brandy met her in a high-five, a diminutive shockwave spreading out from the force of the meet.

"But… when?", Brandy asked. "How? The last time I saw you, you were still 12 cards away!"  
"A lot can happen in three weeks.", said Brenda. "That last challenge really helped. Very nice rewards. Trade Tokens are pretty nice, no?"

"Brenda?", said Meg from somewhere behind. "Where are we?"

Brandy looked behind her, trying to see where Meg was, but she couldn't see anyone.

"Uh, Brenda?", she asked, much to Brenda's confusion. "Where's Meg?"

Brenda looked a little worried for a second, before she mentally slapped herself on the forehead and waved her hand. An ethereal curtain rose behind her, revealing Meg in midair.  
"She was just taking a nap.", she said, as Meg put one foot on the stone floor. "Still tired from last night."

"Why?", Brandy asked. "What happened last night?"

Brenda merely raised her eyebrows, and gave a low whistle. Brandy blinked, trying not to think about the implications of that too much.  
"I thought you said we were going somewhere…", said Meg, looking around. "Does this really count?"

"No, no, we're definitely going somewhere.", Brenda said. "Electro Valley, right?"

"That is correct!", boomed Dan, and Meg stumbled a bit. "We're all going, as a group. Guys and girls."

"Right, guys and girls-", Brandy said, then looked up. "Wait, what?"

"That's… what I said.", said Dan with a nod. "This was supposed to be a girl's and guy's day out, right?"

"I thought this was gonna be a date.", said Brandy quietly. "With us together."

"It was.", said Dan. "But that changed once more people came along. But Brandy, we'll get some time to ourselves. Very, very, soon."

Brandy rubbed her head against Dan's arm, hoping that they would get to spend some time together soon. It had been two days since their last date- far, far too long for her. "Hopefully."

"Alright, everyone ready?", Brenda asked. Looking around the room, there was nothing but affirmative nods.

"Well then.", she said, pulling her hood closer over her face. She pointed to the northeast as the last of the Troops trickled in, and struck a dynamic pose. "Let's go!"

It was a fairly typical day at Electro Valley, for the most part. The rain had been unusually heavy over the past few couple of weeks, leading to the rocks looking slightly more blue than usual. There had also been a slight dip in the number of battles taking place in that particular Arena, for whatever reason. But the bustling economy of the area had remained unchanged- and that's what mattered. Electro Valley was famed for its sprawling, state of the art entertainment complexes, housing shops, restaurants, skating rinks, movie theaters, and more.

As the group approached the landing site of one such complex in their Balloons- guys in one and girls in the other, Brandy noticed something just a bit odd. It seemed as though one of the cacti that grew in the area far down below was moving, almost walking. She couldn't help but think of how little she still knew about the world that she lived in, despite all of her experiences. She really would have to find out more.

"Brenda?", asked Chloe. "Why does Meg have her arms around you?"

Meg's cheeks turned a shade redder, but Brenda wasn't even fazed.

"It's just cause we love each other.", she said with a wiggle of her eyebrows. "That's all."

"I thought girls couldn't do that.", Chloe said with a tip of her head. "I thought it had to be a boy and a girl."

"That happened all the time in the old castle.", Meg said, remembering the brief days she had spent underneath LeChris. "Didn't you see any of that?"

"No.", Chloe said. "I just stayed in my room all day. Mostly."

"Oh, that's right.", said Meg. "I guess you did."

She was silent for a moment, before perking up. "But those days are-"

There was a flash of blue and green movement, and Meg suddenly found that she and Brenda had switched places. She gasped silently as she felt one of Brenda's hands on her shoulder and the other on her chest.

Chloe took another look, scratching the bottom of her chin in thought. "Why are you holding her there like that-"

"Aaand we're here!", Brandy said as loudly as she could without shouting, and stood up. Gesturing out from the front of the Balloon, she pointed to the landing station that was even now opening up its doors. "Conversation over."

"You can know once you're older.", Brandy said, as she stepped out of the Balloon. "Now come along, we don't want to leave anyone behind."

"Wait, I think I know!", Chloe said, a sly smile creeping across her little face. "I think I heard it a few times. Are you guys hav-"

An invisible hand slapped across her mouth, and Brenda sighed. "We'll tell you eventually. Now let's go."

Dan leapt out of the Balloon with a mighty crash, breaking the concrete where he landed. Kars let out a loud whoop and beat his chest, in stark contrast to the exasperated sigh of the Bomber attendant.  
"Sir, could you not?", he drawled, wanting nothing more than to go home and jump off of the roof. "We have to fix that, you know."

Dan stood up, and noticed for the first time the Bomber that stood there. "Oh. Sorry about that man. I didn't really mean anything by it."

He saw Brandy waving over to him, and he pointed in three directions at once. "I gotta go now. Hope you can get if fixed soon."

Kars and Webert slowly exited the Balloon on their own, as Dan ran over to his wife.

"So, where are we going first?", Brandy asked, taking a pair of sunglasses out of her pocket. "I was thinking we should get some food."

"Yeah, a nice sandwich should just about hit the spot right now.", said Brenda, trying to smear some sunblock on a squirming Chloe. "Look, if you just hold still, this won't take as long!"  
"Didn't we come here to shop?", Meg asked, looking in her purse. "I mean, if you guys want to. We don't have to, or anything."

Brandy felt the ground quake next to her, and looked up to see Dan.

"Oh, there you are.", she said. "What's up?"  
Dan looked confused. "Didn't you just call me over?"

"Uh…", Brandy said, trying to think. "No."

"Huh.", Dan said, and hopped from one foot to the other. "Could of sworn you did."

He felt Kars and Webert coming up from behind him, and leaned down. "Hey, uh, listen. Me and the boys are gonna go catch a movie together."

"I thought we were gonna stick together.", Brandy said with an arch of her eyebrow.

"Yeah.", said Dan. "We were. But that all changed when-"

"When we invited everyone else, yeah.", Brandy said. "Okay then, have fun with the boys!"

She turned around, and put a hand on Brenda's shoulder. "Me and the girls are gonna go have some fun too."

Song: Limit Break X Survivor- Relaxed Version

As the two groups walked away from each other, Brenda snickered a little bit. "You know, the way you said that made it sound pretty gay."

"Brenda, you are gay.", Brandy said, arching an eyebrow. "And… so is Meg."

"No, I'm actually bi.", Brenda said, pointing a finger into the air. "Remember that Hunter I went out with once and it didn't work because he couldn't hold even a simple conversation to save his life?"

"Oh right…", said Brandy, then came to a sudden realization. "Hey, wait a minute. Am I the only straight one here?"  
"I'm straight!", Chloe said with a smile, then stopped. "What does that mean?"

Brandy forced an awkward smile. "You're… too young to be worrying about that kind of stuff, Chloe. But I bet that- oooph!"

Brandy stopped, and looked up at what she had run into while she had been distracted. There was a Giant sitting in a very odd position, most likely in order not to disturb the vast array of decorative spikes that hung on his back.

"Sorry.", Brandy said automatically, but the Giant had hardly even felt the blow. "Just gotta move past ya there-"  
Brandy grabbed Chloe and hopped past the Giant, then ran to catch up with Brenda and Meg. The Giant briefly looked up from his book to watch them pass, staring with a cold hard eye. Once they had vanished around a corner, he unrolled an old, faded poster and ran his eyes across it. _Come see the mighty Bonoome!, _it read. _In season now!_

Brandy jumped around a small bush, still holding Chloe by the hand, looking around in a circle for Brenda and Meg. There was a small sandwich shop nearby- but it was closed.

"Tell me if you see them, okay Chloe?", she asked, and the Princess in her arms saluted.

Brandy turned around again, jumping into the air to see through the small crowd that had assembled in the clearing. "Hey? Brenda? Meg? Where'd you guys go?"

Chloe turned her head in a random direction, then pointed with vigor. "Brandy, I see them!"

Brandy turned, and saw two familiar Troops sitting down underneath an umbrella near a small stand. "Oh, thank goodness."

"Yeah, I'll have a two-and-a-half scoop bresstrucci with no beans, two shots of caramel, and a dollop of whipped cream.", said Brenda, flipping through the small menu that the waiter had given her. "Meg, what do you want?"

"Uh…", Meg said underneath her breath, trying to decide on what would be easiest for the Barbarian who ran the shop to prepare. "Just a black? I guess?"

"Miss Bandit?", the waiter, a Builder, said. "You said no beans?"

"Yeah.", said Brenda.

"That'll cost you extra."

"Why?", Brenda asked. "You're not adding in anything. You're just taking stuff out."

The waiter tried not to scream, just gripping his clipboard tighter in coping. "Don't… don't ask me why.", he finally said. "But it just does."

"Brenda!", Brandy said, sliding onto the bench next to her, the third at the round table. Chloe landed somewhere on the fourth bench, her hair and crown slightly disheveled from the run.

"Don't leave me behind like that."

"Okay, okay.", said Brenda, flicking the edges of her sunglasses with one finger. "What do you want?"

Brandy took a quick glance at the menu, poring over the options with lightning speed. "Uh… I'll just have a chocolate caramel michacili. With three shots of whipped cream and a dose of added sugar."

Brenda took one of her Elixir bottles from her pack, and took a deep swig. Refreshed, she handed the bottle to Chloe. "Here. You'll get dehydrated."

Then she turned to address Brandy. "Why not just order straight sugar at that point?"

"Well, I'm sorry if I have a bit of a sweet tooth.", said Brandy. "But that's what I want."

Brenda's Elixir bottle rolled across the table, and Chloe slapped her hands onto the metal. "What are you guys talking about? Can I have some?"

"Uh… no.", said Brenda. "I don't think you should have any caffeine."

"Caffeine?", Chloe asked excitedly. "Is that like candy?"

"No.", Brandy said. "It's what grownups drink when they're feeling tired. Not for-"

"But I want some!", Chloe begged, clasping her hands together. She stared upwards with big wet eyes, silently pleading for a taste.

"Here.", said Meg. "Have some of mine."

Chloe instantly grabbed the cup from Meg's outstretched hand and took a quick gulp, before anyone had time to respond.  
Brenda slowly turned her head to face Meg, her hand reaching for her pocket.

"Meg?", she asked calmly. "Why did you do that?"

"She wanted some.", Meg said. "So I gave it to her."

"Yes.", Brenda continued. "You gave her, a small Princess, some of your black coffee."

"Was that…bad?", Meg asked, scratching the back of her hand with nervous energy.

"Well…", Brandy said, and stood up. "Take a look at that."

She pointed towards the edge of the courtyard, where all three of them could see Chloe vanish around a corner.

"Bandits, your drinks are ready-", said the waiter, emerging from the coffee shop with a tray and two steaming drinks in hand. But even as he did so, they both jumped up from their seats and Dashed off, seemingly in pursuit of something.  
"Where are they going?", he asked, and Meg sighed.

"Our little Princess ran away.", she said. "They went to go catch her."

"Oh.", said the waiter. "So you're alone, then."

"Uh, yeah.", said Meg, feeling a strange chill run over her. "I guess that I am."

"Fortunately, you've got me.", said the waiter. "And just me."

He took a seat next to Meg, who automatically scooted farther away. Upon closer inspection, she could see that his hair was very greasy, and stubble dotted his fatty chin.

"Yeah…", she said, turning her face away. Her fingers began to tremble from the stress of the situation, even as the Builder scooted a bit closer.

"Hey, uh…", she said. "Shouldn't you be going back to your job?"

"This is my job.", he said with an oily grin. "Protecting young, innocent, fragile girls such as yourself from any, erm, _unsavory _characters that might be wandering about."

Meg didn't want to mention that she thought he was one of those characters. She just kept her mouth shut and looked away, searching for Brandy and Brenda.

"Hey.", said the Builder, and grabbed Meg by the cheeks. He yanked her head around to face him, and she yelped. "Look at me when I'm talking to you-"

There was a bright, sudden flash of blue. The tip of Meg's gun, which had been lying on the ground nearby, jumped up into the air, a sapphire streak jumping from it to somewhere right behind the Builder's chest.

He gasped, and staggered back. There was a violent cough, and a splatter of blood that hit the ground. He put one hand over his chest, bits of red dripping out from between his fingers.

"What… the…", he muttered, and coughed up again. "What did you do to me?"

"Nothing.", said Meg, more in wonderment that apology. She just stared at her gun, still smoking from the blast. _How did it do that?_

"But whatever happened…", Meg said, staring the Builder down with uncharacteristic fierceness. "Clearly did so because of you. Now go away."

The Builder staggered back, seeing no other choice than to retreat back into the shop and get some help for her injuries. Meg narrowed her eyes. "You're bothering me."

Chloe sprinted through the square, feeling the sheer rush of the caffeine flowing through her. She let out a yelp, jumping over a sleeping Giant, and landing on the other side with a show-offy slide. Bounding to her feet again, Chloe flipped onto her side, jumped into a cartwheel, and-

And she stopped in midair, feeling herself get grabbed by something. She shrieked and looked, to see Brandy holding her by the foot.

"Chloe?", she asked, and Chloe began to regret her little adventure. "Just where do you think you're going?"

Chloe squirmed out of Brandy's grip, coming to a still seat on the floor. She looked down, fiddling with the fabric of her dress. "Nowhere."

"No, you're not going nowhere.", Brandy said, hoisting Chloe to her feet. "You're coming back with us."

"Okay, fine.", Chloe said, looking somewhere behind her. If she could yank herself away at the last possible moment, then maybe she could get away in the crowd. She was nowhere near the speed of a Bandit, but maybe-

The feeling of a lock of cool metal slapping onto her wrist knocked her out of her thoughts. She looked down at her hand to see that it was now handcuffed to Brenda's. "Hey!"

"Don't run away again.", Brenda said. "Or I'll see to it that you're a lot more than handcuffed."

"Okay, fine.", Chloe sighed, admitting defeat. "I won't run away again… today."

"That's acceptable.", Brenda said. Brandy grabbed Chloe's other hand, and the three walked back to join Meg.

"So.", Kars burped as he, Dan, and Webert strode manly strides through the middle of the path. They were surrounded by food and souvenir vendors- but they were not there for that. Although they had gotten food. But they had eaten it within mere moments. "What movie are we seeing?"

"Yeah, about that.", Dan said, and stopped. "We're not seeing one. I have a better idea."

"What?", Webert asked, suspiciously tapping the sides of his boulder.

"Here's my idea.", Dan said, and leaned in. He whispered a Star-enhanced thought, and Kar's and Webert's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Really?", Webert asked. "You know a place where we can-"

"Only the finest.", Dan said with a smile. "Now let's go enjoy ourselves. Like real men."

"Brenda!", shouted Meg, as she saw her girlfriend approach. She stood up, and folded herself into a hug. "Why did you take so long?"  
"We were just catching Chloe.", Brenda said. "Why, what happened?"

"This creepy old Builder came and sat next to me.", Meg said with a shudder. "And then he grabbed me, and…"

Brandy's eyes widened, and she started looking around for where the Builder could be now.

"And then my gun shot him.", Meg finished, much to everyone else's surprise. "I didn't do anything- it was all the gun."

"Huh.", Brenda said. "Interesting…"

Then she looked upwards, her attention turned to the complex's upper levels. "Maybe we should go somewhere else. "I didn't even really want coffee all that much, anyway."

"Hey, this would look good on me.", Meg said, several minutes later. The group had gone to the upper levels of the shopping district, to a small, quaint store called Deluxe & Dragon Armor.

Meg held up a shining golden helmet, its distinctive feather a brilliant silver. She tapped on the store's counter, getting the attention of the ancient Goblin tending it. "Excuse me, how much is thi-"

"Level 13's only." the Goblin croaked out, her makeup-encrusted eyes not even moving. "You gotta be at least level 13 to use Star equipment like that."

She cast a disapproving look at Meg, her age-sharpened gaze running all over her. "And you're… what? Level 7? Level 6?"

"I'm level 8.", Meg grumbled, and put the helmet aside. "Maybe I'll just find something else."

"Hey, hey, look at this!", Chloe yelled, causing some other patrons of the store to look up in annoyance. "I found a really cool thing!"

She proudly held up a long, flowing dress, shining a deep sapphire blue. "And I want it."

"How much is it?", Meg asked. "If it's not too much, maybe we can get it-"

"It's 7500 Gold.", Chloe said proudly, pointing to the price tag. "That's how much it is."

Meg gulped, and turned around. "Hey, Brenda?", she asked. "Can we-"

"Yeah, sure.", Brenda said, reclining on a bench next to Brandy, taking a sip of a fruit juice smoothie that she had bought earlier. Two Goblins knelt before them, setting up a foot massage. "And I can buy you that helmet, too."

"Thanks, Brenda.", Meg said, and gave her a small kiss on the cheek. "I love you."

Brenda sneaked an ethereal arm behind Meg, giving her a small pinch on the thigh. "And I love you too."

"Hey, Meg.", said Chloe, who had suddenly appeared behind her. "Can you come and help me try this on?"

"Sure.", said Meg. "Let's go."

The two walked away towards the changing rooms, laughing and talking about something unrelated, leaving Brenda and Brandy alone.

"So, how have things been going with Dan?", Brenda asked, finishing the last of her smoothie in one long, straw-enhanced sip.

"They're amazing!", Brandy said. "I never knew that it would be like this!"

"Good, good.", said Brenda, and snapped her fingers. In an instant, a random Goblin appeared by her side. She dropped the empty smoothie cup into his hands, even though he wasn't actually working there. He just shrugged, ate it, and wandered off to do whatever Goblins do when there's nobody looking.

"He's not, uh… too _big _for you, is he?", Brenda asked. "Everything… works out on that end?"

Brandy's face slightly reddened, but she waved her hand. "Yeah, yeah. Everything works. Just don't ask how, I don't want to say why."

"Okay, now I'm curious.", Brenda asked, after a moment's thought. "I kind of want to know."

"I said, it just works.", Brandy said. "That's all I need to say about that."

Brenda arched a single brow. "You want to talk about it, though… don't you?"

"No, I don't.", said Brandy. "I'll just say that my body was experimented upon and modified, and so I can actually survive it when Dan-"

She blinked, and put her hands on her hips. She glared at Brenda, who just whistled like nothing was happening.

"I told you.", Brenda said with a wink.

Brandy sat back down again in a huff, and decided to pressure Brenda for a change.

"What about you and Meg?", Brandy asked. "Is that working out alright for you?"

"Yeah, we're happy together.", said Brenda. "Everything's going just smooth on our end."

"And… the handcuffs?", Brandy asked. "Please tell me that's not for-"  
"Oh, no, it is.", Brenda said slyly. "Turns out shy little Meg's actually really into that kind of stuff. Who knew, right?"

"Yeah…", Brandy said, a hint of a reminiscent chill running up her spine. "Who knew."

Now that she thought about it, there had seemed to be the bulge of a collar underneath Meg's cape tie.

"So… everything's going great with Dan? Absolutely no problems at all?", Brenda asked.

"Yeah.", Brandy said, taking a small trinket of a Giant off the shelf and inspecting it. "That is what I said."

"Really.", Brenda said. It wasn't a question. "Because I've been hearing some… ah… rumors."

Brandy's heart skipped a beat, and she sat up straight. "What? What rumors?"  
"Well, they're nothing really that substantial.", said Brenda with a wave of her hand. "Just voices on the wind, really."

"Brenda?", Brandy said, trying to keep her voice slow and calm. "I need you to tell me what they are. Right. Now."

Brenda calmly removed her sunglasses, and folded them into her front pocket. She took a deep breath, and turned to face Brandy eye-to-eye.

"He's cheating on you."

Song: Himeru Omai

"WHAT?", Brandy screamed, standing right up from where she sat. Her knees slammed into the forehead of a massage Goblin, sending him sprawling across the floor and down for the count.

Brandy's face grew red, and she gestured frantically with her hands. "But- but- but- how? Why?"

"I don't know.", said Brenda, her face etched with worry. "That's just what I heard."

"Heard from who?", Brandy almost shouted. "Who said that?"

"I heard it from Gus.", Brenda said, referring to her King's Giant. "And he said that he heard it from Gunther, who heard it from Valia, who heard it from Dave, who apparently caught Dan in the act."

Brandy stared down at the floor, trying desperately to stop from breaking into tears. "Who is he doing it with?", she asked quietly.

"Now, there's no guarantee.'' Brenda said quickly, trying to calm Brandy down. "You know the thing about rumors, they-"

"Tell me, Brenda.", Brandy asked, and faint purple steam began to rise off of her body. "Who. Is. It."

Brenda coughed, and looked down. "A Valkyrie, apparently.", she said quietly.

Brandy let out all the breath she had been holding, feeling her face scrunch up. "A Valkyrie.", she said. "Of course. Because what am I? All those times he told me how cute I was, how absolutely adorable I looked today- but he wanted more than just cute, didn't he? He wanted sexy. I could have been that. I could of-"

"Hey. Hey.", Brenda said, flicking Brandy on the nose. "It's a rumor, alright? That's all it is. Just a rumor."

"Yeah, but…", Brandy said, and swallowed hard. "What if it's not?"

She stared up at the ceiling, trying not to cry.

"Why don't you use your Stand?", Brenda asked, after taking a quick look around to see that no one was listening. "You've gotten more precise with it."

Brandy had been training over the last few weeks with The Dreamer, and was getting close to using it on command, sometimes even being able to alter the future by consciously changing her premonitions. But her mind was too swirling with confusion to do that today.

"I can't.", she said. "Not right now."

"My, it sounds like you've got yourself a problem.", said a creaky old voice from behind them, and Brandy craned her head to look. She saw an ancient, wrinkly Goblin, her voice just as dusty and fragile as her. "Mind if old Aunty Grug takes a look at it?"

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

"Uh…", Brandy said, and shot a sideways look at Brenda. She merely shrugged, and shot back a look of her own that seemed to say, "_Hey, it's your problem."_

"Sure.", Brandy found herself saying. "Although it's not much of a physical problem, more of a-"

"Hush, dearie.", Aunty Grug said, and took a shining multi-tool from her pocket. She grabbed Brandy's shoulder with a shockingly strong grip, waving a magnifying glass of blue crystal all around.

"Hmmm…", she croaked, and squinted one of her eyes. The other three stayed open, all moving in different directions at once. The effect was quite disorienting for anyone watching- which, of course, both Brandy and Brenda were.

Finally, Aunty Grug put away her tools and tucked them into one of her hundreds of pockets. She closed her bottom pair of eyes, and affixed Brandy with the others in a kind look. "You've got a bit of a relationship problem going on there, don't you? Or perhaps you think that you do."

"I-", Brandy said. "I do. How did you know?"

"Auntie Grug always knows.", said the Goblin. "Now tell me, what is it?"

"I… think that my husband is cheating on me.", Brandy said sadly. "Or at least, that's what I've heard."

"Oh, that's very sad.", said Auntie Grug with a frown. The arm growing out of her back reached into the backpack she wore, far larger than she was, and pulled out a small pink vial.

"Here.", she said kindly, shoving the bottle into Brandy's face. "Take it. Only 5.99."

"What is it?", Brandy asked with just a hint of suspicion.

"What is it?", Grug gasped, and held it closer to her chest. "What is it? Why, this is my specialty patented lover's poultice! Such a finer potion of luck in love you will find nowhere else. As I already said, it's only 5.99, and satisfaction guaranteed."

"Huh.", said Brandy, and dug into her pocket. She might as well buy it- this Auntie Grug, whoever she was, had been nothing but nice to her. And even if it didn't work, it was only 6 Gold. 6 Gold was nothing.

"Okay, here you go.", said Brandy, and dropped the Gold into Grug's waiting hand. She chuckled a bit, and handed the bottle of pink potion back to Brandy.

"Pleasure doing business with you, dearie.", she said, and turned around. Taking a quick left into the complex maze of aisles that made up the store, she was gone within moments.

"Brandy?", said Brenda, even as the bottle was unscrewed by said Bandit. "I think you've been scammed."

"Eh, whatever.", Brandy said, holding the bottle of potion up to her mouth. "It was only 6 Gold."

She was just about to take a swig, when she heard Chloe yell right in her ear.

She brought the bottle back down, not noticing the soft curses that flew from the back of the store as she did so. Brandy turned around, to see Chloe with a huge blue dress over her shoulder and a beaming smile on her face. Meg stood behind her, with a more reserved expression of joy.

"The dress fits!", Chloe yelled, causing several customers to look up in dissatisfaction. "It fits! I wanna get it!"

"We can get it.", said Brandy. "Brenda, you're buying, right?"

Brenda didn't even say a word. She just reached into her pockets and flipped her platinum card.

"So… can we check out now?", Meg asked, almost hopping from one foot to the other. "I found a really nice new-"

"Yeah, let's go.", Brenda said, instinctively knowing to cut Meg off before she said something that wouldn't be appropriate in front of Chloe. "Just to the front of the store."

As the four maneuvered their way through the front end of the store, passing exotic treasures and random crap alike, a single glittering display happened to catch Brandy's eye. It was a curious display of jewelry, all hanging from the branch of the same miniature tree.

"Brandy, what are you doing?", Brenda asked, stopping to see. "We gotta go."

Brandy held out her hand, leaning in closer to the jewelry. "Just a second. I want to look at this first."

"Okay…", Brenda said, and glanced at her watch. "But hurry."

"I'll be quick.", Brandy said, running her fingers through the long, golden chains. "Don't you worry."

Brandy's gaze wandered slow and long over the display, taking in the strange designs. One of the rings had the image of a Fisherman's Card emblazoned on it, with a bronze shine. There was a necklace of what looked to be the tentacle of a squid. A small hand mirror was etched with a design of a green coiled snake. A miniature championship belt hung from the branch, etched with designs of silver and gold. A shining platinum mask, not unlike Brandy's own, dangled from a long sapphire chain. A small shield, etched with a stylized arrow and claw, glittered a sickly green. A solid jade sculpture of a chameleon hung upside down from the display, its long fingers wrapped around an ivory gun. Nearby it was the equally exquisite form of a large snake, gazing at the chameleon with the distinct mark of a predator. A baseball bat hung from underneath the two, still swinging. And lastly, a small, bronze stick of bubble gum sat at the very bottom of the display, still faintly spinning.

"Okay, you've looked long enough.", Brenda said. "Are you gonna buy anything or not?"

"Uh…", Brandy said, and grabbed something at random. It was the platinum mask, which now seemed to have slightly shifted in both size and shape. "Yeah. This."

"Great.", Brenda said, and dragged Brandy to the cash register. "Alright, this is everyone.", she said. "Now let's pay."

The Villager working the register swiftly ran her eyes across the group's purchases, adding up the tax and change in her head. She held out one hand, and spoke with utter boredom.

"That'll be 8300 Gold.", she said. "What'll it be."

"Here's my card.", said Brenda, and deposited her platinum card into the Villager's waiting hand. Without waiting even a moment, she ran the card across her register. She didn't even blink as it beeped orange.

"Was that… bad?", Brenda asked, and the Villager looked at her sarcastically.

"Your card was declined.", she said.

"What?", Brenda stammered, as the Villager dropped the card back into her hand. "But how?"

"There wasn't all that much cash on it.", the Villager explained. "Looks like you spent the last of it on that smoothie you were drinking earlier."

"Uh…", Brenda said, digging through her pockets for cash. She found some, but it wasn't nearly enough. "Anyone got 8175 Gold?"

But just a quick look from the group told her that even between them, they could not come up with even close to that number.

"Well, I'm sorry for wasting your time.", said Brenda, and flicked her eyes towards Brandy.

_Get ready, _she said. _We only got one shot._

Brandy grinned, and bent at the knees. _Understood._

"Does that mean we can't get my dress?", Chloe said, still running her hands through the soft blue fabric. Her lips began to quaver, mere seconds before a cry.

"Not at all, Chloe.", Brandy said, and the Villager's bored expression vanished off her face. "We're just gonna have to resort to… other means."

"Wait, what-", said the Villager, Chloe, and Meg all at the same time. Brandy and Brenda both knew, from their shared Bandit instincts, that now was the time to act.

The arms of the Phantom appeared around Brenda, grabbing Meg by the waist and hoisting her up into the air. Brandy grabbed Chloe and her dress with both hands, holding them to her side.

"Run away!", both Bandits yelled in unison, and Dashed out the side of the shop, purchases, girlfriend, and regular friend in tow. Two Dash trails, one blue and one golden, followed them as they went.

The Villager thought about going after them, but decided against it. They were Bandits, after all. And while their theft had gone over the legal limit, it would be awfully hard to prove it in court.

_And besides…, _the Villager thought as she saw Auntie Grug emerge from the back of the shop, _I just got all the information I needed._

She slowly withdrew a small, ancient handheld radio from beneath the counter, and pressed the button to turn it on. It would be a while before the old, outdated mechanism booted up- but by then, Auntie Grug would have arrived at the desk.

"That's two more Stand users.", the Villager muttered to herself. "The discovery of every one counts…"

As the radio finally turned on, the screen became the stylized figure of a great red dragon. The Villager's eyes lit up with the promise of Gold beyond her wildest dreams, and slowly reached to the Talk button. "When you're building a perfect world."

Both Brandy and Brenda landed on the elevated platform outside of the shop, immediately ducking into a tuck and roll. They fell the three stories to the ground, their still active Dash shields protecting both them and the ones they carried from any harm.

"That was way too close.", Brandy breathed, as she stood up from the small crater she had created. "Maybe check your card next time, huh Brenda?"

"Yeah…", Brenda muttered as she got up, pressing one hand to the small of her back. "It's so weird, though. I could have sworn that I still had at least 15000 Gold left on it."

"Why did we run away?", Chloe asked, still hanging upside down in Brandy's firm grip.

"Uh…", Brandy said, thinking quickly. "For… fun.", she said.

"Oh.", said Chloe thoughtfully. "I thought it was because you decided to just steal the things we got instead of paying for them, which you can do legally because you're Bandits."

"That's what I said.", said Brandy. "For fun."

Meg slid off of Brenda's back, and tapped her fingers together. Brenda rolled her eyes, and reached inside of her bag. After fishing around for a few seconds, she pulled out the Star Level Musketeer helmet. "Here you go."

"Can I have my dress?", Chloe asked, as Meg put on her new helmet and smiled with joy.

"Wait until we get home.", Brandy said. "If you wear it now, it'll get dirty."

"But I wanna wear it now!", Chloe whined, falling to her knees around Brandy's legs. "Please? Please please please please please-"

"Okay, okay, you can wear it.", Brandy said with a chuckle. "Just as long as you can figure out some way so that it doesn't get dirty, alright?"

Chloe thought for a moment, then looked up. Her eyes lit up with an idea, and she jumped to her feet. "Can Brenda air-carry me?"

"Air-carr-", Brenda muttered, then realized what Chloe was trying to say. She couldn't see The Phantom, and so she assumed that Brenda was doing something with the air whenever he was out.

"Sure.", Brenda said, and mentally snapped her fingers. In an instant, The Phantom appeared behind her, hovering just above her head. He scooped up Chloe by the armpits, and she squealed with excitement.

"Right, we should go home.", Meg said. "It's been a bit."

"Really?", Brandy asked. "How long has it been-"

There was a flash of time, too fast for anyone there to notice. But in the fraction of a fraction of a second that it was out for, Brandy saw something.

At first, it just looked like a vague green shape, surrounded by more multicolored blobs. But it soon solidified, into what seemed to be a mysterious young man.

Brandy's vision cleared up again, to see that almost no time had passed. No one else had even responded to The Dreamer's activation.

"About…", Brenda said, and glanced at her watch. "70 minutes. So yeah, a bit. Why?"

"I don't think that we should go home just yet.", Brandy said.

"There something you want to do first?", Brenda asked, with a bit of a sly smile.

"Yes.", Brandy said, and looked out over the whole entertainment district. "I'm going to go check on Dan."

The Information Desk located at the center of the Electro Valley Entertainment and Eating complex was quite a busy place. Dozens of Troops came and went every minute, asking questions about where certain shops and attractions could be found, which way it was to the Arena itself, what time it was, where did their friend Harry go, how to tie their shoe, etc.

It was for one of those features that Brandy approached the desk, and it wasn't for help on how to tie her shoe. The boots she wore didn't even _have_ laces.

"Information Desk, how may I help you?", the Archer at the front asked, spinning around in her swivel chair as she saw the group arrive.

"Uh, I'm looking for a specific person.", Brandy said, trying to contain her nervousness. She felt a single bead of sweat crawl down her back, meeting the shivers on the way up.

"Yes, we can do that.", the Archer said, rather brightly.. "Who is this person that you're looking for?"

"A Mega Knight.", said Brandy. "Blue, goes by the name of Dan. He should be easy to spot, because he's always got gold energy somewhere on him. And…", she added, with a narrow of her eyes, "He's my husband."

While Brandy had been describing Dan, Anne the Archer thought she could handle it. But when she mentioned Dan's Star, Anne found her knowledge at a loss.

"Uh, yeah…", she said, and leaned back into a microphone. "I'm gonna have to talk to my supervisor about that one."

She put her mouth to the microphone and gave a furious whisper. "Tabitha! I need some help!"

She waited a few seconds, before the other end was picked up. "Yeah, hello.", came the chipper voice of a Princess on the other side. "What is it?"  
"I got a Bandit out here looking for a Mega Knight.", Anne whispered, taking a quick glance back at the group. They were still there, so she continued onwards. "Says he's got gold energy or something."

"Hmmm…", Tabitha hummed, picking at her lip. She idly reclined her feet on the desk, and picked up another phone. "I don't know about that one. I think I'll have to talk to my supervisor. If you'll just stay on the line, I think I can be with you in a moment."

Anne set the phone down, making sure not to hang it up. She knit her fingers together and affixed the group with an overly polite stare. "Sorry, but it looks like it's going to be a while. Chain of command, and all that."

"No, no, that's fine.", Brandy said. "We can't wait, or anything."

"What's so important?", Anne asked. "If- if you don't mind me asking."

Brandy sighed, and looked down. "I'm looking for my husband.", she said. Then her voice lessened significantly, and a faint fleck of purple wound around her hands. "I think he's cheating on me."

Anne frowned, and let her elbows fall to the table. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Why?", asked Brandy. "It's not your fault. You didn't do anything."

Anne sat up straight again. "I didn't mean it like that-"

But Brandy said nothing, merely choosing to sit down at a nearby bench. She took a look at the magazines that were arranged there, but there was nothing really to choose from. Just some back-order issues of Strategy with OJ and a single, faded volume of Goblin Society. So seeing no other options, Brandy pulled her hood closer over her face and tried not to fall asleep.

Anne, staring forward in that manner that could be so mastered only by receptionist, security guards, and retail workers, noticed out of the corner of her vision a small pair of hands sneaking their way onto her desk. There was a tiny grunt of effort, and Chloe appeared over the edge.

Anne saw Chloe's eyes wander across the desktop, finally coming to rest on a small bowl of hard candies. Chloe looked up eagerly, asking Anne without so much as a single word or sound.

"Sure, go ahead kid.", Anne said. "But just take-"

Before she could even finish her sentence, Chloe had already grabbed a large handful and scampered off, landing on the bench right next to Brandy. Anne winced, and finished her words. "One."

Meg, sitting on the bench aside from Brandy and Chloe, suddenly felt something touch her leg. She looked up, and saw Brenda slowly walking towards her, hips swaying as she did so.

"I've always wondered…", Meg asked. "How do you do that?"

"Do what?", Brenda asked, as she sat down on Meg's lap. She grinned, as Meg's face reddened.

"Oh, Brenda, not in public…", she whispered, looking around to see all the Troops passing by.

Brenda closed one eye, and moved herself off. "Oh, fine.", she said.

"But how do you do that?", Meg asked again. "Touch me- from a distance?"

"You mean like this?", Brenda asked, and the Phantom's arms shot out of her. They tapped Meg on either shoulder, and she gasped- but not before managing to catch a quick glimpse of black sleeved hands.

"What were those?", Meg asked in shock. "Were those- arms?"

Brenda's wry smile stopped. She hadn't ordered The Phantom to become visible. And he didn't ever do it on his own. But Meg had seen his arms- that was obvious. And if Meg had seen his arms, then that meant-

"Meg?", Brenda whispered in shock. "You're a Stand user?"

"A what?", Meg whispered back, before they both heard Anne shouting at them from across the patio.

"Hey, you there!", she yelled, waving her arms. "I think we found him!"

Brandy Dashed over to the desk in an instant, not even waiting for the rest of the group to catch up. She slammed her hands onto the hard tile, staring Anne right in the face.

"Where is he?", she asked intently.

"Well, uh, I don't…", Anne said, and handed the phone line to Brandy. "I don't know. But whoever's on the other line does."

Brandy slapped the phone to her ear. "Hello?", she said. "Who is this?"

It took a few seconds for whoever was on the other line to answer, a dull rhythmic thump and the crashing of objects the only sounds to come through. But soon enough, answer they did.

"Hello, this is Valia.", said the other end of the line. "Current phone answerer of the world famous Club Royale, how may I help you?"

"Valia?", Brandy hissed. "Do you know where Dan is?"

Valia sat back in her spinning chair, and slapped her hand against her desk.

"Brandy?", she asked. "Is that you?"

"Yeah.", came Brandy's voice through the phone. "I need to find Dan. Is he… at Club Royale?"

"Hmmm, lemme check…", said Valia, thumbing through the guest list. She scrolled back a few pages, then tapped the book with one long fingernail. "Yeah he is, honey. Came in here… I'd say about an hour and a half ago."

"Okay.", Brandy said. "Thank you for your help."

She had been about to hang up, but Valia wasn't done talking. "So, how are you Brandy? It feels like we haven't even spoken for weeks!"

"We haven't.", Brandy said. "I really need to find Dan."

Valia applied a second coat of nail polish, and looked out over the crowd. "Oh, honey, can't you find him later? I'm sure he's fine. I wanna talk."

"I think he's cheating on me.", Brandy said. "I need to talk to him now."

"Oh.", said Valia, all previous manner dropped. "Well then. He's in the back, in room U-I. I hope that you find him. See ya…"

"See ya.", Brandy said, and hung up the phone. She turned around, spreading out her hands as she talked.

"He's at Club Royale.", she said. "In a room marked UI."

"Okay.", Brenda said, pulling out a map that she had grabbed. "It looks like the place is…"

She squinted at the paper, and turned it around in her hands. "Only about 15 minutes walk from here. Hey, nice."

"So, are you going to go and look for him?", Meg asked. "I think me and Chloe should stay somewhere else."

"Why?", Brandy asked. "You could help us."

"Yeah, but…", Meg said a bit quieter than normal. "I'm not sure how I'd do in such a large, crowded, _badly lit_ place like a club. And I'm not sure it's all that appropriate for Chloe."

"I see.", Brandy said. "Gotcha."

"So, you stay here with Chloe.", said Brenda, throwing the map up into the air. It was caught between The Phantom's fingers, and held at eye level. "Find something to do. And Brandy?"

The two Bandits Dashed away, in the direction of Club Royale. "Let's move."

The Bowler Bouncer in front of the Club was not having a particularly good day. He had woken up 3 minutes late, and had managed to somehow arrive to work 15 minutes after he was supposed to be there. This had resulted in what he thought was a rather ridiculous pay cut of 25%, which was not nearly enough to pay for all of the Dark Elixir that he had to drink every day. Strictly for medical purposes, of course.

He ponderously rocked from one foot to the other, and tugged at the collar of his thick black suit. The heavy beats of Club Royale behind him only added to his headache. He looked forwards, and frowned at the sight of a pair of Blue Bandits Dashing towards him.

"Aw, shoot.", he whispered under his breath. "Here we go again."

Brandy and Brenda both skidded to a stop in front of the Bowler, and looked up. They couldn't quite judge his stare underneath the inky black sunglasses that he wore, but his frown said quite enough.

"Hey, uh, we're here to get in.", Brandy said. "To the Club, I mean."

The Bowler withdrew a small pad of paper from his chest pocket, and flipped through it. He tipped the edge of his sunglasses down, staring the two down with an expression of pure boredom. "What are your names?"

"Brenda.", said Brenda, before Brandy could respond. "And this is my friend Brandy."

"Hmmm…", said the Bowler, and tucked the list back into his pocket. "I'm sorry, you're not on the list."

Brandy took a step forward, and pointed a finger towards the Bowler's chin. "Excuse me? My husband is in there, and I need to see him."

"I don't care.", the Bowler said, and leaned back on the stained glass window. "Names not on the list?"

He idly flicked a piece of rock off the wall and across the street, just in case the two though about trying to start anything. "You're not getting in."

"Really?", said Brenda, and crossed her arms. She jutted out one foot, and The Phantom appeared above her head. "Just watch."

The Bowler's hand slowly went for his ball, which had been stashed just behind him. His other hand slowly crept towards his radio communicator, just in case he, for some reason, needed help.

"Miss, I'd advise you not to try anything.", he rumbled, intimidating as possible. "I don't want that I should hurt anyone."

"Don't worry.", Brenda said, and flicked her finger forward. "You won't."

Before the Bowler could react, The Phantom flew inside his head. Grabbing hold of his brain, the parts that regulated sleep were quickly seized. The Phantom channeled raw magical and musical energy into the Bowler's head, and his eyes closed. As The Phantom flew back into Brenda, the Bowler collapsed onto the street, asleep before he had even hit the ground.

Brenda dusted off her hands, throwing her cape behind her. "Well, that's one obstacle taken care of.", she said. "Now let's go."

Brandy nodded, and Brenda threw open the heavy Gem door with a grunt of effort. The two Dashed inside, the door slamming shut behind them.

Meg sat on a bench next to Chloe, calmly licking her ice cream. They were perched above an overpass, watching the flow of Troops go by. They could see the Arena of Electro Valley not far up ahead, glowing with the thunder of ongoing combat.

"Meg?", Chloe asked, and set her cone down by her side.

"Yeah?", Meg said, and looked down at Chloe.  
"Will they ever fix me?", Chloe asked, and Meg froze.

"Fix?", she asked nervously. "But… you're not broken."

"I mean make me older.", said Chloe, and crossed her arms. "Brenda's King said I used to be a big Princess, and then Dadd- I mean, Ryusei_Nakao69, made me small again."

"Maybe.", Meg said. "Maybe once I get my hands to stop shaking."

She looked over the Arena, and her fingers began to twitch. "And maybe once more people start being nice to each other for a change. And maybe once there's no more evil in the world. And maybe once everyone's treated as equals, instead of having limits placed upon them. Maybe once those things start happening, then maybe we can be fixed."

"Then let's do that.", Chloe said, with another lick of her ice cream. "Let's do what you just said."

Meg smiled, and patted Chloe on the head. "Yeah.", she said. "Let's."

Song: Cash Cash- Overtime

The interior of Club Royale was hazy and dark, the rhythmic thud-thud of the music seeming to send a pulse straight through the heart of everyone there. Troops staggered by, raging drunk on Party Elixir. A fight broke out approximately every 3.6 seconds, as citizens of a society based entirely around ritual combat would tend to do.

But despite the chaos, the general atmosphere was one of celebration, and of casual relaxation. The Wizards working the bar did tricks with every drink, sometimes even combining the two. Circles of Troops sat around and sang, off key but in tune with each other's hearts. There was dancing throughout, and two disoriented Bandits trying to cut through the crowd.

"You ever-_ cough-_ been here before, Brandy?", Brenda said, jumping over the shoulder of a Golem and onto an empty bench.

"No.", Brandy said, throwing up her cloak in order to shield herself from a cloud of smoke released from a burping Baby Dragon. "This place is weird."

"Yeah.", said Brenda, as they both walked over the shoulders of a Giant. "Fun, though."

"I don't know.", Brandy said. "This place is kind of-"

She never finished her sentence. Brandy's eyes suddenly fluttered closed, and she lost consciousness. Brenda's hand lashed out on instinct as she saw Brandy stumble off the shoulder of the Giant, catching her just before she fell.

Brenda yanked Brandy up into her arms, and Dashed onto the floor.

"Hey!", she shouted, but struggled to be heard over the general roar of the vicinity. "Hey! Brandy! Wake up!"

But Brandy did not respond. Her fingers twitched rapidly, and her eyes moved behind their lids, but she made no other movement. There were no floating blue lights behind her head that signaled the use of The Dreamer, either. She had suddenly fallen dead asleep, and Brenda did not know why.

"Hey!", she yelled, and slapped Brandy across the face. "Brandy! Wake the frick up!"

But Brandy still did not respond. She was limp in Brenda's arms, her arm hanging all the way to the floor.

"Why?", Brenda muttered under her breath, even though no one could hear her anyway. "Why can't we all just go out all together, and have nothing bad happen?"

"I would rather lead an interesting life.", said The Phantom, as he materialized behind her. "Normal, I find, more than not tends to be rather boring."

"Eh, you're right.", Brenda said, then her head snapped upwards. "Wait! Phantom! Of course!"

She turned around, presenting Brandy's unconscious form. "You can wake her up, can't you?"  
The Phantom put an ear to Brandy's chest, and furrowed his eyebrows. "I could, but…"

He straightened up again, and folded his arms. "I shouldn't. She's having a flashback at the moment, and it would be dangerous to wake her."

"Well, when is she gonna wake up?", Brenda asked.

"It won't be long.", The Phantom said. "Probably just a few-"

Brandy groaned, and her eyes fluttered open. Brenda gasped in relief, and set her down on the floor.

"Sorry.", Brandy said, and rubbed the back of her head. "I was just, uh, having a bad dream."

The two stared at each other for a second, neither wanting to mention just what had happened.

"So…", Brenda said. "We should go."

"Right.", said Brandy, and looked around. "Do we know where room UI is?"

"No.", Brenda said, and hopped up onto a table. "Not yet, anyway."

She cupped her hands around her mouth, and yelled as loud as she could. "Hey! Does anyone know where room UI is?"

A couple dozen patrons all looked up from their respective drinks, nodded, and pointed in a couple dozen different directions.

Brenda threw her head back, groaned, and jumped down off of the table.

"Well, that didn't work.", she said. "Brandy, do you have any-"

But Brandy wasn't listening. She could only see herself, albeit as a thin blue line, flying away to the left, taking a sharp turn down a hallway, and stopping in front of a door marked UI.

She snapped back to reality, and stumbled a bit on the uneven ground as the floating blue lights of The Dreamer faded behind her.

"I know where it is.", she said. "Room UI. My Stand told me."

"Okay, great.", Brenda said. "Lead the way."

Brandy turned around, ready to go, and sucked in a harsh breath. There, right in front of her, was Dan, his arm around a Valkyrie.

Brandy couldn't breathe for a moment. A thin strip of purple wound its way around her fingers, and an even smaller flash of silver was reflected in her eyes. "You-"

But then, to her immense relief, she noticed something. The Troop that she had seen was not, in fact, Dan. He was merely another Mega Knight, with somewhat similar facial features. But he didn't have quite the same chiseled face, or quite the same scruffy beard. And most importantly, he didn't have the near-constant aura of the Star crackling around his body.

"Brandy, let's go.", said Brenda, tugging at her arm. "Do you have something else keeping you busy?"

Brandy shook herself, and started to run. "No.", she said. "Sorry, I… just got distracted for a moment there."

Then they ran, down a hallway and into the path that The Dreamer had set forth.

As they approached room UI, Brandy's heart beat faster inside of her chest. The other rooms that they passed seemed to be in use, for something that Brandy desperately hoped that she had not been correct in guessing. Brandy feared that when she reached UI, the consequences wouldn't be more than her heart could handle.

"Nervous, Brandy?", Brenda asked, and stopped.

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "Aren't you coming with me?"

"No.", said Brenda. "In fact, I'm not going to take another step."  
"Wha-", Brandy said in shock. "Why not?"

"Because.", Brenda said, and pointed upwards. "We're here."

Brandy followed Brenda's finger, and could see that the blank white door in front of them indeed read UI above it, in shining silver letters.

"Okay.", Brandy said, and took a deep breath. She spread her arms open wide, and clapped them back together again. "I'm going in alone. Right wait- I mean, wait right here."

Brenda gave a single thumbs up, and leaned against the wall. Brandy spread her arms open wide, and flattened herself against the door. Pressing one ear to the thick wood, she could hear sounds coming from within.

"Oh… oh… oh…", she could hear, with the rhythmic rocking of furniture.

Brenda's eyes narrowed, and her lips pulled back in a furious snarl. A faint purple light built around her fist, as she pulled it back.

"Brandy?", Brenda asked, but she already knew the truth.

"He is.", Brandy said, and threw her fist forward.

The door exploded in a massive burst of force, an enraged "Dorra!" echoing from the impact point. Brandy stepped over the wooden rubble, and pulled one hand together into a fist.

"Hey!", she shouted in rage. "Who the frick do you think you are, taking my Dan like that-"

But as the smoke cleared, her eyes only widened in shock.

"OH SHOOT!", Dan roared, and leapt up from the couch that he was sitting at. His fists crashed into the ceiling, but thankfully didn't break much. He yelled again, and posed.

Kars, sitting next to him, threw his popcorn down onto the ground and stood up. "Come on, Mike!", he shouted at the TV that they had been sitting in front of. "All you had to do was throw the dang bomb!"

"Yeah, who won?", Dan shouted, and jumped at a Giant. "Who won?"

Their chests met in midair, sending a shockwave throughout the room that very nearly knocked Brandy clean off her feet. "Yeah, that's my boy Leon for you!"

Webert gulped down another gallon of Dark Elixir Soda, and bumped fists with a Prince. "Hey, second place isn't bad.", he said. "Figures."

Once Dan had finished spinning in a circle, he noticed that the door to the room had been destroyed. Then he noticed that Brandy was standing there in mild shock, staring up at him.

"Brandy?", he asked, and plucked an empty popcorn bucket off of his head. "What are you doing here?"

As soon as he spoke, Brandy's heart melted. Here was her Dan, who hadn't come even close to cheating on her. He had been presented with probably the best time and place to do so he would ever get, and yet here he was, watching foreign matches with the boys.

"Are you… crying?", Dan asked. "Honey, what's wrong? I told you I was just going out for a day with the boys-"

Brandy Dashed forward, slamming into Dan's waist in a full body hug. She buried her face into his waist, shaking her head back and forth. The tears still flowed.

"I love you, Dan.", she said. "I love you so, so much."

"I love you too, Brandy.", Dan said, gently rubbing her back with one massive finger. "But why did you come here? I thought you and the girls were all out shopping."

"I…", Brandy said, then stopped. She thought that it might actually be best if she didn't tell him the real reason why she had come. "I just really wanted to see you, is all."

"Oh.", Dan said, and gestured to the room. "We were all just watching some Brawl clips. Wanna join us?"

"Brawl clips?", Brandy asked, and looked up. "Like, that one place across the ocean?"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "TV Royale isn't working right now. Something with technical problems at the main studio. So we just switched to a different studio."

"Ay, I'd sure she'd love to, Dan!", said Kars, whacking at the TV's dark screen with the side of his axe. "But it looks like your last jump blew out the wiring!"

"Oh.", Dan said. He absentmindedly reached out and shoveled an entire pan of lasagna in his face, gulping down the entire thing in a single bite. "Well, never mind then."

Brenda slowly walked across the wreckage, taking care to place every footstep.

"Well, that's good.", she said. "Looks like Dan wasn't-"

In half of a second, Brandy shot her a look. Brenda saw every word of her plea, and hastily adjusted her sentence.

"I mean, looks like Dan was. Was here after all. Yeah, we weren't sure if the directions we were given were right or not."

Had Dan been paying attention, he might have investigated Brenda's words further. But because he was not, he just stood up, glancing at the clock on the side of the wall as he stretched.

"Woah, it's almost noon.", he grunted, bending low. "We had better head back."

"Yeah, Oticat might need our help moving everyone in.", Brandy said, trying not to think of how many hours of backbreaking work surely awaited the entire group. "Although, we could probably take just a little longer…"

"Is there anywhere in specific that you'd like to go?", Dan asked, and put his hand around Brandy's waist. As he lifted her up onto his shoulder, she stroked her chin with one hand and thought.

"Not particularly, no.", she said after a few seconds. "But I'm sure that if we just wander around somewhere, we'll find something."

There was, in fact, somewhere that she wanted to go to, and that was the coffee shop that they had been earlier. She was going to give that Builder that had hit on Meg a little piece of her mind, but it would be better if Dan didn't know that yet. People besides the Builder might get hurt.

"Well then, let's go!", Kars shouted, and spun his axe up onto his shoulder. "Come on Webert, old boy, we've got something to do something with or to!"

Webert slowly got up from the couch, and plucked his ball from the floor with the barest of grips. "Yep. Looks like it."

"Alright then, let's just-", Brenda said, and stopped. There, peeking through the crumbled door, was a Hunter with a broom attached to his shotgun. As soon as he saw Brenda, his eyebrows jumped up so much one could almost sort of see his eyes.

Brenda's eyes narrowed, and she crept forward. "You.", she hissed. "What are you doing here?"

The Hunter said nothing, merely backing up. But before he could escape, Brenda's hand shot out and grabbed him by the collar.

"You've got a lot of nerve showing up here, _Otto.", _she said.

"Woah, woah, hold on.", Brandy said, and Dashed down from Dan's shoulder to stand between them. "What's going on?"

"Remember how I told you I used to be with a Hunter?", Brenda said. "Before I realized he was nothing but a selfish, totally self-absorbed, narcissistic piece of trash?"

Brandy looked between them, and saw nothing but overwhelming fear and confusion on the Hunter's face. "Brenda, wait-"

Dan raised his finger, and a bolt of Star shot between all three of them. The Hunter fell on his back, and the two Bandits hopped back.

"I'm…", the Hunter groaned, and propped himself up on his gun for support. "Not named Otto. I've never seen you before in my life."

Brenda blinked, and extended her hand. "Oh. Sorry about that.", she chuckled. The Hunter chose, for the sake of his own safety, not to take her hand. "You all look alike."

"Yeah…", the Hunter laughed nervously, then turned around. He took off running down the hallway, and stopped in front of a supply closet. Quickly ducking inside of it, he sat down on a bucket and wiped his sweaty brow.

"Whew.", he said. "I'm glad she bought it. I don't know what I'd do if I ever had to face that crazy thief again."

There was a flash of white light, and a slight sound of rushing wind. Otto looked up, and his confusion turned to fear at the sight of The Phantom, sword drawn.

"You know,", he said, leaning down and scratching the tip of Otto's chin. "I don't think you're supposed to say that word."

The group of now five walked to the exit of Club Royale, one last drink clutched in each of their hands. Both Brandy and Brenda rode on Dan's shoulders, although Brandy was snuggled much closer. Kars was on Webert's shoulder, with no end of glee for him and no end of good-natured annoyance to Webert.

"We need to remember to pick up Chloe and Meg.", Brandy said. "They're still probably near the help desk somewhere."

"Right.", Brenda said with a nod. "Although to be honest, I think they would have wandered off."

"Wandered off?", Dan said before Brandy could turn it into a less than orderly discussion. "Why aren't they here?"

"They didn't feel comfortable going into a Club.", Brandy shrugged. "Makes sense, really."

Kars squinted his eyes, and leaned forward on Webert's head, obscuring his vision. He pointed forward, towards a nearby shop that was selling maps. "Hey, isn't that them right there?"

Brandy looked forward, and saw a spectacled Musketeer and a small Princess at one of the counters, engaged in conversation with a Dark Prince.

"Ah.", she said, and gently tapped on Dan's neck to tell him to go slightly faster. "So it is."

"So, you're telling me that you've charted the entire world?", Meg asked the Dark Prince in disbelief, who just brushed the dust off his gloves.

"Indeed.", he said. "I have done many things in my long lifespan. Exploring the entirety of the globe is but one of them."

"Can I have one?", Chloe asked, pulling herself up to see over the countertop. "I want one of here."

"Here, as in the continent of Royale?", the Dark Prince asked, and turned around. "Let me see… I have many of-"

"No, _here.", _said Chloe impatiently, swinging her little legs back and forth as she hung. "Of this shop."

Meg stared at her with amusement, but also a hint of concern. "Chloe, that's not how things work-"

Then she felt a pair of gloved hands slap over her eyes, and she squealed in surprise.

"Hey, Meg.", Brenda said, and crept around in front of her. "Anything interesting happen while we were gone?"

"Well, we got ice cream.", Meg said, letting herself fall backwards into Brenda's arms. "And we talked about life. So yeah, some interesting things did happen."

"Ice cream is always good.", said Brandy, as she slid down Dan's shoulder and landed in the middle of the shop, taking extra care not to slam into a rack of postcards. "What flavor did you get?"

"I got ice cream flavor!", Chloe shouted, holding up three fingers for some reason. "And so did Meg."

"Excuse me, but could you at least buy something if you're going to keep on taking up so much room in my shop like that?", the Dark Prince said, his hands on his hips in frustration. "I have a quota to fill, you know."

"Oh, sorry.", Brandy said, and flipped a handful of Gold from her pocket out onto the desktop. "Yeah, lemme get a…"

She looked around, and grabbed something at random. "This."

The Dark Prince took a quick look at the barcode printed on the side, and punched in some quick numbers. "A map of the Continent of the Clans?"

Brandy thought for a moment, and nodded. "Yep.", she said. "That's the one."

"Okay.", said the Dark Prince, and took the Gold. He handed back three, and nodded. "There's your purchase, enjoy. Now get out of my shop."

"Okay, okay.", said Brandy, and the group started to slowly meander out of the small store. It took some effort to pull Kars away from a display of Lumberjack statues near the front, but Webert and Dan working together managed to do it.

"So…", Meg said, sucking on a grape popsicle that she had bought. "Back to the castle?"

"Right.", Brenda and Brandy both said together, and pointed forward. "Back to the castle."

Later that evening, back at Oticat/SpaceKrakenX's new castle

"Ooohhhh…", Brandy groaned, rubbing one hand against the small of her back. She winced from the twinge of pain, and put one hand against a random couch that was standing upside down, but only on one side. "That sucked."

"Yeah.", said Dan, lying on the floor next to her. "That sucked half-eaten river rocks."

"Oh, come on.", Oticat said, standing semi-awkwardly in the middle of a bunch of Troops. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"  
Over the past 6 hours, all of Oticat's and SpaceKrakenX's Troops had executed the grueling task of moving in. Hundreds of furniture pieces and thousands of personal belongings had been lugged up and down stairs, scaffolding had been put up and torn down simultaneously, and the Castle's entire team of Builders had practically worked themselves into a coma constructing an entire new half of the Castle for the newest members. Even now, they all lay in the hospital wing, no longer able to even move their arms.

"Yeah.", Kars said upside down against a table, not shouting for the first time in his life. "It was."

"You weren't doing anything, Oticat.", Agatha groaned, her Skeletons even more exhausted than she was. "You wouldn't know."

"I thought it was great.", rumbled a Giant. "I like working out."

Dan sat up, looked at him indignantly, and just barely decided on not slapping him across the face. "Clarence, you only came in a half hour before we finished. You didn't do crap."

"Oh yeah asked Clarence, putting his hands on his hips. "And what did you do?"

Dan pointed upwards, to where a gigantic circuit breaker hung still sparking and open.

"I helped provide power to the entire Castle, that's what I did. Me and Nicolas. And I carried all the stone from the quarry to here to help build the new wing-"

"So did I.", said Brandy, from her new position lying on the floor. "I helped."

"Right, me and Brandy brought all the stone, _and _I held up the northwest tower while it was being worked on so it wouldn't collapse, _and _I single-handedly fended off a huge Goblin incursion that decided to attack the Castle while it was vulnerable!"

"Oh.", said Clarence, and turned around to resume roasting his marshmallows on a stick. "Well, okay then."

"You know what I'm in the mood for right now, Dad?", asked Sadie sleepily. "Some dinner and some nice, relaxing TV Royale."

Oticat was about to say something, when SpaceKrakenX poked his head out of a stack of boxes. He briefly fumbled with a strange, multi-colored cube before scowling in frustration and tossing it away. There was a crash of cardboard and the cry of Goblins, but everyone just did their best to ignore that fact.

"I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, Sadie.", both SpaceKrakenX and Oticat said together. "What do you guys think?"

"Let's do it.", Agatha said, aimlessly scratching at the wooden floor.

"But please, don't make us get up.", Bowza chimed in, lying right next to her.

"Alright then, it's settled.", Oticat said. "Dinner and TV it is. Max?"

Within a mere second, Max had appeared next to Oticat. No one knew how he traveled so fast, only that he would appear at unnatural speeds whenever food was involved. "Yes, sire?"

"Everyone wants some dinner.", said SpaceKrakenX. "As you might be able to tell."

"Yes…", Max said, and floated through the crowd of Troops in various states of physical and mental exhaustion upon the ground.

"What would you all like for dinner?", he said. "I've spent all morning and all afternoon cooking. So far, I've made a delightful crème de la tylanai, pâtes à l'encre de seiche, tu es tombé amoureux, nom de la nourriture de fantaisie-"

"That's wonderful, Max.", said Webert. "But right now, I think I could just go for a big ol steak. That, and a few dozen gallons of Dark."

Max pursed his lips, turned around, and headed back for the kitchen. "So.", he said with a sigh. "Simple food it is then."

"Hey, anyone wanna grab the remote?", Oticat asked, sinking deeper into the couch. "Anyone?"

He looked around, but everyone in the room was basically too exhausted to move. "Anyone?"

Brenda looked up sleepily from the ground, almost on the verge of collapse. "Phantom.", she whispered. "Turn on the TV."

The Phantom appeared behind her, and floated over to the large flat screen TV that was built into the wall. "Certainly, mistress."

"Anyone?", Oticat said. "Seriously, does anyone want to-"

The TV turned on, seemingly by itself. It wasn't to TV Royale, however- it was to what appeared to be some sort of highly elaborate musical.

"Phantom…", Brenda said in annoyance, and he shrugged.

"Oh, fine.", he said, and turned the channel to TV Royale. He vanished, and Brenda closed her eyes.

"Thank you…", she whispered, and fell asleep instantly, her arms wrapped around an already dreaming Meg.

"Good evening, everyone, and welcome to tonight's TV Royale.", the Wizard on the screen said quietly, almost as if he somehow knew who he was speaking to. "The weather remains unchanged, save for a single dark stormcloud rolling in from the center of the Continent of the Clans."

A single note of recognition and alarm dinged at the back of Brandy's mind, but she was too tired to care.

"I would normally now talk about the recent best matches of today, but there is something far more exciting going on tonight.", the Wizard continued, and stood up from his seat. He pushed in his chair, and winked at the camera. "Now excuse me, while I go fetch my associate."

"Here you are, Gorbachev.", Max said, as he re-entered the room upon a pair of roller skates. He flicked off the light with a single nod of his finger, and expertly tilted a large plate right into the waiting arms of a Goblin Giant. "It's a Cheez-n-onion Monstroburger, your favorite. Now enjoy."

Gorbachev took the burger in waiting hands, taking out a big bite. His hangers-on quickly set about with napkins, cleaning crumbs and stray sauce from the face of their master.

"It's a nice night to relax, isn't it?", Bowza whispered, pulling Agatha just a little bit closer.

"It is.", she replied, picking up another bottle of aged Elixir from a nearby cooler. "A lovely night to just sit, and relax, and be with everyone…"

"There's some real romance in the air.", Bowza said huskily, and Agatha's eyes closed. "The wind is indeed thick with-"

"HEEEEYYYY KKIIIDDDSS!", shouted the TV with a volume that had never before been achieved in history, the sheer force of it nearly shaking the TV from its foundations. Max stumbled, very nearly dropping his plate- but he suddenly righted himself without even a flash of movement. Brandy's eyes shot open from her near-sleep as she Dashed onto Dan's shoulder, wrapping herself around his neck. Brenda and Meg leaped out from behind the box they had been sleeping next to, instantly disappearing into another stack. Chloe just sort of appeared, landing in utter confusion on the seat next to Elizabeth and Sadie.

"I'm sure you've been wondering ALL MONTH what October's season them is going to be, HAVEN'T YOU?", the odd-looking figure on the TV screen screamed, pointing an oddly judgemental figure outwards. "Well, let BINKY show you!"

"Now, now, calm it down Binky.", said the Wizard, sliding into his seat with a highly forced chuckle. "We don't want to scare our viewers."

But Binky seemed not to care. He just kept screaming, his voice blasting into the ears of everyone that could hear. "It's time to do JUMPING JACKS with BINKY the CLOWN!"

To the Wizard's total astonishment, Binky the Clown pushed the entire newsdesk aside, and began to frantically do jumping jacks. "ONE TWO ONE TWO ONE TWO ONE TWO-"  
"I said that's enough, Binky!", the Wizard shouted, and Binky sat down again with a devilish smile on his face. "As Binky was trying to say, the gods have decided that the theme of the season for this next month is-"

Both Binky and the Wizard gestured dramatically to a huge banner in the middle of the screen, with the name of the season proudly plastered all over it. "SHOCKTOBER!"

The Wizard motioned off-screen, and the banner rolled up. He brought up his hand, and Binky threw a whipped cream pie into his face.

Chloe laughed, as did some of the Goblins. There were some other few small chuckles, and the Wizard burned the cream away. "But before we tell you about all the Cool New Things, there are some important balance changes we'd like to address."

All the Troops in the room, which had previously been in either a state of shock and/or relaxation, suddenly straightened up. No matter what or who you were, a Balance Change was always a big deal.

"Firstly, the knockback strength of the Giant Snowball will be…", the Wizard said, and Sadie held her breath. "Reduced by 17%."

Sadie pumped her arm, and grinned. "Yes!", she whispered to herself. "I hate Giant Snowballs."

"Hunters,", the Wizard continued, "Will have their damage increased by 2%. They've all been underperforming just a little bit lately."

Both Oticat's and SpaceKrakenX's Hunters, sitting next to each other, crossed guns and mustaches, giving each other a big, leather gloved high-five. Brenda's eye twitched a little bit, even though she was fast asleep.

"The mighty, meta-defining Fisherman will have damage reduced by 6%, and HP reduced by 5%.", the Wizard said, pointing to a userates and winrates chart that had been put in front of the camera at the very last second. "They're just too good."

"Not better than me thought, right?", Brandy mumbled.

Dan smiled down at her, rubbing one hand through her hair. "No. No one is."

"And yes,", the Wizard continued, "All Wallbreakers everywhere will now have a reason to rejoice. In just one of the reworks we have planned, they will be getting -10% to damage…"

Oticat's pair of Wallbreakers, Ban and NotBan, stopped mid-cheer. They looked down at the floor in disappointment, but the changes were not done yet.

"And mass increased by 100%.", said the Wizard, looking up into the camera with a determined smile. "And their Elixir cost reduced from 3, to 2."

Ban and NotBan looked at each other, screamed in ecstatic joy, and then ran away into the upper levels of the Castle to find something to blow up.

"Night Witches, you better find some nice new names.", the Wizard said, trying to ignore Binky riding on a unicycle somewhere behind him. "Because we're adding two more Bats into your deathspawn, and your flock."

Oticat and SpaceKrakenX looked around, and shrugged. Oticat didn't have a Night Witch. SpaceKrakenX had every card, but his Night Witch was a rarely-used loner, and wasn't here right now.

"And yes, the rumors are true.", the Wizard said, and leaned forward on his elbow. He heard Binky crash somewhere in the studio behind him, and he grinned in slightly sadistic glee. "The gods are, indeed, reworking the Witch."

Bowza sat up, tapping Agatha on the forehead. "Honey, wake up.", he said. "This is important."

"I know, Bowza", Agatha said, her forehead beaded with the sweat of nervous excitement. "I know."

"As soon as these changes go live, all Witches everywhere will receive the following stat changes.", the Wizard said. He picked up a piece of paper from the ground, and began to read.

"Hitpoints. -12%. Damage. +220%. Hitspeed: -40% Splash. -45%. Skeletons spawned go from 3 to 4, so pick out a good name for the little dude. Spawn time increased from 5 to 7 seconds. And the previous deathspawn is now removed."

He took a deep breath, and looked up. "Thank you, that is all. Good night, and hey."

He gave the camera a big thumbs up, and winked- the signal to end the broadcast. "Good _luck _out there!"

As the camera turned off, the last thing anyone saw was a flash of pink light, Binky streaking towards the Wizard's head at unnatural speed.

Bowza felt Agatha trembling, her hands over her mouth. "Honey?", he asked, and she looked down. "I'm sorry, I-"

Agatha threw back her head, and laughed. She dropped her staff onto the ground, unexpectedly snorting as she giggled uncontrollably. Her cheeks began to hurt from smiling so much- she wasn't really used to it.

"I love it!", she squealed, most of the room staring in shock. They had never seen her act like this before. She, like all Witches, had always been so serious.

"Avaya!", Agatha shouted, turning around. "Gimme some!"

"Alright!", Avaya said, and they both summoned up a Skeleton. The two bags of bones bounded towards each other, meeting in an explosive high-five before they melted back into the floor.

"This- this is crazy!", she said, her eyes lighting up with glee. "This is everything I've ever wanted!"

Agatha stood up, and blew a kiss towards the sky. "Thank you, gods! Thank you!"

"And now,", said a Villager that had appeared on the screen, the TV turning back on with a flourish of blue, "We will return to your regularly scheduled programming."

She moved her finger across her throat, and the viewpoint on the screen changed from her to a rather infamous title card. "And now, here's the newest episode of Real Gobbowives!"

A bolt of lightning flashed out from somewhere in the audience, originating from Nicholas the Electro Wizard. It sliced into the TV with a thunderous crack, splitting it down the middle. Sparks flew out, spraying across the knees and faces of everyone in the front row.

"Booo!", Nicholas drawled, deep in the throes of drunkenness. "I hate Real Gobbowives!"

"Nicholas?", Oticat asked, trying to remain as calm as he could. "Did you just blow up the TV?"

Nicholas tried to think of something clever to say, about how it was all just a trick and that the TV was fine, but then he slowly realized that he actually had destroyed it, and everyone was now sitting in almost total darkness.

"Uh… yeah.", he said. "Yeah, I did."

"Then you're going to have to fix it.", said Oticat, Chloe sticking out her tongue from next to him.

"How?", Nicholas asked.

"Figure it out.", Oticat said, and gestured towards what he thought were the Builders. It was too dark to really tell. "Get the Builders to help you."

"The Builders are still in a coma.", Sadie said.

"Really?", Oticat asked in confusion. "Then who did I just point to?"

"That would be Mr. Wall, Dad.", said Elizabeth. Oticat squinted, and he could just barely manage to make out the form of Mr. Wall the Golem, who gave him a rocky smile and a friendly wave.

"Aha.", Oticat asked. "Hey, could someone turn on the lights-"

There was a flash of movement from the floor, and another pair of lightning bolts flew up to the circuit breaker. The room was briefly bathed in noonday sun, then again was plunged back into darkness.

Oticat massaged the bridge of his nose, and tried not to yell. "Nicholas?", he asked.

"Yes, sir.", Nicholas mumbled. "Me and the boys will get to that right away."

"See that you do-", Oticat said, then stopped. "Wait. You and… the boys?"

"Sure.", Nicholas said, and gestured around him. Oticat peered through the darkness, and was able to a bunch of Wizards around him. There were a pair of Ice Wizards and even another Electro Wizard as well. "Me and the boys."

Oticat waved his hand, and settled back further into his seat. "Well, okay then. Guess I'll be just going to bed."

"That's a good idea.", Brandy mumbled. "Dan, let's head to bed."

"You sure, honey?", Dan asked, stroking her arm with one finger. "Why don't we just sleep down here? That's what everyone else is doing."

Brandy managed to gather enough energy to look up, and saw that Dan was right. Not one of the Troops had even moved from their spot- except for a single Fire Spirit, who was dancing maniacally with Randy across the kitchen ceiling.

"Oh, but I wanna go sleep in our bed.", Brandy said. "Besides, everyone's watching..."

"Brandy…", Dan groaned. "I'm tired. Can't we-"

Brandy frowned, and grabbed Dan by the neck. She expertly run her forehead across his chin, right where he was the most sensitive. "Do you really think so?"

Dan rolled his eyes, and breathed in. Golden light began to sparkle around his body, and some of the Troops around him began to stir in confusion and annoyance. "Well, alright."

"Thanks, Dan.", Brandy said, and held on to his arm even tighter. "You're the best."

"Secret…", Dan breathed out, and both he and Brandy began to fade. "Technique… Overdrive."

The two vanished in a spark of Star, leaving behind a few dozen confused Troops. All of Oticat's knew what Dan could do by now, but it was still mostly an unknown to the majority of SpaceKrakenX's.

"Was that… Star?", SpaceKrakenX himself whispered, leaning forward with his hand on his chin. "Amazing…"

"You know about it?", Oticat asked. "How?"

SpaceKrakenX straightened back up again, and adjusted his glasses. "Well…"

Outside the castle, prowling around the bottom, was a someone. That someone was tall and thin, his weapon slung expertly around his back. He sniffed the air, searching for a very particular target.

"Find anything yet?", his radio squawked. The someone grimaced, and put the phone next to his ear.

"No, not yet.", he sighed. "But I smell his biosignature. He can't be very far away."

"What are you doing snooping around here for?", said the voice on the other line. "Why would he be here? That doesn't make any sense."

"Yes, I know.", said the someone, taking off his hat and then flipping it back on. "And yet…"

He heard a small noise coming from the front door of the castle. He snapped back to attention, and gestured to a nearby bush. "Hide me!"

There was a movement from the bush, as both it and the someone vanished into thin air, not taking their eyes off of the Builder that had just walked outside with a big bag of trash.

Tom the Builder was the only one that hadn't been involved in construction that day- he had been helping coordinate and clean. But as he walked outside, trash over his shoulder, he could have sworn that he was not alone.

"Ello?", he asked, looking out into the dark. "Is anyone there?"

But there was no answer, only total silence. Not even the sounds of the crickets chirping, or the night birds singing as they flew by.

"Huh.", Tom grunted, as he threw the bag of trash into an Inferno pit, not noticing the suspicion of total silence. "It must have been nothing."

As Tom headed back inside, the someone and the bush both heaved a sigh of relief. "That was close-"

_Have you found him yet?, _the someone heard inside of his head. He shivered, and readjusted his hat.

"No, sir.", he said. "But I think I'm getting-"

_Thinking and getting are two different things, _hissed the voice in anger. _Now go. Get him for me._

"Yes, master.", the someone sighed, and ran off into the night.

Ten minutes later, Brandy and Dan lay in their bed, both totally exhausted.

"Thanks, Dan.", Brandy said. "For that."

Dan yawned, stretching as he put his arm over her. She lay on top of him, comfortably sandwiched. Their sleeping arrangement was always like this- Dan slept like a stone, not moving even an inch throughout the entire night. That was how it had to be, or Brandy would be crushed by his tremendous 2450 pound body. "You're welcome, honey."

"It's wonderful, isn't it?", Brandy asked as she closed her eyes. "This life."

"Yeah.", said Dan after a moment of thought. "I guess it really is."

"I mean, the future…", Brandy said, grasping at the ceiling. "It's just so huge!"

In her mind, visions of stars and planets appeared, rushing across the ceiling at high speed. "The world is so big, and there's so much stuff in it. Every single person you see has a story."

She snuggled up closer to Dan, burying her face within the rock-solid muscles on his arm. "And most of all, I'm glad that I get to share it with you."

Dan smiled, and he used the smallest bit of Star he could muster to gently stroke Brandy's back and ears. "Me too, Brandy. Me too."

Then they both closed their eyes, and fell asleep.

"_All will tremble.", came a rumbling voice. "Before I, the great-"_

_There was a burst of blue light, and Brandy found herself within a dark cave. Cursed stalagmites run up and down its entire length, only stopping before a gargantuan dark shape._

"_For, in its rebirth, many will suffer.", the shape boomed, sending chills of fear running down Brandy's spine. "Many will suffer, and many will die."_

_A tremendous hand snaked out from the darkness where the shape lay, its fingers forming into dozens of dark silhouettes. "But none of that matters, really…"_

_Brandy's point of view suddenly rocketed to the shape, and she could see one massive eye open in a blood red pool. "When you're building a perfect world."_

_The entire scene suddenly fell away, and Brandy found herself in a forest. The area was oddly calm, considering what she had just seen._

"_This is…", Brandy said, putting one hand against a tree. "The Dreamer. Right."_

_She looked around, searching for anything that might have been of significance. "I've got to pay attention, got to take notes…"_

"_Dad?", came a voice from the copse of trees behind, clearly in immense pain. "Is that really you?"_

_Brandy turned around, and the treeline turned with her. She spun to her right, the trees keeping pace with her every movement. _

"_Yes, it is.", said a voice that was both totally foreign and oddly familiar. "Now, come to papa."_

_There was a tremendous bolt of lightning, and the scene changed again._

_This time, Brandy saw that she was in a curious sort of room. A map of the Continent of the Clans hung from a single, rotting nail. Woven images of clocks adorned the fabric walls, the only colors dark grey and muted blue. More rooms led to what seemed like tranquil offices beyond. There was a fishtank in one corner of the room, filled to the brim with the skeletons of aquatic nightmares. _

"_Good day, Brandy-", came a voice, but a loud alarm sound cut off the rest. "The time is now 37850. You are-"_

_The scene twisted again, and Brandy saw nothing. Nothing, but a glowing blue and orange light. The image was, for some odd reason, horrifying beyond belief. Brandy screamed in terror, and _she jolted back into wakefulness. Brandy almost squirmed out of Dan's firm grip on instinct, before realizing what was going on.

_Oh, _she thought. _It was a dre- no, a vision. I have to find out what it meant._

Then she yawned, and settled back into her sleeping vision again. _Tomorrow..._

Brandy fell asleep again, trying to shake off the feeling of unease that gnawed at her like an inescapable disease.

Song: Ancientry

The dark cave at the center of the Continent of the Clans sat high on a mountaintop, overlooking empty fields in all directions. No one dared build their village there- the danger of sudden destruction was far too great. Numerous were the tales of entire armies that passed that way, only to vanish, and never return. A terrible hum rose from it, as the night closed in and stormclouds besieged the horizon.

If one were to enter the cave, they would feel it before anything else. An inescapable aura of raw, palpable evil that blanketed the area like stone. A dark feeling that if you were to stand in front of the entrance too long, you would get sucked in, to whatever horrifying fate awaited you.

The only movement inside the blackstone monolith came from its very center, where certain plans were being made.

"Everyone.", rumbled the great Dragonlord Rakastamos, as he lounged tremendous across the entire center of the cave. He still shrouded himself in shadows, only his eyes and teeth visible to the army of otherworldly Troops that stood in awe before him. "Thank you all for coming."

He chuckled at his own joke, and several members of the audience let out a nervous laugh, before he cut them off with a single cruel stare.

"Good work on the plan so far.", he continued. "The legendary lost Blood Elixir Storage has been recovered, and so far is at 15% capacity. Tremon?"

One of the Troops made some quick calculations in his head, then looked up. "It will be full in approximately 8 days, my lord."

"Good, good.", Rakastamos said, with a nod of approval. "In the meantime…"

He flexed his massive wings, sending a shower of broken rock throughout the cave. There was a gesture from somewhere in the audience, and a magical shield appeared to protect and absorb. Rakastamos smiled, and continued his speech.

"We must allow absolutely nothing to impede my- our, progress.", he said. "So until the Blood Elixir Storage is full, here's the plan."

The army leaned in closer to listen, and Rakastamos slumped forward on giant claws.

"I'm splitting you all into groups.", he said, then thought a bit. "Well, most of you. Some of you will work better on your own."

He gestured to somewhere behind the group, to a still pool of water. He was met with the rise of the surface, and a wave of a giant tentacle.

"Until I recall you, which will be in eight days time, you are to patrol these lands. Destroy anything and anyone that might pose a threat."

He put his hand to his mighty chin, then laughed. "In fact, just destroy anything that isn't a Dragon. That's the whole point of the plan, anyway."

There was a click and a hum from one of the strange Troops, and Rakastamos looked down in curiosity.

"My lord.", came the robotic voice. "Anything that isn't a Dragon? Anything?"

Rakastamoss stroked his chin, then shrugged. "I suppose that Minions can stay. They are offshoots of the superior Dragon race, after all."

"What about Skeletons?", asked another. "Are those good?"

"I suppose I've never really minded Skeletons.", Rakastamos said, and closed his eyes. "Destroy any that attack you or resist, leave the rest alone."

"What about-", asked another, but Rakastamos stopped her with a glare. He held up his hand, addressing the entire cave at once.

"Save any Dragons, and bring them to me.", he boomed. "Minions as well. Destroy Skeletons only if you must. However, you are to slaughter without mercy _anything else_. And yes, that includes Goblins, Golems, Pekkas, Hogs- although actually no, bring those back alive, they taste quite nice. But…"

He narrowed his eyes, hatred striking across them in cold bolts of lightning. "_Humans_ are the most important target."

He reared up to his full height, scraping the ceiling far overhead with his sheer size. "For once my plan is complete, and I drink the Blood Elixir, my powers will swell beyond comprehension. I battled the gods once, and that strength will be mine once again!"

The crowd roared, bowing down to their age-old master. "Yes, Dragonlord Rakastamos!"

Rakastamos grinned, and raised his clenched fist. "And once I rule the world, cleansing it of all non-Dragonkinds, you shall all rule beside me! For you are my chosen, my great!"

He pointed to a shape in the audience, that hovered with burning dark strength.

"Taklavastoss!", he roared. "When you came to me, it was because the gods deemed you too powerful to fight in the Arenas. Once they come face to face with your wrath, they will regret their every decision!"

He pointed to another shape, a hulking mass of muscle that somehow managed to stand upright underneath the weight of his armor and decoration.

"Bonoome!", Rakastamos bellowed. "Your thirst for combat was beyond what even the Arenas could provide! But I was able to provide you with all the battles you desired!"

With maniacal energy, Rakastamoss pointed around and around the cave, indicating his finest warriors. "Glissener! Tablac! Vilisteel! Bralkstrassen! All of you were rejected by the gods, and found true meaning in me!"

The crowd cheered, stamping their weapons on the floor in a terrifying display. "Yes!"

Rakastamos leaned down, putting his head next to a shining figure in white in grey.

"And then, there's you.", he purred, trying not to scare her. "New girl."

The figure took a step back in fear, but overall held her ground. "Y-yes?"

"You're certainly an interesting one.", said Rakastamos, contracting his pupil to get a better look. "Why, with some training, I think you could be one of my strongest warriors."

"Really?", she asked, pointing to herself. "Me? But I'm just a-"

"Oh, you are not just anything.", Rakastamos said. "You're mine. My chosen. You're special. You will be one of the ones to survive at the very end of the world, and look out over it as your domain."

"Oh…", the ghostly figure said in surprised happiness, and brushed her hair behind her ear.

Rakastamos reared up again, and looked around the room. "Right.", he said. "I suppose that I should assign partners…"

All across the cave, each and every Troop felt themselves drawn to another. They heard Rakastamos's voice in their head, telling them who their partner would be for the next week.

"Bralkstrassen, you're with Tremon."

"Glissener, you're with Tremaine."

"Ashnak, you're with Carvstein."

Many more assignments were made, most of them being met with excitement. High-fives and handshakes were assigned, with even the occasional friendly exchange of chaotic energy. But there were two matches which were met with trepidation.

"New girl, you're with Taklavastoss.", Rakastamos rumbled, pointing down at the two.

The girl looked at the menacing dark figure in the air in front of her, and visibly shivered. "I… don't want to be with him.", she said. "He kind of scares me."

"Come now, Taklavastoss won't hurt you.", Rakastamos said. "Why, I practically raised the boy. He's loyal to me, and thus to you, almost to a fault. You can trust him."

"Yes.", the dark figure said. "But don't hold my hand or anything. You won't have it anymore."

"I wasn't going to.", the new girl mumbled, but by then Rakastamos had already moved on.

"I refuse to partner up vith zis disguzting creature.", spat the man known as Vilisteel. "Look at it."

The thing he had been given to partner up with was a hideous sight, stumbling on two rotten legs as it swayed back on forth. Its mouth dripped with thick green spit, its eyes barely even visible underneath the helmet of rot.

"Vilisteel, you will be paired up with whoever I wish.", Rakastamos growled. "And Ugof is a fine… uh… specimen."

"He contrasts sharply vith my own skills.", Vilasteel huffed. "He is barely even functional. An animal, a beast."

The rotting, stumbling abomination known as Ugof slowly made his way to the only form of life growing in the cave, a small copse of mushrooms and other fungi that ran in a glowing line all the way up to the ceiling. It looked up, breathed in, and raised its fists.

"UBASHAAAAAAAA!", it screamed, as it launched the oozing toxins on its fists at the tower of fungus. It took only seconds for the raging infection to travel the entire length of the growth, turning the entire thing to dust that fell and scattered upon the floor. Ugof stood there in the middle of the devastation, heaving and dripping toxic slime.

Vilisteel's eyes widened, and he smirked. "On second thought…"

He slung his bowstring behind his back, taking out a pair of thick white gloves. "He will do."


	12. Important Notice

IMPORTANT NOTE

From now on, I will be uploading on Archive of our own as well. Both sites, just in case you were wondering.


	13. Chapter 12

"Cookies! I made cookies!"

The cry rang throughout the rooms of the Legendary floor of Oticat's castle, as the bright rays of the late morning slowly filtered throughout the halls.

"Wha…", Brandy mumbled, her eyelids fluttering open. She sat up, smacked her lips together, and yawned, stretching all the way back down onto Dan's torso. "Cookies?"

The words banged around inside of her head for a few moments, before they made contact with the conscious part of Brandy's brain. Her eyes shot open, and she straightened up almost immediately.

"Mmph.", Dan mumbled, and slowly raised his head. "Honey, what are you doing-"

Brandy placed one hand on Dan's arm, using her momentum to catapult herself off the bed and onto the floor. "Just waking up."

Brandy landed on the floor with a slight thud, muffled by her impeccable form. She grabbed her freshly washed cloak from where it had been hanging on a nearby chair, swinging it around her shoulders with a bright flourish. With another quick set of movements, she slipped on her socks and boots, then reached for her gloves. "Aren't you waking up too?"

With a massive movement, Dan slowly sat up. He rubbed his eyes, and stared dead ahead.  
"Yeah.", he said. "I guess I am."

He stuck out his arms to the side in a T, while Brandy pulled on her slick gloves. Dan's armor, which had been placed on the other side of the room the night before, flew to him in an instant, guided to the perfect spots on his body by the Star that swirled around him. The cloud of golden light fell back into him as the armor congregated on his body, then disappeared. He left the front of the helmet off, though- Brandy liked that.

"Who said something about cookies?", Brandy asked, turning her head to sniff the air. "I heard someone calling."

"I think it was Helen.", Dan said, standing up from the bed. "You know, the Villager."

"Right…", Brandy said, thinking of Helen's tendency and talent of cooking. "Probably her."

She was about to say something more, when she felt Dan scoop her up by the waist, placing her gently onto his shoulders. "Let's go get some breakfast, Brandy. I'm starving."

"Good idea.", Brandy said. "Probably grab some cookies on the way."

Dan opened the door, stooping so as not to hit either his or Brandy's heads on the doorframe. They walked out to head downstairs, leaving the stillness of their room behind. They were still both too tired to quite here the muffled laughter coming from around the corner, by three mischievous individuals.

Song: Silver Twist

"It's a bright, early, sunny day on the Continent of Royale.", said the radio cheerily, barely even able to be heard over the sounds of frying eggs, bacon, and especially pancakes that were right next to it. "For all of you living up near Frozen Peak, though, be on the lookout. I hear there's a snowstorm in the area."

Crink the Mini Pekka, not wanting to hear any more rhetorical nonsense, used an extra-long finger extension to flip the channel to something different.

"The Continent of the Clans is currently-"

"Locals report-"

"The entire Village of Ty85 gone missing-"

Crink was sure that it was interesting news to some people, but he did not wish to hear it. He scrolled through several more channels, including old news reels, a Goblin talk show, and some assorted music before coming to his favorite- a seemingly endless conversation between a Mini Pekka and a regular one.

"Butterfly.", said the Pekka.

"Pancakes.", the Mini Pekka responded in kind.

"Butt. Er. Fly.", said the Pekka, with a sudden stroke of genius.

"Pan...cakes?", the Mini Pekka guessed, not really knowing how to handle that type of retort. Crink nodded in agreement, in awe at this Mini Pekka's soul and wit.

"Ey, Crink!", came a voice from behind. "How about hooking me up with some of that food, huh?"

Crink turned around to see Dan, and put his hands on his hips. A plume of smoke rose out the sides of his head, which turned a bright red and spun around.

"Oh, sorry.", Dan said, and bowed a little. "_Chef_ Crink."

Crink pretended not to hear him, and turned back around. He focused all of his attention on the food he was cooking, refusing to give Dan any. He had slighted his honor as chef, and thus did not deserve anything in Crink's eye.

"Dan, I got this.", Brandy whispered, as she saw Dan begin to clink his fingers together in annoyance at the Mini Pekka. "Don't worry."

"Can I have some?", Brandy asked. Crink brightened up, and turned around. He spread out his hands, as if indicating Brandy to make a selection.

"Yeah, uh…", Brandy said, and put her fingers to her chin, leaning back on one foot. "Lemme get a… 12-piece bacon pancake with a foot-tall of OJ, make a platter of toast. Medium rare."

She elbowed Dan in the hand, and winked. He winked back, but Crink failed to notice. He merely switched out one of his spatula hands for a huge plate with a single perfect motion, loading up a massive payload of food onto it. He swung around towards Brandy, handing her a plate that was nearly as large as she was.

"Thank you, Crink.", she said, straining under the weight. "I'll just- oof- let Dan help me hold this one, if you don't mind?"  
Crink gave Dan a grumped-out stare, but said nothing. He merely returned to his work, and began to cook up another fresh batch of breakfast fodder.

"Now, where were those cookies Helen was talking about-", Brandy said, then saw the mentioned sitting calmly at a nearby table. "Ah! There!"

When Helen saw Brandy and Dan approach her, her old hands instantly flew to her skirt. She straightened up any lines she had in the cloth, then formed her hair into a tighter shape within a second. By the time Brandy hopped off Dan's shoulder and onto the table, Helen had managed to make herself look at least somewhat presentable- or so she hoped.

"Brandy! Dan!", she said. "What brings you two kids to my table?"

"Where are those cookies you were talking about?", Brandy asked, but Helen only looked confused.

"Cookies?", she asked, before Double, Trouble, and Tim at the next table over exploded with laughter.

"Haha!", Double laughed, clapping her hands together. "You fell for it!"

Trouble looked up from rolling around long enough to point right at Brandy. "You thought it was Helen talking about her cookies, but it was I, Trouble!"

Tim said nothing, as he wasn't that big of a talker. But he laughed.

"Really?", Brandy said, her keen eyes noticing something underneath their table. "Then what are…"

In a Dash and a flash, Brandy disappeared, grabbed one of whatever was in the box, and almost instantly returned to her seat. She turned the object over in her hand. "Huh."

Double looked down, then back up, trying to follow Brandy's pattern of movement. "Okay, okay, so we do have cookies. I guess that you can try one."

"They're chocolate chip.", said Trouble. "We both know how much you love those, right?"

"Neat.", Brandy said, and took a big bite. But as soon as she did so, all the Rascals burst out laughing yet again. Double wiped away a tear from her eyes, trying to form words.

"You fell for it again!", Trouble said. "Those weren't chocolate chip, those were oatmeal raisin!"

But Brandy kept on munching, much to the twins's chagrin. "What?", she said, giving them what almost nearly was The Look. "I _like _oatmeal raisin."

Nicolas the Electro Wizard clapped his hands together, and took a step back. He looked at the TV, which was now 6 feet across, flatscreen, slightly glowing, and powered via hooked-up Elixir pump. All in all, he and the boys were quite proud of their work.

"Hey, Oticat!", he shouted, trying to attract the King's attention. "TV's fixed!"

Oticat poked his head around the corner. "Oh, it is?"

Then he took a look at it, and boggled his eyes. "Uh, wow. Looks… different."

"Yeah, thought I should upgrade it a bit.", said Nicolas with a shrug. "I could, so why not- am I right?"  
"Right…", Oticat said, and grabbed a sparking remote from the end table. It bent in his hands like rubber as he picked it up. "Well, let's see how it works."

"Now, I haven't tested it yet.", said Nicolas. "So just be warned, it might-"

Oticat, not really listening, flicked on the TV. It hummed for a moment, then immediately showed an odd looking cartoon of a muscular man in yellow throwing a steamroller onto an equally muscular man in purple and black. It was quite bizarre.

She turned to Dan, sneaking an arm up towards his shoulder. She only reached his elbow, but it was the thought that really counted. "Dan?", she asked quietly.

Dan looked up from shoveling a pile of food into his mouth. "Hmm?"

Brandy looked down, at the envelope that she held in her hand. She had no memory of grabbing it from their room- it must have been a subconscious action. "I had another dream last night."

"Mmm…", Dan said, and swallowed. "What of?"

"It wasn't just a dream, Dan.", Brandy said, tapping him on the arm. "It was a Dream. Like, a The Dreamer dream."

"Oh.", Dan said, and slowly put down his plate. He seemed serious now, more so than he had been for weeks. "Tell me about it."

Song: Rubicon

"There was… a Dragon.", Brandy said, recalling what she had seen in her vision from the night before. "But he wasn't just any Dragon. He was… different. Huge. Powerful"

Dan listened intently, nodding his head. He saw brief images flash in Brandy's eyes, but it was hard to tell what exactly they were.

"He was talking about… saving the world. Somehow.", Brandy continued. "And he was in some huge cave. And I think that… we were there."

"Where was the cave?", Dan asked. "Did you find out?"

"I didn't need to find out.", Brandy said, and leaned down. With a quick "excuse me, sorry", she grabbed a newspaper out of the hands of a nearby Goblin and brought it up to the table. "Look."

Plastered across the entire front page was a massive, if grainy, photograph of what looked to be an enormous golden Dragon in flight, spreading fire across an entire village. _VILLAGE UTTERLY DESTROYED!, _screamed the headline. _No survivors. And not like regular destroyed, either. The Village didn't come back this time., _said the words underneath in regular type.

Dan's eyes looked more and more worried as his gaze slowly went down the newspaper.

"Do you think that this is what you dreamed?", he said. Brandy nodded.

"We're supposed to go there, Dan.", she said, looking pleadingly up into his eyes. "That's what The Dreamer says. And plus…"

She took the envelope from her hands, laying it onto the kitchen table. "I think my parents are over there. I need to find them."

"Right.", said Dan quietly, staring forward into nothing. "I guess we never did that."

"Honey, are you okay?", Brandy asked, reaching her arm up the length of his. "You're acting a bit strange."

"No, I'm fine.", Dan said. "I'm just thinking. About… what could be over there."

"You mean you want to come?", Brandy asked hopefully.

Dan looked at her a little funny, then scratched her back with a single huge stroke. "Of course I want to come!", he said warmly. "Why wouldn't I?"

"I wanna come!", said Chloe, as she slid in next to them with a cheerful laugh. "Where are we going?"

Brandy stiffened, and Dan almost choked. It took a bit for them to form words, Dan giving himself a few stone-breaking beats on the chest.

"Uh…", Brandy said, looking around in desperation. Her eyes fell on a bottle of honey, and she got an idea. She waved her hands in front of her face, hoping to distract Chloe from the conversation that she and Dan had been having.  
"We were just talking about where we were going to go for our honeymoon!", she said, glancing at Dan for approval.

_We already went on our honeymoon!, _he thought. _The uncharted forests, remember?_

_Yes, but Chloe doesn't know that, _Brandy thought back. _Just play along._

"Didn't you already do the honey moon thing?", Chloe asked, scratching her cheek.

Brandy's eyes widened, and she looked up at Dan. Her hands were still in front of her face.

"Um, yes.", Dan said. "But this is our second honeymoon. You know about second honeymoon, don't you Chloe?"

Chloe just tilted her head, almost like a little bird.

"I don't think she knows about second honeymoon, Dan.", Brandy said.

"What's all this, then?", asked Bowza, as he suddenly appeared next to Dan in a flash of golden light. Agatha was next to him, looking around in confusion.

"Bowza, what?", she mumbled, digging around in her pockets. "I haven't even put on my contacts yet! Why are we downstairs?"

"I'm sorry.", Bowza said. "I was just drawn to Dan's great emotions, and teleported automatically."

"Great, let's just make it a party, why don't we?", Brandy whispered under her breath. "It's not like we're talking about a secret operation or anything."

"Secret operation?", Chloe asked excitedly, and Brandy flinched. "Can I come?"

"NO!", Brandy screamed, then sat down. "I mean, no. Sorry, this is a private thing. Just me and Dan."

"Brandy?", Dan asked, and tapped her on the shoulder with a single spark of Star. "You might want to look up."

Brandy looked up, to see most of, if not actually all, of the Troops in the kitchen and dining room all staring at her. Her sudden outburst had attracted the attention of many.

"Heh, uh, sorry…", she giggled, and smoothed out her skirt. "Just, uh… overreacting to nothing, is all."

"No, you can't come, Chloe.", she said after sitting down again. "A honeymoon is just between two people."

"A honeymoon?", Bowza asked. "I thought you already had yours."

Brandy looked towards Agatha, meeting her eyes with an expression that read _talk to me in private._ Agatha nodded, and Brandy relaxed a bit.

"But you said it was a secret operation!", Chloe whined, slumping down into a floppy state on the table's bench. "That's not a honey moon!"

"Well, it's, uh…secret operation themed!", Dan said, making sure that his voice was loud enough to be heard from anywhere else in the room. "Yes, we are having a themed, second honeymoon on the Continent of the Clans, for anywhere from 1 to 3 weeks, starting very soon. Because we just love each other that much- don't we, Brandy?"

Brandy, sensing her queue, rubbed up against Dan's chest and closed her eyes. "That is right, honey."

The rest of Oticat's Troops, their curiosity appeased, turned away and resumed eating. Chloe walked away to join her sisters at the table in the center of the room. But Agatha and Bowza weren't so easily satisfied.

"Brandy.", Agatha said, a single random Skeleton popping up from somewhere behind her. "Something tells me that you're not really planning your second honeymoon."

Brandy looked around to make sure that no one was watching, which no one was. "No.", she whispered, then winced.

"Then tell me.", Agatha said. "What is it that you're planning?"

Brandy breathed in, then looked up. "Can't we talk about this somewhere else?"

Agatha gently placed her contacts in, then nodded. "That would be good. Bowza? Dan? Take us away."

Bowza but his arm around Agatha, and Dan around Brandy. There were twin flashes of golden light, and the two pairs vanished, leaving nothing behind but a faint gold symbol of a sword and the smell of electricity in the air.

Brave the Baby Dragon hopped up onto the table, where Dan had left the majority of his food.

_Awesome!, _he thought, and eagerly began to lap it all up. _Score one crown for the mighty Brave!_

Once the four arrived upstairs, Brandy tried to explain everything at once.

"I had a dream last night, but it wasn't just a regular dream, it was a The Dreamer dream, and there was this huge evil dragon but we were there and also there was this weird office and-"

"Woah, woah, Brandy.", Agatha said, patting one hand onto the air to get her to calm down. "Calm down. I can't understand you when you talk so fast."

"Okay.", Brandy said, shaking her head. She looked up again, and spoke.

"Me and Dan need to go to the Continent of the Clans.", she said.

Bowza arched an eyebrow. "Why?", he asked.

"There's a Dragon. A very important one that we need to go and find", Brandy said, and shrugged.

Agatha blinked, slowly trying to comprehend what Brandy had just said. "What?", she finally forced out.

"I had a Dream.", Brandy said, trying to explain. "There was a Dragon that said… something. At least, I think it was a Dragon. And we were there- me and Dan. And… I think that it means that we're supposed to go and find him."

Agatha touched the corner of her eye, dabbing away a single tear. She sniffed, and looked up.

"I knew it.", she said.

"What?", Brandy asked. "What are you talking about?"

"I knew that this would happen.", Agatha said. "I knew that you would try and find your parents eventually. Well, go if you must."

"My parents?", Brandy asked. "I mean, yeah, them too, but I think the real priority is the Dragon."

"Oh, I guess.", Agatha said with a shrug. "But I was really thinking about your parents."

"From the way you're talking, it sounds like you knew them.", Brandy said, suddenly suspicious. "Did you?"

"Perhaps.", Agatha said, then slammed her staff onto the floor. Larry popped out of the floorboards and gave a sharp salute, to which Agatha responded with a coded gaze. Larry jumped into the air and ran off, eager to complete his assigned task.

"Perhaps yes, or perhaps no?", Brandy asked. "Which is it?"

"Just perhaps.", Agatha said, then turned her head towards Bowza. "Light, are you ready yet?"

"And then, you gotta focus it- here's the good part- through your fingernails.", Bowza said, spreading out his hands in front of Dan. "It sounds weird, but trust me, it works."

"Through my fingernails?", Dan asked. "Really?"

"Yup.", Bowza said, and breathed in. Golden Star flowed into his hands, as he extended one finger. He gave a sharp exhalation, and a flash of blue light came from his fingernail that slammed into a book on the far shelf. It spun around once and fell to the floor, still slightly sparking.

"Woah…", Dan said, then breathed in a breath of his own. He had just been about to release it, when he saw both Brandy and Agatha staring at him impatiently. Brandy's foot tapped against the floor, and Agatha folded her arms.

Bowza placed his hands together, and bowed shortly. "I apologize. I was merely teaching Dan some… advanced techniques."

"That's fine.", Agatha said. "Are you ready?"

"Wait, are you guys coming?", Brandy asked. "Because that was not our intention."

"Oh, it wasn't?", Agatha asked in surprise, and she floated back down to the floor. "Sorry. I thought it was."  
She felt a soft tap on her back, and looked down to see Larry jumping up and down, a small glittering ring clasped in his bony hands. He looked up at Agatha with pleading eyes, begging for her to take it.

"Well in that case…", Agatha said, and took the ring. She dropped it into Brandy's waiting hand, who looked at it with curiosity and natural admiration.

"What is it?", Brandy asked, grabbing it between two fingers and staring through it. "Some sort of good luck charm?"

"Close.", Agatha said, and Bowza put his hand on her shoulder.

"It's a very old item.", he said. "Known as the Ring of Three Wishes. We've been holding onto it just in case we need to go on a dangerous journey of some sort."

"Wishes?", Brandy asked in shock, staring at the item in a whole new light. "You mean this thing can grant wishes?"

"No.", Agatha said. "That would be amazing. But it does do something similar."

She grabbed the ring in her fingers, rubbing against two of the raised seams on the side.

"If you twist the ring together and press the button on the top, help will arrive.", she said. "No matter where you are. The help is… unpredictable, to say the very least, and it can only be used three times. But no matter what, help will arrive."

Brandy felt Larry tuck the Ring back into her pockets. She looked forward at Agatha and Bowza, who had served as practically her surrogate parents for basically her entire life. She wasn't sure the next time she would see them again, or how long the journey would take.

"Thank you, Agatha.", she said, and suddenly went forward into a hug. "Thanks… Mom."

Agatha was a little surprised, then she patted Brandy on the back. "You're welcome, Brandy."

Dan held out his fist, and Bowza met it with his own. There was a flash of golden light that briefly illuminated the entire room, before fading into the numerous cracks and corners.

"Well, see you soon.", Bowza said. "You're going on this quest, and all."

"Yup.", Dan said, not sure quite how to express his feelings on the matter. "See ya."

They bumped their own chests with their fists, as proud semi-father to grateful semi-son. The four stood there for a brief second, not knowing quite what to say next- until Agatha shattered the spell.

"Well, don't just stand there.", she said, and winked. "You've probably got a boat to catch."

Approximately half an hour later

"Is that everything?", Brandy asked, struggling under the weight of her pack. "You sure you have everything we need."

"Well, let's see.", said Dan, looking down into the huge barrel that he was carrying. "Some extra armor for me, some extra clothes for you, some extra food and Elixir for the both of us, and some other various, uh, supplies. And stuff."  
He looked up, and gave a huge thumbs up. "Yep, that's everything!"

"Okay, good.", said Brandy, checking to make sure the Ring was still in her pocket, tucked safe and secure in its special pouch. "So… are we gonna leave now?"

"Yeah.", said Dan, but stopped. "I guess that we should."

They stood there for a moment, taking one last look around their room. The shelves were full of things they had collected, reminders of all the things they had done together. On on shelf was Dan's first sword, the one he had used while he was still a new Knight. Next to that was the Ice Golem Card he had found, pretty beaten up but otherwise still in good shape. Then there was a single piece of rubble from the castle of TheEvilOverLords, with a faint permanent marker drawing still scrawled across it. Far across from that was a pair of jars, the magical fluid within somehow managing to keep two Elite Barbarian hearts from collapsing into Elixir. And the grand prize of the whole collection, of course, was a pair of lovely, Gold and Gem wrought statues over the bedside, of Brandy and Dan together.

"You're worried, aren't you?", Brandy asked. "Dan."

"What? No.", Dan said, and Brandy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, maybe."

"Come on.", Brandy said, and Dan gave in.

"Okay, I am kind of worried.", Dan said. "I mean, have you even taken one moment to consider just what it is that we're getting ourselves into?"

"I'm… trying not to.", Brandy said. "But come on, it's not all some quest. We _can _make this our second honeymoon. I already picked out a place for us to stay."

"Really?", Dan asked, and Brandy nodded.

"Yeah. It's a 4-star resort by the coast. We can plan our attacks in luxury. That's actually the place's slogan."

Dan grinned, and picked up another box in his massive arms. "I guess you're right. There's probably nothing to worry about. After all, it's only a short little vacation, with some fighting thrown in."

He strode towards the door, Brandy following in suit. "What could possibly go wrong?"

All things considered, those were probably not the right words to say right before beginning a quest.

Song: Limit Break X Survivor (Relaxed Version)

"Hey, you about to head out?", asked Kars, as he saw Brandy and Dan stumbling down the stairs. He raised his glass of Elixir, and burped.

"Yeah.", Dan said. "Just, uh, going on our second honeymoon is all. Heh."

"Nice!", Kars shouted, filling up his cup with Rage. "Good on you, bro!"

"Good luck!", Sadie said, next to a sulking Oticat.

"My two best Troops are gone again.", he said to himself. "And just before another special challenge…"

"Dad, don't worry.", Elizabeth said. "SpaceKrakenX is here, remember? His Troops can fill in."

Oticat blinked, and sat up straighter. "Why, you're right! And they're even a higher level, too!"

He enthusiastically waved to Brandy and Dan, who waved right back. "Good luck, kids! Don't get into too much trouble!"

Brandy chuckled a nervous laugh, and looked straight ahead. _Oh, I hope._

So intent was Brandy on looking where she was going, that she forgot to look where she was going. She almost tripped over someone slumping in front of a random flight of stairs, somehow managed to catch herself right before she actually fell. She looked down, and frowned.

"Jack?", Brandy asked in annoyance. "What are you doing?"

Jack the Goblin Brawler was lying sprawled out in front of a flight of stairs, turning a mysterious dark purple crystal over and over in his hand. "S' nothing.", he said.

"Hey, Jack.", Dan said. "What is that?"

Jack briefly looked up in annoyance, before returning to the crystal. "Oh, it's just a little something I picked up in the raid."

"Raid?", Brandy asked. "What raid?"

Jack looked up. "What raid? I mean the raid on TheEvilOverLords! What, didn't you come?"  
Brandy opened her mouth to speak, then stopped. She could have yelled at Jack, or told him just what her role was in the raid. But she decided that, in the end, talking to the notoriously thick-headed Goblin Brawler would be like talking to a brick wall.

"Ah.", she finally settled on. "I see."

Having finally reached the door to the outside, Brandy tossed her pack up onto Dan's arms. She turned around, giving one last final wave. "Goodbye, everybody!", she shouted. "See you all in a couple of weeks!"

"Bye!", shouted several Troops, as Dan and Brandy left the Castle, and slowly closed the door.

Fisherman's Wharf was a rather busy place. Dozens of ships left on the hourly, taking food and supplies from everywhere in the world to everywhere else. Slightly less common but still numerous were the travel ships, that carried people from all sorts of lands. Seagulls whirred in the air above, as the docks teemed with dozens of busy Goblin workers, oversaw by a handful of elite Fishermen. The sun loomed overhead, beating down on the dock with a heady mid-fall fury. There were several booths set up, as it was at all famous places, hawking wares ranging from frying pans to double-edged blades. Next to these were the typical crazy people, and the ones who chose to entertain such folks for fun.

"I'm telling you, I am the one who created the world!", slurred a clearly drunken King, his crown hanging low over his eyes. "I- burp -know all!"

"Sure, reddzeppelin, sure.", said Glaizman, a Knight. He slowly picked the King up by the armpits, dragging him off towards a nearby cart. "How about you come with me?"

"Thales!", reddzeppelin gestured wildly, waving his empty bottle of Party Elixir around in the air. "Of Miletus! Read his story! Read-"

Glaizman picked reddzeppelin off of the ground, swinging him into the back of the cart. He gave it a slap on the side, and it took off under its own power. "See that he gets home alright.", he sighed. "He needs it."

Dan and Brandy ran along the docks, carefully making their way through the crowd of smaller Troops. Brandy rode on Dan's shoulder as always, making sure he was going the right way.

"Excuse me, sorry.", he said, picking his way through a warren of Goblins. "I'm sorry, coming through. Sorry!"

"Okay, that's our ship up ahead.", Brandy said, pointing forwards. "The… the uh…"

"The Pesci Flapjack?", Dan asked, trying to read the ship that it looked like Brandy was pointing at.

"No, not that one.", Brandy said with a shake of her head. "Watch out for that Goblin. It was the, uh…"

"The Crappy Diamond?", Dan asked, reading the names of more ships. "The Goblin Stonehenge? The Hail Daria?"

"No…", Brandy said, racking her brain to try and remember the name of the ship. "It was-"

There was a momentary flicker of blue lights behind her head, and Brandy's eyes glowed as she suddenly remembered.

"The Undefined Value!", she shouted, just as she saw the ship up ahead. "That's the one!"

"I see it.", Dan said. "Just up ahead."

He looked out across the dock's crowded boards, calculating where a gap was about to open up in just a few seconds. Within half a second, his combat-oriented brain had come up with exactly the right timing and placement for him to jump- and he took his chance.

Brandy's eyes shot open in alarm, as Dan soared over the momentarily panicking heads of the crowd. He landed just in time to avoid squishing a group of Villagers and their children, who stumbled back in surprise.

"Sorry about that.", Dan said, and winced. "Just in a bit of a hurry, is all."

The Villagers formed up into a line, all ready to tell Dan just exactly what they thought, but he wasn't listening. He had already begun speaking to the Fisherman that was the captain of the Undefined Value, and thus the exact person that they needed to speak to.

"Excuse me, we'd like to buy two tickets to the Continent of the Clans.", Dan said, holding up two fingers. "One trip now, and one for later."

"Three.", the Fisherman croaked. "The Bandit's one, and you count as two tickets. On account of yer size, and all."

"Eh, I suppose that's fair.", Dan shrugged. "I am pretty big."

"Three?", Brandy said in panic. "Dan, I can't afford three!"

"What?", Dan said. "I thought you brought-"  
"I only brought enough to pay for two tickets!", Brandy hissed. "Not three!"

"I thought you brought a ton of spending money!", Dan said. "Can't you use that?"

"It still doesn't equal one ticket!", Brandy said. "Tickets are expensive!"

"Well then, what do we do?", Dan asked.

Brandy slapped her hands against the side of her head. "I don't know!"

Song: Setting Off

"I'll… call back home.", Brandy said with a spark of inspiration. "Someone's bound to pick up, right?"

"That's a good idea.", Dan said with a nod. "Oticat can lend us the rest of the Gold."

The Fisherman tapped his wrist impatiently. "Ahoy, maties.", he said with a gruff grunt. "Are ye going to pay for yer tickets or not?"

"Sorry, sorry.", Dan said. "In a bit. We just have to get the rest of the Gold. We don't live far from here, it won't take long I promise."

"Hmph.", the Fisherman said. "Well, it better not. For your own sake."

"What's that supposed to mean?", Dan said, standing up a few feet taller.

"Oh, nothing.", the Fisherman said, slowly running his fingers around the anchor rope wound tight around his muscular shoulder. "Just something I say, is all."

Dan relaxed after a few tense moments, as did the Fisherman. "Well, alright then."

Brandy grabbed her communicator our of her pocket. She didn't even bother to dial- she just pressed the first number she saw. After the device rang a few times, she could see that the number she had just called was Brenda's.

"Yeah, hello?", came Brenda's muffled voice on the other side of the line. "What is it?"

"Hiya, Brenda.", Brandy said, and winced. "See, the thing is-"

"That you don't have enough Gold?", Brenda asked.

"That we don't have enough Gold-", Brandy said, then stopped. "How the-"

"It's just something I do.", Brenda said. Although Brandy could not actually see her through the line, she sounded like she was shrugging. "Anyway…"

"Yeah, we need some Gold.", Brandy sighed. "About, I don't know, maybe 12000 more. Could someone bring some?"

"Sure.", Brenda said. "We're on it."

"Hold on, we-", Brandy started to ask, but Brenda had already hung up.

"Alright.", Brandy said, then turned to Dan. "Okay, we've got the Gold coming."

"Good.", said Dan. "Hopefully they won't be that long-"

He stopped, mid-sentence. He somehow detected something on the far edge of his hearing, rustling in between the trees.

"Do you hear that?", he asked quietly.

The Fisherman stopped tying a rope around some random part of the dock, and looked towards the trees as well. "Ay.", he said. "I do."

"What?", Brandy asked, flipping back her hood and hair to expose her ears. "What is it-"

Then she heard it too. A low, almost imperceptible growl, coupled with a ferocious rustling.

"That doesn't sound good.", Brandy said, leaning back on one foot in a subconscious preparation for combat.

"No, it does not.", Dan said, and took a single step forward. "No, indeed."

By now, most of the activity on the dock had ceased. The growling had grown louder and more intimidating, and the bushes on the very edge of the treeline had started to shift.

Dan drew closer to the trees, throwing out his arm behind him. "Get behind me.", he said, looking around to make sure that everyone on the dock was. "Don't go anywhere near it."

Then the bushes finally parted, and the thing stepped out into the mid-morning light.

Song: Rubicon

The front row of the crowd gasped in horror, as the monster emerged. It stood on two powerful legs, with a pair of strong arms hanging from its torso. A long, stiff tail extended outwards from it, gently snaking from side to side. It stood at a low angle, its head tilted forward almost parallel to the ground. A long, narrow snout full of razor sharp teeth sat on the end of its long neck, two reptilian eyes filled with sheer malice. The claws on the end of its hands and feet were long and sharp, the sunlight glinting off of the almost metal blades. A thick coat of pure blue scales ran across it, steam gently rising off and into the air.

"What is that thing?", shrieked a Villager, scooting further behind Dan.

"It's a monster!", screamed her child. "Mommy, help!"

"Get back!", Dan roared, spreading out his arms. "Get back even further!"

The crowd obeyed, some taking shelter behind the rows of small ships and booths. Brandy walked up beside Dan, holding out her club in aggressive defiance.

Several assorted Troops began to walk forward. There was a Barbarian, holding out his sword in caution. There was a Bowler, who wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation. And coming down the road was a Pekka, her massive metal frame making the walk slow going.

The reptilian monstrosity took a single step forward, its razor-sharp claws clicking upon the rocks. A pair of raised claws, almost scythe blades in form and function, were held high above all the others. The eyes and mouth of the beast burned with a feral rage, as it opened its mouth to speak.

"Stand… User.", it rasped, the words sending waves of chills through the entire dock. "Star… Master."

"Who are you?", Dan shouted, raising a glowing fist. "How do you know about us?"

"Stand User.", the monster hissed again, crouching in preparation to leap. "Star Master. You must… must…"

Dan had heard enough. He drew back his fist, coating it in sparkling Star energy.

"Brandy.", he whispered, aiming with one eye. "When I give the signal, strike it right in the center of its stomach."

Brandy nodded. "Okay."

"You must...must…", the beast hissed again, then leapt forward into the air.

"By my master, you must die!"  
"Overdrive Hammer!", Dan shouted, throwing his fist forward right at the monster's exposed stomach. There was a rush of golden wind, as the beast screamed a ferocious battle cry.

As razor claw met metal armor, raging fist met scaled belly. The claw slashed open a part of the armor, but the fist blew a solid hole through the monster's stomach. It screeched in endless pain, as The Star ran through its muscles and tissue. Within seconds, the powerful destructive force had ripped through its entire body, sending it flying in chunks throughout the area and back into the trees. A fine mist of Elixir sprayed over the crowd, in a purple mist.

Dan closed his eyes, as drops of rancid liquid splattered all across him from the kill. They soaked into his armor, vanishing almost instantly. More of the drops flew across Brandy's face and clothes, disappearing just as fast.

"Yay!", shouted one small Builder. "He did it!"

The crowd erupted into cheers, at the sight of the strange monster now banished with a single blow. "Hooray!"

"Uh…", Brandy said, and giggled. "Am I still waiting for your mark?"  
"No.", Dan said. "Although…"

He studied his arm, where bloodstains should have been everywhere. "I'm a little worried."  
"Worried about what?", Brandy asked. "You took it down in seconds."  
"Yeah, that's what I'm worried about.", Dan explained. "It went down almost unnaturally fast. Almost as if…"

He looked down, and locked eyes with Brandy. "It wanted to die.", they said together.

"So.", said the Fisherman, and crossed his arms. "I be leaving in a couple of minutes."

"Yes.", said Dan, and spun around, one finger in the air. "We're almost ready, I promise."

He leaned down to Brandy. "How much longer till Brenda gets here?", he whispered.

"I don't know.", Brandy whispered back. "She didn't say."

"As great as that monster slaying was…", the Fisherman said, "It doesn't pay the bills back where I'm from. Now, hand over the Gold, or you aren't leaving with me."

"Now hold on!", Dan said, taking a quick glance over his shoulder for anyone that he knew. "We're really almost ready, just hold on a minute."

But even as he argued and haggled, he could not get the strange image of the monster out of his head. It had said something about a master that it served. Who was that master? Did it have anything to do with the Dragon that wanted to save the world? And what was that stuff it had gotten all over them?

The Fisherman had been just about to speak. He had been just about to tell both Brandy and Dan that if they wanted to slow down his business like this, then they could go and do it somewhere else. But another voice cut through, from somewhere behind the two.

"Hey guys.", said the voice, with a sassy click of the tongue. "Need some help?"

Brandy turned around, and her eyes lit up. "Brenda!", she said. "What took you so long?"

Brenda reached back, and pulled Meg out of the crowd. An Ice Golem stood behind them, a huge sack of Gold clutched in his frozen fingers. "I just walked."

She pointed towards Brandy, and narrowed her eyes. "Your next line is: Well, good thing that you're here, anyway!"

"Good thing that you're here, anyw-", Brandy said, then stopped. She gave Brenda an annoyed glare, only to receive a shrug in return. "Yeah, we need it."

"Well, good thing I was here to stop by your room and get some for you.", said Brenda. "Me and Meg."

The Ice Golem let go of the bag, as it felt Dan grab it by the top. It felt either no emotion while doing so, or so many they could not possibly be put into words.

"Thank you so mu-", Brandy said, then stopped. "Wait a minute. From my room?"

"Yeah.", Brenda said, and winked a devilish wink. "I took a little from your stash."

Brandy's face reddened. "Why, you little-"

She playfully tried to grab Brenda by the neck, but the tension was quickly laughed off between both of them. They were friends, after all.

"So.", Brenda said. "This is goodbye, huh?"

"Goodbye?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, goodbye? It's only for a couple of weeks."

"A couple of weeks is a long time.", Brenda said. "Meg's only a couple of weeks old."

Brandy stopped, and thought about that fact. "I see your point."

"I mean, who knows what could happen in that time?", Brenda asked. "A lot, that's what."

Meg crept forward, staring into Brandy's eyes. "What Brenda's trying to say is… be safe, okay?"

Brandy smiled, and gestured up at Dan, who was still haggling with the Fisherman. "Don't worry. We will."

"That's good to hear.", Brenda said, tucking her hair behind her ear. "And you two have fun, okay? I mean, what, this is your second honeymoon?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "Have you guys had yours yet?"

"No.", Brenda said. "We're not, technically, uh, married yet."  
"Yeah, there's a lot to sort out.", said Meg, holding her arm behind her back. "We'd do it in a heartbeat if we could, but…"

"There are a lot of legal issues.", Brenda finished. "For some reason."

"Oh.", Brandy said. "Well, keep trying."

"Brandy.", said Dan, from up above. "We're leaving now."

Brandy startled, and threw out her hands. "Okay, I have to leave now. Sorry, see you soon. Just remember-"

She turned to Brenda. "Keep being awesome. Keep being you."

She turned to Meg. "Keep working on yourself. There's so much potential under there, I know it."

The Fisherman tugged once on his boat horn, and a loud blare of solid sound blasted outwards across the dock.

"Brandy, let's go!", Dan shouted urgently.

"Okay, okay!", Brandy shouted back, and bent her legs to jump. "Okay, I really gotta go now. Bye, love you both!"

Then she Dashed up into the air, and onto the boat with a loud crack of the air slamming back together. She bent herself over the side, and waved.

"Goodbye!", she shouted, while Brenda and Meg waved back. "See you all soon!"

As she watched the boat pull away, Brenda remembered about the blue Arrow that was still in her pocket. Had she meant to use that now, or was it best left for later? Oh well…

"Come on, Meg.", she said, and turned to leave. "Let's go home."

"Yes.", Meg said, looking up towards the sun. "Let's."

As Brandy pulled herself over the side of the boat, she slumped down onto the wooden bench with a slightly dramatic flourish.

"That went kind of quickly.", she said.

"What do you mean?", Dan asked, scooting closer.

"I mean that it went kind of quickly.", Brandy explained, holding up her hands in front of her. "Like, you'd usually expect goodbyes to be long, and heartfelt. You know, meaningful. But this one was just a little… short. I don't know."  
"Not every goodbye is planned out.", Dan said. "Some of them are sudden. Some of them… you don't really have the chance to say goodbye at all."

Brandy thought for a moment. "I guess you're right.", she said.

The Fisherman clapped his hands together, looking around the boat and glancing at each troop in turn. There was an Archer, huddled up with a Barbarian next to the central heating. There was bespectacled Goblin next to the back, wearing a book on his back that was larger than he was. There was a fast-asleep Wizard, his hood drawn long over his face as he reclined against the main cabin. And there was a Sandy on the top deck, who was supposed to be keeping watch- but he, of course, had fallen fast asleep as well.

"Alright!", the Fisherman barked, startling the Wizard awake. "Welcome aboard the good ship Undefined Value! My name is Jonah, and this here is Jack.",

He swung his Fish around his shoulders, who gave a friendly little wave. Brandy blinked, and waved back.

Jonah then slapped Jack back onto his shoulder, and began to pace up and down the ship. "Okay! This is my ship! And as such, you are expected to follow my orders! Do so, and we will arrive at our destination safely! Do not, and we might all meet our gruesome ends, at the hands, tentacles, maws, or whatever of what mighty monsters do patrol these here waters! Do I make myself clear!"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "You do."

"Good!", Jonah yelled, and straightened back up. "We will now go around the circle, and introduce ourselves! This is mandatory, do not try and Goblin out of it! Even you, Goblin!"

Jonah pointed to the said Goblin, who startled and almost dropped his book. "You! Goblin! Go first!"

"Uh, well…", the Goblin said, as he fumbled for words. "I'm Glabnack. I'm a Goblin Scholar, and I'm going to the Continent of the Clans to study underneath Jilrose the Grand Wizard."

"That was more information than any of us needed!", Jonah shouted, and Glabnack flinched again. "However, I'm glad that you were willing to share such information with complete and total strangers such as myself! Next!"

The Wizard rubbed his eyes, and leaned forward onto his knees. "Uh, I'm Jakko.", he said. "I'm just returning home after a vacation that stretched on too long. Too long, I'm afraid."

He rubbed his eyes, and settled back in against the wood. "Too… long…"

"Okay!", Jonah yelled, and spun around on his feet towards the Barbarian and the Archer. "And who, I ask, are you?"

"Oh.", said the Archer, drawing her cape off the Barbarian's thighs. "My name is Anne- although my friends call me LVNLCJ. And this is Terrence."

"Short, and to the point!", Jonah shouted. "I like it! I like you two! However, I will not be calling you that totally ridiculous name, as I am not your friend!"

He turned again, and pointed at Brandy and Dan. "Now! Who are you two?"

"Let me take this.", Brandy whispered, and straightened up. "My name is Brandy. This is Dan, my husband."

Dan gave a small wave, a tiny spark of Star flashing from his fingers to his wrist.

Jonah's eyes shot up in surprise, actually becoming visible from underneath his thick eyebrows.

"Why, my sea and stars!", he shouted. "Are you a Star user?"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "Weren't you watching back when I-"

He was about to say _killed the monster, _but Jonah was no longer listening.

"Good.", he said, finally a little quiet. "That will be very helpful once we run into our first monster."

"Uh, don't you mean if, sir?", Glabnack asked, with a timid raise of his hand. "If, we run into our first monster?"

Jonah rolled his eyes, and began to wind up his hook. Glabnack looked on fearfully as he did so, clutching his robes just a little tighter. "Did I stutter?"

Jonah launches his anchor to grab right on the railing behind Glabnack, pulling himself closer in an instant. "Did I stutter, Glabnack?"

Glabnack shook his head, and Jonah stood back up. "No, I did not. These waters are crawling with monsters- every voyage I've ever made has had at least one."

He pointed up towards the crow's nest, where Sandy was still asleep. "Now to finish off our introductions! You've already met me, obviously, but that sleepy boy over there is Sandy. My first mate… and adopted son."

Upon hearing his name mentioned, Sandy slowly stood up. He brushed the sleep out of his eyes and looked down to the ship's main deck with bleary eyes. "Did you call for me, Dad?"

Jonah chuckled, and waved a hand. "No, not yet. Go back to sleep. Se'th knows you need it."

Sandy yawned again, stretched, and fell back asleep within the second.

Brandy's eyes lit up as soon as she saw him, her fists scrunching together with excitement.

"Aww!", she said, and Dan looked down with worry. "He's adorable!"

"Aww?", he asked. "Excuse me?"

Brandy looked up, and her cheeks turned slightly red. "No, no, not like that. I didn't mean-"

"Then what did you mean?", Dan asked.

"I just mean he's cute. Like- like a puppy. Or a Baby Dragon.", Brandy said.

"Hmm.", said Dan. "Are you sure you didn't mean-"

"Quiet, you two.", Jonah said quietly, suddenly deadly serious. "Listen."

Everyone on the boat immediately stopped talking. All ears strained for purchase on any strange sounds, but there was nothing but the rhythmic creaking of the ship and the steady roll of the azure waves. No sound out of the ordinary at all, until-

Brandy, having the best hearing out of anyone on the ship, heard it first. It sounded like an impossibly deep, low, rumble coming from somewhere below the ship. If the sound could be given a color, it would be dark slate blue, tinged with echoes of inky black.

Jonah, having the most experience in these manners, was the second. His nose twitched, and Jack in his hand began to look nervously around. "Oh boy…", was his only whisper.

"I hear something.", Dan said. "Brandy?"  
Brandy nodded. "I hear it too.", she said, then both her and Jonah simultaneously confirmed what all of them were thinking. "There's something in the water."

"Sandy!", Jonah shouted, and Sandy was abruptly shattered out of his curtain of sleep. "Run down the mainsail."

Sandy scrambled to do so, and a smile that glowed with insanity crept onto Jonah's face. "We've got ourselves a real monster on our hands."

"Mons- monster?", Glabnack stammered, pulling his hood over his face. "I don't want a monster!"

"Good, because ye won't.", Jonah barked, and pointed to a nearby door. "You get belowdecks. Same for you, Anne and Terrence."

The three ran for the door, as Jonah pointed Jack towards Brandy and Dan. "You two. Help me. If this is what I think it is, we're going to need it."

"What?", Brandy asked. "What is it-"

Then she saw what was happening past the edge of the deck, and stopped. For the water surrounding the boat was no longer a brilliant blue, but a terrifying pitch-black.

"Dad?", Sandy shouted from up above. "I think I know what our monster is."

"Ay, boy, you're correct.", Jonah said, and began to ready his hook. "We got ourselves a real Kraken!"

Song: Burning Colosseum

As if on cue, an enormous tentacle rose over the side of the boat, dripping sludgy water onto the railings. It must have been at least 60 feet long, looming over even the tallest points of the ship.

"Brandy!", Dan shouted, and breathed in. "I want you behind me! Check out anything I miss!"

"Got it!", Brandy shouted back, and flipped over his shoulder. She looked around, club in hand, ready to take down anything that even so much as moved.

"Come on, you big beast!", shouted Jonah, and spun his hook around his head. "Come and-"

Then he saw something which shocked him to his very core. The tentacles on a normal Kraken were either blue or red, depending on the circumstance. But this one was a deep purple, accented with metallic flecks of gold.

"Dear Se'th…", Jonah whispered. "That's not just a Kraken."

"What does that mean?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, not just a Kraken?"

"I mean that's THE Kraken!", Jonah shouted. "The very first, and by far the most powerful!"

"Oh shoot.", Dan said. He knew all about the nature of the Primals from his Star training, both at the camp and with Bowza. Yet, the Primals were only for Troops that existed. And he had never heard of such a Troop as the Kraken…

"Dan!", Jonah yelled, and threw his hook. It wound tight around a special pole that had been made for such a situation, collapsing the wood in on itself. With a tight yank and a creaking groan, the fragile pole fell right onto the Kraken's primary tentacle, shattering in a spray of sharp wooden spikes that dug into the monster's flesh.

There was a deep roar from down below, the surface of the water vibrating with the sheer force. A sound from the sky echoed the action, and stormclouds began to gather from the far horizons.

As everyone on the Undefined Variable watched in horror, a dozen more tentacles all appeared from the deep water, looming over the boat like the trees of some horrible forest.

"Now!", Jonah shouted, revving up his hook for another attack. "Dan!"

"Overdrive Cannon!", Dan shouted, and threw his fist forward. A blast of Star energy barreled straight forward through the air and right into a tentacle, severing the top part of it clean off. The cut off section fell into the ocean, burning away with a sizzling scream.

A tiny bit of tentacle creeped its way up behind Dan, only to meet Brandy ready and waiting for it. With a single quick Dash-infused swipe, the tentacle found itself flying back into the sea.

The Kraken roared in pain and anger, bringing down its hurt tentacle back into the water. The remaining 11 slammed down onto the side of the boat, snaking their way towards Jonah.

"Dad!", shouted Sandy from up above. "I finished harnessing all the sails!"

"Good!", shouted Jonah, and threw his hook. It wound tight around one of the smaller tentacles, shrinking the width down to nothing and cutting it right off. "Now help us fight!"

"Okay!", Sandy said, and put one foot on the ladder down to the main deck. He turned towards the sea, throwing three quick handfuls of sparkling sand as he did so. The cloud of dust settled into the rightmost tentacle, burning skin and muscle down to nothing.

"That storm's getting closer.", Jonah muttered, then jumped backwards to avoid a creeping appendage. "Sandy, we're going to need a sandstorm pretty soon!"

"With a ferocious heat…", Dan roared, and brought both of his fists together. A gigantic golden light glowed within them, larger than any he had ever summoned before. "And noble purpose!"

"Dan, hurry it up!", said Brandy, slashing her club across another miniature tentacle. "You can't take too long!"

"I'm coming, Dad!", Sandy yelled, making his way down the ladder. "Just hold o-"

His words were cut off, as a tentacle grabbed him across the waist and yanked him into the air.

"Sandy!", Jonah shouted, and ground the tip of a tentacle into the deck. He wound up his hook, aiming for the tentacle that had grabbed his son. "I'm coming!"

"I got it!", Brandy shouted. She crouched, made some last second calculations, and leapt forward into the air. With a powerful, Dash-boosted attack, her club slashed right through part of the tentacle that held Sandy. It was just enough for the monster's grip to weaken in pain- and for Brandy to grab Sandy out of the tentacle, landing safely on the dock below.

"There.", she said. "I got you."  
"Thank you, madam.", Sandy said, and bowed. Then he was instantly back to combat mode, gathering another pile of sand in his hand. "I'm safe now, Dad!"

A massive roar echoed through the air, the Kraken almost seeming to form words. The thunder and lightning of the storm it was bringing began to draw closer, a gigantic bolt striking the surface only a few miles away.

"Aaaaaiiiii…. Sssmmeeeallll yyooouuu!", it roared, and shot out another tentacle, this one longer than the rest. "Huuuunnnttee eeeuuuu!"

Brandy spun around on one foot, slashing the tip off of a wandering tentacle. She brushed the hair out of her face and delivered a sharp backhand to another tentacle that tried to sneak up behind her. "Did it just talk?"

Jonah wound up and threw his hook, latching on to the top of the ship. He pulled himself up into the air, landing right next to Sandy. "Ay, I think that it did!"

Dan breathed in and launched another blast of Star, burning through an attacking tentacle and sending it screaming back into the sea. But for every one that was cut down, many more rose.

"It said something about… smelling us? And hunting us from it?"

Brandy gasped, and jumped into the air to avoid a low sweep. "Dan! That monster on the shore! Do you think the stuff he sprayed us with-"  
Dan finished her sentence, right before coating his hand in light and slashing off the tip of a tentacle that tried to grab his arm. "Was done so that The Kraken could track our scent?"

They stopped, and looked at each other. "Yeah, probably."

"Craaauuusshh eeeewwweee!", The Kraken bellowed. All the tentacles that were on the ship suddenly halted their forward momentum and slammed downwards, digging into the wood.

"Blighter's trying to bring down the whole ship!", Jonah shouted. "Sandy, how's that Sandstorm coming?"

Sandy launched another volley of magical dust into a waving tentacle, burning off bits of the skin and muscle. He felt his Super grow closer to full strength- just a few more attacks and it would be ready. "It's coming, Dad!"

The Kraken roared again, and at last heaved its main body up to the surface of the water. Jonah narrowed his eyes in disgust, as the beast revealed itself.

It was a deep, ancient purple in color, although mostly covered with multi-hued gemstones and shattered shell. A single great eye sat unblinking at the center of its circular body, with two more on either side. Dozens more ringed the edge of its disk-like body, peering out in all directions. An enormous beaked mouth floated upon the surface of the sea, chomping and gnashing the nearby water into a froth. A seemingly endless storm of tentacles continuously rose from underneath its body, even now joining the dozens upon dozens that held the ship in a diamond grip.

A lightning bolt struck the top of the ship, Jonah jumping out of the way mere moments before it hit. He threw his hook mid-fall, taking both him and Sandy safely to the main deck in a tuck and roll.

"He's about to drag down the ship!", Jonah shouted, wiping blood from his forehead. "If we don't take him out soon, there's no way we'll all survive!"

"Dad!", Sandy shouted. "I have an idea!"

Jonah looked, and Sandy held up his hands. "Operation thundersand."

Jonah's eyes lit up in parental pride, and he gave Sandy a big thumbs up. "Understood! Dan, you be the instigator. And don't worry if you don't know it, Sandy'll explain everything."

"Got it!", Dan said. He picked up Sandy in his arms and jumped to the top deck, then bent down to hear Sandy's orders. "Brandy, cover us!"

Brandy saluted, and crouched to deliver an extra large blow to one of the tentacles, pressing down on the deck. She could notice that the very edges of the ship were already starting to lull a little listlessly in the water.

She leapt forward, her Dash propelling her to maximum speed. With a mighty slash, she cut open a huge gash in a tentacle, forcing it to let go of the deck.

Brandy wound up for another blow, too focused on dishing out damage to notice the other tentacle sneaking up behind her. "Get ready for a beatdown, you-"

Her words were cut off with a sharp shriek, as the tentacle fastened itself around her waist. She hardly even had time to react before it pulled backwards, yanking her off the deck and far into the air.

"Brandy!", Dan shouted, and raised a fist. He breathed in, aiming directly for the tentacle's base.

The tentacle reached its highest point, dangling Brandy directly over The Kraken's mouth.

"Eeeeiiiitttt yyyuuuu!", it boomed. It was going to drop her.

"Lightning Spear Overdrive!", Dan roared, and launched a concentrated blast of energy. But The Kraken raised another of its seemingly endless tentacles in order to block, absorbing the blow in a burst of sizzling, meaningless flesh.

The Kraken laughed, and released Brandy from its grip. She fell out of the tentacle, and began to fall right towards the waiting, tooth-lined maw. But even as she did so, Brandy just sighed.

"Really?", she said, and clenched her leg muscles. "Next time, at least try."  
"Huuuaaahh?", The Kraken asked in confusion. "Eeeyyee eeeiittt eeewwee-"

Brandy huffed, and Dashed. She flew right out of the path of the shredding maw, spun around on the base of a thick tentacle, and landed right on the Kraken's exposed body.

"I already know that I can sort of control where on my body my Dash is.", Brandy said to herself, digging into the Kraken's flesh as she planned her next move. "I also know that I sometimes turn intangible while using it."

She looked at her hand and concentrated as hard as she could. "If I could just, maybe, do both at once…"

The Kraken bellowed, and gave up on trying to snatch Brandy from its hard-to-reach body. It instead increased the grip it already had on the ship, causing much of the wood to splinter.

Song: The Hand

Brandy winced, beads of sweat dripping off her. There was a spark of sky blue, and a glowing aura of Dash appeared within her right palm. She grinned, and held her hand aloft.

"Then I should be able to do…", Brandy said. "This!"

With a dramatic flourish, Brandy swiped her hand downwards, in a sonic boom that blew her cloak backwards and her hair into her face.

A sharp pain ran through her hand and down her arm, which was flashing white with the sheer amount of force it had just emitted. But Brandy's tactic had worked- there was a solid band of flesh missing from the Kraken's tentacle.

She clenched her teeth together, trying to dull the pain. The Kraken shrieked in shock, the tentacle that had been holding Brandy suddenly letting go and flopping down into the water.

Brandy backflipped in mid-air, landing on the deck of the ship. Her arm hung limply by her side, still burning from the energy it had taken to pull the technique off. By concentrating a large amount of Dash energy in the palm of her hand, and then turning the rest of her hand intangible, she had managed to create a field of destruction, that wiped out anything in its path. It was confined to her hand, of course, and ate up a remarkable amount of stamina, but it was still a powerful move.

Brandy coughed, spitting out a few flecks of blood. _Too bad I probably won't be able to use it again…_

"Sandy!", Jonah shouted, backing away from a particularly large tentacle that was slowly snaking its way across the deck. "Are you ready?"

Sandy blasted another spray of magic sand at a stray tentacle, then felt his body swell with strength. A strong yellow light emanating from his hands, and he looked up. "Yes!"

"Then let him have it, my boy!", Jonah yelled, slapping Jack across the flat face of a tentacle and sending it back across the ship. "Give it your Sandstorm!"

Dan crossed his arms across his chest, gathering a massive beam of energy. He knew that constant batterings of weaker blows had done nothing to the Kraken so far- it seemed to be able to grow tentacles at will. No, the way to defeat it would be through one, gargantuan blow.

The Kraken smiled, under the surface. Its tentacles wound tighter around the ship, almost covering the entire deck. It aimed not to sink, but to hold. The finishing blow would come from the thunder storm overhead, that even now had finally reached its destination.

The waves off the side of the ship grew larger, slamming against the side in a ferocious rhythm. There was a gigantic clap of thunder, and the rain began to fall in heavy sheets. The Kraken roared again, and raised yet another of its endless tentacles. This one streaked right across the bottom of the deck, and to Brandy still nursing her injured arm.

Brandy had no idea that the tentacle was coming. It was snaking alone right in her blind spot, the one place she could not see. It was far too loud to hear it, no way to sense it at all.

And yet, that did not stop Brandy's arm from striking out with the speed of a beam of light, slamming against the tentacle with the force of a Rocket.

The tentacle flew backwards, the tip of it blown clean off. The Kraken blinked, its old and worn-down brain gradually beginning to click into higher gear.

"How…", it said to itself. "How she do that?"

But it figured that such questions were best left for later. It just roared again, and tightened its grip.

Sandy's eyes glowed, and he floated up into the air on a sandy cloud. His arms moved around his body with the speed of a desert wind, arcane symbols flashing between each one.

A huge purple field built up around him, the raging sand carving an orb around him free of the rain and wind from The Kraken's storm.

"Take this, you overgrown squid!", he yelled, and pressed out his hands. "Sand...storm!"

There was a flash of light, and the sand behind him erupted. A powerful burst of sand sprayed in all directions, pushing back the enemy's storm into the ocean. Constant bursts of damaging sand rudely burst upon The Kraken's tentacles, causing even more damage than before.

"This thing's a tank!", Dan yelled, shooting a brief pulse of Star from his eyes that poked a neat hole in a tentacle. "No matter how much damage we throw at it, it just keeps on coming!"  
"It's THE Kraken, what did you expect?", Jonah shouted, retreating to the upper deck. "This was never going to be easy!"

Down belowdecks, Glabnack came to a sudden realization. He shot up from his hiding spot, dropped his book onto the floor, and headed for the door.

"Glabnack, what are you doing?", hissed Anne. "We're supposed to stay!"

"I know what the Kraken's trying to do!", Glabnack said, fixing her with a piercing stare. "I've seen it. In my studies."

"You go, bro.", said Terrence, in muffled enthusiasm. "Put those studies to work."

Glabnack gave Terrence a brief salute, before Anne had the chance to say anything. Then he took a deep breath, opened the door, and ran off into the rain-slicked battleground of the upper decks.

Sandy grit his teeth, pushing his sandstorm against The Kraken's force as hard as he could. But it was an uphill, difficult battle- the main force was going upward into the clouds, rather than outward in order to deflect The Kraken away from the ship. "Come on…"

Dan felt his arms start to burn, and he looked down. The attack that he had been setting up was finally ready. "Brandy! Get out of the way!"

Brandy looked up, still rubbing her injured arm. "What-"  
"I said, get out of the way!", Dan roared, barely able to contain all his built up Star. "And hold on to something!"

Brandy saluted, and Dashed in a random upwards direction. She grabbed hold of a random piece of rigging, and held on for dear life. She wasn't quite sure what Dan was planning, but it was going to be big. From her high vantage point, she could see what looked like Glabnack emerge from the lower deck, slipping and sliding frantically across the upper.

"Glabnack!", Jonah shouted, breathing hard from all the combat. "What the frick do you think you're doing? Get back below decks!"

"It's the Kraken, sir!", Glabnack yelled at the top of his fragile lungs. "It's going to direct the lightning through the sand and blow up the ship! That's why it hasn't tried to drag us under!" 

Jonah snarled, and pushed up his hat. "You're probably right. But that means-"

He looked up to where Sandy hovered, pushing with all his might against The Kraken's storm. "Sandy!", he yelled. "Break the storm!"

"What?", Sandy yelled back, not quite sure if he had heard right. "What do you mean, break the storm?"  
"I said let it go!", Jonah screamed, getting louder and more desperate. He could already see the lightning coiling in the clouds above, only moments away from hitting.

"I can't!", Sandy shouted in confusion. "It'll let the Kraken in!"  
"Sandy!", screamed Jonah, red in the face. "Just do it!"  
"Okay, fine-", said Sandy, but it was already too late. The edge of his sandstorm had already been forcibly flattened into a huge disk, stretching up all the way to the sky. And now, a bolt of The Kraken's summoned lightning was already streaking towards it.

Sandy's eyes widened, and he began to slowly break off the sandstorm- but it wasn't enough. The bolt had already traveled half the way down the sand, and was about to hit the ship.

Dan, at last ready to unleash his move, opened up his eyes. He spread his arms open wide, aiming directly at where the lightning bolt was going to be when his shot collided.

"Reflecting Yellow…", he roared, and threw his hands forward.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted. She had noticed where the lightning bolt was going to come down- and it was not good. The Kraken had anticipated just what Dan was going to do. "Don't fire!"

"Why not?", Dan shouted, just barely managing to hold on to his burst of Star. "If I don't fire, the ship will explode!"

Brandy leapt onto the far side of the ship, throwing a protective arm over Sandy as she did so. "The bolt's going to be attracted to yours! It'll-"

Dan didn't listen to whatever else Brandy had to say. His eyes flashed, and he let go of his Star. "Overdrive!"

Just a tenth of a second before the lightning bolt hit the very fragile, flammable, wood of the deck, Dan's own force hit it head on. There was a tremendous explosion of blue and purple light that shook the ship, the waves, and the sky, then a huge cloud of smoke and ash that would go on to blanket the area for several days.

But the spot where the bolt had come down was not affected by the smoke. It had been the exact epicenter, immense amounts of force radiating out from it in all directions. The waves still shook from the blow, as did the very air. But as the sun slowly filtered in through the breaking clouds, it was not the boat that had received the full brunt of the mighty blast.

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

The Kraken's body still floated on the surface of the water, but the storm it had summoned was now growing weaker and weaker by the second. Smoke rose off its bubbling body, as flesh sizzled into nothing from the electric flame. A long, listless rumble escaped its twisted mouth, as the once mighty Kraken began to sink below the surface.

"Is… it over?", Glabnack whimpered, holding his book up above his head.

Dan fell to his knees, breathing heavily. Echoes of spent Star still flickered around him, his arms twitching involuntarily. "Yeah.", he coughed. "I think it's over."

"Now, I wouldn't be so sure.", Jonah said, as he hobbled to the front of the boat. One of his ankles had been twisted in the explosion, and he was using a shattered bit of pole to haul himself forward. "Krakens are tricky beasties. We can't be sure of anything, until he turns to Elixir."

"Right…", Dan said, and shakily stood up. "We have to make sure."

Brandy could feel the protection of her Dash shield hum around her, having automatically activated in the explosion. She looked behind her- and sighed in relief, seeing that Sandy had been unharmed. A huge piece of wood lay split in half somewhere behind him, still shaking with electric flame. Had Brandy not dove in front of him in time, it would have almost certainly taken his head clean off.

"You… just saved my life.", Sandy said shakily.

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "You little guy."

She smiled, and Sandy blinked. He could now see the way the wind blew through Brandy's hair, the way her eyes sparkled in the light. "Uhh…"

"Hey, Sandy!", Jonah shouted from down below. "Get down here! I need those eyes of yours."

"Yes, Dad.", Sandy said, his cheeks turning a little red. He gave Brandy a little bow, then ran down the ladder and to the bottom deck.

The Kraken could feel himself sink lower into the water. His forest of tentacles hung loosely by his side, now only dragging him down. But that was good for him- although the redirected lightning bolt had dealt him vast amounts of damage, he was still alive. If he retreated now, he could attack the boat later. Perhaps bring some allies, some way to give him an edge over the Mega Knight that could use the Star. The forces of Dragonlord Rakastamos needed everything they could get, if they were to triumph against the forces of the world.

But as a sudden, sharp pain pierced the middle of The Kraken's exposed body, those thoughts came to a sudden halt. A dozen or so of his eyes swiveled around to assess the damage, and saw that a massive spear made of pure Star-infused steel had been stabbed right through its vulnerable midsection.

_Oh, bother…,_thought The Kraken, as the edges of his tentacles began to dissolve into Elixir. _That's not good at all._

Jonah nodded, as he saw the great plume of Elixir bubble up from below. It hit the top of the sea and spread out across the surface, just below the very edge.

"Well, that's that.", Jonah said, and turned around. "He's dead."

"Wait… really dead?", Brandy asked, slipping in behind the group and right up next to Dan. "I thought you said he was a Primal."  
"Ay, I did.", said Jonah. "But he's a Primal of a Troop that doesn't really exist. Henceforth, he's not actually immortal."  
"But aren't there other Krakens?", Dan asked.

"Yes.", said Glabnack, chiming in from the back. "But they were never selected by the gods to be an official troop. Henceforth, he's not a real Primal. Just the first of his kind."

"Huh.", Brandy said, as she watched the Elixir that had once been The Kraken spread out across the surface of the sea. "Wonder why he attacked us."

"It was that stuff the other thing put on us.", Dan said. "Remember?"

"Oh right.", Brandy said. "But why did that thing attack us?"

Dan shrugged. "I don't know."

"I don't know about you guys, but seeing all that Elixir makes me thirsty.", said Glabnack, nervously leaning back on a chair. He cracked open a can of Super S Brand Elixir, and took a deep, refreshing sip. "How about we all kick back and enjoy the fact that we're still alive?"  
The hatch to below decks opened, as Anne and Terrence slowly emerged. "I think that sounds wonderful.", said Anne. "Terrence, what do you think?"

Terrence just grunted, and shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

"Well then, what are we waiting for?", Jonah shouted, and pointed towards the cabin. "Sandy, go grab our guests some drinks. I think we've all deserved them."

"Certainly, Father.", Sandy said, and bowed. "Just… you put all the drinks up on the high shelf yesterday, after you said I had too many. I can no longer reach."

Jonah put Jack up to his head, who dutifully scratched underneath his hat. "Huh. Oh yeah."

He pointed to Brandy, who pointed to herself. "Bandit, go help him grab the drinks."

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

Brandy sighed, and pushed herself off the bench. Her hand still sparked and twitched with remnants of Dash, but she could at least use it now. "Alright, I'll be back in a few seconds."

"Could you bring me back some Green Party Elixir?", Dan asked, groaning from the massive expenditure of energy he had used to bring The Kraken down. "I really feel like I need it right now."

"Sure, honey.", Brandy said, walking towards where Sandy stood. "I can do that."

Sandy gulped, watching as Brandy walked. His forehead under his turban felt hot, and he shuffled around in his blue slippers. "So, uh…"

Brandy reached him, and continued walking towards the cabin. "Where did you say the drinks were? In here?"

"Uh, yeah.", said Sandy quietly. "Just on the top shelf, where I can't reach."

"So your dad thought I could reach it, because I can jump high.", Brandy muttered, as she and Sandy entered the small, cramped cabin. There was a desk against one wall, and a huge sheaf of papers that covered the rest of the tiny area. A small window valiantly struggled to be seen.

"Not because I'm that much taller than you."

"Uh, no.", Sandy said, and scratched the back of his neck. "Wow, is it hot in here or what?"

Brandy seemed not to notice Sandy's shy advances, and just looked around in confusion. "I thought there was supposed to be a fridge in here, or a shelf, or something. Where is it?"

"Oh, it's in here.", Sandy said, and placed his hand on a lever that hung against one wall. "I guess someone forgot to unlock the secret compartment."

He flicked down the switch, and one of the walls swung back. It revealed a long, dimly lit stainless steel hallway, a huge cupboard at the end.

Brandy gave an appreciative whistle. "Ah. Very nice."

"So.", Glabnack said, craning his head upwards to look at Dan. "You're… not a regular Mega Knight- are you."

"No.", Dan said matter-of-factly. "I'm not."  
"What was that thing you were using earlier?", Glabnack asked. "You know, that flashy lightningy stuff."

"Oh, that?", Dan asked, and flexed his right bicep. "That was The Star. It's a martial art that I picked up about a month ago. Gotten real good at it."

"Interesting…", Glabnack said, and stroked his nonexistent beard. "Tell me more."

"Well, uh, I'm honestly not sure what to say.", said Dan, with an actual stroke of his. "I still don't know all that much about theory, just how to use it."

"Well, how do you use it?", Glabnack asked. "Strictly for research purposes, of course."

"Hmmm…", Dan said, and stood up. "Well, suppose you want to blast something. You'd just stand up, breathe in, and…"

He breathed in as deep as he could, filling his lungs to maximum capacity. A surge of golden light flowed and flickered around him, heating up the wood that he stood on. He threw out his fist, and a blast of Star erupted into the sea. "Overdrive Spear!"

Glabnack watched the golden blast explode upon the surface of the water, instantly purplemisting a random small monster that had decided to come to the top of the ocean at precisely the wrong moment. "Ah."

"So, that's all the stuff I can carry.", Brandy said, slightly struggling under the weight of a couple dozen cans of various types of Elixir. "Sandy, what about you?"

"Uh, yeah.", Sandy said, holding a large keg over both shoulders. "That's it for me, too."

"Okay, great.", Brandy said, and started to walk away from the vaguely ominous fridge, sitting at the end of a totally blank, dimly lit, steel hallway. Or perhaps that's why it was ominous. "Then let's go."

Sandy nodded. "Okay, ladies first."

Brandy huffed, but started her walk. "Oh, so you're from one of those places."

But even as she walked, she was unaware that Sandy's plan was sliding into place. He was fully capable of carrying the keg with one hand, leaving his other open for any action. As Brandy walked in front of him, he slowly maneuvered one hand downwards.

He didn't really think about what he was doing, at that moment. Brandy was the first female Troop that Sandy had laid eyes on in half a year, and he was barely able to contain himself. So when he gently pinched Brandy's rear end, he did not happen to think of what consequences such an action could possibly cause.

Brandy gasped, and stopped walking. Sandy ran into her, falling down backwards onto the ground. He looked up, and scrabbled back in terror as he saw Brandy turn around. There was purple fire in her eyes, the corners of her mouth pulled back into a vicious snarl.

"Do you want to die?", she spat, clenching her fist. A burst of purple energy shot out from it, surrounding her arm in a corona of Rage.

Sandy tried to speak, but all that came out was a tiny whimper. He raised a hand in defense, only for it to be stomped against the hard metal floor by Brandy's boot.

"Because that.", she said, and grabbed Sandy by the collar. "Touching me like that. Is how you die."

"H…", Sandy squeaked, finally finding his voice. "Help!"

"And this is my other trick- sort of.", said Dan. "I haven't really practiced it- at all. But I think that I can do it at least a little bit…"

He held up one finger, aiming it like a gun. He breathed in, taking precise care to not lose any of it. He felt bits of the golden aura around him turn to blue, as he focused on feeling and internalizing the rotation of the energy. "This… is…"  
He opened his eyes, and released his breath. "Rotation!"

There was a soft, small poot, and the energy was released. A thin blue line jumped from Dan's finger a whole 2 feet before giving up and dissipating against the wind.

Dan frowned, and sat back down. "So, uh, that's it.", he said, gesturing with one hand. "I haven't really gotten Rotation down, as you can see, but I'm pretty good with Star."

"I see.", said Glabnack, who by now had finished writing down his notes. He turned to Jonah, and pointed at the cabin. "Hey, isn't that your son screaming?"

Brandy slammed Sandy against the wall, her grip growing tighter by the second. He gurgled in pain and tried to get away, but Brandy was too strong in her rage.

"I don't know why you tried to do… whatever you were going to do.", Brandy said. "But you can bet that it will be the last time you ever do it."

"I didn't-", Sandy choked out, about to lose consciousness. He gathered up some sand in his hand, trying to fight back, but Brandy smacked his arm against the wall with a single lightning-fast blow. "I wasn't trying to-"

For just a second, Brandy's rage lifted. She saw how terrified Sandy was, pinned against the wall by the neck and totally helpless to fight back. She saw the sheer, abject horror in his eyes, and gasped.

Brandy loosened her grip, and Sandy fell to the ground. His hands flew to his throat, as he breathed in a deep gulp of much needed air. The color returned to his face, and he coughed up a little bit of blood.

"I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have done that.", Brandy said, and reached out a hand. "Not to that extent, anyway."

Jonah rounded the corner of the secret hallway, Fish and hook in hand. He looked sharply around, his gaze falling on Brandy and Sandy in the middle of the hall.

"Oi!", he shouted, and the two turned. "What's going on here? Sandy, why were you screaming?"

Brandy smiled, and squeezed Sandy's shoulders just a little too tightly to be friendly. "Oh, nothing. Don't mind us. I was just teaching Sandy here a little… _life lesson._"

"Oh.", said Jonah. "Well, that's very nice. What, exactly?"

"Uh, not to touch people out of nowhere.", Sandy said, looking up nervously at Brandy, a thin purple flame still burning around her. "That's all."

"Hm.", Jonah said, and spun Jack in a circle. "That's a good lesson, I suppose. You two have the Elixir?"

"Yup.", said Sandy, gesturing to the general area that was behind him. "We got it all, right here."

"Good.", Jonah said. "Now, if you'll both carry it, we can just be on our way."

Sandy picked up one half of the Elixir, and Brandy took the other. As they passed each other, Sandy looked up- only to see that Brandy's eyes still smoldered with barely tempered rage.

"Hey, what took you guys so long?", Dan asked, as he saw Brandy, Sandy, and Jonah all emerge from the cabin. "You get lost in there?"

"No.", said Brandy. "I did get a little… caught up… though."

She stretched, and placed the pile of cans of Elixir down onto a nearby table. "Anyway, here's the Elixir. Se'th knows we all deserve it."

Dan thought about getting up, but then decided against it. "Hey, pass me a dozen cans will ya? I'm thirsty like-"

Then he turned around, and his eyes shot open in shock. "Hey, Brandy?"

"What?", Brandy asked. "What is it?"  
Dan's brow knitted in confusion. "You're not Blue anymore."

Brandy's own eyes widened, and she looked down. Grabbing her shirt in confusion, she looked all around herself for any sign of her familiar Blue colors. But there was none- only the default Bandit's shade of black and green.

"What the…", she mumbled, then looked up. "I really am not Blue anymore. And Dan, neither are you!"

Dan looked up- but, of course, could not see past his own face. "Really? Because I can't see my feather. Hey, can anyone see my feather?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "It's black."

Glabnack looked down at his once Blue tunic, only to find that it had turned a slightly darker shade of green than him. "Hey yeah, me too."

He turned to Jonah, who stood with Sandy on the other side of the deck. "Jonah, what do you think is causing this phenomenon?"

Jonah just shifted his shoulders a bit, not even bothering to turn around. "I take it from your reactions that none of you have ever been off continent before."

Everyone looked around- none of them had. This was all their first time off their native continent.

"Well.", Sandy said, a mere moment before Jonah had a chance to explain. "Only on Royale do Troops like you have team colors. Everywhere else, you assume your natural hues."

"Which means, everyone…", Jonah said with a dramatic flair. "That we have already crossed over into intercontinental waters."

"I see.", Brandy said. "Does that mean that we're almost there?"

Jonah put his hand to the sky, and squinted. "Eh, maybe about halfway.", said Jack. "We were really booking it during that Kraken fight."

"Speaking of which, are we going to run into any more monsters on this trip?", asked Glabnack nervously. "I don't think I could handle it."

"No, probably not.", said Jonah with a shake of his head. "We just slew one of the most dangerous monsters in all the ocean. Everything else will know now to steer clear of the Undefined Variable, at all costs."

"One of?", Dan asked. "Does that mean there are more dangerous things out there?

Brandy looked over the surface of the water, and gulped. Who knew what could be lurking out there in the deep, this far away from land where the depth had never before been recorded?

"Ay.", Jonah said with a nod. "It does."

"What?", Dan asked. "What animal could be more dangerous than The Kraken himself?"

"Oh, you know.", Jonah said, and squinted his eyes. They glinted with memories of epic battles, and legends of truly titanic monsters. Monsters that could drink rivers and break mountains, beasts that hid the sun with their size and changed the weather with their bulk. "Stuff."

_I'm stuff, _thought someone on the boat, but no one knew who.

Song: Cheerful Journey

"So.", Brandy said, and cracked open a can of Elixir. She took a sip, putting one hand to her forehead as she looked out towards the horizon. "How long till we get there?"

Jonah raised Jack as high as he could above his head, who squinted his tiny fish eyes to check. "Probably around… I don't know… maybe 60 minutes?"

"Hey, nice.", Dan said, as he flicked the top off of a keg of green Elixir using a tiny bit of Star. "That's not so bad."

Sandy yawned, and started a slow walk back up towards the crow's nest. "Hey, Dad?"

"Yes?", Jonah asked, without even turning around. He knew exactly what his son was going to say next.

"I'm gonna just go back to sleep.", said Sandy, as he slowly climbed the ladder. "Wake me up if something happens."

Jonah chuckled softly to himself, as Sandy hoisted himself upwards onto the upper deck and fell asleep instantly.

"Ay, my boy's an odd one.", he said. "Can never get enough sleep."

"Yes, that seems to be typical for his type.", Glabnack said. "Sandys sleep a lot."

Once Glabnack had spoken his mind, no one else seemed all that keen to follow. As awkward gazes shifted around the boat, everyone fully expected someone else to step in and carry the conversation. But when no one did, the tension in the air kept on growing, and several of the people there started to feel more than a little uncomfortable. Finally, after almost 30 seconds and a single, slight cough from Anne, Brandy decided that it was her turn to break the silence.

"Whew, is it hot out here, or what?", she groaned, leaning back. "Like seriously, how hot is it?"

Jack licked his fin, sticking it straight up into the air. He gave an affirmative nod, then retreated back into Jonah's hand. "It's 98.6 degrees. Exactly."

"Are you sure that's just not your own body heat, fishy?", asked Terrence, looking up and speaking a real sentence for the first time since he had gotten on the boat. "That's body temperature, you know."

Jack frowned, and slapped his fins together in what he hoped could be intimidation. "Hmph. I'll have you know that not only is the body temperature of fish different from you mammals, I also have a highly developed heat-sensing apparatus stuck underneath my fin. So there."

"He doesn't have any of that stuff.", Jonah slurred, from underneath his sun umbrella. He ruffled his special, Giant-sized issue of Fishermen monthly and took a sip of his Elixir. "Jack's a compulsive liar."

"Wha-", Jack spat, then put his fins on his hips. "You're not so honest yourself, Jonah."

But Jonah just gave a deep, throaty chuckle, set Jack down, and went back to his reading.

Brandy felt the sun beat down on her skin. She thought it odd how ever since The Kraken had been defeated, it had almost seemed to be getting warmer. Steadily hotter the sun had become, for whatever reason.

"Okay, seriously, why is it so hot?", Brandy asked, as she felt herself start to sweat. "Does anyone else feel that?"

Glabnack looked up, and sniffed the air with his long, sharp nose. "Yes.", he said. "I agree. It does seem oddly hot."

Dan took a deeper swig of his Elixir, and set down the flattened can. "Hmmm…"

He stood up and swiveled his head, seeming to search for something. "I agree."

"Honestly, I'd take off my tunic if we were alone.", Brandy grumbled, flipping back her hood to let out some of the heat. "Why the…"

Song: Sudden Battle

"Brandy?", Dan asked, as he slowly approached the side of the boat. He moved slowly, as so not to attract the possible attention of whatever might be there. "Don't you think it's odd?"

Brandy thought for a moment, scratching the side of her head. She rolled down her socks, scratching the now bare skin. "That ever since we decided to start on this journey, we've been randomly attacked? Yeah."

"It's almost as if…", Dan said, and gathered up some Star energy in his right hand. He brought it far above his head, ready to strike at the first chance he got. "We're being targeted by someone."

"But who?", Brandy asked. She started to breathe in harder, trying to banish the overwhelming heat from her body. Sweat dripped down from her forehead, gathering in a small pool on the deck. "Who would-"

She shook her head, and broke off the words. "Dan, I can't take this heat anymore. I'm going in the water for a bit."

Dan, leaning over the side of the boat, barely even heard her words. "Okay, honey. Have fun."

Brandy strode over to the side of the ship, making sure that nobody was watching. Once she confirmed that Sandy and Jonah were asleep, she slipped out of her tunic and jumped over the side of the boat.

Once Dan heard the splash of Brandy entering the water, his head snapped up to attention. He turned around, in mild panic. "Brandy, wait!"

But Brandy didn't hear him. She just felt herself fall into the water, the blessed, cool ocean. As soon as she hit the sea, all the heat that had been concentrated on her left, dissipating into the salty sea air. "Aaaahhh…"

She let herself float to the surface, lying on her back in the cold water. She was somehow swept along in the ship's current, allowing her to keep pace.

But her peace was shattered by Dan looking over the side of the boat, his face full of panic.

"Brandy!", he yelled. "There's something in the water! Something else!"

Far below Brandy, something stirred in the deep cold water. Something ferocious, hard blue scales covering its body. Reptilian eyes glinted coldly, and it began a quick, yet unhurried swim towards the surface of the sea.

Brandy opened her eyes, and looked up. "Wait, what-", was all she could say before something grabbed her by the foot and dragged her underwater.

"Brandy!", Dan yelled, and raised his fist. A ferocious lance of Star sparked at the end, ready to impale whatever it hit. He cast his vision downwards to aim at whatever had grabbed Brandy- but he could not see it. Whatever it was had vanished.

Brandy felt herself being dragged deep underwater, by some strange monster. She could feel the powerful scaly hand that had her by the foot, unwilling to let go. Fish and monsters streaked by, almost seeming to be standing still next to the speed at which Brandy was traveling. She could feel the air leaking from her lungs, as the edges of her vision started to fade into black.

"You little-", Brandy yelled through the water, and viciously kicked at whatever held her. Her blows connected, tearing off bits of scale, but the dragging force still persisted.

"I'm gonna-", Brandy spat, trying to drag herself into a position where she could attack better, but the force of the water against her was too strong. "Gonna-"

Brandy could see the water darkening around her. She knew that if she didn't escape within a few seconds, she would drown. She had to escape. She had to-

Brandy's eyes flashed blue, and the shimmering lights of The Dreamer appeared somewhere behind her head. She could see herself a few seconds into the future, being dragged into a dark cave with no chance of escape. No, wait- the vision was splitting. Now only one quarter of her vision showed that horrible outcome, and the others were all different. One was a massive fish coming out of the deep blue, swallowing both her and the attacker whole. Another was of the attacker suddenly letting go, and Brandy floating to the surface, perhaps dead or alive. But the fourth was good- that one was of Jonah's hook snatching her back, dragging her alive and gasping to the surface. Brandy grimaced and reached out with her mind, selecting the fourth option.

As if by magic, she felt Jonah's hook snag on the back of what clothes she still had on. The grip of the scaly beast was nothing compared to the raw hooking might of Jonah, and she was yanked upwards. Upwards, and back towards safety.

Dan gasped in relief, as he saw Brandy break the surface of the water. Jonah's hook launched her overhead and onto the deck of the boat with a loud crack- it would hurt. But she was alive, and that's what mattered.

"Brandy!", Dan shouted, and ran over to her side. He slid one hand under her back, lifting her up into the air. "What was that? How did you-"

Brandy coughed up a mouthful of water, then looked up into Dan's eyes. "I used… The Dreamer.", she said. "To choose… the future. For just a little bit."

"You can do that?", Dan asked. "Since when?"

"I can't do it often.", Brandy said. "Just when… I really need to."

She coughed again, and gestured towards where she had left her tunic.

"I should put my clothes back on.", she said. "Before everything falls off."

"Oh.", Dan said, and reached over. He tossed Brandy's tunic to her, and she slipped back into it as fast as she could. "Right."

He looked down at her, worry etched across his face. "Are… you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.", Brandy coughed. "I'm just a little wetter now, is all. And my lungs hurt. And I'm kind of exhausted, if we're being totally honest."

"Well, get some rest.", Dan said. "We've got quite a day ahead of us still."

"Right…", Brandy said, and grabbed Dan's arms a little tighter. "We still gotta get to the shore, and check in to the hotel, and then find out where we're going from there."

"To find your parents, right?", Dan asked. "That's what we're doing."

"Right.", Brandy said. "And then finding the dragon that can save the world."

"Yeah…", Dan said. "But that's all stuff you want to do. To be honest, I kind of just want to explore."

Brandy smiled weakly, and stroked his arm. "Don't worry, honey. There'll be plenty of time for that. We can do whatever we want, together. Because hey."

She closed her eyes, and cracked a sly grin. "It technically is our second honeymoon."

She slid down from Dan's arms onto a chair, and coughed again. The sudden depth and reemergence had hurt her lungs something fierce. Then she noticed something- it was no longer warm. "Hey, what happened to the heat?"

Glabnack put one finger into the air, the universal gesture for _I might have the answer for that._

"Perhaps whatever tried to attack you was able to generate heat, in order to cause its prey to get themselves into a vulnerable state.", he said, his biology training showing. "Once it was defeated, the heat it generated quickly vanished into the air."

"Huh.", Brandy said. "Yeah, that sounds probable."

She coughed again, scratching at the claw marks that were still on her foot. "I think I'm gonna take a little nap. Wake me up when we get there."

"Can do, Bandit.", said Glabnack, for he had quite forgotten her name. "Can do."

"I'll wake you up.", Dan said, as he saw Brandy close her eyes and gently drift off into much-needed sleep. "Don't you ever worry."

Dan closed his eyes, and sighed. If he was being honest with himself, the encounter with… whatever it was had shocked him. Every time that something had come up on the journey so far, he had been the one to protect, to save. He had protected Brandy and the civilians from the reptile, and protected everyone again from The Kraken. But then something had snuck in under his nose, and snatched away Brandy before there had even been a second. If it wasn't for both Jonah and The Dreamer, she would have been dead. Dan himself had been unable to do anything. He knew that fact, and he hated it with every fiber of his being. What good was he, what good was his strength, if he could not protect?

"You look a little down, me boy.", said Jonah, reaching down into a secret compartment beside him. "How about a shanty, to raise all our spirits?"

"A… shanty?", Dan asked. "What do you mean?"

"You know, a shanty.", Jonah explained, and brought up a guitar. "A song."

"Ah.", Dan said. "That would be quite nice."

Jonah sang a few notes to test his old, grizzled voice, and brought the guitar up to his knees. He cleared his throat, placed his fingers against the tired strings, and began to play.

"As I'm filled with silver fire…", he sang low, strumming out a few simple notes. "I gaze upon the stars on higher…"

Even though it was still early afternoon, the air seemed to grow darker and cooler from the sound of his song. But it was not an evil darkness, nor an oppressive cold. No, it was the dark of sleep, and the cold of a comforting, cozy evening.

"Looking down upon me they…", he sang again, then paused for a bit as he tried to remember the right notes. "Shine on brightly all my way…"

He looked up, and grinned. "Well?"

Dan put his hand to his chin. "I liked the song. What's it from?"

Jonah shook his head. "Ay, I don't remember anymore. But it's a very old shanty, that much I can tell ya. Been passed down even before since there were Fishermen. Heck, its probably been sung longer than you folks have fought in the Arenas."

"Older… than the Arenas?", Dan asked in amazement. "I thought they were as old as civilization itself."

"Ay, boy.", Jonah said, with a glint in his eye. He took a moment to remember all the stories he used to hear, then spoke. "They are."

"Then how-", Dan asked, but Jonah just waved his hand.

"The continent of Royale is young, Daniel. Next to the age of the Continent of the Clans, it has but existed for a mere smidgen of time. The history of that place over there extends back for probably thousands of years. Most of it, sadly…"

He looked down again, then picked up his guitar. "Lost to time."

"I see.", Dan said, but his mind swam with thought. Thousands of years old? He didn't know that anything was that old. What history did the Continent of the Clans have, that he didn't know about? He would have to find it out, as soon as he could. Perhaps he could find someone once they got there that would know. _Or, _he thought as he looked around the deck and saw a certain scholarly Goblin, _I could ask Glabnack._

"Hey, Glabnack.", Dan said, with a friendly wave of his hand. Glabnack fell out of his chair with a start, almost dropping his book that he had been reading. "You know your history, right?"

Glabnack stood up indignantly, and shook his head once he saw that it was Dan that had addressed him. "Erm, no. My field of study is mostly biology."

"Oh.", Dan said. "Well, you know anything about where we're going? Just want to know what I could run into."

"Yeah…", Glabnack said, scratching nervously behind his ears. "I… don't really… know that either."

Glabnack fully expected Dan to get angry, but instead he just sat back. "Oh well. Not everyone knows everything, after all."

Then there was the sudden blare of trumpets from the deck in front of them, accompanied by an almost overly energetic strum of Jonah's guitar. Dan and Glabnack looked up, to see Jonah and Sandy launching into another shanty- this one far more lively.

"What do you do with a drunken sailor?", Jonah sang, almost shouting his words. He blasted out a note on his guitar, and pointed to his son.

"What do you do with a drunken sailor?", Sandy repeated, but with a different intonation.

"What do you do with a drunken sailor-", they both sang together, then pointed to Dan and Glabnack.

Glabnack took a deep breath- he knew this one. Dan didn't, but he took a deep breath anyways.

"Early in the morning!", all three of them sang, their voices echoing out through the tranquil blue waters.

Brandy, who had laid down to sleep in the cabin, now felt herself drifting into wakefulness. She closed her eyes and sat up, trying to remember what she had been dreaming about. It wasn't a Dreamer dream, to be certain- no, she always remembered those. It had just been a regular dream, but even those carried some meaning. Even those were worthy to be remembered.

"What the…", she muttered, her ears picking up strange sounds coming from outside. It sounded like muffled, extremely off key, almost overly enthusiastic music.

Brandy slipped over the side of the counter, landing with a soft noise on the hard wood floor. She placed her hands on her back and stretched, letting her hood fall to reveal her frizzled hair.

"Are they…", she whispered to herself- then in a flash of sudden inspiration, Brandy remembered her dream.

It had been of her and two other small children she couldn't recognize, sitting around a table. One appeared to be an Archer, and the other an Electro Wizard- although younger versions.

"Brandy, finish your soup.", had come a voice from behind her. "Otherwise-"

Then her memory cut off, leaving Brandy to only wonder what the rest of the dream had contained.

"Put him in a longboat till he's sober, put him in a longboat till he's sober!", sang Jonah, and bent down to deliver the musical baton to Dan.

"Early in the morning!", Dan roared, not hitting the right note. But he was having fun with it, and that was the point of a shanty's existence.

"Way hay and up she rises-", Glabnack sang, and spun around in a circle, his book almost causing him to fall over. "Way hay and up she rises-"

"Way hay and up she rises-", Brandy sang, taking a good guess at what had been coming next in the song. She slowly snuck her way into the circle, and sat down on Dan's lap.

"Early in the morning!", Sandy sang, finishing the verse. He spun around, looked up, and stopped singing. His eyes widened, as he saw what was now in front of the boat.

"Shave his belly with a rusty razor, shave his belly with a rusty razor!", Jonah sang, his eyes closed in joy. So utterly engrossed was he in his singing that he somehow failed to notice the quick and frantic movements of Jack the Fish, tapping and slapping his shoulders.

"Shave his belly with a-", Dan sang, then stopped. He looked at what was in front of the boat, and sat up a little straighter.

"Shave his-", Jonah sang some more, then he felt Sandy tap his shoulder. "Dad?"

Jonah stopped singing, put down his guitar, and tried to look serious. He failed, but the effort was there. "What is it, son?"

Sandy pointed, and Jonah turned to see what everyone was looking at. His old, weathered gaze fell upon two huge black pillars of stone, marking an entrance to what seemed to be a truly massive harbor. Ships of all sorts pulled into the bay, the square clouds above a marked difference from what everyone was used to. A different sort of aire permeated the entire area, signifying this place as unique from all others.

Brandy bent at one knee, awestruck, and looked up at the legendary Continent of the Clans. "We're here."

Song: Not Alone

"Ay.", Jonah said. "So we are."

He glanced over his shoulder at Sandy, who was still standing awestruck at the sight. "Come on then, boy. Make yourself useful."

Sandy nodded, and ran off to grab everyone's luggage. It had been stored in the bottom deck of the ship, safe and secure during the journey.

"Jack, who's running the dock today?", asked Jonah, hoisting the Fish up so he could see. Jack put one fin to his brow, trying to take a closer look.

"Uh… looks like Ted, sir.", Jack said. "The Giant."

"Ted…", Jonah said, and returned Jack to his hip. "Oh, he's a good one. Take care of these fellows alright."

Jonah waited for a few seconds, judging the distance from the shore and what speed they were currently traveling. He wanted his throw to be exactly right.

But no one else saw the calculations going through his head- all they saw was their captain, staring blankly ahead off into space.

"Uh, Jonah?", Dan asked. "Shouldn't you be, uh, getting us the rest of the way there?"

"Hm?", Jonah said, then looked up. "Oh, I am. Just watch."

His calculations complete, he stood up, unwinding his hook from his shoulder. "Just sit back, and learn."

He started to gently throw the hook in a circle, building up momentum and speed. A glint flashed in his eye as the speed of the hook reached a fever pitch, a low whine emanating from the flashing steel. Finally, right when it seemed as though the hook was going to break in two, he let go, flinging it right towards the dock.

Just barely within the sight of the boat, the hook landed on a solid stone outcropping by the side of the shore. It snagged itself on a huge relief carving of a Dragon, holding fast into the rock.

"This is how we do it, Dan.", Jonah grunted, and pulled. It took a few seconds for anything to happen, but between the force of his hook and the force of his muscles, the Undefined Value began to move.

"Dad!", Sandy shouted, as he ran up the stairs. "I got- I got everyone's luggage."

Jonah kept pulling, as he turned Jack to check. Sandy stood in the middle of a pile of Chests, his arms aching from the exertion. "It's… all here."

Jack put his fins on his hips, as Jonah took a look through his eyes. "Boy, you didn't have to carry it all by yourself. You should have waited for me to help you."

"We could have done it.", Brandy said. "We should have grabbed our own-"

"Nonsense!", Jonah squeaked out, as the immense weight of the boat started to take its toll on his arms. "You're our- _oh Se'th- _guests! We wouldn't dream of making you do- _holy frick- _a thing! Isn't that right- _ooooo- _my boy?"

"Right.", Sandy said, and felt his eyes automatically close. He put his hand over his mouth as a massive yawn came over him, not even bothering to open his eyes again once he finished.

"I'm just gonna…", he yawned again. "Go back to sleep now."

Then he collapsed into a purple-clothed pile on the deck, asleep and snoring before he could even hit the ground.

The Undefined Value hit the side of the land with a sudden thud, sending Glabnack tumbling head over heels and onto his face. Or he would have, if Brandy hadn't suddenly lashed out with her arm and stopped him from falling with a quiet "You're welcome."

Jonah stopped pulling, and let his arm fall by his side. He smartly saluted, Jack the Fish slapping against his face. "Ay, this be it. Your destination."

Dan looked up towards the far away hills, and stuck out his hands. Golden Star flashed between them, and both his and Brandy's bags immediately flew into his grip.

"Right.", he said, and nodded deeply. "I guess we should be going now. Thanks for the ride, Jonah."

Jonah scoffed, and waved an off hand. "Oh, don't mention it. It's just our job."

Sandy would have said something, but he was asleep. So he didn't even notice it as both Dan and Brandy stepped over him and off the boat, Brandy giving him a little rustle of the hair as they went by.

Several minutes later, Dan and Brandy walked along the boardwalk of the pier, luggage in hand. Well, it was more all in Dan's hands. And Brandy wasn't so much walking as alternating between riding on Dan's shoulder and Dashing her way into and out of the various shops and booths there were as they passed by.

"Hey guys.", said Glabnack from behind them. "Where are you two going?"

"Uh…", Dan said, as he tried to remember. "Brandy, could you get the map? I think it's just in my-"

"Sure.", Brandy said, and flipped upside down. She grabbed the map from Dan's back pocket, giving it a little pat, then flipped herself right side up again.

"Back pocket.", Dan said, then realized what had just happened.

Brandy unrolled the map, looking for the location of their chosen hotel. "Hmm…"

Upon finding it, she pointed to the eastern tip. "There we go. The Grand Goblin Hotel."

"The Grand Goblin?", Glabnack excitedly asked. "Awesome! That's where I'm going too!"

"Really?", Brandy asked. "Nice."

She looked around for the other two boat partners, but they were nowhere to be found.

"Hey, where are Anne and Terrence?", she asked. "Didn't they get off the boat?"

Glabnack scratched his head. "Beats me. But eh, who cares?"

He took out a small spyglass from his pocket, holding it to his eye for whatever reason. "As long as we three are all together, we don't need them."

"Right…", Brandy said. "Yeah, us three."

_How soon until we ditch him?, _Dan thought.

_Ditch him?, _Brandy responded. _What do you mean, ditch him?_

_I thought that's what we were talking about, _Dan thought back. _Getting rid of him._

_No!, _Brandy thought, and folded her arms. She huffed a single lock of hair out of her face. _I was just being sarcastic._

_Oh, _Dan thought. _Sorry, it was a little hard to tell._

_No, no, you're good, _Brandy responded. _It's all good._

"Good.", Dan said, finally out loud. "And I love you, you know."

Brandy nuzzled his ear. "And I love you too."

"And it's not even that far from here!", Glabnack said, who apparently either had not been listening, or chosen not to acknowledge their conversation. "Only about maybe a 20 minute walk."

"That's great, man.", Dan said. "But which way is it?"

Brandy took the map from Glabnack, who had somehow grabbed hold of it, and held it up in front of her face. "Uh… it says that it's to the right."

"Alright then.", said Dan, and took a sharp rightward turn. "So let's go-"

He stopped, as he suddenly saw what was in the alleyway in front of him. A Villager and a Wizard stood stock still against the side of the wall, trying their hardest not to move. In between them was a small child, who seemed about to cry.

"Don't cry, don't cry…", the Wizard whispered, making a series of what he hoped were calming hand movements. "Don't you dare make a sound…"

"Hey!", Dan shouted. One hand flew to Brandy, and she frontflipped onto the ground in front of him. The other flew to Glabnack, shielding him from whatever thing was in the alley. "You!"

The monster finished ripping into whatever it held in its hands, swallowed, then looked up at the source of the sound. It pushed one rotting arm against its mouth, in some vestigial instinct of cleanliness. All it did in this case was remove more skin. "Grrrraaaahhh…"

"You two. There.", Dan said, making sure not to make any sudden movements. "I need you to slowly back away, opposite directions. Brandy, grab the kid as soon as I say so. I'll take down this… thing."

"Right.", Brandy said, and crouched, preparing to strike. "I've got this."

The Villager and the Wizard looked at each other nervously, not wanting to leave their child's side. But they saw that it was probably for the best to leave the strange, undead creature to the huge Troop that had suddenly appeared. So they slowly backed away.

"On my mark.", Dan whispered, slowly drawing closer. He breathed in as quietly as he could, trying not to attract the monster's attention. "Ready…"

The Zombie sniffed the air and swung its head back and forth, trying to detect what was creeping up on it. It had no intelligence and hardly any senses, relying entirely on basic instinct. It had been made for one thing and one thing alone- to hunt and to kill. So when the baby, suddenly cut off from its parents, began to cry, whatever it had as a brain was suddenly kicked into high gear.

As soon as Dan saw the baby start to cry, his hand shot open. "Grab him!", he shouted.

Brandy Dashed right for the baby, picking him up in both hands. She continued right down the alley, underneath and between the Zombie's legs, and into the window of a nearby abandoned shop.

"Graaah!", the Zombie roared, and whipped around. To Dan's surprise, it ripped off its own hand with a sickening crunch. Setting the severed limb down on the ground, it took off in pursuit of Brandy and the child.

"Hey!", Dan roared, and raised his fists. The Zombie turned around and growled, only to be met with the colossal impact of a pair of iron fists.

"Ora!", Dan yelled, as the Zombie was slammed directly into the ground. Rotten flesh splattered all over the sides of the alleyway, putrid Elixir leaking out from the crater that the impact had made in the stone.

"Gaaahhh…", the Zombie groaned, and tried to get up. But even though it had somehow survived the hit, all of its bones had been shattered by Dan's attack.

"Stay down!", Dan shouted, and kicked the Zombie directly in the side. The undead monster roared in pain as part of its entire torso was obliterated, but Dan's kick had actually had the opposite effect- the Zombie flew out of the crater and further into the alleyway.

The Wizard, the Villager, and Glabnack all took this golden opportunity to slowly back away, then stop slowly backing away and full on run into a nearby ice cream parlor. They slammed the door shut and locked it behind them, ignoring the protests of the patrons.

"Gehehehe…", the Zombie laughed, slow and long. Its shattered limbs slowly knit themselves back together, as it pulled itself back onto its feet. "Gehe…"

Dan watched it turn around, and lumber off down the alley in pursuit of Brandy and the baby. But, he knew as he began to charge up some Star, it wouldn't be able to get very far.

"It looks like it can just regenerate from physical harm.", he said to himself, as his hand lit up with golden light. "But Star will most likely do the trick."

The Zombie slapped one wet, rotting hand onto the brick on the other side of the alleyway, as it emerged into the next street over. It turned its head- just its head, not its neck or shoulders, and took the time to growl at a passing pair of Archers. They screamed, and turned to run away.

The Zombie chuckled to itself, and reached out one long hand to grab them- then stopped. Even though it could feel no pain, it still somehow noticed that there was now a gaping hole in its chest, the edges still sizzling with the energy of the Star.

It screeched in what was almost fear, if it was capable of feeling such a thing, and looked down. It clawed in desperation at the edges of the hole, trying to keep the Star from spreading, but it was a losing battle. Its fingers were turned to dust even as it fought to keep the energy from spreading, and it's torso wasn't faring much better. Within mere seconds, the last traces of the Zombie's howl faded away, as its entire body was turned to purple ash.

Dan stepped through the alleyway, and looked around. He saw the two Archers, as their fear turned to relief. "Good morning.", he said. "Either of you ladies seen a Bandit carrying a baby?"

"A… Bandit?", one Archer asked. "What's that?"

Dan stared at her for a second, then shook his head. "Oh, never mind."

Then he took off running in what he hoped was the right direction, even though it was not.

Brandy leapt through another window, Dashing to throw up a quick shield. The shattered glass reflected harmlessly against her, not a single scratch coming to the baby.

She took a quick glance behind her, searching for the Zombie's hand- yep. There it was, still scratching along at the ground at speeds that should have been impossible for any severed hand to move, especially a dead one- yet there it was.

Brandy jumped over a fallen steel beam, seeing that she was now in some sort of abandoned factory. The small, boarded up windows only allowed in a small portion of light. Huge stacks of dead machinery littered the factory floor, dust hanging all over everything in some sort of bizarre pattern.

The Zombie's hand still raced behind her, somehow keeping pace with her. It didn't make sense to Brandy. She was a Bandit, one of the fastest runners there was. Somehow, the severed hand of some disgusting monster was keeping pace with her- or almost, at least. As she ran, it seemed that the gap between them was growing larger.

"Hey, hey, don't cry.", Brandy said, as she slid on one hand underneath a falling door. It hit the platform they were on with a crash, allowing Brandy to catapult off of it and onto an upper level. "There's nothing to be afraid of, it's only a creepy, gross, infected hand."

She ducked underneath a hanging line of spikes, but there was no room for the baby. She just threw it up, and caught it as she came up again on the other side.

The baby whimpered, and Brandy held it closer to her chest. She dropped to both knees to avoid a swinging beam, then jumped back up again to keep running. "Don't worry. We're gonna get you back to your parents real soon…"

The thought gave Brandy momentary pause. It reminded her of her own parents for a bit. It wasn't long, but it was enough to make her trip up for a second- and trip over a rusty bit of metal that was sticking out of the floor.

"Shoot!", she shouted, attracting the attention of a flock of Bats roosting on the ceiling. She stumbled, almost falling off the elevated platform she was on. Her arms fumbled the baby for a second, but were able to reign it in.

Brandy staggered back onto the platform, clutching the baby tighter in her arms. "Whew.", she said. "It would have been bad if I dropped you."

But then her relief turned to panic, as the bundle of blankets collapsed in her arms to reveal that there was nothing in them.

Brandy knew what she had to do. Without any hesitation, and barely even thinking, she turned around and threw herself off the side of the platform.

"Where are you… where the-", she muttered, as she fell. The wind buffeted her face, making it hard to breathe or see, but- there! Right next to her, falling at the same rate, was the screaming baby. "Gotcha!"

Brandy reached out and grabbed the baby as hard as she could, noticing that it had been an oddly long time since she had started falling. She looked up and down, and realized why. She had accidentally thrown herself into a giant pit, which apparently had opened up just for this special occasion.

"Dang it dang it dang it dang it!", Brandy screamed, clutching the baby hard against her side. She Dashed to the wall, digging her fingers into the soft stone. It hurt a lot, but she was able to grind to a halt. "What _is _this place?"

She looked up, preparing to swing upwards. But there, tapping its fingers on the edge of the pit, was the Zombie Hand. Right next to it was what appeared to be some sort of pushbutton, doubtlessly used for triggering some dangerous device.

"Shoot, there it is.", Brandy growled, as she flexed her arm. Clutching the baby tight, she began to formulate a plan to dodge the impending attack. Maybe if she swung to the left, then to the right, Dashed up at a 45 degree angle, and-

Then she stopped, and remembered something that she had been forgetting somehow.

"What am I worrying about?", she laughed, and pressed her foot against the wall. "That thing's just a hand!"

The Hand, as if hearing her words, shrank back a bit. Brandy gave a yell of triumph and pushed herself upwards, Dash flickering around her as she flew. Once she cleared the top of the pit, the Hand reached for its button- but it was already too late.

"Die, you piece of crap!", Brandy shouted, and drove her foot downwards. The sharp edge of her boot sliced directly into the Hand, and landed all the way through. Although it technically made no sound, Brandy could swear she still heard it scream, as it fell in two pieces into the pit.

Brandy landed with a soft impact on the side of the pit, turned the baby right side up again, and brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Well, that's that.", she said. "I wonder where Dan is right now."

She looked around in the empty factory. "He's not here, that's for certain."

She began a slow walk towards what looked like the exit, her left arm still hurting from all the things she had done with it. It was that hand that had scraped away The Kraken's flesh, and that hand that had propelled her upwards. It was also the hand that she had used to pin Sandy to the wall, but that hardly even seemed worth mentioning next to those two other things.

"Come on, kid.", she said to the baby, who gurgled with pleasure. She tickled its chin, prompting some burbling laughter. "Let's go give you back to your parents."

There was a titanic rumble of shattering stone as something huge broke through the wall. Brandy spun around, ready to take on whatever it was- but relaxed, as she saw it was just Dan.

"Brandy, where's the kid?", he asked breathlessly. "Is it alright?"

Brandy held up the baby, who giggled again. "Yeah. She's okay."

The Villager appeared behind Dan, and rushed forward with her arms outstretched. "Oh, thank Se'th!"

Brandy handed the baby to her mother, who clutched it tight. She looked up at Brandy with tears in her eyes. "Oh, how can we repay you?"

"Uh… maybe some Go-", Brandy started to say, before a quick eye from Dan told her otherwise.

"I mean, we don't need anything.", she said, struggling mightily against her instincts as a Bandit to do so. "You're good."

"Really?", asked the Wizard. "Because-"

"No.", Brandy forced out, before she was unable to say otherwise. "We. Are. Good."

"Well, if you insist.", the Wizard shrugged, and put his arm around the Villager. "Come on, honey. Let's go."

As the three walked away, Brandy sighed wistfully.

"You know Dan, I kind of want a kid.", she said. "I bet I could actually take care of one now."

"I thought you said you couldn't get pregnant anymore.", Dan said.

"Yeah, I can't.", Brandy said. "But I wish I could. It's not like you'd have a problem doing it to me."

Dan's face stiffened, and Brandy giggled. She gave him a small knock on the arm. "Oh, come on, Dan. We're married. We can talk about that kind of stuff."

"I know.", Dan said. "Just… we shouldn't talk about it in front of people."

"In front of people?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean? There's no one he- oh."

She saw a pair of big green Goblin ears from somewhere behind Dan. "Hi, Glabnack."

"No, no, keep going.", Glabnack almost said. But somehow, he detected that it would only end up with Brandy's fist planted firmly in either his face or chest- perhaps even both. So he wisely chose to say something else.

"So, are we going now?", he asked. "To the hotel."

"Yeah…", Dan said. "About that."

"It's gonna be a long walk.", Brandy said, stretching her hands on her back. "I really don't feel like-"

Glabnack raised his hand, revealing a trio of tickets. "No. It's cool. I called us a taxi."

There was a honk of a horn from outside the factory, and Glabnack tugged on Dan's hand. "Come on guys, let's go."

Brandy and Dan looked at each other, thought, then nodded. "Taxi. Yeah, that sounds good."

Dan bowed politely, then threw open the doors of the structure. There, in front of them, was a stocky, thick black cart pulled by a pair of Golemnites.

"Wha-", Brandy said. "Golemnites? We might as well just walk for all the speed this'll give us."

The Goblin in the driver's seat put his hands on his hips indignantly, and scoffed. "Well! Look at little miss knowledgeable over here!"

He patted one of the Golemnites on the head, whispering sweet nothings and assurances into somewhere near its ear. It did not care, but the Goblin did- and that's what really mattered anyway. "There, there. She didn't mean it."

"I'll have you know these are nothing but the finest bred racing Golemnites, capable of achieving speeds of up to 25 miles per hour!", the Goblin huffed.

Brandy thought about carrying on the argument, but knew that it was folly. So she just rolled her eyes and flung open the cabin door. With not even a word, all three passengers were in. The Goblin gave a sharp yell and flung his hand downwards, the Golemnites taking off in the direction of the hotel.

Dan waited for a few seconds, before taking a deep breath. He stared directly down at Brandy from up above, and Brandy felt her heart flutter.

"Brandy.", he said gently. "You… kind of just took off back there. Without warning."

"Wasn't I supposed to?", she asked. "When you said for me to-"

"I guess.", Dan sighed. "You were just going through with the plan. But when you left my sight, well… I panicked a little bit. I don't like not knowing where you are, in such a strange, unfamiliar place. Who knows how many more of those… things… are wandering around."

Brandy rolled up her sleeve, and flexed what muscle she had. "Oh, you don't need to worry about me, Dan. I'm a tough girl."

"Yeah, but…", Dan said. But then he stopped. Even though he had been about to argue, he didn't want to disagree with Brandy.

"And you're my bigger, stronger man.", Brandy said, leaning up against Dan's waist. "The biggest, strongest, manliest man ever."

"That's true.", Dan said, rubbing one finger across Brandy's front. She grabbed his arm, and climbed up onto his chest.

"And we'll be able to take on anything that this place can throw at us.", she said, and grabbed his face in both hands. "No matter what. Me and my massive, strong, strapping…"

No more words were needed. Dan grabbed Brandy from behind and pushed her forward, meeting her in a passionate kiss. Glabnack watched, and gagged a bit, but neither of them cared. And as the cart continued onward towards the Grand Goblin Hotel, no one heard Brandy gently whisper, in between breaths, "Hero."

In the center of the continent, in the center of Dragonlord Rakastamos's cavern, the mood was altogether different. A single ragged individual raced among the spiked rocks and worn down runs of stone in front of the cave's entrance, eager to deliver his news.

He climbed over the broken rock as fast as he could, almost cutting his hands on the shattered bits of metal and glass. He ducked under a floating altar of stone, running on hands and knees even farther into the cave. But finally he found it- a long, narrow slide of small stones, leading down into the darkness. With a shake of his head, he gathered up his courage and jumped in.

"Dragonlord Rakastamos, sir!", he yelled, sliding down the rockslide into the cavern's central interior. "I have eager news, sire! From the eastern front!"

He waited for a few seconds, breathing heavily from his long run, awaiting his master's appearance. The cave seemed mostly empty- just him, the robots, and Rakastamos's elite Skeleton Guard. Perhaps He wasn't there- no, the idea seemed silly. Rakastamos never left the cave. He couldn't, not when he had to-

There was an impossibly low rumble, and the runner suddenly had all of his fondest dreams answered. He saw a truly massive eye open up in front of him, revealing the deep orange pupil of Dragonlord Rakastamos. "Yes?"

The runner's face lit up in delight at the sight of his master- but there was no time for that now. He had to deliver his message, had to make it quick. "I'm afraid I have some urgent news, master. There have been… losses. On the Eastern front."

"Oh?", Rakastamos rumbled. "What happened? Tell me…"

His eye rolled lazily, and the runner felt himself shiver with both delight and dread. "More."

"My lord…", the runner said, then gulped as he prepared himself for the next bit. He felt the sweat drip from his brow in fear, but he kept on going out of sheer duty. "The Kraken- Chacalatokus- is dead."

Rakastamos's eye shot open, and he reared back. Although not much of his full size could be seen, he still towered over the runner like a mountain over a tree. "What?"

"And the Raptor… as well as the Zombie.", the runner continued, wanting to impart as much information as he could. "They were all slain not but a few hours ago."

Rakastamos gripped his head in his hands, swaying back and forth in despair. "No, no, no, no, no! How could this have happened? Chacalatokus was one of my finest warriors! And now- he's dead?"

He gritted his teeth in anger, the action sending the entire ceiling trembling. "I expected as much of the Raptor and the Zombie, but not him. No, not him."

He leaned down to the runner, who took a fearful yet excited step backwards. "Who did this to him? Who was so powerful they could bring the likes of Chacalatokus down with nary even a fight?"

The runner gulped, and checked his small notecard. "Well, according to our field scouts…"

He took a harder glance, trying to read the messy handwriting. It had been smudged during his journey back. "It was a combined team of a Fisherman, a Sandy, a Goblin Scholar, a Mega Knight, and a Bandit. The Bandit was found to be a Stand user, and the Mega Knight was reported to have been using the Star on multiple occasions."

"Fisherman?", Rakastamos asked, stroking his beard. "Sandy? Mega Knight? Bandit? Tell me, what all are those?"

The runner thought for a moment, then realized what Rakastamos was getting at. "Oh, right. You've been dormant for really a long time. Uh, well…"

The runner felt Rakastamos's eyebrow raise, and he could almost feel the heat of his breath. "They're… new troops, sire.", he stammered out. "That have been added to the world while you were asleep."  
"Interesting…" , Rakastamos mumbled, stroking his chin. "How very interesting. For so much to be added while I was asleep."

He leaned down, propping his head up on one titanic palm. "Tell me, what else has been added?"

"Uh.", the runner said. "Well, there aren't regular people anymore."

Rakastamos raised an eyebrow. "No regular people? Whatever do you mean?"

"Well, you know how people used to train to become Troops?", the runner asked. "They don't really do that anymore. They're just born that way. Now, Troops make up almost 100% of the population."

"Why?", Rakastamos asked. "That all seems rather odd."

"Well, when your last rampage was halted by the gods, Rakastamos sire…", the runner said. "You had already managed to deal so much damage to the world that it sort of had to be… reset. Played around with, retooled. Now things are different."

Rakastamos stroked his chin again, and got a faraway look in his eye. "Fascinating. I'll have to study, then, what the world has become."

He turned back into the shadows, addressing the runner from the casual backhand he gave him. "Go get my spying scope.", he said. "The one I use for special occasions."

"Yes sir, right away.", said the runner with the deepest bow he could muster. "But… what of the group that killed the Kraken? What should I do with them?"

"Right…", Rakastamos said, and growled. "Them."

He tapped out a rhythm on the wall, letting someone somewhere in the cave know it was her time to be up. "I'll send out a little greeting."

His face turned hot with rage, a small mourning for the mighty Chacalatokus coursing through his draconic heart.

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

The sun was beginning to approach the midway point to the horizon as the cart finally pulled into the massive parking lot of the Great Goblin Hotel. Dozens of vehicles of various types all surrounded the massive structure- Hog Carts, Cannon Carts, repurposed boats, Balloons, donation carts, even a huge Wall Wrecker that hung ominously, suspended on metal feet.

The cart gently rolled to a halt inside one of the main parking areas, and finally stopped with a violent jolt.

Brandy woke up with a less violent one, but a jolt all the same. She rubbed Dan's cheek, trying to wake him up from his semi-sleep. "Hey. Hey Dan. We're here."

"Mmph.", Dan snored, and slowly sat up straight. "Thanks, honey."

Brandy smiled. "You're welcome."  
"Thank you for riding Golemnite Travel Services.", said the Goblin, and gave one final snap of his reigns. The Golemnites sat down and became still as solid rock- which, of course, they technically were. "I ask you to please leave my cart now, as I have other passengers to pick up. Also we ask that you please take all carry-on and personal items with you, as I will not exactly chase you all over the continent in order to have them safely returned."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.", Brandy said, as she threw open the door to the cart. "We can carry all our stuff… can't we Dan?"

Dan slowly exited the cart, holding both his and Brandy's luggage in one giant bundle under his arm. Also under his arm was Glabnack, but he was standing on the ground. He was actually underneath his arm, not merely tucked within it.

"Yes we can.", Dan said, and jutted out one leg. "Or, I can."

Brandy motioned with her hand, and Dan lowered one shoulder. She hopped up onto it and wound herself around his neck.

"So.", said Glabnack. "I suppose that we should all go in and find our rooms. You've got a busy day ahead of yourselves tomorrow, don't you?"

"Yeah…", Brandy said, and scratched Dan's neck. "I guess you could say that."

"What is it that you guys are here for, again?", Glabnack asked. "I forgot."

"Honeymoon.", Dan grunted. "Nothing else."

"Right.", said Glabnack, making some quick finger pointing motions. "Cool."

As they walked through the parking lot, Brandy looked at the license plates of some of the vehicles they passed by. Most of them were registered in the Continent of the Clans, of course, but more than a few read Royale upon them. One read Brawltopia, a sleek grey number with 14 wheels.

"Hey.", Brandy said. "Let's see who can find the rarest license plate."

Dan smiled, the corners of his mouth twitching a little bit as he carried the heavy bags. "Okay. Um…"

He looked from car to car, his Star-enhanced vision taking in every detail. Out of all the ones he could see, there were 47 from the Continent of the Clans, 13 from the Continent of Royale, 1 from Brawltopia, and one from the Boom Beaches.

"I think I got it.", Dan said. "Boom Beaches."

Brandy looked around, trying to find any one rarer. She was pretty sure that a plate from the Rushlands or the Hay Day Farms would win out, but she wasn't quite sure.

But then, one odd one caught her attention. It belonged to an almost impossibly sleek, bullet-shaped vehicle at the very edge of the lot. It shone with an aura that looked Legendary, soft multicolored lights coming from within.

"What does that plate say?", Brandy asked, pointing down to it. "Anyone recognize it?"

"Uh…", Glabnack said, leaning down to take a good look at it. "Certainly not a place I've ever heard of. But I think it reads… miyg… neear?"

"What?", Dan asked, and bent down. He took a look at the unfamiliar word, but could only shrug. "Beats me."

Brandy swung down from Dan's shoulders, staring the name right in the face. She racked her memory for anything that might possibly match, but could only come up empty.

"That's weird.", she said, and swung back up. "Probably one of those lost areas."

Dan thought for a moment. "You mean those places the gods put together but never finished?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said. She quickly grabbed a comb from her bag and ran it through her air- she wanted to look at least presentable before they all entered the Hotel. "Like… oh, what was it called…"

She snapped her fingers trying to remember, not noticing that Dan had already started moving again. She perked up once she remembered, and shouted the name out loud. "Smash Land! Wasn't that it?"

"Hmm…", Dan said. "Yeah, that sounds familiar. I remember hearing about that. Somewhere."

"Plate's probably from one of those places, then.", Glabnack figured. "Maybe we should-"

He was about to say _take a picture of it, due to its likely overwhelming rarity. _But when he turned around to check on it, the vehicle was already gone.

Glabnack stared for a moment, trying to force the chill off his body. Then he turned back around and ran into the Grand Goblin Hotel, along with Brandy and Dan.

As soon as the trio entered the lobby, they gasped in wonder. The scene unfolding in front of them was one of utter chaos- Goblins ran underfoot, overfoot, and inbetweenfoot. Goblins swung from many cheap chandeliers that had been hung on the ceiling. Upon closer inspection, it would seem that they had been put there for that very purpose. A huge dart board along one side of the wall provided a target for a few dozen Dart Goblins and Spear Goblins to shoot out, making a thick wall of Darts and Spears that no one could pass through. There was a massive pit off to one side, shouts of Gobbish slurs echoing throughout. And in the center of the room sat an imposing Goblin Giant, smoking a pipe and drinking some fine bourbon.

"Ah, this is good.", he thought. "Nice to finally get away from life in the woods and to settle down here. Nothing to hunt me, no one to-"

Then he chanced to look up, and saw a familiar Bandit and Mega Knight enter.

He spat out his drink, and grabbed for a newspaper to cover up his face with. Hot fear pulsed through him- for this was the very same Goblin Giant that had cornered Brandy in the woods, and the very same one that Dan had mercilessly oraoraora-ed into days of painful oblivion.

He hid his face as Dan and Brandy made their way through the Goblintide all the way to the front desk, which was staffed by- what else?- more Goblins. Although this time they were Old Goblins, which was a welcome change of pace.

"Hey there!", Brandy said loudly, struggling to be heard over the utter chaos of the entryway. "Could me and my husband get a room?"

"What?", the Goblin at the desk shouted back. "What was that?"

"I said,", Brandy said, and took a deep breath. "Could me and my husband get a room?"

"I'm sorry, can't hear ya.", the Desk Goblin said, with a flick of his paper. "You'll have to speak louder."

Brandy inhaled deeply, and she yelled as loud as she could. "Could me and my husband get a room?", she shouted, her face turning red from the effort.

The Desk Goblin still looked confused for a second, before nodding and smiling in recognition. "Ah, yes, yes, a broom.", he said. "They're down there in the cleaning hall, second floor to the right. Just on the left, can't miss it."

Brandy huffed in anger, her nostrils flaring from her frustration. She looked up at Dan, who nodded. Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled a yell of his own.

"HEY!", he erupted, the Star coming from his mouth only amplifying his sound. "ME AND MY WIFE HERE NEED A ROOM!"

The wall of sound blasted outwards, knocking what surely must have been hundreds of Goblins off of their feet. All activity in the room simply ceased, the Goblins looking to see what the interruption was.

"Ah, a room.", the Desk Goblin said, and nodded profusely. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Brandy's nostrils flared again, and the Goblin didn't notice as he pointed down the hall. "You're in luck! We have a room open at the very end of the hallway. Room 17-A. Better hurry, though- someone else might grab it."

"Don't we need a key?", Brandy asked, after waiting for a bit.

"No.", said the Goblin. "Whatever for?"

Brandy counted to 5, then sucked in a breath. "Never mind."

She crouched on the floor, then nodded. Dan grabbed her in one hand, with Glabnack and the luggage in the other, then ran off towards room 17-A.

Dan leapt over a pile of unconscious Goblins in the grass-lined hallway, dodged past an upright Elixir keg, and finally landed in front of an old, beat up door labeled 17-A. He sighed in relief, and relaxed his arms.

"Oooh…", Brandy groaned, as she landed on the floor in a crouch. She straightened up and massaged her back, wincing from the pain. "You were a little tight on the grip there, Dan."

"Oh, sorry.", Dan said. "I'll be more careful next time, I promise."

"No, no, it's fine.", Brandy said. "It's all good. Besides, I can always just do this-"

She bent backwards, further and further, until there was a soft, multi-layered pop. She touched the back of her feet with her fingers, then flung herself forward again. "That."

She looked up into the beaten, faded figure of room 17-A. "Some 5-star hotel this is.", she grumbled. "I expected a palace, not some glorified Goblin Hut."

"Glorified?", Glabnack asked. "This place- ouch-_ is_ a Goblin Hut. Just a really, really big one."

Brandy looked over her shoulder, to see Glabnack reaching out a hand. "And…"

He sighed. "This is where I leave you. My room's over there, room 25-A. And before you ask how I got it… I didn't."

Brandy shook his hand, then withdrew. "It's been real. Good luck on your schooling."

Dan gave him a light fist bump, as light as he could. However, it was still enough to send Glabnack back a few feet. "Have fun, little dude."

"Yup.", said Glabnack, and started to walk down the hall. "You two have fun with your, uh…"

He bounced his eyebrows. "Honeymoon."

Then he kept on walking, and vanished around a corner.

Dan swung open the door, and dropped their stuff on the floor next to the side of the door. He and Brandy looked up and down at each other, now finally able to show how exhausted they truly were.

"So.", Brandy said. "You wanna-"

"I just want to sleep.", Dan muttered, already making his way towards the Giant-sized bed. "That's all."

"Honestly?", Brandy said, following him. "That's all I want to do, too."

Dan fell onto the bed, Brandy jumping onto his torso. With a swift movement, Dan pulled the thick wool blanket over both of them, and turned off the candles with a single breath.

"That's alright.", Dan said, his voice already slowing from the tiredness. "That's...perfectly…"

Then they both fell asleep, Brandy's quiet breath mingling with Dan's massive snores. They had earned it, after such a massive day.

Song: Space of a Lone God

"_Dan.", came a voice. It was the sort of voice you would expect to hear in a dream- powerful, yes, but also as quiet as you could imagine._

"_Wha…", Dan mumbled, and sat up. He saw himself in a blank black space, infinite void stretching out in all directions. He jumped to his feet in alarm, taking a deep breath. A vast amount of Star flared around him, far more than what he could usually summon. _

"_Where am I?", he said, looking around for who could have said his name. "Who are you?"_

_There was a flash of movement out of the side of his vision, of steel and purple cloth. Dan whipped around, firing a tremendous beam of Star right at it. _

"_Overdrive!", he roared, the crackling ray splitting apart the thick black glass that served as the ground of the void. The shot continued onwards- and stopped, met by an equally powerful blast. There was a massive burst of smoke at the blast's meeting, obscuring whoever could be attacking._

"_What is going on?", Dan whispered to himself. "Why is this happening? Brandy's supposed to have these kinds of dreams, not me."_

_The smoke cleared up, and Dan took a stance. "Show yourself, you-"_

_Then he stopped, put down his hands, and merely and stared in wonder. For there in front of him was not an enemy, but the Primal Knight Jonathan._

"_Oh, my Se'th.", Dan said, and instinctively dropped to one knee. "It's- it's you!"_

"_Yes, Daniel.", Jonathan said. His voice was kind, yet unshakable and incomprehensibly strong. "It is I."_

"_What… what are you here for?", Dan asked, trying not to let his nervousness show. "Why my dream?"_

"_Nothing.", said Jonathan, and Dan looked in confusion. "What?"_

"_Well, nothing right now at least.", Jonathan said again. "I'm just opening a communication channel with you. But rest assured…"_

_He put two fingers on his forehead, and both he and the entire dreams began to flicker away. "I _will_ come again."_

_Then he was gone, and the edges of the dream fell to chaotic nothing that tumbled and swirled around Dan as he fell back into regular sleep._

Far down along the adjacent hallway, Glabnack placed his book on the side of his bed. He dusted his hands off with a contented sigh, and put his hands on his hips.

"Ah, there we go.", he said neatly, and turned towards the door. He fished in his pocket for a pair of sunglasses, and slapped them on with a stylish movement. "Now, the nightlife awaits!"

He took a confident stride towards the door- in his tiny, affordable room, there wasn't much space between it and the bed. "Look out, Grand Goblin Hotel, here comes Glabnack!"

He placed a hand on the wooden doorknob- a crucial, but unnoticed detail. Had it been metal, he would have been able to feel the effects of what was outside, and the doorknob would have been ice cold. But it didn't work the same for wood, and so he was totally unaware of what was going to happen.

He stumbled out into the hallway, and took a sharp left turn. He could hear the sounds of a great feast happening in the main lobby, and he did not want to miss a second. He was glad to be home, among the company of Goblins, before he had to go study under Wizards for a few years. It would be his last hurrah before schooling.

So wrapped up in these thoughts was he that he almost didn't notice it when he bumped into a large, scaly trunk of a torso in the middle of the hallway. But of course, notice he did, and he looked up in annoyance. "Hey, do you mind-"

Then he stopped, his throat going dry in fear. For as the thing he had bumped into turned around, she revealed a scaly-skinned nightmare. A nest of vipers made up her hair, and her eyes were hidden behind a thick yellow vizor. "Hello…", she hissed, leaning in close to Glabnack's terrified face. "Worm."

"H…", Glabnack whispered hoarsely, trying to get some word out through his terror.

"I don't think you were supposed to see me.", continued The Gorgon, the snakes in her hair shaking their collective heads. "I was just supposed to be a quick assassination job. Oh well…"

She grabbed Glabnack's shoulders, pulling him closer to her. "I certainly wouldn't object to one more."

Glabnack finally found his voice. "Help!", he shouted, and tried to pull away. "Somebody help me-"

But it was too late. The Gorgon's vizor flipped up, revealing a pair of eyes burning with magic and yellow ochre. Glabnack's own eyes were drawn to the movement, and he stopped screaming as soon as he saw the color. He writhed and screeched in pain, then abruptly stopped. For the magic of the Gorgon had turned the hapless Goblin, horribly, into a statue of solid stone.

The Gorgon chuckled, and slithered back away into the shadows. "Curse him… I'll have to wait now to spring my trap.", she said. Then she smiled, rubbing her scaly hands together with glee. "But I certainly wouldn't object to a few more victims while I'm here."

Her eyes narrowed, already imagining all the lovely statues for her garden back at home. "A lot more."

Song: Danger Draws Near

Brandy felt the air change against her skin, as she happened to drift back into consciousness. She had been dragged out of full sleep by some odd, panicked sound, although she couldn't quite tell what it was. It had hit her subconscious brain, only acknowledging the raw emotion.

She opened her eyes, and looked up. The window was open- but it had been open since they had gotten there. It was, after all, a Goblin Hutel. The window was just a square cut into the wood.

She checked the side of the room- all their stuff was still there. It seemed that even in a place full of Goblins, they were wise enough not to steal from a Bandit and a Mega Knight.

"Dan?", she whispered, reaching out and scratching his cheek. "You awake?"

"Mmm?", Dan mumbled. "Gwah?"

"Dan.", Brandy said, sitting up. "Something's wrong."

"Wha…", Dan snored, and sat up. He glanced at the clock, and groaned. "Brandy, it's 10 at night. What is it?"

"I don't know.", Brandy said. "But something's not right. Something…"

She slipped out of Dan's grasp, and gently tiptoed barefoot against the soft grass floor. She put her ear to the door- nothing. She frowned, trying to listen harder. "Something…"

"Brandy, come back to bed.", Dan mumbled, falling onto his back. "It's too late for this kind of stuff."  
"Okay, but hold on.", Brandy said. "I'm just gonna check the hallway real fast."

"Mmph.", Dan said, and put one arm over his face. "You do that."

"Thanks, honey.", Brandy said with a grin. "You're the best."

She opened the door, looked outwards into the dimly lit hallway- and almost jumped back in shock. For there, right in front of her, was the stone statue of Glabnack, his face twisted in fear. His last movement seemed to have been pointing at something, judging from the way his finger pointed towards a dark side closet.

Brandy screamed, and Dashed back into the room. She saw Dan leap out of bed onto the floor, stirred to action by her screams. "Brandy.", he said. "What is it."

"There's something out there.", she said. With a quick circle around the room, she had pulled on her boots and cloak, snatching up her bat in one hand. She gave it a nervous twirl, and stared out the open door. "Something that turned Glabnack to stone."

"Oh my…", Dan said, and held out his arms. His magnetically charged armor flew to his body, snapping on in a series of clinks. He let his arms fall again by his side, a small pulse of power bursting out. "That sounds serious."

Brandy crouched low against the floor, slowly making her way forward. "We better go and check it out."

Dan sighed, but he knew what he had to do. Sleep could wait, when there was a monster on the loose. So he took a deep breath, stretched, and followed Brandy out the door.

The Gorgon, from her hiding spot deep in the closet, stroked the forehead of another Goblin she had turned to stone. "Yes, yes…", she whispered, hopefully quiet enough not to be heard. "Step into my trap, fragile prey."

She saw the door open for the second time, and Brandy slink her way out, low against the floor. The Gorgon's delight turned to annoyance as she felt her eyes waver trying to keep an eye on the Bandit, her natural jungle and forest camouflage taking effect.

"Just a little more, come on, come on…", The Gorgon hissed, leaning forward in anticipation. "Just… a little… more…"

But so excited was she, that she had forgotten to keep her voice low. That was a mistake she did not realize until she saw Brandy stop, and her ears perk up in The Gorgon's general direction.

Brandy halted in her tracks, slowly swiveling to face the direction where the whispers had come from. The closet seemed empty, but it also looked very, very deep.

"Who's there?", Brandy asked, tightening the grip on her club. "Come out, or I'm coming in."

"Yes, yes, come in.", the Gorgon said, out loud. "Please, I need help."

She grinned maniacally to herself, and began to adjust the shades on her face. Her power of turning things to stone with her gaze only worked a small amount of time per day- she wore the glasses in order to access those times at will.

"What kind of help do you need?", Brandy asked. A subtle shift of the back of her foot signaled Dan to quietly get ready. He nodded, and took in a silent breath.

"Uh…", the Gorgon hissed. "I've fallen. And I can't get up."

"Is that so.", Brandy said. "You speak pretty good Clash, for a Goblin."

"Why, thank you.", the Gorgon said. "I've been working hard on it."

"Yeah…", Brandy said. "So hard, you don't even sound like a Goblin anymore."

"Well, uh…", the Gorgon said. "Does that really matter? Come in and help me."

Brandy nodded. "Right."

Then she pointed forwards, and winked. "Dan, give her all the help she needs."

Dan nodded, and brought his hands in front of his chest. "With a cleansing flame…"

The Gorgon's eyes widened, her snakes bunching together in panic. "Hey, what's that? What- what are you doing?"

Brandy took a step forward. "Well. Here's the thing."

Dan's eyes glowed, his hands heating up with a pure white light. "Sparing the good…"

Brandy grinned, and twirled her stick. "You're not a Goblin. That much is obvious. And we were the only non-Goblin guests that came in today. Now normally, that wouldn't be a problem."

She gestured to Glabnack, who still stared forward with fear in his eyes.

"But this seems to have happened.", Brandy continued, and raised her hand into the air. "Which means that there's got to be something lurking around. And no Troop that I know of can do something like this- which, in turn, means that you must be one of those Strange Troops that've been following us around today. Which, in turn, means…"

She looked up at Dan. He nodded, at last ready. Brandy blinked, and let her hand fall. "You die."

"Pure Justice Overdrive!", Dan shouted, and released his energy. It blasted forward as a thin, white needle, passing straight through the clothes that were hanging in the closet. Piercing right through the back of the wall, it shot out through the dining hall and into the night. It did not harm a single Goblin- for that was not its intended purpose. The special properties that Dan had given it made sure that it only harmed the souls of evil Troops, leaving the good and neutral ones entirely alone. It was one last way to check, if the Gorgon really was against them or not.

Dan put his hands down, still smoking with white energy. He raised one finger and gave it a gentle blow of air.

Brandy stared forward, looking for any sign if the Gorgon had survived or not. She might have dodged out of the way- that would have been unfortunate. For her.

The Gorgon slowly got up from the floor that she had thrown herself against, checking to make sure the beam had not hit her and that all of her snakes were there. Finding both conditions met, she withdrew further into the closet, to try and plan her next move.

"You think she's dead?", Dan asked. "I don't see her moving."

Brandy sniffed the air, pulling down her hood to better hear. After a few seconds, she shook her head. "No. I can smell her still."

The Gorgon hissed in alarm, scrambling to the emergency exit she had dug into the wall. The assassination attempt had gone just about as badly as it possibly could. Reporting back to base now and getting backup was going to be her best option.

Brandy took another sniff of the air, closing her eyes and mouth to focus on her smell. In her mind's eye, she could see the Gorgon- slipping out the back wall and into the backstage of the hotel.

"She's going around the back!", Brandy shouted, spinning around on one heel. "We gotta go catch her before she gets away!"

"Can't we just break through the wall?", Dan asked, holding up his fist as if to demonstrate his capability. "It'd be faster."

Brandy gestured to the hallway. "Yeah, but we shouldn't break any part of the hotel we don't have to. Let's find another way."

Dan sighed, and rolled his head all the way around on his shoulders. "Fine…"

Then they both ran off, in hot pursuit of The Gorgon.

Song: Overdrive

The Gorgon slashed against the interior brick of the wall, surrounded by fragile wood and straw. It seemed that underneath the Grand Goblin Hotel's fragile exterior, it had quite a strong center.

But after a few rounds of slashing from her razor-sharp, toxic claws, the brick collapsed, sending her spilling out into the cold night.

She rolled behind a dumpster, shaking her communicator from her pocket into her hand. A couple of snakes leaned down from her hair and put it on, as she prepared herself to speak.

A stylized image of a great red Dragon appeared on the communicator as it turned on, and a gruff voice barked from the other side. "Yes, hello? What is it?"

"This is Vulgalia.", the Gorgon whispered, looking around to make sure she couldn't be spotted. "I made it to the Grand Goblin Hotel and found the targets, but-"

"Ah yes, the assassination job.", the voice said. "Did it go well? Did you do it?"

"That's what I'm trying to say.", Vulgalia hissed. "I didn't. They almost killed _me."_

Although she could not see it, the owner of the voice on the other end drew back in shock. "What?"

Thak the Goblin leaned up against the straw wall, picking his teeth with a stray piece of it. Once he removed the offending object, he checked in the wall mirror to see that a bit of straw, for whatever reason, had lodged itself in his mouth. With a growl of frustration, he snapped off a length of straw from the wall in order to take care of it. This caused, of course, another piece of straw somewhere in his teeth.

The process could likely have gone on for years had Dan and Brandy suddenly not rounded the hall's corner, Dan skidding to a stop. He scooped up Brandy in one hand and placed her on his shoulder, before bowing down and digging his fists into the floor in order to halt.

Thak stepped away from his futile self-dental work and put his hands behind his back, making sure to smile. "Good evening, customers.", he said with a thick Gobbish accent. "How may I help you today."

"We'd like a behind the scenes tour.", Brandy said. "Of the back."

"Ah, of the back.", Thak said, making sure to write himself a note. He wrote it with a piece of straw, however, so it did nothing. "That's a rare choice."

He looked up. "Are you sure?"

Brandy vigorously nodded. "Yup. Ah hu. Back lot tour, let's go."

Thak tossed both piece of straw and paper into a nearby bucket, thereby totally negating any advantage he might have had by possessing them. But, then again, it was the way of Goblins.

"Alright then.", he said, marching off like a frog. "Follow me."

"Vulgalia!", the voice roared, and Vulgalia pulled back a little bit. "Have you forgotten who you are?"

"No.", she said. "It's just that-"

"You are The Gorgon.", crooned the voice. "The Witch who became one with the ways of nature, who can turn her enemies to stone with but a single glance. These two are no match for you… right?"

Vulgalia's pupils dilated at the sound of her master's voice, and she clenched a fist. "No, they are not.", she whispered.

She stood up, and adjusted her glasses. "Thank you, master. I'll go get them. After all, everything matters…"

She switched off the communicator, putting it back into her pocket. "When you're building a perfect world."

She heard the door swing open, all her snakes turning to look a half second before she did. What she saw made her startle a little bit- Dan and Brandy jumping out the back door, landing in the lot.

"And this here is the back lot.", Thak said with a flourishing air. "Very nice, very nice-"

Then he saw Vulgalia standing menacingly in the middle of the lot, and recoiled. "Egad! What is that?"  
"That's what we're here for!", Brandy shouted, starting to run forward. "Let's go!"

Thak saw both of them run towards Vulgalia, who merely chuckled. "Well alright then.", he muttered to himself. "I guess I should go. Those bingo tables won't run themselves…"

As Vulgalia saw Dan and Brandy run towards her, she spread out her arms and laughed. "Oh, you fools! My powers are the perfect ones to kill you! For I, Vulgalia the Gorgon, can turn my enemies to stone!"

"Yeah!", Brandy said, as she prepared to Dash. "We figured!"

Vulgalia merely grinned, and took off her glasses. Her eyes flashed with a burn of magic and yellow ochre, the beam of stone aimed right at Brandy's face.

Vulgalia knew that all it took for an enemy to be turned to stone was even a half second of eye contact. So she was that much more surprised when Brandy continued on her Dash-infused leap and planted her boot right into the side of Vulgalia's head.

"What?", she screamed, through the blood. "What the-"

She flew backwards, skidding across the ground, and hit her head on a rock.

"How…", she mumbled, scrabbling backwards. "How can you resist my power?"

Brandy landed on the ground in a crouch, not even looking up. "What was your power? Did I miss it?", she asked. "I wasn't looking."

"Wasn't… looking?", Vulgalia screeched. She got up, and nervously looked behind her. The dark woods loomed huge and tractless, a good means of escape. But she had to make sure the situation was truly hopeless before she did anything like run away. "Of course…"

"What?", Brandy asked. "Is your power vision based? Do I have to look at you for it to happen?"

"Of… of course not!", Vulgalia shouted, in a wild bluff. "I was just saying that! For my true power is…"

"I've heard enough.", Brandy said, and leapt forward.

Dan ran forward, stretching out his arm. "Brandy, wait!"

"What?", Brandy asked, just before she collided with the Gorgon.

Vulgalia screeched in triumph, and spread her hair open wide. Dozens of snakes all hissed furiously, their tiny eyes glowing green. "I have another power, Bandit! That of venom!"

She jumped backwards, and Brandy skidded to a stop on a patch of bare rock. Crossing her arms to protect herself in a half-second effort, she winced in anticipation of pain.

As one, the snakes spat out their venom. Dozens of droplets of green, acidic liquid struck Brandy all across the arms, eating holes in the sleeves. There was another volley of hissing, as the acid fell off and dripped onto the ground.

Brandy unfolded her arms, and growled. She did keep her eyes closed, as so to avoid any further attacks by the Gorgon.

"Still protecting yourself?", Vulgalia screamed, and lunged forward. She slammed against Brandy's chest, pushing her into the ground and across the wet mud. "That won't work against me again!"

Brandy tried to punch Vulgalia's jaw, but a veritable storm of snakes shot out from her hair, wrapping around Brandy's wrists. Vulgalia's long, scaly fingers wrapped around Brandy's arms, pinning her down to the ground.

"It's over, Bandit!", she screamed, shaking her shades off her eyes. Beams of magical and yellow ochre energy drilled down from her eyes, threatening to pierce right through Brandy's eyelids. "Within moments, my power will-"

She felt a light tap on her shoulder, which soon turned into a hard squeeze. Forgetting about Brandy for a moment, she looked over her shoulder and up into the firm face of Dan.

"Hey.", he said. "Mind letting go of my wife?"

Vulgalia thought for a moment, then snarled. "No."

Dan blinked. Before that, he had already struck. "ORA!"

The Gorgon screamed, as she was launched backwards and into the woods. She smashed through a tree in an explosion of wood chips and a single Gem, before sliding backwards on her face and landing in the mud with an unceremonious sqluench.

Dan grabbed Brandy by one arm, gently picking her up. "Hey."

"Hey,'' Brandy said back, adjusting her hood. "Thanks for that."

"No problem.", Dan said. "It felt good to punch her like that."

"Right.", Brandy said, and rolled up her sleeve. She rotated her arm around, then formed a fist. "Let's go get her."

Vulgalia slowly pushed herself to her feet, spitting out a mouthful of mud. She glared at the two, and pointed out an angry finger.

"You fools!", she yelled. "You punched me right into the woods, into a place where I can retreat!"

"Well then, we'll follow you.", Dan said, as he and Brandy walked forwards. "What's the big deal?"

The Gorgon grinned maniacally, and turned around to run. "Because if you see my eyes, you're dead! But you're gonna need those eyes wide open to travel through the woods!"

She and her hair hissed, then ran off into the vast amount of trees.

"Shoot, she's right.", Brandy said, then crouched downwards. "Or she would be, if it wasn't for…"

She Dashed upwards, landing on Dan's shoulder with a soft timp. She quickly wrapped herself around his head, slapping both hands over his eyes. "This!"

"Oh.", Dan said. "I see. If you cover my eyes while being on my head, you can guide me through the forest with the subtle gestures of your hands. Very nice."

He pummeled one fist into his hand, and roared. "Let's go!"

He lowered his body's angle, and started running, blindly into the trees.

"Right!", Brandy yelled, leaning right.

Dan shot out his right arm, crushing a nearby tree into bits. A Gem flew out from the wreckage, which Brandy caught with an outstretched arm. "I meant turn right."

"Oh.", Dan said. "Yeah… we're gonna have to-"

"Work on that. Right.", said Brandy, with love.

Vulgalia ran as fast as she could through the forest, thinking madly. She had come in through the northmost path, but she wasn't quite sure that she could find it again. The dark of the night had made it much harder to see where she was going, even if she did have some night vision. And with such powerful opponents giving chase, sitting down and getting her bearings wasn't exactly an option. Wait, no. That was an option. Because she had managed to shake them off her trail, with her flawless plan. There was no way they would be running through such a huge, trackless forest blind-

From behind her, there was a crash of breaking trees. Vulgalia turned around in shock, and saw Dan plow through another tree. He roared as he threw the entire thing aside, it crashing over the top of the woods.

"Dan!", Brandy yelled, from atop him. "I told you to turn left, not to-"

Vulgalia swore under her breath, and jumped over a log. Not The Log, just a log. She couldn't believe that they had somehow managed to follow her this deep into the forest.

"You fools!", she screeched, and stopped running. "I warned you!"

She ripped off her glasses, using the fullest power of her gaze. Yellow ochre and magic energy tore through the air, only to fall harmlessly on Dan's closed eyes.

"Now?", Dan asked. "She's close!"

"Not yet!", Brandy yelled, tugging on Dan's ears to steer him straight. "We gotta get right on top of her!"

Vulgalia started to run. Then she tripped over a root, turned around, shook her head, and started to run again. Her snakes hissed in alarm, as they saw Dan drawing ever closer.

"I can shake them, pretties.", she whispered under her breath, rounding a tree near a large clearing. "If I can just run to where I need to go…"

As she ran forward a few more feet, she saw the entrance to the clearing open up in front of her.

"Yes!", she whispered, putting a little more effort into her sprint. "I need to-"

But her words were suddenly cut off as her foot slammed into something running against the ground. She flipped over into the air, sprawling across the path and into the dirt.

"You little-", she spat, and swung her head around. A small fox that had been making an innocent crossing turned towards the movement, and was caught directly in her stone beams. With a bark of surprise, he turned to solid stone.

"Fire!", Brandy yelled from somewhere behind, and a blast of golden light shot out from the trees. It passed right over Vulgalia's head and sliced right through a dozen trees, turning some of them into Gems. Vulgalia looked down at the stone fox in some shock, as she realized that if he had not tripped her, her head would have been right in the way of that blast.

But then she stood up, and just snarled. It didn't really matter. He had gotten in her way, stopped her. No longer would that happen.

She quickened her pace, taking off running through the clearing again.

"Dan!", Brandy yelled, tugging on his right ear. "Go through the clearing in a straight line! Don't stop!"  
"That's what we've been - oof- doing!", Dan roared, and kept up his solid charge.

Putting even more effort into her running, Vulgalia ran for the cave as fast as she could. She could hear the crash of Dan from behind her, but the sound was starting to grow further and further away.

"Yes!", she shouted, as the cave's entrance grew closer. Once inside, she would be able to use the mirrors she had stored there earlier to lure the two into their doom. "I win-"

But even though she had been running fast, she had not been running quite fast enough. The speed of the Star was still far faster. And so it was that a bright beam shot out from Dan's fist, Brandy giving it careful aim, and struck the entrance of the cave.

The entire front of the rock was blown upwards in a gigantic explosion, boulders and pebbles flying out in all directions. Vulgalia skidded to a stop, crossing her arms to shield herself from the blast. She was unharmed by the shrapnel- but her hopes were not so lucky. Her ace in the hole had just been taken away from her.

After stopping for a moment to plan out her next move, Vulgalia took off the opposite direction, into the clearing. It was quite fortunate for her that she had not taken longer, because both of Dan's Star-charged fists came down onto the ground right in the exact area where she had been standing.

The ground cracked, sending up a burst of golden light. "Did I get her?", Dan asked hopefully.

"Not yet.", Brandy said, and gently steered him to his right. "But you will."

She gave him a gentle slap on the top of the head, and he dropped to all fours. With a mighty battlecry, Dan charged after the Gorgon, into the open grassy field.

Vulgalia looked behind her, her mouth dropping open in shock. Dan didn't look like a Mega Knight anymore- not with the position he was in. He seemed more like some ancient monster, or a berserk Troop, or… or a Forgotten. An idea popped into her mind- a stupid idea, yes, but an idea nonetheless.

"Stop!", the Gorgon yelled, throwing out her hands even as she kept running. "As your leader, I command you to stop!"

Had Vulgalia really been looking, she would have seen Dan's eyebrows knit together in total confusion. But she was not, and so she only saw Dan's unyielding approach.

"Shoot…", she said to herself, and kept on running. Far across the clearing, she saw a river and a boat- maybe she could escape on that.

"See you later, mortals!", she yelled, as the distance between her and the boat drew smaller. "I'm leaving- without you!"

Brandy looked at the ground, carefully noting its natural pattern. If Dan hit just the right way, and at just the right time, with just the right amount of force…

"Dan!", Brandy yelled. "Hit the ground at 30 degrees, 15 firepower…"

Her eyes strained, Dan making sure to keep his exact pace.

"Now!", Brandy shouted, and Dan stopped directly in his tracks. He smashed one fist into the ground as per his exact instructions, rotating around it and onto the ground. A burst of golden light spread outwards underground from the impact zone, a low rumble accompanying the movement.

Vulgalia didn't even notice, however- she was too busy reaching the stream. The Bloody Stream, if the nearby signpost was to be believed. She crowed in triumph, and prepared to jump into the boat. But just before she did, she turned towards Dan and Brandy- and saw a massive wave of earth heading right for her.

With a grunt of shock and pain, but mostly pain, the earthen wave brought upon by Dan's shockwave smacked right up against Vulgalia. The force threw both her and the boat backwards, the stream buckling into bits around the tectonic force. She screamed as she flew through the air, the boat vanishing somewhere above the trees and herself landing face first in a pile of tall grass.

"Curse… you…", she growled, spitting out more mud. "I can't believe…"

She heard Dan and Brandy approach, taking one mighty leap over the rearranged river. Her eyes shot open in rage, and she stared at the two with all the fury she could muster. "I have to run from children like you!"

But, just like all the other times, her stone gaze failed to work. Dan's eyes were still covered by Brandy's hands, and Brandy was still covered by Dan's massive bulk. The force continued past, hitting a group of butterflies that instantly dropped to the ground. She swung her head in a crazy arc and pattern, hitting a sleeping robin and a baby bear. Every one of them halted in their tracks, as they turned to silent stone.

Vulgalia screamed, and leaned back. Every single one of her snakes took a deep breath as well, preparing to launch a painful storm of venom.

"Get ready, you little upstarts!", she yelled. "I, Vulgalia the Gorgon, shall-"

There was a wet popping sound. Vulgalia's shock increased, even as her vision went dark. Her breath caught in her throat, falling upon the shock. Whatever she had been about to say was forgotten as she stumbled backwards, clutching at her face in fear.

"My- my eyes!", she wailed. "What did you do to them?"

Brandy flashed a mischievous grin, bouncing the eyeballs up and down in her hand. She made sure to keep them firmly pointed down, not looking at them besides. She wasn't quite sure if removing the Gorgon's eyes would remove her powers, but it was worth a try.

"I'm a Bandit.", Brandy said. "I steal things. I just stole your vision."

Vulgalia wailed, and fell down to her knees. One by one, she felt the snakes on her head fall off, quickly evacuating for safer parts unknown.

Song: Propaganda

"It seems they knew what was coming.", Dan said, as he took a step closer. He cracked his mighty knuckles, and Vulgalia scrabbled back in primal fear. "Smart little guys."

Although she could no longer see, Vulgalia could still tell what Dan was about to do to her.

"W- wait!", she stammered, desperately searching for a way out. "I- I-"

She looked towards the northwest, and pointed. "I have lots of Gold back home. I can get you some of it-"

"We don't want Gold.", Brandy said, and the Gorgon flinched. "Well, I mean, I guess that I always do. But what we want more of, of course, is information."

"In… information?", Vulgalia asked, then shook her head."Never!"

She made a fist, even hopeless as the fight now was. "I'll never betray my master!"

Dan sighed. "Well then."

Quick as a flash, Brandy Dashed down and out from Dan's shoulder. She slammed each of the Gorgon's hands into the ground, securing her to the spot. WIth another quick movement, she was on top of Dan's shoulder, who merely leaned down with his fists raised.

The Gorgon saw Dan's mighty, massive fists, and knew that something had to be done.

"P… please…", she stammered, attempting to sound innocent. "This was just an accident! A misunderstanding! Please… uh… please forgive me…"

But her words fell to nothing to Dan, who had already begun to heat up his hands. He swiped his finger across his forehead, adding a fourth notch to an already existing set of three.

"Beg for forgiveness in whatever afterlife you happen to end up in.", Dan said, and Brandy shivered with excitement. "Because we will not grant it. Who knows how many Goblin lives you have ended today alone…. You have to be finished."

"Wait, no-", the Gorgon said, and threw out her hands. She had wanted to explain how her master was far beyond anyone there. She had also wanted to say how she had only hurt around 3 Goblins- but it was too late. Dan's punishment had already started.

"Ora!", Dan roared, and punched the Gorgon in the stomach. Blood flew from her mouth, her half-face screaming in pain.

"Ora!", Dan yelled again, and repeated the process. This time it was shorter, but no less painful.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan roared, delivering a flurry of punches so fast they could hardly even be seen. Each one left a small explosion behind it, and a large explosion in front of it. The Gorgon wailed one last time as her body was blown to bits by the magnificent assault, her screams dying on the cool night wind.

Brandy watched the last few scales that had been left behind by Dan's attack rush drift slowly down into the mud. The light rain that had been falling the entire battle slowed down, then stopped entirely. For a moment, the only sounds that could be heard were Dan's heavy breaths and Brandy's lighter ones.

"Well.", said Brandy after a bit of thought. She readjusted her hood, as it had become rather crooked during the chase. "We sure showed her, didn't we?"

"Yeah.", Dan said, looking down at the broken crater his impact had caused. A puddle of strange-looking, red Elixir could still be seen in it. One might think it was blood at first glance, but upon further inspection, one could also see it had the odd texture that marked it as Elixir alone. "Pity we couldn't save that guy, though."

"What gu- oh.", Brandy said. "Glabnack. Yeah…"

Then she looked up, and saw a butterfly flying near her face. At the edge of her peripheral vision, she thought she could see a bird get up from off the ground and look about in utter confusion.

Her eyes shot open. "Hey, wait a minute!"

Dan looked up. "What?"

She pointed to a baby bear, who was staring at its limbs in astonishment as they turned from stone back to flesh and fur. "Look at that bear!"

Dan looked, and his face furrowed. "Isn't that the same one that-"

"Yeah.", Brandy said, as the bear was fully restored and walked away in confusion. "It looks like everything that she turned to stone came back to life once she was killed."

"Oh.", Dan said, and breathed out in relief. "Well, guess we won't have to worry about Glabnack then."

"Right.", Brandy said, and turned around towards the way they had came. "Speaking of Glabnack, we should most likely head back to the hotel."

Dan started to confidently agree, before he realized something.

"Uh, Brandy?", he asked, as he looked around some more.

Brandy leaned back. "Hm?"

"We're…", Dan coughed, then said it. "We're lost. There is no way clear back. To the hotel."

Brandy jumped into the air, as high as Dan could see. She landed on the ground again and stared at the tree in front of her. "Shoot."

She began to gesture randomly, a side effect of her stress. "But- but-"

"Yeah, I know.", Dan said with a sigh. "All of our stuff was back at the hotel. All our extra clothes, all our food, all our supplies-"

"And our only good chance of finding a guide.", Brandy grumbled, and folded her arms. "Well, great."

"Hey, let's not freak out just yet.", Dan said with a crazy smile. "There's always one more way to anything?"

Brandy looked up. "Just head out somewhere random and hope you somehow find success even though you're pretty much just making it up as you along?"

Dan grabbed Brandy by the waist, and picked her up. He gently dropped her one his right shoulder, leaning in to whisper into her ear. "Exactly."

Brandy felt her heart flutter, as she was filled with a sudden burst of confidence. "Well, alright then.", she said, and pointed in a totally random direction. "Let's head that way!"

Dan just smiled, shook his head, and walked off, exactly in the way she had pointed to.

As they walked, a thought occurred to Brandy. She tilted her head, and wrapped herself around Dan's neck.

"Say. Dan.", she said. "You've been acting a little strange this whole time."

"What do you mean?", Dan asked. His hand twitched in preparation.

"You've just been acting so serious.", Brandy said, almost in a whine. "You've been so tough-guy and heroic- not that that's a bad thing- but you haven't really tried to relax at all."

"Brandy!", Dan said, with a bit of a smile. "Are you saying that I've forgotten how to have fun?"

Brandy just shrugged, and winced. "No, but-"

She was about to say more, but was abruptly cut off when a bolt of Star energy shot out of Dan's finger and ran across her stomach, tickling her all the way down.

Brandy let out a quick snort, her hands flying to her torso. She retreated and curled up, then looked down at Dan. "Hey!"

Dan lifted one eyebrow, then clenched his fist. The huge steel maces flexed, then retracted into his wrist armor. His mischievous grin became clearly visible, even under his beard. "What?"

Brandy quickly snuck a quick scratch of her own at the bottom of Dan's neck, right where he liked it. "Well.", she said, and snuggled in closer. "It looks like someone hasn't forgotten after all."

"Of course I haven't!", Dan said. "I could never…"

He looked up into Brandy's eyes. "When I have the funnest person in the world by my side."

Brandy's face turned slightly redder, and her eyes grew just a little bit wet. "Oh, Dan…"

"Your cheeks are wet, Brandy.", Dan said. "Are you crying?"

Brandy tapped her cheek, to discover that some of the tears had indeed leaked down. But she just stroked Dan's shoulder, and purred into his ear. "My cheeks aren't the only part of me that's wet right now, Dan."

This time, it was Dan's face that changed color. "Brandy, you shouldn't say stuff like that."

"Why not?", Brandy whispered. "We're married, there's no one around, and you know what a naughty girl I am."

She wound herself a little tighter around his neck. "Maybe I should be… taught a little lesson."

"Maybe you're right…", Dan said. "Although to be honest, I feel like I should just let you off with a warning."

"Oh, just a warning?", Brandy asked in fake disappointment. "Why not a-"

"Don't worry.", Dan said. "I'll be sure to give you a really big warning."

"Mmm.", Brandy moaned. "That's what I like to hear."

Then the two walked off, further into the night, or really early morning as it were and off

towards the unknown.

Song: Wind in the Wilderness

Deep within the Clashcrush mountains, beneath the slowly gathering storm, a dark cloud floated upon the silent wind. It simmered with hatred, steamed with anger, and would have boiled over with the aching desire for sweet revenge if not for the deep control it had over its own strength.

Its glowing red eyes swept over the entire area, searching for the thing it now desired.

_Rakastamos…, _it whispered, sending the query over the pass. _Where are you?_

Then at the other end of the valley, it saw the entrance. At the top of the largest mountain, like a jagged fist punching upwards into the sky, so high it seemed almost to bend in on itself. A great gap opened up in the stone, so black it would make the blankness of space seem blinding.

Its eyes lit up with excitement, and it swooped down from where it hung in midair. No sound was made from its flight, no air was stirred by its passing. It was an unnatural entity, not supposed to even exist. It had been born out of sheer, absolute hatred and will to survive.

Inside the cave, a small Elixir Golemnite crouched down on purple knees. The incalculable form of Dragonlord Rakastamos loomed overhead, eager to await the news.

"The Gorgon is dead, my lord.", the Elixir Golemnite squelched. "She was killed by the Mega Knight who wields the Star."

Rakastamos's eyes shot open in pain, then slowly closed. If one were to listen very hard, they could hear the faint sound of gigantic sobs. For as unlikely as it seemed, the great Rakastamos was crying.

"Not Vugalia.", he said quietly. "Not her."

Rakastamos turned around, refusing to let anyone see his reaction. "My children are dying.", he said to himself. "Four in one day. All at the hands of that cursed Mega Knight and his sidekick- whatever she was called. A thief, was it?"

He waved one hand, and the Elixir Golemnite knew it was its signal to leave.

"Leave me.", Rakastamos rumbled, trying to conceal his emotions. "Let me think."

As the cloud passed through the curtain of darkness, there was a shiver that flashed through the air. Several Bats flying by were struck by the wave, falling to the ground as Elixir within moments. The weather had nothing to do with it- it was the sheer force of the two evils meeting for the very first time.

_Rakastamos…, _the voice said again. It echoed throughout the cave, reflecting off the walls and back out into evil space. _Rakastamos…_

The entity waited a few more seconds to receive an answer. After those seconds were up, it waited a few more seconds in which to check. Then it waited a few more seconds in which to begin to leave. But once those seconds were up, it at last felt something move.

A huge eye opened up somewhere behind it, a vast yellow light lighting up the whole cave. The entity turned around, to see a vast raging sea of power, thousands of years of vengeance concentrated into one overwhelming force.

"You…", Dragonlord Rakastamos boomed, lazily tilting his head to one side. The entire cave rustled as he did so. "Who are you? And why have you come?"

The entity took a moment to think, then shaped itself into the form of a muscular man. It removed its helmet, then took a deep bow.

_I have come merely to serve you, oh great one, _it said. _For you see, you and I share a common goal._

"Oh?", said Rakastamos. "Funny… it does seem that a human like you would be overly enthusiastic about destroying the world and rebuilding it into a realm for Dragons alone."

The entity laughed, then stood back up. "I'm not human, my lord. Not anymore. No, I have become far more. And…"

It stretched out its hand, the black smoke making up its body twisting and curving into the shape of Brandy and Dan. "These two. The girl is a Stand user, and the boy is a Star user."

"Those two…" Rakastamos growled. "Those are the ones that killed my Chosen. The Raptor, the Kraken, the Zombie, and now the Gorgon."

He covered his face with his hands, and closed his eyes. "May their souls rest in peace."

"Er, yes.", said the entity, and tactically withdrew the image. "I, too, have history with these two. I also have managed to recruit a rather large and capable fighting force of beings from across the sea. If we work together to stop them, I believe we could."

Dragonlord Rakastamos blinked, then stretched. His sheer size stretched far and above the entity, reaching high up into the furthest recesses of the cave. "Very well then."

He would have extended a hand, if not for the size differences between the two. "Tell me, what is your name?"

"I, uh, don't have one.", said the entity. "Not anymore."

"I see.", said Rakastamos. "How strange. Well then, unnamed…"

He looked up, staring out the hole in the cave's top to the starry night sky. "Welcome to the ranks!"

Many hours later, the night had ended.

The sun rose high over the forest, beating down hard and hot upon anyone that was unlucky enough to be in it. That, unfortunately, included both Dan and Brandy.

Dan stumbled through the trees, seeking shadow as much as possible. He was starting to really regret pushing onwards instead of just finding their way back to the hotel. There was a lot of stuff they had left. All of their Elixir bottles, for one thing. As well as all their food. What Dan wouldn't do for either some food or Elixir right about then. It had been hours since either of them had eaten or drunken anything, and it was starting to show- especially on Brandy. Dan had been able to use Star to keep himself going through the night, but Brandy had not.

"Dan…", she whispered, hanging limply on his shoulder. "Are we- ooohh- there yet?"

"We're not anywhere, Brandy.", he said. "Go back to sleep."

Brandy groaned, trying to shift herself into a comfortable position. "Okay."

"Woah, woah.", Dan said. "You okay back there?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.", Brandy rasped. She smacked her dry lips together, and held her head in her hands. "Just haven't uh… eaten or drunken anything in hours."

Her eyes closed, and she fell limp on Dan's shoulder.

"Woah, hey!", Dan shouted, lifting her up with one finger. "Stay with me Brandy, stay with me!"

"I'm…", Brandy mumbled. "Trying…"

Dan took a closer look at her skin. It had begun to turn grey from lack of Elixir, and bits of it were starting to flake. Bandits had extremely high metabolisms. If she didn't get some form of sustenance soon, Brandy would die.

Slightly panicking, Dan looked around. His gaze fell on an apple tree, a fresh crop of fruit hanging from the branches.

"Here, eat this.", he said, and sliced one off with a sharp movement. "It'll help."

He handed the apple to Brandy, who looked up weakly. With a trembling hand, she grabbed the apple and ate the entire thing in one massive bite. At once, some of the color returned to her skin- but it wasn't enough. The one thing that all Troops needed was Elixir, and she had not drunken any for many hours. Dan could hold on for much longer with his Star, but it was unknown how long Brandy would be able to survive.

"Dan…", Brandy whispered. She looked up, and Dan's heart nearly stopped. Her eyes looked listless, the edges beginning to turn a soft grey. "I don't… feel so good."

"Brandy, stay with me.", Dan said, holding her face in his hand. "We're almost to a village. We can get you some food, and all the Elixir you need. We can-"

But he stopped, when he saw that Brandy's eyes had closed once again. She fell limp in his hand, unresponsive. If he let go, she would fall to the ground.

"D…", Dan growled, and his fist began to glow. He jumped into the air, breaking the branches above him. But even as he looked around, there was no sign of a village anywhere nearby.

In desperation, he looked around for any Troop that might be nearby. If he killed it, then Brandy would have some Elixir to drink. It would be a last resort, but anything was better than Brandy dying on him.

But he could see neither of those things- just the same exact trees that they had been walking past for hours. Dan's eyes twitched, and his fist lit up even more. "D…"

"Dang it!", he roared, and brought his fist up above his head. He slammed it into the ground with the force of an Earthquake, shattering a massive split in the ground the size of a stream.

He fell to his knees, propping Brandy up on his hands. Her skin was starting to turn a darker grey. There was only minutes before she faded away, and Dan's attack on the ground had done nothing. He wasn't sure what he had even hoped to accomplish.

Until, that is, the crack he had opened up rumbled. Until, that is, a pink glow began to come from within. His heart lifted, as a massive spurt of Elixir erupted from the crack, spraying all over the clearing like a gift from the gods.

Dan saw the geyser of Elixir burst into the sky, sending a rain of purple life all over the trees. He shouted excitedly, and opened Brandy's eyes.

"Brandy, wake up!", he shouted. "There's Elixir!"

"Elixir…", she mumbled, and slowly came back to wakefulness. "Wha?"

Then she saw the Elixir gushing forth, and shot upright. "Ah! Elixir!"

Without warning, she fell from Dan's grasp, and right into a spray. Opening her mouth and closing her eyes, she welcomed the life-giving liquid like a blessing.

As soon as Brandy took the first gulp, the warm glow returned to her. Her shriveled skin bloomed out fuller, the color going from grey to pink. Her frame swelled back to its normal size, small as though it was. She opened her eyes again, now their normal bright green.

"Elixir!", she yelled, and leaned back. Taking a pool in her arms, she took another deep drink. Then she turned to Dan. "Where did it come from?"

"I just… hit the ground.", Dan said. "And then it came out."

Brandy took a closer look at the geyser, after taking another deep gulp of it. "You mean, Elixir just comes out of the ground here?"

"Uh, I guess.", Dan shrugged. "Now that I think about it, where else would it come from?"

Brandy got up from the ground, and twirled around in the spray. "Come on, Dan.", she said. "Let's dance."

"Yes.", Dan said, and smiled. "Let's."

He dipped down, and grabbed Brandy by the hands. He swung her around in a circle, and she let out a loud whoop. He stuck his head into the spray, taking a deep gulp, and gasped.

"Oh, this is amazing!", Brandy shouted. She jumped out of Dan's grasp, over his shoulder, and slid underneath him. "Wild Elixir tastes even better than the normal kind..."

"Really?", Dan said, then took another sip. He nodded, noting its rather complex flavor. "Yeah, I guess it does."

Brandy laughed, and twirled around again. Dan put his hands over the spray, trying to contain it, but it was too much. He threw his arms higher into the air, and the geyser erupted even further all over them. Brandy wiped the Elixir from her face, and buried herself in Dan's torso.

So celebrant were the two, however, that they failed to notice a Builder standing on the edge of the forest path, arms crossed and an even crosser look on his face.

"Ahem.", he said. He said it just loud enough for both Brandy and Dan to take notice, ceasing their dancing for a moment and turning around to see.

"Well, looks like I found the reason why our Elixir pumps suddenly all broke down.", he said with a sigh, and took out a notebook. "I'm gonna need your names."

"Our… names?", Brandy asked. "Wait, what?"

"Yeah.", said the Builder with a sarcastic look. "What, you think I'm just gonna let you do this without any consequences?"

Brandy took another look at the Elixir geyser. Now that she thought about it, it did indeed seem odd that it had just been out in the open like that. "I'm sorry, was that… yours?"

"No, not mine.", said the Builder, and Brandy perked up. "It's my village's", he said, and Brandy gulped.

"Your village?", she asked, and Dan thought it would be best if he took control of the situation.

"Ah, yes.", he said, taking a massive stride forward. "Of course. That's what we're here for. We were supposed to come here."

He gave a broad smile, not quite sure if his gamble had paid off. But from the Builder's expression, it seemed that it had.

"Oh, you must be our Clan Castle Troops.", he said, tucking his notebook into his pocket. "Was wondering when you'd show up."

"Yes, yes, that's us.", Brandy said, trying to appear official. "Your Clan Castle Troops. We are here."

"Aight, guess I can spare you the write-up.", the Builder grunted, and turned around. "Follow me. I'll fix that leak later."

Dan and Brandy snuck a look of victorious co-conspiracy at each other, and tried not to laugh. But they followed the Builder, through the trees and to the edge of a large clearing.

The Builder took a step to the side and gestured, to what lay beyond. Brandy and Dan stopped making faces at each other, then gasped at the sight.

"Welcome, friends.", the Builder said, and bowed. "To the village of SpaceKrakenX."

Next time: chase, defeat the gorgon, we're lost, wandering, find the village


	14. Chapter 13

"The village…", Brandy said in shock. "Of… Spacekrakenx?"

The Builder looked at her a little funny, then nodded. "Yep. That's what I said."

"Wait, Spacekrakenx?", Dan asked. "Isn't that-"

They looked at each other in shock. There was no way it could have been a coincidence. Spacekrakenx wasn't a common enough name for it to be likely that it was just a shared name between both the leader of this village and Oticat's best friend.

"Wait wait wait wait.", said Dan. "I remember overhearing something. When everyone moved in."

"Yeah, me too.", said Brandy. "About how he sold his castle to buy a mountain and then sold his mountain to buy a village."

"And that means…", Dan said, speaking faster and faster with excitement. "That this is this village!"

He grabbed Brandy around the waist and lifted her up onto his shoulder. "Brandy, we're safe! We can just stay here all we want!"

He looked down at the Builder, who was staring up at him with a look of mild annoyance and confusion. "Yeah, we're actually Oticat's troops. You know, friend of Spacekrakenx's".

The Builder blinked, then shook his head. "Oticat, eh?", he grunted. "Never heard of him."

"Never… heard of him?", Brandy asked, taking a step back. "But he's Space's best friend."

"Eh…", the Builder said. "Yeah, still never heard of him."

"Hm.", Dan said. "Well then, could you let us in anyway? We're hungry, and thirsty, and need a place to stay."

"Oh, of course.", the Builder nodded. "You're our reinforcements, after all."

He looked down his large nose. "Aren't you?"

"Oh, yep.", Brandy said, and nodded. "We most certainly are."

"Right…", the Builder said, and stared intently at the two. He had never before seen Troops like this. He would say that she was an Archer, although her equipment and style were completely different. She seemed to radiate with some sort of mystical power that he had never before seen, vibrating blue and silver. He didn't know it was her Dash- he had never before heard of such a thing.

He looked up at Dan, towering high above. Here was a force to be reckoned with. He looked to be even larger than a Pekka, almost at the height of a Barbarian King. His massive muscles and thick armor certainly looked formidable, even if he had a slightly nervous look upon his face.

"What sort of Troops are you?", the Builder asked. "I've never seen anything like you before."

"Uh…", Brandy said, thinking fast. She got an idea, and blurted out the first thing to come to her mind. "We're sort of… experimental troops. You know, new."

"Okay.", the Builder grunted. "But what are you? What are you called?"

"I'm a Bandit.", Brandy said. "Brandy the Bandit."

She gestured upwards to Dan, a small spark snapping from one raised hand to his shoulder. "And this is Dan the Mega Knight, my husband."

If the Builder noticed Dan's usage of the Star, he seemed not to react. He merely raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, my name's George. George the Builder."

"Nice to meet you, George.", Brandy said, and extended her hand. George looked at it cautiously, before extending his own and shaking it. "Nice to meet you."

George broke off the handshake, and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Yeah, Clan Castle's at the center of the village. Right next to the Town Hall, can't miss it."

"Right, Town Hall.", Brandy said. "And of course I know what a Town Hall looks like… heh."

Dan gave her a bit of a look, before scooping her up back onto his shoulder. He began to walk, moving aside the trees that were in his way.

George took out his schedule, and sighed. "Let's see…"

His eyes ran down, the despair of a non-stop worker slowly sifting in. "Upgrade Anne and Jev's Archer Tower, upgrade Jed's Wizard Tower, upgrade the third bomb…"

He rolled up the scroll again. "And then I can take my break. Sometime next week."

He walked towards the tower, not noticing that a pair of eyes quietly watched him from the bushes beyond.

Song: Welcome to the World

Dan pushed aside the treeline, and his eyes widened. He saw what lay beyond, a sprawling village of Town Hall 10. Walls lined with magma crisscrossed the entire clearing, dividing the village into many different sections. X-Bows gleamed a glowing crimson, the sparkling light of Teslas reflecting off the chrome. Cannons swiveled back and forth, their oddly round shape concealing their deadly potential. Wizards sat legs folded on top of their crystal turrets, studying up on advanced spellcasting and strategies. Archers stood in groups atop gleaming Archer Towers of metal, engaged in light conversation. Air Sweepers hung at the ready, the small weather indicators atop blinking blue for clear skies. Mortars slightly shook, the explosive charges within them ready for anything. The twin pair of Inferno Towers at the center of the whole village blinked a menacing red, the lava streams falling off them sizzling the air with their heat. A pair of Bomb Towers slightly further apart each held a Bomber, both busy polishing their supply of Bombs.

While Dan was busy looking at the defenses, Brandy's eyes were taking in everything else. Lines of Gold Mines were being tended by Villagers, pulling up rich stacks of Gold from below the ground. Groups of Elixir Collectors were next to the Gold paradise, their complicated tubing and stacks of glass struggling to pump Elixir from underground. Several Builders were climbing all over them, hitting them occasionally with a hammer. Brandy realized in slight embarrassment that it had been her and Dan's fault the Collectors weren't working the way they should.

Once Brandy stopped looking over there though, and looked to the storages over the walls, her heart jumped. She could see the huge Gold Storages shining bright, millions of Gold stored within. Her fingers tingled, and her forehead burned with the overpowering urge to steal.

_You can do that later, _she reminded herself. _When nobody's looking. Something tells me that these people aren't exactly alright with having all their Gold taken._

She moved her eyes to the Barracks and Army Camps nearby, swarming with all matters of Troops. Brandy noticed that these did not seem like normal Troops- no, these were blinged out.

Golems mulled around, the purple of their shoulder spikes shining like Gems. Pekkas stood at the ready, their double swords crackling with sheer power. Bowlers sat in a huge line, taking drinks of Dark Elixir and polishing their spiked boulders. A few Wall Breakers ran around like mad, struggling to carry their massive barrels of loaded powder. A single Archer sat on a rock, combing through her hair with a spare arrow.

And nearby the assembled army, standing tall over the entire Village, were two magnificent figures. Brandy gasped out loud when she saw them, dragging Dan's attention from whatever he had been looking at.

"What?", he asked. "Brandy, what is it-"

Then he saw as well, and his eyes widened. There, in the center of the army, were the Village's two Heroes. A massive Barbarian King, and a towering Archer Queen.

The Barbarian King, bizarrely, seemed to be a Skeleton. He was only bones, yet he was talking and moving around just as if he were alive. He was certainly not a Giant Skeleton either- no, his proportions and weapons said otherwise.

The Archer Queen seemed more normal- in fact, she was entirely normal. Her purple hair cascaded across her green cloak, even as she laughed at something the Skeleton King had said.

She crossed weapons and arms with the King, then turned to the army.

"Alright, fools!", she yelled, and gave her massive crossbow a pump. All the Troops looked up as she did so. "We only need one more star to get our bonus today. And once we do, we can finally, finally, upgrade our third X-Bow!"

She gestured to the third X-Bow, which sat at the corner of the village. It was still black, having not yet achieved the level of the other two.

"That's right!", the Barbarian King roared, thrusting his Tombstone-like sword into the air. "This next battle will be hard. Some of you may die. But…"

He took off his arm, and laid it against his chest in a bow. "That is a sacrifice I'm willing to make."

The army looked at each other nervously, not really trusting those words. A few Bowlers looked in opposite directions, and the Archer looked up in sudden fear.

"Kidding!", the Barbarian King roared, and slapped his arm back on. "I'm only kidding."

He looked over the army, several of which were now chuckling nervously. "We're gonna crush those guys. They're rushed to high heaven."

He was about to say something else, when he felt someone tug at his sandal. He turned around, and saw a Villager looking up at him with wide eyes. He sighed.

"What is it, Helga?", he asked, and Helga looked to the edge of the village.

"Our Clan Castle Troops, sire.", she squeaked. "They're here."

The Barbarian King looked where she was pointing, and saw Dan and Brandy standing at the treeline. His eyebrow rose in surprise, then fell off and to the ground. A Goblin ran up and threw it to him, which he stuck back on.

He jutted out his sword to the two, who suddenly looked guilty. "Well, what are you waiting for?", he boomed. "Go bring them to me."

Brandy leaned forward, and squinted against the midday sun. "It looks like he's noticed us.", she said. "Is that good?"

"I don't see why it wouldn't be.", Dan muttered. "Bit odd that he's dressed like that, though."

"Wha-", Brandy said, taking another look at the Skeleton King. "You mean that's just a costume?"

Dan thought for a moment, trying to put his words together. "Well, no.", he finally said. "But yes. It's uh, kind of a…"

Brandy stared at him, even as he failed to get the words out. "They can just look like that sometimes.", he said. "I guess that's what I'm trying to say."

"Huh…", Brandy said. "Well, I think we better go talk to him."

She pointed down, and Dan followed her movement to where Helga had been quietly waiting. "It appears we have been summoned."

"Yes.", Dan said, and began to walk forward. Helga startled, and moved out of the way. "So we have."

The Barbarian King watched them approach, his mind swirling with questions. They certainly did not seem to be any kind of Troop that he had ever seen. The girl looked like a Villager, only a hood and a mask decorated her face. The man seemed almost like a Pekka, only with two spiked maces instead of swords. Strange forms of energy seemed to vibrate off of each one of them, silver from her and gold from him.

"Ahoy there!", the Barbarian King shouted, and raised his sword into the air. "What are you?"

Dan raised his own weapon, a spark of Star flashing from one to the other. "We're your reinforcements!"

"Or at least that's what we've been told.", Brandy said. "So we're going with that we are."

"Ah, good.", said the Archer Queen, right as the King had been about to say something else.  
"We've been expecting you."

Brandy looked up, and felt suddenly strange. _Dang, _she thought. _I wish I had hair like that._

The Archer Queen smiled, and extended a hand. Dan shook it with vigor.

"Welcome to our village, friends.", she said. "I'm Sophie, and this is Herb."

"Pleasure to meet you!", Herb shouted, and thrust his sword into the air once again. "You look tough."

"We are.", Dan said. "I like to think so, anyway."  
"Yes, yes, that's very nice.", Herb said. "But-"

"But what are you?", Sophie interjected. "You don't seem to be any sort of Troops I've ever seen."

She took a deep look, and both Dan and Brandy felt slightly strange under her scrutinizing gaze.

"I'm Dan. A Mega Knight.", Dan said. "And this is Brandy the Bandit- my wife."

Brandy felt herself blush. She had been introduced as his wife many times before, but hearing it suddenly now felt very romantic.

"A… Mega Knight?", Herb asked, and scratched his head. "Huh. Never heard of one of those before. Or Bandits."

"Yeah, we're new.", Brandy said with a gesture that seemed important, but was in fact meaningless. "You know, experimental."

"I see.", grunted Herb. "Well, how about that."

"We're about to go to a battle pretty soon.", said Sophie. "We just have to wait for our scouts to return from the west. So far they've either found easy targets or rich villages, but neither both. We're waiting for both."

"Yes…", Dan said, taking another quick glance at the magnificent Town Hall. "I actually have a bit of a question."

"Sure.", Sophie said kindly. "Ask away."

"This looks to be a Town Hall 10.", Dan said. "But SpaceKrakenX only bought this place about a week or so ago. How did he get all this in such a short time?"

"He didn't.", said Sophie. "Plain and simple."

"This Village existed before he came.", said Herb. "But our old Chief hadn't been seen for months, and we were pretty short on Gold."

"So we took his offer, and became 50 million Gold richer.", Sophie finished. "And pretty much all that's changed around here is the name and a small tax."

_50…, _Brandy thought in shock. _50 _million _Gold? I could buy anything I wanted with that. Oticat could max out everyone with that much._

But her thoughts were interrupted as Sophie pointed towards where the Clan Castle stood in all its magnificence, right at the center of the village. "Now go, make yourself at home. We've got probably around an hour and a half before the battle starts, so you can go take a nap or-"

Upon hearing the word "nap", both Dan and Brandy's minds kicked into a bit of a higher gear. It wasn't that much of a change, considering how exhausted they both were, but it was quite large considering the circumstances.

"A nap…", Brandy said. "That sounds nice."  
"Yeah.", Dan said. "We haven't had a good sleep since…"

He thought for a moment, and his brow darkened. "Since… before we set out on this quest."

Sophie clapped her hands, gaining the two's attention back. "Now, off you go. Chop chop."

She leaned forward, hands on her hips. "Don't make me tell you again."

Dan felt the overpowering urge to salute, although he managed not to act on it. "Okay, okay, we will.", he said. "Sheesh."

Dan stepped over a wall, towards where the Clan Castle sat at the center of the village. Like all Clan Castles at level 6, it was a smooth black and and gray, adorned round with golden shields. The doors had golden stripes, and the roof was closed tight. Light glowed from within, both from the treasury and the Reinforcements quarters.

"Is that it?", Dan asked, as he arrived at its doors. "To be honest, it seems pretty small."

"Yeah…", Brandy said, and slid down his torso. She grabbed the doorknob, and swung the door open. "That's probably not the whole thing, though. Maybe there's some underground-"  
Dan stuck his head in through the door, and Brandy's words died in her throat. She realized what the thing about Clan Castles, and indeed all buildings in the villages, actually was.

"Or.", she said, madly taking as many looks around as she could. "It's larger on the inside."

"Amazing…", Dan said, as he stooped to avoid the top of the door. Crawling almost on his hands and knees, he took a look at the interior.

A massive chandelier hung from the top of the roof, which seemed to be almost a hundred feet overhead. The walls were lined with a rich red carpet, in order to add to the theme of Town Hall 10. A large dining table sat in the center of the room, although it was sparse with food or utensils. That seemed to be the main thing, upon closer inspection- most of the Clan Castle was actually quite barren.

"Hello?", Brandy cried out, cupping her hands around her mouth to better direct the sound. "Anyone here?"

But there was no answer.

"Come on Brandy, we should go to our rooms.", Dan said. "We only have like an hour till we need to wake up anyway."

"Right, right.", Brandy said, and laid down on Dan's shoulder. "Just tell me when we get there."

"I'm telling you.", Dan said, and Brandy looked up.

"What?", she asked in confusion.

Dan gestured to the door in front of them. "That was fast."

"Yeah.", said Dan, and nodded. "I guess that even though this place is bigger on the inside, it still isn't all that big."

He threw open the door, to reveal a glittering room beyond. The walls and floor were lined with Gold, Gems randomly jutting out of most surfaces. Two tall, chilled glasses of Elixir sat on a corner table, and a row of massive beds were all aligned against one wall.

"Woaaaaah….", Brandy breathed, her eyes trying to take in all the riches. "Dan. You thinking what I'n thinking?"

"Are you thinking _holy frick holy frick a bed I just want to climb in there and fall asleep immediately?_", Dan muttered. "Because that's what I'm thinking."

Brandy took a few seconds to read his surface thoughts, and could see that that was indeed true. He wanted nothing more than to sleep at this point. He had been awake and active for probably the last 30 hours.

"Uh, yeah.", Brandy said, not wanting to admit that she had been thinking of something else entirely, one that involved the roof. "So maybe we should- woah!"

Her sudden change in voice came from being abruptly grabbed and moved behind Dan, who toppled onto the bed. The bed's springs creaked from the weight, but they had been specifically engineered to hold Golems. Dan wasn't heavy enough to break it.

Dan tossed Brandy up into the air, who landed in her usual position with a flourish. But there was no one around to see it, due to the fact that Dan had already fallen fast asleep.

But Brandy, nevertheless, was happy. She wrapped herself around his arm, then felt her eyelids flutter close. "Goodnight honey," she said to Dan, then felt herself lose consciousness.

The air of peace over the Village of SpaceKrakenX was indeed a wonderful thing. Although far away, in the center of the Clashcrush mountains, the mood was altogether different. For Dragonlord Rakastamos was in one of his moods.

He sat against the back wall of the cave, staring into a massive, jagged sheet of glass that served as a Mirror. His huge scars were on full display, cutting deeper than most Troops could even reach. He stared deep into his reflection with a burning hatred, underpainted with tones of sorrow.

"Send in only scouts.", he rumbled, and a nearby Troop jumped up to attention. "We cannot afford to lose anyone else."

"Uh, yes!", the Troop shouted, and ran off to do exactly that. "Yes sir!"

Then it stopped, remembering a piece of vital information. It slowly turned around, and nervously squeaked out its message.

"Er, someone's in the area already, sire.", it said. "And I do think he will be rather difficult to recall."

Rakastamos began to turn around, and the Troop took a step back in utter horror. "Oh? And who, pray tell, would that be?"

"Bonoome!", the Troop screamed, then collected itself. "Bonoome, my lord."

Rakastamos thought for a moment, then waved a dismissive, gargantuan hand. "Oh, leave him be. There's no point in trying to control one such as him anyway."

"Yes, sir.", said the Troop, and ran away in relief that he had managed to keep his life not only once, but actually multiple times throughout the entire encounter. Rakastamos had a single group of Troops that he held in high esteem. Everyone and everything else, to him, deserved nothing but to die.

As Rakastamos stared again into the Dark Mirror, he noticed a small Baby Dragon flap its way into the cave. It seemed to just be a level 1, judging from the small patterns on its wings. There was a good chance it had been born in the birthing chambers, closer to the entrance of the cave.

Rakastamos turned around, and smiled his friendliest smile. "Hello, little one.", he said. "What brings you to my chambers?"

The Baby Dragon almost barked on instinct, but managed to right himself. Concentrating so hard his eyes crossed, he tried so very hard to carefully maneuver his mouth into the correct positions for speech.

"Come on.", Rakastamos said encouragingly. "I believe in you. You can do it."

The Baby Dragon yawned, thereby resetting his mouth. He smacked his jaws back together, and said a single word.

"Message.", he said, then blinked in surprise. His confidence boosted by Rakastamos's kind expression and hopeful eyes, the Baby Dragon managed to at last articulate his thoughts.

"I have a message for you, Father Rakastamos.", he said, then proudly looked up.

"Good, good.", Rakastamos crooned with a slow clap. "And what, little one, is your message?"

"There are some humans here.", said the Baby Dragon. "I think they want to see you."

Rakastamos's eyes turned from pleasant and almost grandfatherly to suddenly vengeful and murderous. Fire built at the back of his throat, and his muscles bulged.

"Thank you for telling me.", he said. "I have to go… take care of business."

He slowly exited his private sector of the cave, fire trailing outwards from behind him.

"Go get em, Father Rakastamos!", the Baby Dragon shouted in Dragon. He didn't know the words for such a message yet in anything else.

A small coalition of fighters slowly crept into the entrance of Rakastamos's cave. They had managed to figure out his position using complex math and a pack of hunting Minions, and had assembled the perfect team in order to take him down. There was Tray, a Knight that wielded the Star. There was Trisha, a Musketeer with a gun modified to fire 20 rounds per second. There was Greg, a Bowler with a ball that dripped special Dragon-killing toxins. There was Cam, a Wizard that could control his fire at will. And lastly there was Sophia, a level 45 Archer Queen.

"Alright, everyone.", Sophia whispered. "We've got only one shot to take this guy down. But if we do, we'll be heroes."

"What do you mean if we do?", Trisha whispered back. "You mean when we do. When."

"Right.", Sophia said. "When…"

The group kept on inching forward, looking for any sign of movement in the cave. So far they had seen nothing- all of Rakshadanore's Forgotten were already on duty. The only guards in his cave were Skeletons and Robots, both of which were currently recharging.

Sophia took another step, pulling ahead of the group. They were all smaller than her.

"Remember the plan.", she breathed. "Stick to it. We all attack in a very particular order. If it's anything other than that, this might not work."

"Right.", said Cam, winding a twinge of flame around his finger. "I hope we can-"

Then he stopped, and looked up. For there, in the back of the cave, emerged a single pair of massive glowing eyes.

Dragonlord Rakastamos stepped forward into the low light, slightly illuminating parts of his enormous body. Elixir could be seen dripping off his spiked scales, his jagged teeth reflecting the firelight off the walls.

"Good morning.", he said. "I hear that someone wants to see me."

For a moment, the hunting team just stood there. Their lives and the fate of the world depended on this battle, and they all knew it. But with a quick nod from Sophia, they knew it was time to put their plan into action.

"Overdrive Burst!", shouted Tray, and put his hands together, summoning a burst of Star shaped like an orb that flew forward at high speed.

Trisha yelled, and swung her gun around to her hip. She slammed down on the trigger as fast as she could, sending a storm of musket balls straight at Rakshadanore's face.

Greg grunted, and threw his ball. The Dragon-killing toxins dripped off the huge boulder mid-flight, splattering onto and beginning to eat the ground below.

Cam took a deep breath, and shot out a line of flame from either hand that streaked towards Rakshadanore's face, intending to gouge out his eyes.

Sophia gave a defiant shout, and yanked the trigger on her crossbow. Immediately 4 large bolts shot out, streaking through the air for a direct hit.

But upon seeing this massive barrage of pure firepower coming straight for him, Rakshadanore did what no one there expected. He merely closed his eyes, and sighed.

Song: Fierce Fight

Almost quicker than anyone's eyes could follow, Rakastamos's massive hand flashed through the dark air. All the projectiles- the Star, the bullets, the boulder, the fire, and even the Queen bolts were either destroyed against his scales or deflected to another portion of the cave. Rocks crumbled upon impact, and most of the cave shook, but Rakastamos himself had been dealt no damage.

"Honestly…", he muttered, and began a slow walk forward. "Did you really think you'd get this far?"

"Don't listen to him!", Sophia and Tray shouted simultaneously, and fired again. "He's evil!"

Rakastamos's eyes widened in an expression of hurt, even as he deflected the attacks with but a single claw. "Evil? No, I'm not evil. I'm just…"

Then his eyes narrowed, as he began to pick up speed. "Doing what needs to be done."

"Trisha!", Greg bellowed, as he gathered another ball in between his hands. He waited a minute for the magical poison to accumulate, then turned to his friend. "Aim for his eyes!"

"Got it!", Trisha yelled, and ran further up a rocky ledge. She dropped down to one knee, taking careful aim at the Dragonlord's eye.

But if Rakastamos noticed her plan, he seemed not to care. He just kept on advancing slowly forward, deflecting a net of flame from Cam. "I don't know how you got past my Forgotten."

Sophia took a quick look at Tray, who nodded. He shot a wave of gentle Star at Sophia's Queenbow, which lit up gold with the boost.

"But I do suppose that it hardly even matters…", Rakastamos rumbled. "For all that amounted to was giving me something to do. I was getting a little bored just waiting around in my cavern, after all…"

Sophia yelled, and shot a quick burst of bolts. Surrounded by the Star, they sang as they flew through the air- only to shatter harmlessly on Rakastamos's scales in a blaze of light.

"Honestly!", Rakastamos shouted, and let his jaw fall open. The back of his throat glowed a deep orange and red, as he prepared to fire. "Did you ever just take a moment to think about-"

A sharp pain suddenly erupted from his eye, which automatically closed from the irritance.

Rakastamos whipped his head around, to see Trisha standing defiantly upon the rock, machine gun still tightly clutched. Smoke rose from its oversized barrel.

"Oh, you're an annoyance.", Rakastamos mumbled. "I'll have to get rid of you…"

Sophia ran forward, knowing she had only one chance at striking Rakastamos's tender underbelly. "Trisha, look out!", she screamed.

But even though Trisha heard her warning well in advance, and had even started to run a little before then, it was still too late. She could not move as fast as the fist of the Dragonlord.

Rakastamos's clenched draconic fist came slamming down onto the rock with the force of a hundred Rockets, right where the Musketeer had been. There was a sound like a shattering mountain as the rock hit blew apart in all directions. Its edges were stained with the bright pink Elixir of what had once been Trisha the Musketeer.

"Trish!", Tray screamed. He stopped firing his Star for a moment, just staring at the point where she had fallen. His eyes snapped open, reflecting in loss. "Triiiiiiiish!"

"It doesn't matter!", Sophia shouted, though her eyes were pained as well. "Kill Rakastamos!"

Tray shouted in rage, and clasped his hands together. Though his tears flowed freely, they did not stop his power. "Final…"

Cam ran up onto a rock, and wreathed his hands in flame. "Take this, Dragon!", he shouted. "My special-"

Rakastamos lifted his fist from where it had hit the rock, and raised a single eyebrow. As soon as he saw the flame begin to leave Cam's hands, he took a deep breath in.

The fire shot towards him, but was swiftly absorbed into Rakastamos's gaping maw. Cam kept pushing, determined not to give up, but it was a fruitless endeavor. Within moments, his fire had been sucked into the mouth of the Dragonlord.

"I… can't hold him!", Cam shouted. "Greg, help me-"

But faster than anyone could have reacted, faster than should have even been possible for a monster of such size, Rakastamos was upon him. A single bite from his behemoth jaws slammed down on the hapless Wizard, destroying him in a single instant.

Rakastamos didn't even bother to swallow- Cam was too small to provide any nutrition. Instead he just looked up, droplets of Elixir hanging from his massive teeth, and started off towards the main attacking group.

"Cam!", Greg bellowed. He took a step back in shock, staring at the spot where the Wizard had fallen. He could still see the bits of flame that hovered around the deathzone.

"For one moment!", Rakastamos roared, having suddenly appeared above him. "Could you not shout out the names of your friends whenever they die! They're not coming back!"

Greg grabbed his boulder, and aimed upwards in anger. He threw the ball as hard as he could, the virulent anti-Dragon Poisons flying off it as it soared.

Rakastamos saw the poisons on it, his mind instantly recognizing what they were. Just before the boulder reached him, he jerked his titanic head aside, leaving the rock to fly past and crash into the ceiling. But he had forgotten one thing- a bit of the toxin had flown off, landing on Rakastamos's scales.

"Justice…", Tray spat, from between clenched teeth. The Star shook around him, rocks lifting up from off the ground. A crackling ball of energy hissed and popped between his hands, more Star feeding into it every second.

Sophie jumped up onto a rock in order to get a better shot. "Greg!", she yelled. "Fall back! It's too dangerous up there!"

Rakastamos roared in pain and anger, as the poison bit into his skin. He turned all the way around, slashing at his back with his obsidian claws. Crimson scales shed off and shattered, but most of the toxin still remained.

Greg stumbled off the rock, as it collapsed from the force of Rakastamos's pain. "Hang on, I'm coming!", he yelled. "I think we got him-"

Rakastamos gave one especially loud roar, and slashed deep into his back. A huge chunk of muscle came flying out from the rip, along with the last of the toxin. Greg leaped to avoid a chunk of falling rock, sprinting as fast he could towards his friends- but then Rakastamos's flailing tail came flying towards him at speeds too high to dodge.

As soon as it touched the Bowler, he was torn to shreds by the sheer size and velocity. Rakastamos roared in anger, and slammed his blood-stained claws back down onto the dirt. Sophia looked on in horror, at the spilled Elixir of three of her closest friends- all cut down in less than a minute.

"You…", Rakastamos spat. "You're pretty annoying."

"Tray…", Sophia said, and held out a hand. "Hold it."

Tray struggled to contain the vast amount of Star held within his grasp. It jumped and shook like a rabid animal, trying desperately to escape.

Rakastamos took another step forward, and narrowed his eyes. "Those first two were easy, but that toxin? Oh, that hurt. A lot."

"Tray?", Sophia whispered, and aimed her crossbow directly at Rakastaomos's nose.

"What?", Tray managed to squeak out, his face red both from rage and exertion. "What?"

Rakastamos took a single step closer, and raised his hand to smite them both off the face of the world.

Sophie took a jump back, making sure to get out of the way. "Now!"

Tray understood. He could finally let his energy go. "Overdrive!"

He released the built up energy, as a massive beam of golden light that headed straight for Rakastamos's neck. But even as it did so, the mighty Dragonlord was ready.

With a powerful swipe, Rakastamos's palm hit the energy blast straight on. All it took was a slight dip and a push, and Tray's Final Justice Overdrive was reflected back towards him and out a cave window. It would go on to smash into the side of a mountain, causing a rockslide all the way into the river.

"No…", Tray gasped out, and fell to his knees. "No."

He leapt up and drew his sword, coating it in golden Star as he jumped right at Rakastamos.

But fast as Lightning, Rakastamos's fist crashed into him, sending Tray flying against the wall as mere droplets of Elixir. "Stop it, boy. You look ridiculous."

He didn't even check to see if he had killed Tray or not- to him, the Knight was no longer a threat anyway. He just placed his hand on a rocky ridge, peering over to look for Sophia.

There she lay, at the bottom of a ditch, her ankle broken and her bow destroyed. She had been blown backwards by the force of Tray's final attack, and the rocks dislodged had dealt her sudden damage.

"Well.", Rakastamos said, as he took in the pathetic sight. "Now that your annoying cohorts are gone, is there anything that you would like to talk to me about?"

Sophia looked up in horror, at the pure primal force she now knew Rakastamos to be. She and her group had set out immediately when they had heard the news of his awakening. She had expected him to be powerful, but not anywhere on this level. Even the full force of Tray's Star had been smacked aside like an irritating bug. The anti-Dragon toxin had been the only thing to hurt him.

"You…", she gasped out, still not quite beliving her eyes. "You're no ordinary Dragon."

Dragonlord Rakastamos sniffed, as if insulted. His tremendous body moved overhead, blotting out the bit of light that came from the holes in the ceiling of the cave.

"Of course not.", he said. "I'm a Dragon_lord.__" _

Sophia looked around for anything that might possibly help her escape, but there was nothing. Her bow lay shattered upon the ground. Her ankle had been snapped, leaving her unable to run. Her cloak was torn in most places- hold on a minute. Her Royal Cloak.

Sophia's mind raced with this new revelation. If she activated her Royal Cloak, the invisibility would give her some time to run away. Her broken ankle could potentially be healed from the health boost, thus helping her even more.

"Now I heard you wanted to talk to me about something.", Rakastamos said, and looked down at Sophia. "Is that true, or did you just come here to kill me."

"I did!", Sophia said, trying to distract Rakastamos as long as possible while she plotted out the best route of escape. "I actually have some very important questions."

"Oh?", Rakastamos purred, and leaned his head down to address her. "And what might those be… _human?"_

Swallowing her intense fear, Sophia stared right up at the Dragonlord's face. Ignoring his Elixir-stained teeth and bloodred scales, she managed to crack a small grin.

"Bye.", she said, and pulled her Royal Cloak across her face. There was a sonic boom and a flash of magical sparkles, and Sophia disappeared. Her ankle knit somewhat back together from the healing boost- not quite enough to walk upon, but at least the pain was gone.

"What?", Rakastamos bellowed, his eyes widening in shock. "Where the-"

He noticed a team of Archers all appear around the spot she had disappeared, pulling back their bowstrings to fight. But Rakastamos did not care about them- he needed that Archer Queen for something very important.

"Where did you go?", he roared, and swung his fist in a grand circle. It pulverized the line of hapless Archers in a second, splattering their Elixir all along the wall. "Show yourself!"

Sophia ducked to avoid a flying rock, and kept crawling. She looked up and saw the exit- only about 100 feet away. If she avoided his gaze long enough to escape, she could tell everyone she knew just how powerful Rakastamos now was. She had to keep going.

But as she heard Rakastamo's head snap to attention somewhere behind her, she knew there was now no hope.

"There you are!", he bellowed, and rushed forward with unnatural speed. "Trying to hide, were you?"

Sophia screamed in terror, seeing the nightmarish figure of Dragonlord Rakastamos bearing down on her. Willing herself to go faster, she half-ran, half-crawled upon the blasted rock.

"I'll never let you catch me, you-", she yelled, but the last word or so was cut off by a sudden gargantuan, scaly hand grabbing her by the waist. "Mmph!"

Dragonlord Rakastamos slowly turned her over in his hand, finally staring right into her face.

"Congratulations, human.", he said. "You've managed to earn yourself a place…"

He stood up, and began a long walk towards the back of the cave, the trapped Sophia in tow. "As one of my little helpers."

"_Dan… Dan…"_

_The voice came alone, yet echoed as though it was part of an entire army. Dan sat up in his mind, though his body lay completely still._

"_Who's there?", he asked, looking around for any sign of anyone. "Jonathan? Is that you again?"_

_As Dan beheld the blackness of the empty void, he saw the powerful form of Jonathan float into view. "Yes, Daniel. It is I."_

"_Why?", Dan asked. "I mean, why are you talking to me?"_

_Jonathan took a single, reality-bending step, and knelt down by Dan's side. Although Dan stood 18 feet tall, Jonathan still towered over him._

"_Because, Daniel, you have what is very rarely seen these days. Potential. True, real, potential."_

"_Potential?", Dan asked. "What do you mean?"_

_Jonathan gave a warm smile. "Within you, Daniel, is a true raging heart, and a mighty warrior's spirit. You've progressed in the Star faster in a month than most could do in their entire lifetimes. You evolved from a Knight to a Mega Knight in a matter of weeks, not months or years. Doing such things requires not only skill and determination, but also vast amounts of raw, untapped strength."_

"_You're saying that I have some sort of… unrealized might.", Dan said. "Right?"_

_Jonathan nodded. "Indeed. See, if you just-"_

_Without warning, he tapped Dan's chest. There was a flash of white light, and Dan saw himself._

_He was looking down at his own body, from somewhere that didn't make sense. His entire frame swelled with sheer, unmatched strength, radiating outwards in droves. Silver waves boiled in the air around him, amounts of Star crackling off of him that he would normally struggle to summon._

"_Amazing…", Dan breathed. With those words, he suddenly found himself back in his own body, staring at Jonathan once again. _

"_See what I told you, Daniel?", Jonathan asked, and stood up. "Potential."_

_Dan looked at his hands, still able to see the silver light rising up off him. "How?", he asked, then looked up. "How do I attain such power?"_

_Jonathan smiled. "That will come later. For now…"_

_He extended his finger, and a thin bolt of Star shot out right into Dan's forehead. "It's time to wake up."_

Dan shot awake, his eyes flashing open. He bolted upright, not thinking about doing so. When he saw that Brandy had been suddenly flung across the room by his sitting up, he regretted doing it so recklessly.

Brandy sat up, and rubbed her head where she had hit the wall of the room. She pulled her hair out of her face, trying to smooth down her hood. "Ow! Dan, what was that for?"

"Sorry, Brandy.", Dan said, and rolled out of the bed. He stuck out his arms to either side, attracting the dozens of pieces of armor that had been left around the room. "I just really needed to wake up for some reason."

"For some reason…", Brandy mumbled, as she rose to her feet. She placed two hands on her lower back and bent backwards in a deep stretch. "What is that supposed to mean?"

The last piece of armor snapped on to Dan's arm, and he blinked. "Uh…"

Brandy stared at him. "Did you just throw me across the room and get ready for no reason?"

Dan shook his head. "No, there was definitely a reason."

He scratched his chin, rustling the soft, warm bristles of his beard. "I just can't seem to remember it right now."

Both Brandy and Dan stared at each other for a few more seconds, before a loud knock at the door interrupted their thoughts.

Brandy's eyes flew to the door, a half-second before she did. "I'll get it.", she said.

She threw open the heavy wooden door with a grunt of effort, to see a heavily breathing, seemingly worried Barbarian. As soon as he saw her, he snapped to attention.

"You two!", he shouted. "Archer Queen Sophie needs you to report to the Town Hall, immediately!"

"What?", Dan asked, standing up to attention. Perhaps this is why he had so suddenly woken up.

"Why?", Brandy asked, completing the question. She didn't know why, but she Dashed up to Dan's shoulder anyway.

"She suspects we may soon be under attack.", the Barbarian said. "That is, of course, where you two come in."

Dan and Brandy looked at each other. _Attack?, _Brandy thought. _We weren't expecting that._

_No…, _thought Dan back, and scratched his cheek. _But it could be fun._

_Fun?, _Brandy thought. _I mean, I guess so. You know, it might be._

_Oh, think of it, _thought Dan. _We can finally fight in a standardized battle again. We'll know exactly what we're fighting, there's no worry about actual death, it'll be fun._

_Yeah, you're right, _Brandy thought. _Sounds good and after all our enemies are destroyed, we can come back and- _

Dan reached out with a single finger and delicately caressed Brandy's chin. _Destroy something else?_

Brandy had been about to say "Figure out our plans for the next few days". _But that works just as well, _she thought. _You know I love it when you say stuff like that._

She leaned in and kissed him, the logical end to their silent conversation. The Barbarian, however, had not seen any of it. To him, it merely seemed as though the odd Clan Castle Troops had taken half a minute to take in his announcement, then kissed each other out of the blue. Strange, indeed.

"Well.", he said. "Anytime you two lovebirds are ready, report to the Town Hall. You know, the big building."

He waited for a bit, until Dan and Brandy broke off their kiss.

"It's just to the right of here.", he said. "Can't very well miss it."

Then he closed the door and walked off, making sure not to look behind him.

As Brandy watched the door close, she nodded. "Yeah… we should go."

Dan didn't nod, because Brandy was still on his shoulder. "Yes. We need to go do stuff."

"I'm stuff.", Brandy said with a sly smile.

Dan rubbed her back with one huge finger. "I know. But I'm serious."

"So am I.", Brandy said. "Stuff really needs to get done."

Dan started walking, and pushed the door open. "Oh, come on. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about-"

"In fact, I think it's been since the day before yesterday since you've done stuff.", Brandy said, thinking back. "You should do stuff more often."

Dan just rolled his eyes as they went out the door, and Brandy laughed so hard she snorted.

The center of the Village was silent, yet tense. It was now early afternoon, and all the Troops of the army had decided to take a quick nap before attacking. The Builders were all busy, hammering away at various structures. The Villagers quietly tended to themselves- watering their plants, jumping over walls, clapping at trees for unknown, ancestral reasons, etc. Only the Heroes stood alert, quietly watching the edges of the Village for any sign of foes.

"See anything, Herb?", Sophia asked, taking another sip of Dark Elixir. Normally such luxuries couldn't be afforded, but the village had been getting more Dark Elixir than usual lately.

"Not yet.", Herb grunted, taking a look through his binoculars. "Tell you when I do."

"Okay, tell me when you do-", Sophia began, then realized that Herb had already answered her. She sniffed, and took her own pair of binoculars from her belt.

She carefully scanned the horizon with eagle's eyes, trying to look for any and all suspicious movement. But there was none for now- just the various woodland creatures going about their day, and the trees keeping watchful eyes over all of it.

"Hey.", Brandy said, and gave a little wave. "Need us yet?"

Herb almost yelped and whipped around, but he didn't. Instead he just raised his mug of Dark Elixir to his lips and took a deep sip. "Yep. We're likely gonna need you pretty soon."

"Because we're getting attacked?", Dan asked. "That's it, isn't it?"

"Because we're getting attacked.", Herb said. Whether he said it to acknowledge Dan's words or despite them was unknown.

"Now, now.", Sophia said, with a calming wave of her hand. "We're not getting attacked yet, or even for certain."

"Eh.", Herb said, and looked upwards towards the sky. "We're getting attacked for certain. I can feel it in my bones."

Sophia looked up as well, and raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "Or those might just be the battle clouds that seem to be forming overhead."

Both Herb and Sophia laughed for a moment, before realizing just what that sentence meant.

"Battle… battle clouds?", Dan asked. "Does that mean that-"  
Sophia stood up, grabbing her bow by her side. "Yep. We gotta move."

A single bolt of lightning flashed on the far horizon. Dan and Brandy stiffened, as the flash illuminated shapes in the trees. It had grown dark unexpectedly, even though the sun had been shining just a few minutes ago.

"Woah.", Brandy said. "Why did it suddenly get so dark?"

Sophia shifted in her stance, edging ever closer to the edge of the village. "That's just a side effect of the battle clouds. Nothing to worry about."

Herb swung his sword around, pushing his jaw further into his skull. "Just a routine battle, this one. Nothing to worry about at all…"

Dan looked back at the army of Troops still in the Army Camps, just sort of lounging around. A few of the Bowlers had slowly gotten up, heading in the general direction of the Town Hall, although there was no real hurry.

"Hey, why aren't they helping?", he asked, pointing back at them. "Shouldn't they be getting ready to defend?"

Sophia took her attention away from the enemy treeline long enough to shoot Dan a look of total confusion. "Excuse me, what?"

Dan gestured to the army, then back to Sophia. "I mean, they're just sitting there. They should help us."

Herb looked to Sophia, who looked back at him in confusion. They knew each other well enough that they could have a conversation without even using words- or even telepathy.

_Excuse me, but are these not our Clan Castle Troops?, _Herb's eyes seemed to say.

_I think so, yes., _Sophia shrugged back. _And yet-_

_They seem to have a total lack of knowledge of how things work around here, _Herb said with a grunt. _The man does, anyway. _

_Hmmm, _Sophia said with a twitch of her eye. _We'll have to investigate things further. _

She turned to the treeline again, and pointed her crossbow at Brandy and Dan, who had no idea what she and Herb had been talking about. "See me after the battle.", she said with harsh eyes. "If you're still alive by then."

"Still alive?", Brandy thought with a pulse of alarm, but Dan just cracked his massive knuckles.

"Don't worry, madam.", he said with a confident grin. "We'll have them cleared out in no time."

He cast his gaze over his shoulder, looking at the sleeping and gradually retreating army of Troops. "Even if they're no help."

"That's what we like to hear!", Herb shouted. "We also like to hear our opponents getting destroyed, so if you wouldn't mind…"

He gestured forwards, at a still empty field. The enemy, for whatever reason, had not yet decided to charge.

"Uh, sir?", Brandy said, and pointed. "There aren't any opponents to destroy yet."

Herb's eyebrow fell off in surprise. He stuck it back on again at an awkward angle, then took a closer look at the treeline.

"Oh, so there isn't!", he said with an awkward laugh. "Sorry about that, trying to see as a Skeleton is hard sometimes."

"So why don't you take it off?", Brandy said. "Change back to a Barbarian King, I mean."

Herb gasped, then covered his chest with his detached arm. "Why, never! Little girl, it's clear that you don't realize just how important style is to a Barbarian King such as myse-"

"Hey!", Sophia shouted, attracting the attention of all three of them. "Stop talking and let's move!"

She pointed towards the sky, where a huge hourglass now hung, counting down from three minutes. "We're being attacked!"

Song: Overdrive

Dan ducked behind the wall, on some instinct. Brandy instantly followed his example, although she did now know why.

There was a great shout from beyond the treeline, and a line of Troops rushed into view. They were 7 Wizards, confident in their destructive stride. From the color of their robes, it could be seen that they were of respectfully high level. They all walked in a line, deployed on the side of the village where all the Storages were. They laughed to themselves, as they saw the Heroes on the other side of the Village, towering over the walls they did not seem to be able to see over.

They had been deployed in order to clear out the more fragile side of the Village, due to their high damage. Then the Giants would draw the fire of the defenses, clearing the way for the army's Witches to clear out the rest of the Village. It was a fairly good strategy, would have worked- had it not been for a certain pair of very special Clan Castle Troops.

With a flash of green, a troop the Wizards had never seen before leapt over the walls. She slammed her hand down on the ground and pivoted in a circle, jumping up to face them.

"That's funny…", Brandy said, and crouched down. "They're all in a line."

She grinned, and silver rose off her body as she prepared to Dash. "It's almost as if they want me to take them down."

The first Wizard on the line had already started his assault. He shot a ball of flame at the first Elixir storage he saw, causing a crack down the glass and sending a spray of Elixir into the air. It was magically dissipated into the air- and would soon reform in the Elixir Storages back at his own base. But he would never live to see it, because a quick Dash-infused kick to the side splattered him across the ground in a puddle of Elixir.

"Wow, he went down fast.", Brandy said, and wiped her face clean. "Guess they must be even weaker over here."

Then she crouched down again, and Dashed for a second time.

Brandy slammed into the second Wizard, right as he had let loose his ball of flame. Just like the first, he exploded into purple rain upon contact with Brandy's bat, splattering upon the face of the third in line.

"Hey, what-", was the third Wizard's scared yell, before he too was swiftly destroyed.

"Holy frick-", came the fourth Wizard's shout, before he was cut down with a single chop to the neck.

Brandy skidded to a stop, noting with some dismay that her next target was around a corner wall. But that was no matter- she just straightened her hood, gripped her stick a little tighter, and jumped over the lava-soaked wall.

Far back in the attack force, the enemy Barbarian King staggered back in shock.

"Our Wizards!", he shouted, and pointed a finger towards the carnage. "What's destroying them?"

The Archer Queen next to him took a look, and gasped. She did not know what the whirling green dervish slicing their Wizards to bits was, but she knew it was too strong for them to handle.

"Drop the Poisons!", she yelled, sweeping her hand across the army to give orders. "Right on that… thing!"

A bunch of Minions flying high above heard her command, and grunted in compliance. As one, they selected a pair of Poisons, and flew directly over to where Brandy had just barely finished turning the Wizards to purple goop.

"Well, that was easy.", Brandy laughed, as she wiped the Elixir from her face. "What's next? Maybe a-"

But she was startled out of her celebration by two glass containers shattering on the ground next to her, spilling out a huge cloud of orange toxin.

"Gah!", Brandy spat, staggering back from the spell's radius. "This is Poison!"

Holding her hand in front of her face, she Dashed in the first direction she saw- back over the walls and into the village. She could tell that her health had dropped somewhat just from touching the Poison- and a chilling thought jumped into her head.

_If I die out here…, _she thought, only just now noticing the gravestones that the Wizards had turned into. There was also a disturbing lack of colors, either Blue or Red. No bench, nowhere to return to. Brandy felt her face grow pale, and her heart beat louder in her chest. _Do I die for real?_

"She's retreated!", shouted the enemy Archer Queen triumphant. "Now send in the Witches!"

There was the sound of a dozen Skeletons bursting forth from the ground, and a group of Witches strode out from the trees. The Giants had already been deployed, and many of the defenses were firing straight at them.

"Bring out the Clone spell!", the Barbarian King roared. "Make as many Witches as possible!"

The Minions flew overhead again with a sigh, and the oversized bottle of the Clone dropped down to the ground. Even more Witches magically sprung up out of the light blue liquid that now covered the small area of ground, packing the small space even tighter.

"Their area defenses are distracted!", the Barbarian King yelled, bringing his fists up the sky. "Now we can-"

But his words suddenly died in his throat, as a huge shadow fell over the group. The Witches all looked up, to see the shining figure of Dan hanging in the air.

With a mighty crash, Dan slammed himself down right in the middle of the Witches. There was a thunderous explosion, as the ground cracked under his mighty impact. The Witches all flew apart into bare Elixir with a chorus of collective screams, their Skeletons being crushed underneath Dan's metal bulk even as they were summoned. The Clone spell faded, it's area of effect destroyed by Dan's assault.

The Barbarian King stopped in his tracks, his finger still extended. It slightly twitched, as did his eyes. He looked at his attack force, now reduced to a bunch of half-health Giants within just a few seconds. He looked at the massive steel figure that had crushed his Witches to bits, having come out of seemingly nowhere. He looked at the Archer Queen, who stared back at him with an equally terrified expression, if such a thing was even possible.

They nodded, having come to a unanimous agreement within moments. They both stood up straight, gripped their weapons a little tighter, and turned around.

"Retreat!", they shouted, and took off into the woods. The Giants stopped what they were doing, looked at their leaders, and ran off after them without a sound.

Herb and Sophia watched the full attack force, or really what was left of it, which was just a handful of injured Giants and the Heroes, run off into the woods. Trees were knocked over and bushes destroyed from the speed and force of their escape from the two mysterious Troops that had dismantled their entire army.

The hourglass hovering magically above the village stopped, the last grain of sand falling in a soft trickle. A harsh alarm blared out over the sky, as the countdown stopped at 2 minutes and 30 seconds. It had taken hardly any time at all for their defeat.

"Well.", Herb said, and crossed his arms. He cast a look of approval at Dan, who still stood at the spot where the Witches had gone down. "That went well."

Sophia put her hand on her forehead, staring off at the horizon. "I estimate our trophies will be delivered by today at 4."

She looked over at Dan, who was staring at the ground with a look of shock and horror. He had let his metal gloves slide back into his wrists, exposing his rough hands.

"I… killed them.", he said quietly. "For real."

He stood up, and spun around to address Herb. "Did I?", he asked, his face worn with concern. "Did I just kill these Witches for good?"

Sophia gave Dan a weird look, leaning back on the wall. She spread her hand in front of her face, gently trimming her immaculate nails. "Yeah.", she said. "What did you think would happen?"

"I… thought they would reform?", Dan asked, clutching at straws. "Like normal."

Herb raised his eyebrow, now beginning to doubt Dan's mental health a little. "You're starting to sound a little weird there, son. What do you mean, like normal-"

A violent coughing fit erupted from the left, and Herb turned his eyes to look. There was Brandy, still looking a little Poisoned around the edges, as she leapt haphazardly over a wall.

"What are we talking about?", she asked, and looked up at the three towering figures. "Something?"

Dan looked down at her with distraught eyes. "I killed those Witches, Brandy.", he said. "I killed all of them."

Brandy tilted her head. "Of course you did, Dan.", she said. "Just like I killed those Wizards. What's wrong?"

"I don't mean like regular killed them, Brandy.", Dan whispered, and pointed to the gravestones that still adorned the grass. "I mean like…"

Brandy's gaze went from Dan, then to the gravestones, then back to Dan. Her face dropped, as the full realization of what she had done suddenly sunk in. Hadn't she too been thinking about this before the Poison spells had hit?

"Oh Se'th…", Dan and Brandy said in unison, much to the confusion of Herb and Sophia. Who was this Se'th they were talking about? And it was just a routine battle, why in Dar'ia's name where they freaking out about it? But then, way back in the edge of her mind, something clicked with Sophia.

"Hey, wait a minute.", she said, slowly walking forward. "I think I know what's going on here."

Dan and Brandy stopped talking, and gave each other a nervous look. Sophia reached the two, and stared closer at them, her hands on her hips.

"You're not like any Troops I've ever seen.", Sophia said. "You're totally unfamiliar with even the basic rules of the land. You've got me thinking…"

She leaned back, and folded her arms. "You're not really our Clan Castle Troops, are you?"

Dan looked at Brandy, who looked back at Dan. They both knew the jig was up. Brandy stepped forward to give some sort of explanation, perhaps about how they were vacationing and had gotten lost, or something made up like that- but to her surprise, Dan had already begun to talk.

"You got us.", Dan said, clear and loud. "We aren't exactly from around here. In fact, we're from the continent of Royale, all the way across the sea. We're here on a mission, to find a Dragon who wishes to save the world from an ancient evil that seems to be waking up. We've already encountered no less than four of its minions on our way here. They appear to be totally unique troops, unlike anything that really exists. We got lost in pursuit of a particularly nasty one, and ended up here as a result. We faked being your reinforcements in order to gain safe haven here, although I guess it did work out rather well."

A quick smile cracked his face as he saw the shocked expressions of Herb and Sophia, but most of all Brandy. He stepped aside a bit, and gestured downwards to her. "And I suppose that it's also worth mentioning that I am a user of the Star, and my wife here is a Stand user."

"Star?", Herb asked slowly, not really following all of a sudden. "Stand?"

"Yeah.", Dan said, and lit up his hand with golden light. "This is Star, and-"

He looked down to Brandy, who just shrugged. "And I suppose she can't really show you her Stand, because neither of you are Stand users. Or so she says."

"That is how it is, Dan.", Brandy said. "Plus The Dreamer isn't really a visual stand anyway."

"I'm sorry, I don't follow.", Herb said. "What is going on here? What are you talking about?"

"I think what they're talking about, _dear…", _Sophia said, taking Herb by the shoulder, "Is that they are both users of some bizarre magic. We should be _honored _to have them in our _presence!"_

With each stressed word, Sophia squeezed Herb's skeletal shoulder just a little tighter. He winced in pain, but managed to nod. "Oh.", he said. "I see."

"Well.", Sophia said, letting go and spinning around to face Dan. Herb rubbed his aching shoulder, and put on his best smile. "Seeing as how you're both on a quest and all, would you like to help us with one more thing?"

Dan folded his arms. "Well, that depends. What is that thing you want us to do?"

"Revenge.", Sophia said. "We want you to help us attack the Village who you just fought off."

"I don't know.", Dan said. "I don't want to kill any more people."

"Oh, is that the only problem?", Herb asked. "Huh."

He strode forward, and put one hand on Dan's shoulder. He pointed the other at the gravestone, which even now was free of any spilled Elixir. "Cause you see…"

He chuckled a little bit. "Yes, they died. But they didn't die permanently. Once they were defeated in battle, they became eligible for reincarnation."

"Reincarnation?", Brandy asked from the ground below. "What's that?"

"Oh, it's where they can be born again with all their same memories as a Troop in another village.", Herb explained, much to the relief of both Brandy and Dan. "So they die, but not really."

Dan and Brandy looked at each other, and smiled weakly. "That's good to hear.", Dan said.

"Yeah.", Brandy grinned. "Here I was thinking we were murderers."

"Heh heh, nope!", Herb said. Then his friendly manner suddenly turned serious. "However.", he said, with a darkened face. "That only applies in standardized battles such as that one. So if you ever die somewhere else in the world, say on the way to a battle, or somewhere in the mountains… well. That's too bad for you."

He looked up, and Brandy felt a chill run involuntarily down her body. "You're not ever coming back."

Then Herb became his cheery old self again, and grabbed a huge horn from his belt. Lifting it to his lips, he blew as hard as he could- very hard indeed, considering that he was still a skeleton.

"Battle Horn! Battle Horn!", a Bowler shouted simultaneously, and shot awake. "Battle Horn!"

Within mere seconds, with astonishing speed, the army had assembled from their various states of wakefulness, whether totally alert or dead asleep. Herb hoisted his sword into the air, and shouted a ferocious war cry. "We march!", he bellowed. "Towards the village of tocixlevor5!"

The army scrambled to march, the Heroes leading them on to battle. But elsewhere, something entirely different was happening.

Song: Himeru Omoi

Deep within the dark forest that covered the vast majority of the continent, many eyes watched. Some of those eyes were innocent, mere assorted forest creatures that meant no harm. Some of those eyes were malicious, those of the wild Goblins that held outposts all across the realm. And one particular pair seethed with raw hatred, purple skin twisting around them as he ever sought his elusive target.

"He's not here…", said the Mortis, and slung his shovel over his shoulder. "But he was. Just a little while ago."

Mortis dropped to the ground to inspect the dirt, and saw a trail of shallow footprints. Size 3, barefoot. Judging from the depth they were now, the tracks had been left not even 3 hours ago.

"Curse him…", Mortis growled, and stood up. He scratched at the side of his cheek, not noticing that he drew a tiny bit of black blood. "He continues to evade me. Every time I think I've caught up to that brat, he escapes my reach."

Mortis felt a breath of cold, controlling wind on his neck, and he clenched his fist. "But I will find him.", he said. "For you, my master."

_Good, Mortis, good, _came the soothingly hissed answer of the mysterious shadow. _And once we do, he will be able to lead us to the other two. And they are what the master wants. _

"Right…", Mortis said, and swung his shovel somewhere in front of him. "I should go. He won't find himself!"

Both Mortis and his enigmatic master shared a hearty laugh. Then the shadow faded, and Mortis was left alone as he slashed and dashed through the woods, his long black cape trailing far behind him.

But even though the dark machinations of evil were strong in the woods, and the heroic acts of the village of SpaceKrakenX were about to be known, they both still took place at the Continent of the Clans. And elsewhere, in a place known as the Hay Day Farms, strange things were afoot.

Farmer James stepped outside his house, making sure to wipe his feet on the mud flaps. He sighed, stretched deeply to the back, and cast a quick and quiet look around the farm. There didn't appear to be anything out of the ordinary. Taking a look upwards at the chaotic sky, he noticed it was looking unusually red today. That was bad- or so he thought. That's what the last visitor had told him, about 3 months ago. That Red was the color of evil, and Blue was the color of good.

"Well, shooey.", said Farmer James, and looked down at the chicken he held in his arms. "What do you think of that, Russell?"

Russell the rooster just looked up at Farmer James. He knew even less about the situation- in fact, he knew pretty much nothing at all. Only that he was a chicken, and that James took care of him, and he himself took care of the chickens, which in turn took care of Farmer James. It was a very nice, neat cycle- but of course, he knew nothing of all this.

"Aek.", said Russell, and Farmer James sighed.

"I knew you'd say that.", he said. "Just like you always do."

Russell tilted his head in confusion. At first he had thought that James would be angry- but then he saw him satisfied and happy. It was a bit much for his chicken brain, so he just hopped out of James's arms and back onto the ground. He resumed pecking.

Farmer James stared up again at the cloud blanketing the sky- and stopped in shock. For just a moment, he thought that he could see the outlined figure of a Dragon flying through the clouds. But that was impossible. The furthest west Dragons were known to live was 50 miles of the Hay Day Farms. For the Dragon to be big enough to have been seen from that distance, it would have to be almost large beyond comprehension.

But then the shadow vanished into the rising stormcloud, and James shook off his fear. He turned to watch Russell and his flock eating from a collective feed bowl, and grinned.

"Look how happy they are.", he said. "I should be that happy."

He gave a little time to think about how best to accomplish this goal. After a few seconds, he realized that the best time for him would be to go back inside his house and get a few jars of his favorite, slightly intoxicating drink.

Farmer James was just a farmer, yes. But he had been just that for a very long time. He had managed to pick up a thing or two- which is exactly why he was so worried about the cloud. It almost reminded him of something his father had told him a long time ago. Something about a Dragon. James picked his own brain attempting to remember, but came up with nothing of worth.

Oh well. _It can wait, _James thought, as he stood back up and went inside the house. Life was always busy on a farm.

Song: Yuuki Rendan

"Alright, everyone!", shouted Herb, as the sun began to hit the midway point of the sky. There was still a lot of time left in the day, but it was running out. Night battles were harder- that's why it would be best for them to attack now. "Stop walking!"

Many of the Troops looked up in confusion, but others knew what was going on. It wasn't exactly their first time fighting.

"Stop walking because…", Herb said, and gestured widely to Sophia. She smiled, and thrust out her bow towards a clearing up ahead. "We're here!"

Brandy opened her eyes, from where she had been taking a short nap on Dan's shoulder. She saw that they were now standing on a large hill, over the forest and a Village-sized clearing.

"Ooh.", she said. "Is that it, then?"

She pointed forward, grabbing Dan's neck for support. Dan strained his eyes to see where she was pointing, then saw the very tops of some Inferno Towers ever-so-slightly visible among the trees.

"Listen up!", Sophia yelled, slamming her fist into her hand. "We're one more star away from getting our bonus. These guys attacked us first. The upgrade of our X-Bow is hanging in the balance. Are you guys ready for this?"

The army cheered, and Sophia jabbed her bow into the air. "Yeah!"

She lifted her hand, and Herb gave her a massive high five. "Now, is everyone ready?"

As one, the army nodded. They were ready for anything. Herb looked to Dan and Brandy, who looked at each other with nervousness. But they too were ready.

"Well then.", Herb said, then gave a ferocious war cry. "Let's go!"

Song: I'm in Control

He charged forward, right at the forefront of the attack. Well, not exactly- he was right behind the Golems, which had been already charging while he gave his speech. They were slow after all, and needed some time to move forward so the much faster Barbarian King wouldn't outpace them. And although his HP was high, it was nowhere near the unparalleled bulk and durability of the level 5 Golems.

Behind him, slowly clanking down the hill with the creaking of metal, were the trio of level 6 Pekkas. They were deployed behind the Golems in order to take full advantage of their raw destructive potential, their purple armor glinting from the overhead sun and swords swinging back and forth.

Behind the trio of dangers was Sophia, running as fast as she could to get closer to the enemy village. While the enemy's defenses were busy slowly chipping at the Golems and Pekkas, she could use her mighty Queenbow to spread massive damage across the entire area.

Behind Sophia was the infamous quartet of Skeletons- four Wall Breakers. They didn't even struggle under the weight of their massive barrels of gunpowder as they streaked headlong towards the walls, eager to do some damage. Once the walls were destroyed, the Golems, Pekkas, and Herb would be able to wreak as much havoc as they were able.

Slowly walking up behind the initial shock force was the rest of the huge army- over a dozen Bowlers. Behind the tanks of the army, they could throw their boulders free of harm. And what boulders they would be, bouncing over and through walls, breaking down buildings, and freeing sweet, sweet, resources from their Storage prisons.

Above the invasion force flew a group of Spell Minions, ready to drop the army's Spells wherever they were needed. Normally it would be the Chief that did such actions, but this particular Village's Chief was taking a small leave of absence. There were a pair of Rages, ready to boost the attack's power as needed. There was a Heal, just in case an untimely Giant Bomb popped up or a Wizard Tower grew too lucky. There was a Clone, for when the Bowlers had managed to break through to the heart of the village. And there were a pair of Poisons in the back, just in case there were Heroes or Clan Castle Troops to worry about.

In the very back was a single Archer, deployable to take out corner Builder's Huts and Army Camps. She was mostly there because the army had one extra space left over, however.

Coming up behind even her, now, were Dan and Brandy. They watched the army rush headlong towards the enemy's walls, seemingly not even caring about the vast lines of defenses. It looked like a good strategy, however. Tanking for the DPS units seemed to be a common thing across both continents. Indeed, as Brandy heard Sophia yell "Heads up, morons! We're aiming for three stars today!", she grinned. Some things never changed.

It usually was a good strategy. However, today, some things were about to go wrong. The first one was that instead of blowing up the walls, as they were supposed to, the Wall Breakers went a totally different direction from where they had been deployed, ran directly into the path of a Mortar shell, and blew apart into bones and dust instantly.

Herb was the first to notice, as he swung his sword to pulverize an enemy Skeleton. He was less happy about his own Skeletons getting crushed.

"We just lost the Wall Breakers!", he roared to Sophia in frustration. "There goes our funnel!"

Sophia loaded, aimed, and shot a trio of crossbow bolts all in the same partial second, arcing high over the head of a Pekka and into an Archer Tower. "Don't worry about it!", she yelled back.

"Just tell the Pekkas to break through!"

"Right…", Herb muttered, then pointed his sword towards a crucial point in the Village's walls. "You three! There's a big old butterfly right here! Come and catch it!"

The three Pekkas had been busy crushing Barracks outside the walls, hardly even noticing the newly built Wizard Tower that had been attacking them. But upon hearing that there were suddenly now butterflies to chase, their focus changed dramatically.

"But. Ter. Fly.", they all said as one, and turned to march metallically towards the indicated wall. An onlooker probably would have found it creepy, what with their glowing eyes and all, had it not been both a normal thing for Pekkas, and in the heat of battle.

The Archer that had been deployed at the very edge of the Village looked at her target- a single Builder's Hut. The Builder inside and his son had run for the Town Hall as soon as SpaceKrakenX's army had appeared on the horizon, and were even now huddling in fear under the Town Hall along with the rest of the Villagers and Army.

The Archer sighed in disgust, casting a look behind her to stare at the rest of the army. Then she knocked an arrow, aimed at the Hut, and began to chip away at its HP.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted. "Look at the Clan Castle!"

Dan stopped, even though he was almost to the walls. The Pekkas had managed to break through a few segments, and much of the attacking force had already entered. A roaring purple dome hovered over a large segment of the Village, indicating that one of the two Rage spells had already been dropped. SpaceKrakenX's army tended to work hard and fast- and today was no exception.

"What?", Dan asked, then saw it. An Ice Golem was slowly emerging from the wide door, his grinning face echoing no semblance of intelligence. "Oh."

"That's an Ice Golem.", Brandy said, noting how massive it was compared to the Ice Golems back home. "But… it's gigantic."

They both already knew of an Ice Golem's death nova, dealing small damage and slow down in a a small area. But this one emerging seemed to be 10 to 15 times the size. If it burst…

"We have to take it down!", Dan shouted, and ran. "Before it gets to the army!"

Brandy freaked out a little bit, pulling on Dan's neck to get him to slow down. "Dan! Wait!", she shrieked, and Dan turned his head to look at her. "What?"

"We can't just attack it!", she said. "Use Star!"

"I can't!", Dan shouted back. "This is a standardized battle!"

Brandy thought for a moment. "Oh. Right."

"Hey!", shouted Herb, and swung his Tombblade all the way through a nearby Air Sweeper. "You two! Stop talking and fight!"

"Right.", Brandy said, and pointed forwards. "Dan?"

Dan nodded, and beat his chest. He bent low, gaining energy in his legs to jump, then flew- high into the air. He soared over the walls, past the first row of buildings, and landed with a gigantic crash on a pair of Gold Mines. A torrent of Gold mist flew out of them, magically transporting itself through the air to SpaceKrakenX's Village.

A Villager screamed as he landed, still running to the Town Hall. She had been outside the outskirts of the Village, and thus had not made it in before everyone had begun their attack.

"Sorry about this!", Brandy shouted, as she slid off of Dan's shoulder and punched a Gold Storage. "Just business."

"Oh, I know it is.", said the Villager, suddenly calm. "I have to scream whenever someone attacks. It's my job, you know."

"Oh.", Brandy said, pausing her attack for a bit. "Well, keep on then."

The Villager nodded, then threw her hands into the air and ran towards the Town Hall. It was currently being attacked by a pair of Bowlers, so that might not have been the best direction. But really, what other option did she have? Villagers always went to the Town Hall- they had no other choice.

Dan slammed his fists down on a Gold Storage, sending a large crack up the side. It was oddly satisfying, his first raid like this. It was more mindless than Arena battles. You didn't have to worry about placement or timing as much, you could just let loose and destroy to your heart's content.

"Dan!", he heard Brandy shout, and he looked down to below him. Brandy jerked a thumb at the massive level 3 Ice Golem, which was now coming even closer. "Ice Golem! Remember?"

"Oh, right.", Dan said, and stopped crushing the Gold Storage. Seeing it was at 1% health, Brandy gave it a swift kick which filled the air above with Gold and turned the Storage to a pile of shiny rubble.

"So how are we gonna take it on?", Dan asked. "If we kill it, it might freeze us."

Brandy stepped out from behind him, and flicked her teeth. "I'm not sure… but we've gotta try something. Come on."

She started running forward, Dashing over an Archer Tower's arrow. So focused was she on approaching the Ice Golem that she failed to notice that some of the grass in her path was lying apart, disturbed.

But Dan noticed. He noticed about half a second before she stepped on it, running headlong through the shattered walls. "Brandy, wait!"

Brandy cast a look over her shoulder, her face asking the question. "What?"

Dan knew there was no time to explain- he just jumped forward as fast as he possibly could. Brandy felt something give under her feet, and she looked down to see the grass collapse, revealing the wooden square of a Spring Trap.

The mechanism triggered, and the Spring Trap shot upwards. The wood caught Brandy's foot, sending her flying upwards- and right into Dan's waiting grasp.

Brandy looked at the spent trap, now motionless on the grass. She felt herself go a little limp in Dan's grasp, hyper as she was.

"That was close.", Dan said. "You almost just-"

"What?", Brandy asked. "What would have happened?"

There was the noise of another trap being deployed at the other end of the village, and they both looked up. A pair of Bowlers that had been destroying edge buildings were flung upwards into the sky, becoming mere twinkles in the blue air before vanishing completely out of sight.

Brandy shivered, and Dan slowly placed her on his shoulder. "Oh. That."

"Yeah.", Dan said. "We can't let that happen."

There was the sound of creaking ice from a few rows down, and they were both suddenly reminded of why they had been rushing.

"Ice Golem!", Brandy yelled, and pointed forward. "We can't forget!"

"Right!", Dan roared, and crouched down to jump. It was a bit weird to fight without using his Star at this point, but he still knew how to do it.

Brandy gripped him a little tighter, and Dan pushed off from the ground. He flew in a high arc, narrowly avoiding the sweeping beam of an Inferno Tower as it found another target, and landed in a massive blow right on top of the Ice Golem.

The icy monster groaned, as it noticed what was happening. It stumbled a bit, falling against a wall. Dan dug his hands out of the ground, and spun around on his foot to face the beast.

"This doesn't seem like the Ice Golems back home.", Brandy said. "It looks angry. I didn't even think that was possible."

"This isn't home, Brandy.", Dan said, and took a stance. The Ice Golem beat its fists on the ground, bellowed, and charged forward. "Only sort of close."

Brandy gripped Dan's shoulders tighter, as the Ice Golem reared up into the air. Dan caught both its fists in his own, growling with ferocious intent.

Dan pushed against the Ice Golem's larger bulk, with as much strength as he could. Despite being made of mere ice, it had a strength that seemed to rival actual stone Golems. Perhaps even exceed it.

"You…", Dan growled, and pushed harder. The grass was crushed underneath their feet, as he slowly pushed the Ice Golem backwards. "Suck!"

The Ice Golem roared in frustration, unable to accept that this strange troop was stronger than him. The thick ice that made up his arms creaked, as he pushed as hard as he could.

The ground underneath the two titans buckled and cracked, another Spring Trap going off from the pressure. It had gone off underneath the Ice Golem however, so nothing else happened.

"Brandy!", Dan spat out. "Help me out here!"

"Okay.", Brandy said- then stopped. "How? What do I do?"

"I don't know!", Dan said, pushing even harder. Sweat dripped down his face, turning red from the frustration of being Starless. "Hit it or something!"

"Alright, I will.", Brandy said, and prepared. The Ice Golem roared, and pushed harder- only for Brandy to land directly between his eyes in a Dash-infused kick. Particles of snow and ice flew off of the Ice Golem, and a crack at last appeared down one of his arms.

"We got him!", Brandy yelled, and stabbed her club into one of the eyes. "Dan, push!"

The Ice Golem's ever present grin vanished off his face, and was now replaced with another emotion- that of fear. "Gruh?", it asked.

"Haaaa!", Dan roared, and pushed as hard as he could. The damage from Brandy's kick had taken a toll on the Ice Golem's right arm. It wasn't a big one- but it was enough. Enough to amplify Dan's push, snapping the arm right in two.

With half of its pushing force gone, the Ice Golem now no longer had any chance of holding back Dan. It took the full force of his push head-on, and was flung against a wall.

Brandy landed back on Dan's shoulder after her backflip, and grabbed his neck. "You think that did it?"

"I don't know.", Dan said. "Maybe if-"

The Ice Golem rose to his feet, and growled. He beat his chest with one hand, not expecting that the wall behind him would break down and the sword of a Pekka would slice directly through his chest. But that is, of course, exactly what happened.

Brandy's eyes widened, and she tugged on Dan's shoulder. "Dan! Run! It's gonna-"

But Dan was already one step ahead of her. He jumped backwards into the closest thing available, which just so happened to be the enemy's Clan Castle, as the wave of ice rushed across the ground.

Song: Capture the Target

The doors of the Clan Castle slammed shut with an ominous thud, as the light within turned off. Dan picked himself up from the ground, and Brandy Dashed up his back to land on his shoulder.

"Where are we?", Brandy asked. "Is this… their Clan Castle?"

Dan thought for a moment, then slashed his fist against the wall. A flurry of sparks flew into the air, landing on a torch. There was a moment till it caught, then the room was bathed in a low red light. If he couldn't use Star at the moment, he had to use the next best thing.

"Hello?", he asked. "Anyone there?"

"Dan, what are you doing?", Brandy hissed. "We have to get out of here!"

But Dan just waved a hand, and kept on walking forward. "No. I feel like we should explore a bit more."

"Why?", Brandy asked. "What could be so important that-"

Then she saw it. A movement in the far corner of the room, looking to be from someone in a green and yellow dress.

"Dan!", Brandy said. "Over there!"

She pointed to the figure, who now raised her hand high into the air. "There's something over there!"

Then Brandy felt something rather odd. It felt like a bizarre sensation in her legs, then her stomach.

"Who's there?", Dan asked. "Show yourself!"

The figure threw her hand up even further. Brandy felt the feeling increase, and she flew upwards into the air.

"Fly upwards!", said the figure from the shadows, keeping her hand up. "To the sky, and vanish forever!"

Brandy hit the ceiling, cracking the stone with the force. The brick hit her back like a Mortar shell, and she spat out blood from the impact. "What the-"

Dan roared, and launched himself forward. He slammed his fists into the floor with a burst of anger, breaking apart the stone. But the figure simply leaped backwards almost a dozen feet, alighting on a nearby shelf with the grace of an airborne dancer.

"You think you can touch me?", she asked. "When you can't even free your own fists?"

She swiped her other hand downwards, still keeping Brandy up on the ceiling with the other. Dan's hands dropped down even further, breaking through the floor of the Clan Castle and hitting the dirt below. "Behold me!"

She gestured upwards to Brandy, the roof beginning to crack even more. "See your friend? She's only moments away from breaking through the roof. Once she does, she'll go all the way to space! Gone forever!"

Brandy, struggling mightily, managed to wrench her head free of the pressure. She looked down at the mysterious figure, and saw flowing blonde hair, with very long ears.

"She can control… gravity?", Brandy spat. "Or at least that's what it looks like-"

Then something clicked in her head. Something she had seen a very long while ago, that only now made sense.

"You…", Dan roared, and pulled his hands upwards as hard as he could. They started to rise against the pressure, but the figure slammed her foot downwards as well. Dan groaned, and his fists hit the dirt again. "What are you?"

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, then her head was slammed against the wall again. "She's that new card that was supposed to come out like two months ago! Remember? The-"

"Indeed!", shouted the figure, and at last walked out into the light.

She seemed to be around Brandy's height, although perhaps a little bit shorter. Her dress started below her shoulders, coming down all the way past her knees. It was made of a thick green material, accented with white trim and yellow dots. A strange symbol adorned the front, and long blonde hair trailed behind her. "The Gravity Elf!"

She thrust her right hand up further, and the brick that Brandy was pressed against began to break. "I hold the power to control your personal gravity. I can push you down into the ground, or fling you upwards into the sky."

She pressed down harder with her left hand, and the ground underneath Dan began to break. "What good is your strength and speed when you can no longer move?"

"Hey! Gravity Elf!", Brandy shouted, managing to push one hand to another part of the ceiling. She grabbed a torch holder in a death grip, refusing to let go. "Are you one of them?"

"One of who?", asked the Gravity Elf. "And my name's Sonjia, by the way. Not that it'll really matter once I'm done with you…"

"One of the weird Troops that have all attacked us.", Brandy said. She grabbed the torch holder tighter- and felt it start to break off. An idea popped into her head, and her heart began to beat a little faster. "Are you one of them?"

Sonjia leaned back on a shelf, and thought for a moment. "No… I don't think I am."

"Are you working with him, then?", Dan asked, relaxing his arms for a moment. He knew what Brandy was about to do, just as sure as he knew her. "The Dragon?"

"Dragon?", Sonjia asked with curiosity. "What Drago-"

Her words were cut off, as she saw a burst of movement from Brandy. One of her hands had managed to escape the Gravity well, and had broken the torch holder free from the ceiling.

"Hey!", Brandy yelled, and threw the torch holder like a knife. "Catch!"

The ceiling above Brandy at last began to give way, as it opened up to the sky. Brandy gritted her teeth, grabbed the furthest edge she could, and hoped.

Sonjia smirked, and put her hand up in front of her. "Gladly."

The torch holder stopped in its path, grinding to a halt a foot in front of her hand.  
"Were you going to hit me with that?", Sonji asked. "Because I hope that wasn't your entire plan."

"Oh, don't worry.", Dan said, and wrenched his fists free from the ground. He stood up to his full height, now free of Sonjia's gravitational influence. "It wasn't."

Sonjia gulped in fear, only now realizing what the plan had been. She had used the hand that was holding down Dan to take care of Brandy's weapon. One threat taken care of, and another freed.

"Wait!", Sonjia screamed, throwing up her hand. The torch holder clattered to the ground, its momentum spent, and the gravity well began to form around Dan. "Don't touch me-"

"ORA!", Dan bellowed, and slammed his fist into Sonjia with the force of a Rocket. She screamed and flew backwards, skidding through furniture in the darkened room. There was a loud crack as she hit a wall, then she lay still.

Brandy's grip broke, as the reverse gravity on her finally faltered. She fell awkwardly to the ground, one leg tingling with sleep. The pain shot through her shin, and she winced.

In an instant, Dan was by her side. He picked her up in his massive arms, staring down at her.

"Brandy, are you alright?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said, and winced again. She grabbed her leg, running her hand down it to try and ward off the pain. "I'm fine."

"You sure?", Dan said, gently setting her down on the floor. "Because I can heal you, if you need it."

"Oh.", Brandy said. "Well then, you can-"

Dan didn't wait for her to finish her sentence. He just grabbed Brandy's leg, sweeping her up on the floor, and surrounded it with a haze of golden energy. Brandy felt the pain disappear, the bruised bones turning back to normal.  
"I didn't know you could do that.", Brandy said, suddenly noticing the position that Dan held her in. "While holding me like that."

"I can.", Dan said. "Ever since I- what do you mean, holding you like this."

"Oh, you know.", Brandy said. "Spreading my legs?"

Dan's eyes widened, and he dropped Brandy's leg. "Oh, I didn't mean to-"

"No, no, it's fine.", Brandy said, and stood a little closer to him. "I like it when you do that."

Dan's face turned a little hotter, and he looked to the back of the room. "We should check on the Gravity Elf."

"Right.", Brandy said. "I didn't see what happened to her."

Brandy crouched, then Dashed over the fallen furniture. She landed with a crash on the other side of the room, skidding to a stop. There lay the fallen Sonjia in front of her, blood trickling from a cut on her forehead.

"Huh.", Brandy said. "She's pretty tough. Took a punch from you and lived."

"Hmph.", Dan said. "In a standardized battle, sure. Wouldn't happen in the wilds, though."

_I don't think this is a standardized battle anymore, _Brandy thought to herself. She thought it would be best not to say it out loud.

"What should we do with her?", Brandy said. "She said she wasn't working with whoever those Troops were."

"Yeah, but she could be lying.", Dan said, and raised his fist. "Figures ones like that would."

"Now hold on.", Brandy said. "I'm not sure we should-"

Sonjia's eyes fluttered open, to see Dan's massive fist raised above her. She screamed, tried to jump back, and hit her head on the wall again, in the same spot.

"Wait!", she shrieked, and Dan paused. "Please, don't hurt me! I didn't mean to-"

"What?", Dan growled, and Sonjia shrank back. "You didn't mean to attack us? Didn't mean to almost send my wife into the stratosphere?"

"I'm sorry, I thought- I thought you came in here to kill me.", Sonjia admitted. "There are so many people after me, I assumed you were some of them."

"No.", Brandy said, and scratched her mask in thought. "We're being hunted too."

"Oh.", Sonjia said, and extended her hand. "Maybe we could… team up?"

She stared upwards with hope, but Dan was still not sure. He could sense there was no malice or trickery in her words, but…

"I don't know.", Dan sighed. "This is our second honeymoon, and-"

Sonjia leapt up, a disgruntled look on her face. "Fine then.", she huffed. "You're just like all the others."

"Sonjia, wait!", Brandy yelled, stretching out her hand, but Sonjia had already begun to run. She jumped up onto a windowsill, took one last angry look back, then jumped off, flying high into the sky.

"Dan!", Brandy said. "What did you do that for? She could have helped us!"

"Maybe.", Dan said. "But I think it would be better if we did this thing alone."

"Alone?", Brandy asked. "Dan, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

Dan thought for a moment. "Hmm. Maybe you're right."

They stood there for a second, neither one knowing what to say. Then Dan slowly bent down, and put a hand around Brandy's waist. "I love you, you know."

The irritation on Brandy's face melted away, and she fell backwards into Dan's arms. "I love you too."

She closed her eyes. So what if Sonjia was gone? She still had Dan by her side. And he was truly who mattered.

"Hey!", came the voice of Herb. The light flooded into the Clan Castle, and Dan and Brandy turned around. "If you two lovebirds could wrap it up in there, we can head back now."  
"Oh shoot!", Brandy said, and slapped her mask. "The battle! We totally forgot!"

"What happened?", Dan asked. "Did we win?"

Herb nodded. "Yep. Easy three star. Or it would be, if you two weren't still in the Clan Castle. Now come on, let the boys break it."

"Okay.", Dan said. Brandy Dashed up onto his shoulder, and they walked out the broken doors to see a circle of Bowlers.

"They're out!", Herb shouted. "Let em have it, boys!"

The Bowlers cheered, and as one threw their stones. The already damaged Clan Castle was crushed underneath the weight of the assault, crumpling into a pile of bricks.

A massive white star appeared above the destroyed Village, and the remaining army let out a cheer.

"Let's go home!", Sophia yelled, and jabbed her Queenbow into the air. "And upgrade our X-Bow!"

"Yes.", Brandy said, and leaned up against Dan's head. She was kind of tired after two battles in a row. "Let's."

And so it was that the army of Spacekrakenx, Dan and Brandy alongside, headed on back towards their village.

Song: Ancientry

"Sophie?", came an unknowabley deep voice. "Are you awake yet?"

Sophie the Archer Queen slowly blinked her eyes open. She sat up and rubbed her head- noticing with a start that her crown was no longer on it.

"What the-", she started, and jumped to her feet. She saw the bed of straw that she had been laying on, with thick iron bars in front of her, only darkness beyond. She looked down at herself, and her heart sank. Her uniform of rich purple and green had been taken, leaving only a simple grey tunic behind. She reached to grasp her back- the Queenbow that would usually be there was gone as well. Her cloak had been taken as well, removing her special ability. She was only Sophie now, royal no longer.

"Ah, good.", said the voice again, and Sophie jumped back in fear as the massive eye of Rakastamos suddenly appeared in front of her cage. "It appears you are."

Sophie backed up, raising an arm to protect herself, but it was nothing compared to the sheer might of the Dragon. Rakastamos flicked a single finger, moving aside the bars and grabbing Sophie in a grip hundreds of times stronger than she. There was no hope of escape.

Rakastamos took a step back from the prison, hundreds of feet up in a cavern wall. With another flick of a finger, he swiped the bars back into place. "_I was starting to get concerned._"

"What…", Sophie groaned, her head still hurting like mad. "What are you talking about?"

"Well.", said Rakastamos. "Seeing as how you're going to be working for me now, I guess I should just show you around. Meet your fellow co-workers, get used to the layout of the whole place…"

His eyes shone with almost fatherly pride, at the evil lair he had constructed. "See the sights…"

Sophie looked up at the mighty face of the Dragonlord, and visibly shivered. His scales shone an evil red under the pale light, what seemed to be blood flowing through the cracks.

"You're mad.", Sophie said. "There's no way I'll help you."

Rakastamos just rolled his eye all the way back, and chuckled a little bit. "Oh, is that what you think? Here, let me show you."

He took a single mighty step, the ground shaking from his colossal weight. Although Sophie was in his grip, she could not see his entire body. Most of it was still covered in shadows. But she could see how tremendously vast he was just from his head, his body stretching far and deep into the further recesses of the cave.

Rakastamos pointed forwards, and a line of dragonfire torches lit as if by magic on the walls in that direction. The low orange light illuminated a monstrous structure on the far side of the cave, horrible sounds of screaming emanating from it.

"What is that?", Sophie whimpered, but she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know. A deep aura of unspeakable evil rose off the structure in waves, almost visible upon the dark air.

Rakastamos merely chuckled and drew closer, his mighty body changing the bottom of the cave as he walked by. "Oh, that? Why, that's my masterwork."

As Rakastamost kept on walking, the details of the infernal structure slowly came into view. Sophie could now see it consisted mainly of a large chamber and two pipes, one coming out either end. One was perched at the very edge of a long, rickety catwalk suspended by thin beams over empty space, and the other hung directly over a humongous glass vat.

The vat seemed to be about 3/4ths of the way full of a thick, deep red liquid, sloshing against the sides of the glass with a malicious intent.

"No…", Sophie whispered, her breath hoarse. She almost couldn't believe what she was seeing, on the other end of the catwalk. "No."

A steady stream of Troops, all bound in chains, slowly made their way up the catwalk. A vast army of Skeletons and Robots led them up the wooden ramp, and to their doom.

At the very top, she could now see that the path led directly into the vast black tube. She cried out silently as an Archer and a Miner were both pushed in by a Robot, sliding down the tubing. She could not see what happened to them once they entered the main machinery- but given that a few drops of Blood Elixir came trickling out the other side a few seconds later, she guessed it was nothing good.

Rakastamos took a casual look at the expression of utter horror on Sophie's face. "Ah, I see you can tell what my contraption there does. I haven't quite come up with a name for it yet but…"

He gestured to it with his free hand, even as a Villager and a Barbarian were fed into the infernal tubing, their screams falling on uncaring and helpless ears. "Basically, it turns Troops into Blood Elixir. Very useful."

"Blood… Elixir?", Sophie managed to get out, her head still spinning from the shock.

"Yes.", Rakastaos said, apparently eager for somebody to ask. "It's brewed from the concentrated life essence of Troops. That vitality is, of course, directly transferred to the one who drinks it. A mere regular bottle can transform even one such as a King into a nearly unstoppable engine of death."

He gestured to the tank currently being filled, which looked to be at least 50 feet high and about as wide and deep. "So just imagine what would happen to one such as I, if I were to drink all of that!"

Sophie's face drained, and she began to lose consciousness. She wasn't sure how much of this horror she could take. "You… mean…"

"Of course, there's not need to imagine it.", Rakastamos mused. "I could always just tell you."

He stopped walking, close to the machine as he had gotten. He loomed over the tiny Troops, as a Giant to an ant. "Tell you of the times when I was at my fullest of strength, the time when I challenged the gods."

He clenched his fist with furious strength, recalling that bygone era. "When I had my true power as a heritage Dragonlord."

"Let me guess.", Sophie said, hoping she was wrong. "When you drink the Blood Elixir… you'll become that strong again?"

Rakastamos chuckled, and shook his head. "Oh, no. I won't."

Sophie sighed inwardly in relief, then stopped as she saw Rakastamos grin all the way to the back of his massive jaws. He clenched his fist, and laughed so hard the cavern shook.

"I will be stronger!", he roared. "Drinking that much Blood Elixir will make me strong. But once it fills to the top…"

He slammed his fist into the wall, and the thick Blood Elixir in the vat shook from the force. "My power will be endless. The critical amount of 1000000 Blood Elixir will trigger a reaction deep within me that will cause truly limitless growth. Every second, I shall grow stronger- until not even the gods can stop me. Truly, undefeatable…"

Rakastamos cast his gaze over the catwalk, the wood slightly increasing in temperature from his very presence. "I just need a little more. A little more Troops, and a little more time. In fact, if we continue on this current course…"

He snapped his massive fingers, sending a small shockwave through the air. "Tremon! How long will it take for the Blood Elixir to be filled?"

There was no answer. This was because Tremon the Aqua Wizard, like all the other forgotten, was currently off somewhere in the continent, patrolling for anyone who might wish to harm his master. It took a few seconds for Rakastamoss to realize and remember this, after which he rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Well then, I guess I'll just have to wait.", Rakastamos rumbled. "Until someone gets back."

"Why?", Sophia asked quietly. Rakastamos's eyes rolled back in his head, and he slowly turned his face all the way around to face her. "Why?"

"Because my main intelligence, Tremon, is not here.", Rakastamoss explained. "Otherwise, I would have already-"

"No.", Sophia said, her quiet, determined voice somehow managing to pierce through Rakastamos's massive sound. "Why are you doing this? Once you get the Blood Elixir, what will you do?"

Rakastamos blinked. "Oh, that's right.", he said. "I haven't told you yet. Well…"

He suddenly slashed at the huge cave wall, cutting apart the rock. Great sheaves of stone fell apart and shattered upon the floor to reveal what seemed to be some sort of painting, left by mysterious makers long ago.

The painting depicted a stylized Dragon, looming high over the land. Underneath his mighty wings were hundreds of tiny figures, each depicting a Troop. This was another indicator of its age- there were no Royale Troops on it. The only Troops visible were Barbarians, Archers, Hog Riders, Witches, and Pekkas.

"Long ago…", Rakastamos said, gesturing to the painting as if it was proof rather than art. "Dragons used to rule the world indisputably."

His finger trailed down the wall, to where it now showed a world in flames. "But when the other, weaker, _inferior _Troops rose up, our rightful rule was taken from us. Now the world is ruled by Chiefs and Kings, mere humans."

Sophia was about to ask that if the other troops were weaker and inferior, then how did they usurp the Dragons, but she then decided that a cheap wisecrack would not be worth the loss of her life.

"We Dragons used to rule this world.", Rakastamos continued, almost in sorrow. "When the world was truly at peace, and understanding- a Golden Age of life. But now that these mortal _heathens _have overtaken… the world is wonderful no longer."

His face suddenly erupted into hot anger, and he slashed out with destructive force. The side of the wall fell away, the old painting crashing to bits and pieces upon the stony ground.

"There is only one way to fix the world now.", Rakastamos said. "It must be cleansed, of all the parasites that infect its once-beautiful surface. Truly…"

Rakastamos turned from the fallen painting, to once again stare over the catwalk of doom. "All humans must be exterminated. This is the only way to save the world. This, my Zero Mortal Plan. This, my…"

Then he whispered, the cracked and burned words etching a dark pattern on Sophie's trembling ears. "Final. Solution."

Then he straightened up, returning to his regular booming self. "Double time!", he roared, the Skeletons and Robots on the processing line suddenly snapping to attention. "I want double sacrifices, in half as much time!"

"But sir!", one of the Skeletons shouted. "We're bringing them in as fast as we can as it is! How are we supposed to-"

"Quiet!", Rakastamos erupted, the sheer heat from his vision vaporizing the Skeleton on the spot. He didn't even have time to splatter, merely transforming into a thin purple vapor upon the dark cave air. "You heard me!"

The Robots and Skeletons stopped for half a second, in shock, then went back to work. Rakastamos didn't usually kill his own. He must have been truly angry.

"Now then.", Rakastamos growled, and took a look at Sophie. "You…"

He stared blankly for a second, as if deciding her fate on some cosmic lottery. Sophie held her breath- then let it out again when Rakastamos merely sighed.

"I'll let you live.", he growled, and shot his hand towards the wall. He gently placed her inside of another cage, then slammed shut the bars. "So you can work for me, of course."

Sophie watched him as he turned around, odd frustration visible on his face. "Clean this place up!", he shouted, and a hundred crimson Mouse Droids attended to their duties. "I'm expecting visitors."

Song: Limit Break X Survivor (Relaxed)

It had taken about an hour for the army of SpaceKrakenX to return to their village. The sun was now hanging lower in the sky, the shadows of the trees beginning to lengthen. The Villagers, which had been lounging around on the various rocks, suddenly snapped to attention when they saw the Heroes enter.

"Sir, Herb, sir!", shouted a Villager, and ran up to him in a salute. "Message, sir!"

Herb looked down, and sighed. He massaged his skeletal forehead, running his fingers in through the eyeholes. "What is it, Moni?"

"I have a message.", Moni said, staring up at Herb with unblinking eyes.

"I know.", said Herb. "What is your message?"

Moni thought for a moment. Villagers typically weren't the smartest, given that all they had to ever do was pretty much just stand around. "Uh…"

She twiddled her fingers together, then realized what she had been about to say. "My message. Well. You see sir, my message is that…"

Herb leaned forward, gently encouraging her. "Yes?"

"My message is that I have a message.", said Moni with confidence, and smoothed down her skirt. "Sir."

Herb growled in frustration, and gripped his Tomb-Blade a little tighter. "Then why are you speaking to me, you insignificant little-"

Moni cowered at his anger and skeleton breath rushing over her, but Sophia stepped in between. "Woah. Hey. Herb, calm down."

As one hand kept Herb at bay, Sophia leaned down to address Moni.  
"Sorry about that, Moni.", she said with a kind smile. "Herb just stepped on a Bomb in the battle and got a huge rock lodged in his foot. That's all."

"Excuse me?", Herb shouted, and thrust his weapon into the air. "That wasn't just a rock, that was a-"

Sophia clamped a hand over his mouth, and whispered a sssshh. "Go remember your message Moni. I'm sure you can."

Moni ran away to the far corner of the village, shaken, and Sophie stepped back from an angry Herb. He stared at her with an angry, but understanding expression.

"Sorry about that.", Herb sighed. "I probably shouldn't have been so angry at her."

"No, no, you're fine.", Sophia said, running her hand across his shoulder. "You just-"

"Hey, Herb!", shouted Brandy from behind the two. Herb twisted his skeletal head all the way around to see Dan approaching, Brandy leaning forward on his shoulder.

"We were wondering something.", said Dan. "Us two."

"Eh?", Herb asked. "What is it?"

"How are you a skeleton already?", Brandy asked.

"Isn't it still only September?", Dan continued. "Cause it would seem that-"

Herb's face twisted up in confusion, as much as his bone structure would allow. "What? What are you talking about?"

"It's still September.", Dan said. "How do you have a-"

"What are you saying, it's only September?", Herb growled. "Look, boy!"

He grabbed a scroll from his back, and unrolled it with a dramatic flourish. It read "Season Challenges" across it in big green letters, a few dozen empty boxes rolled out across it. He stabbed his finger at the part of the scroll where it showed the Skeleton King costume he was currently wearing. "Look! It says right there! October Season Challenges!"

Dan and Brandy both leaned down to look, an expression of utter bewilderment on both their faces. "But- but-", Brandy sputtered, and looked up. "How is that possible?"

"When we left Royale, there were still a few days left in the season!", Dan said, leaning in. "So how-"

"What, are your seasons different or something?", Herb huffed, and leaned in as well. "Cause it's October over here!"

"Well, it was September last time we checked.", Dan said, pushing his way forward. Brandy slipped a little bit, but managed to stay on. "So maybe-"

"Hey, hey.", said Sophia, striding her way confidently into the group. "What's going on?"

As one, Brandy, Dan, and Herb turned to face her. "Sophia?", they asked simultaneously. "What month is it?"

Sophia's confident air dropped, and she took a step back. "Um. Well.", she said, biting her lip a bit. "I was meaning to talk to you about that."

Herb noticed the nervousness in her, and cocked his head. "Sophia? What are you talking about?"

Sophia scratched the back of her neck. "It is September. That much is true."

"I knew it!", Dan whispered, but Brandy gave him a disapproving look.

"So…", Herb growled, as he unfolded the Season Scroll. It rolled down all the way to the ground, and Sophia flinched. "Explain this!"

Sophia stood there for a second, before closing her eyes and grabbing the sides of her head.

"I'm sorry!", she said. "I used 1000 Gems to buy access to the next season early!"

Herb's face twitched. He gently rolled the scroll back up, tucked it into his back, and closed his eyes. He turned to face Sophia, who took an anticipative step back.

"YOU WHAT?", Herb bellowed, shaking the air from the force of his scream. "1000 Gems and you didn't tell me?"

"I'm sorry!", Sophia shouted. "I just wanted you to get your skin early! I should have told you!"

Herb's face, even though it was made of pure bone, turned red. His hand turned over in its socket, spinning faster and faster.

"Now, now…", Sophia said. "Let's not get all clacky fingers…"

Herb's hand stopped spinning, and clicked neatly back into place. Sophia relaxed a bit- then stopped relaxing when Herb's eyes narrowed.

"You think you can spend 1000 Gems like that and get away with it?", Herb yelled, and took off after Sophia. She had already begun to run away.

"I'm sorry!", Sophia yelled, running off towards the Town Hall. "It won't happen again!"

"Your're right it won't, woman!", Herb roared, although he knew that both of them were really just messing around. "Because when I catch you, I'm gonna-"

He didn't finish his sentence. Instead he skidded to a stop, narrowly avoiding hitting Moni.

"What?", he snarled, almost scaring the poor Villager away. "What is it now?"

"Herb, sir?", Moni whimpered, holding up a large envelope. "I have a message for you now. A real one."

"A real one, eh?", he muttered, and brought it up to his face. A stern glare and a breath of charmed air was all it took for the envelope to slide open, and the letter to fall open into his hand.

Sophia had kept running for a bit, before a quick glance behind her revealed that Herb was no longer in pursuit. "Herb?", she asked, stopping at a Barracks. "What's going on?"

Herb unfolded the letter, not really taking in exactly what it said. "There's some kind of letter here. Seems to be-"

Then he stopped, once he finally began to read. His eyes shook, and his whole body trembled with some sort of primal fear. "Ch… ch…", he stammered, unable to continue.

"Herb?", Sophia asked, a little more worried this time. "What's going on?"

"Ch...Cha…", Herb continued, seemingly unable to say anything else. His fingers shook violently, dropping the letter out onto the grass.

"Okay, that's enough.", Sophia huffed, and walked over to where Herb stood. She plucked the letter from the ground, dusted it off, and began to read.

"It says… that the Champion is coming?", Sophia asked. A faint peal of alarm began to ring at the back of her mind, but it was mostly just confusion. "Who's… the Champion?"

The word he had been trying to say finally spoken, Herb unlocked himself from the position he had been stuck in. He fell to his knees, slapped his hands to the side of his face, and screamed.

"Ooooooohhhhh nnnnnooooooo!"

Far away from the Village, the trees shook from the thunder of a passing. Clearings were made, and simple backpaths were widened into roads. A vast parade of carts and caravans trekked through the forest, intent on reaching their goal in time.

The front of the line was mostly Troops on foot, a few Barbarians holding up the edge. A handful of Goblins ran ahead of the main group, scouting out for and removing any stumps or branches that might hold the line up. They also scouted out for any traps, thereby removing those as well.

Past the sparse heading came more vehicles, small at first, although they did increase in size. Bare rickshaws and small, hijacked donation carts weaved in and out among larger, Hog-drawn wagons. Past those were larger vehicles- very large ones indeed.

Tall, unstable Goblin wagons rolled down the road, their capacity filled almost to bursting and even beyond. Huge stacks of fine linen and cloth tottered back and forth, dozens of Goblins running over and burrowing through. The rich, detailed red and purple of the cloth was somewhat soiled by the Goblins- but then again, not really. Oddly shaped mazes of wooden blocks, for whatever reasons, were stacked inside of the carts beyond. Villager and Builder children ran and played inside of these makeshift playgrounds, their innocent laughter a sharp contrast to the caravan's dark intentions.

Nearing the center of the parade, the vehicles grew huge and strange. Entire Inferno Towers and X-Bows were rolled past, often carried on the back of a single Golemnite or even a pair of Hogs. Vast, automated crawlers slowly crept across the forest floor, chewing up the ground and dirt. A highly important looking group of Archers were carried high over the dirty ground by a large circle of Goblins, each Archer making sure not to drop a piece of whatever it was she or her sisters carried.

The middle of the parade itself was a bizarre smorgasbord of eclecticity, all manner of odd things gathered. A bunch of Goblins wandered by in what seemed to be an old, burned out mechsuit of a tyrannosaur. The corpse of a silver Mousedroid had been highly modified in order to fit a Villager and her small child. A high stone tower slowly moved along the forest floor on a set of square wheels, some unseen power pulling it along. But what towered above them all, in the very exact middle of the spectacle, put all the others to shame. It very nearly defied description.

The enormous box, or at least that's what it appeared to everyone there to be, a gigantic box on wheels, slowly creaked forward among the mobile celebration. The illustrious sides were richly decorated with all sort and manner of scenes, all vastly different. However, they all shared one common theme- they each had at least one depiction of a very particular Giant. One of the pictures was of that Giant, his spiky red hair flowing in some wind, slamming a Pekka down into the ground. Another was of him holding a small child, her terrified Villager mother nearby. The one right next to it showed the Giant's fist colliding with a level 7 Town Hall, shattering it into bits. It was just as likely that a carving depicted the Giant digging a river to help a Village with their cargo as showing him gleefully razing a Village to the ground, the Elixir of its previous inhabitants still staining his teeth. It was clear that whoever this Giant was, he was clearly a force to be reckoned with. And if one were to take a look inside the box, they could very swiftly see that they were right.

The titan sat in shadow against one edge of the box, his back scraping against the wall. Around him were trophies, taken from each and every one of his previous defeated opponents. These were not the type of Trophies that were won and lost in routine- no, these trophies were far more personal. The left arm sword of a Pekka. The headband of a Boxer Giant. The cannon of a Royal Giant. And even, slotted neatly into the wall as the pride of his entire collection, the ancient crown of a long since fallen Barbarian King.

As the behemoth slowly reached for a cigarette the size of a Witch against the wall, a small door at the very edge of the box opened. A Builder entered, looking very small and humble next to the absolute unit before him.

"Uh, sir?", the Builder whispered, not wanting to bother his lord. "We're almost to the first Village."

The immense Giant lit his cigarette with a snap of his fingers, the sheer friction involved starting fire to the end. He took a long, thick drag, the paper and cloth of the cigarette tearing to nothing with the sheer force. The Builder flinched, sure he was about to incur his master's wrath- but to his surprise, the Giant just leaned forward, out of the shadows, and smiled.

"Excellent!", roared Bonoome, throwing his fist up into the air. "That's very good to hear, Micheal."

He slapped his mighty knee, sending a shockwave through the box that very nearly knocked poor Micheal off his feet. "Send word to the chefs to prepare my favorite snacks. I want to make the first conquered village after so many years a bit of a celebration!"

Micheal bowed, and started his swift walk backwards. "Yes, sir.", he said as quickly as possible. "Right away, sir."

He bumped up into the back of the wall, and stood up awkwardly. "I will-"

"Micheal.", Bonoome said, moving forward a bit. "Why are you so… nervous?"

"Well, I don't know.", Micheal said. "Do I seem nervous?"

Bonoome leaned forward, staring at Micheal rather intently. His voice changed to his stage show one, the voice he used whenever he was in combat. "Bonoome thinks you do.", he said. "But Bonoome also knows that there is no reason to be afraid. This is just our first village. It's already been scouted out- there's nothing there to be afraid of. No Eagle Artillery, no Grand Warden. Just a Barbarian King to beat, and an Archer Queen to take."

Bonoome leaned back against the wall, and performed a deep stretch. "Just you watch. Bonoome's gonna clean this place up so fast, you'll hardly even know we were here."

"I'm… sure you will, sire.", said Micheal, and opened the door without looking. "But I have to go pass on word, you know. Your favorite snack won't prepare itself."

"Of course.", Bonoome said, then returned to his regular voice. "I will let you go."

"Thank you, sire.", Micheal said. "I will leave at once."

He immediately left the caravan, and ran down the road to back. He could have just stood there and let the back reach him, but that would require thinking. And it was difficult to do that after such an encounter with Bonoome. Once he got to the back, he could alert the Villager and Valkyrie chefs to make Bonoome's favorite. He was a tempermental master, one that no one liked to displease. Not if they wanted to remain below the upper stratosphere, that was.

Still in his box, Bonoome closed his eyes. He took another deep drag on a freshly lit cigarette, making sure not to inhale too hard this time. That would be a mistake.

_And I…,_ he thought to himself, feeling his power swirl around deep inside him. "Do not make mistakes."

Song: Desperate Plan

Herb fell to his knees, his skeletal skull toppling from his shoulders. It rolled across the grass and came to a slow stop, still staring upwards at the sky.

"Oooohhh noooo!", he screamed again, one arm flailing randomly and the other groping for his lost head. "Nooooo!"

"Herb?", Sophia asked. "What's going on? What is this? Why are you so afraid?"

Herb just kept on yelling, until Sophia picked his head up and held it in her arms. "Herb? Baby? What is it?"

Once Sophia had begun rocking his head, Herb seemed to regain control of himself. He stopped his screaming, and rolled his head to what could be considered among some circles a sitting position. "Sorry about that. Just uh, freaking out a little is all."

"That's fine, you're alright now.", Sophia said, and walked over to his body. With a grunt and a satisfying click, she stuck Herb's head back onto his neck. It spun around in the socket for a second, then ratcheted neatly into place. Herb rubbed it a bit to make sure it was working, then stood up as straight as he could. "Now tell me…", asked Sophie, with a glint of fire in her eyes, "What's going on?"

Herb looked down at the ground, sighed, and gestured to where Sophia had left the paper on the ground. "Go read it.", he said. "You'll know everything."

Sophia nodded, not needing to use words. She turned to collect the paper- but stopped, when she saw that it was no longer on the ground where it had been dropped.

"What the-", she began, but stopped when she heard Brandy clear her throat 19 feet off the ground from behind her.

"Attention, all Villagers.", Brandy read, from the paper that Dan held up in front of them both. "Your prayers for real, high-quality wrestling entertainment have been heard, and the great and mighty Bonoome has returned. For the next season, he will be traveling from Village to Village, taking on any and all champions. Should you, against all odds, manage to best Bonoome in battle, your Village will receive a massive sum of 100000000 Gold! Hey, that doesn't sound too bad."

Then her gaze fell upon the lower part of the paper, and she almost immediately changed her mind.

"However, should you lose, there is a very small fee of having your entire Village permanently razed to the ground, every Troop, Villager, Builder, and Hero within it becoming sacrifices to the great and unknowable Rakastamos. This penalty also applies if you do not accept the legendary Challenge of Bonoome."

Brandy stared at the paper in silence. It appeared to show a highly decorated Giant smashing in the head of a high-level Pekka, while dozens of shocked Troops watched in the background. Various signs of Gold adorned the paper, seeming to advertise the tremendous cash prize. The penalty of loss, however, was far less advertised.

"Oh.", Brandy said. "I see."

"So.", said Dan. "He's… coming here?"

Herb had been hearing their conversation, and decided that now was the best time to add in. "Yes!", he shouted in despair. "For whatever reason, we seem to be one of the very first Villages on his tour's route. So now we're just screwed."

"Now hold on, hold on.", Dan said. "Why not, I don't know, just beat Bonoome?"

Herb stared at him, even through skeletal eyes, with such a withering look that Dan was forced to back up a little bit. "Oh, you think it's just that simple?"

He staggered towards Dan, clutching his shoulders and almost falling forward. He stared up at Dan's face, fear and sorrow etched on his own.

"Bonoome was once a figure spoken about only in legend.", Herb said. "The oldest Barbarian King I know, Trev, wasn't even born when Bonoome last walked these lands. Supposedly… he was the strongest Giant to ever live."

Herb's eyes clouded over, as he recalled the mythical tale. "He used to travel the land, his entire caravan of Troops and wonders in tow. When he came to a Village, he would fight their strongest champion. Win, and he would move on with you far richer. Lose, and your village would be no more."

"So we just win.", Dan said. "I really don't see what's the problem here-"

"The problem?", Herb hissed, clinging tighter to Dan's neck. "The problem is that Bonoome _has never lost! _Every single battle he's fought since becoming what he is has resulted with him victorious!"

"Well,", Dan said as he awkwardly tried to push Herb off, "He's clearly never met us."

"Yeah.", Brandy said, snuggling in a little tighter into Dan's neck. "We've done practically nothing but take down monsters since we started on this whole quest. We're 5 for 5 here. What's one more?"

"Bonoome isn't just one more!", Herb shouted, and drew himself up to his full height. "Listen to me! Bonoome is- well, he's… not normal. He was an ordinary Giant once, but he has become far more."

Dan had been only sort of half-listening to Herb's panicked rant, but something he had said caught his ear. "Used to be?", Dan asked, now suddenly curious. "What do you mean, used to be?"

Sophia decided that this was her turn to step in. She took a single great stride, and took the poster from Dan's hands.

"Look at him.", she said. "Those muscles. That facial structure. That bright red, almost sort of mohawk. All those badges. He's not a Giant- no, he is Bonoome. The very first of the Gladiator Giants."

Something clicked in Brandy's mind. "Oh.", she said. "That makes sense now."

Herb looked at her. "What?", he asked. "What are you talking about?"

"He's one of them.", Brandy said. "One of the strange Troops that have been following us. First there was the lizard thing and the Kraken, then the Zombie and the snaky lady, then the Gravity Elf and now Bonoome."

"Oh, right.", Dan said. "Yeah, that makes sense. And he said he was working for someone named-"

"Rakastamos.", all four of them said at once. A hint of a chill ran through the air at the group's collective mention of the name, but it went unnoticed.

"So… when's he coming?", Brandy asked, and slammed her fist into her other hand. "I wanna kick his butt."

"I admire your enthusiasm, Bandit.", Herb grunted. "But sadly, it is misplaced. If the strongest of this land could not defeat Bonoome of old, then I'm afraid you and your husband will never be able to beat him now that he is anew. Even with your odd, fantastic strength."

"You sure about that?", Dan asked, and took a deep breath in. Star flowed from the ground and air into him, lighting up his entire body with burning golden force. "Cause I think that-"

Dan flung his arms up to the sky, Brandy Dashing down to the ground to keep herself safe. He gave a mighty roar, two huge pillars of lightning flashing upwards to the sky. They connected with the small clouds that there were, spreading across them before disappearing.

"That.", Dan huffed, and let his arms fall. He was clearly at least a little bit exhausted, even though the feat had been very impressive. "That could be enough."

Sophia pursed her lips, and looked over her shoulder. "That is very impressive. But…"

"But what?", Dan asked. "What, is that somehow not enough?"

Brandy reappeared on his shoulder, and stroked him on the cheek. "I think it was very impressive, honey.", she purred. "We're gonna beat him for sure."

Dan reached up and stroked Brandy's back, and she closed her eyes and smiled.

"That's very nice that you two are getting all lovey like that.", said Herb, a growing nervousness creeping into his voice. "But if you haven't noticed…"

Both Herb and Sophia watched, as a small landspeeder vehicle zipped its way into the clearing. The top was a bucket of dark glass, totally obscuring whatever or whoever was inside. It rode along on only three wheels, one in the front and two in the back. "He's here!"

Brandy's eyes shot open in alarm, and she jumped up onto her feet. "Who? Bonoome?"

"No.", said Sophia, as the speederbike came skidding to a stop. The top sprung open, and the figure within stood up to reveal a very familiar face. "SpaceKrakenX."

"Oh.", Dan said, then realized what Sophia had said. "OH!"

Spacekrakenx wiped his brow free of sweat, and looked to his Village. "Hey guys, hows it's hangin-"

Then he saw Dan and Brandy, and his mouth dropped open in shock. "What?"

Brandy gave a small wave. "Hey."

Spacekrakenx stood there in surprise for a few more seconds, before he threw open his arms. "Well, how about that. Didn't expect in a lifetime to see you kids here. What are you two doing?"

"Uh, we're on our second honeymoon.", Dan said, as fast as he could.

"We're on a secret operation to save the entire world.", Brandy said, just as quickly. They both turned and stared at each other, apparently unaware of each other's previous plans.

"Uh…", said Spacekrakenx. "Okay. I can see you two doing either of those things."

"How are things back home?", Brandy blurted out, before Dan could say something. "Did anything happen while we were gone?"

"You've only been gone for like a day and a half.", said Spacekrakenx. "Not much happened, no."

"Really?", asked Brandy. "Really nothing important?"

Spacekrakenx scratched his head. "I mean, I left not that long after you did. So I was only there for maybe half a day…"

"There's got to be something that happened.", Dan said. "Come on, tell us."

Spacekrakenx thought for a second, his highly unconventional mind whirling in obtuse trapezoids. Finally he snapped his fingers, remembering what had happened.

"Oh yeah!", he said. "We found out Meg was a Stand User."

Brandy's eyes shone. "You DID? What- what's her Stand called? What does it do?"

Spacekrakenx tried to remember exactly. "She said it was called… uh… Sapphire Wind. It looks like it inhabits her gun, making it be able to shoot lots of different projectiles and even fly a little."

"Cool!", Brandy said. "When we get back, we'll have to check that out. Huh, Dan?"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "If I could see Stands, I'm sure it would be great."

"Oh, I'm sorry Dan.", Brandy said. "I didn't mean it like that-"

"No, no, it's fine.", said Dan. "I know you didn't."

Brandy had been about to say something else, but a huge blare of trumpets from beyond the edge of the woods broke her out of her thoughts.

Spacekrakenx flinched, as did Herb and Sophie. "Oh, shoot.", they all said together.

"What?", Dan asked, taking a step forward. "Is it-"

Herb gulped, and stared forward at the trees, already beginning to part from the Goblins that were pouring through in waves. "Yep."

Sophia took a step backwards, already seeing the huge rolling buildings approaching the Village. "It's Bonoome."

Spacekrakenx, upon seeing what was coming, merely turned around and ran. "I better get to somewhere else.", he said. "Because- you know- he's here!"

Herb took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do. With a lightning fast movement, he touched the side of his head. There was a bright flash, and his Skeleton suit unzipped all the way down the side. Herb stepped out of it, revealing his true form as an ordinary Barbarian King. He wound the magical fabric around one hand, and tossed it in the rough direction of the Clan Castle. He knew that he might not end up getting it back.

"Herb, what are you doing?", Sophia asked. "Are you-"

She grabbed his shoulder, staring up into his face. "Don't tell me you're fighting him."

Herb gave a grim nod, and started forward towards the woods. "I am. I'm a mighty Barbarian King. I'm supposed to protect my Village."

"Herb, you can't!", Sophia groaned, trying to stop Herb from moving forward. But he was far stronger, ignoring her desperate plea. "Bonoome's too strong! You'll die!"

Herb pushed Sophia aside, and drew his sword. He stared upwards at the massive array of bizarre vehicles and rolling buildings that were moving onto the outskirts of the Village, the legendary lost Parade of Bonoome. "Maybe. But I have to try."

Herb thrust his sword into the air, the sun glinting off the now-sharp blade. "Come on out, Bonoome! I'll rip to you pieces and eat them!"

A few Goblins that had been at the very forefront of the Parade looked up at him, and whispered among themselves. A decision was quickly made, and they ran further into the line of people to inform their master. A challenger was approaching.

Brandy and Dan had been watching these proceedings with interest, right up to the point where Herb had began to issue his challenge. Brandy had been about to say how they should step in- when Dan suddenly stumbled back, pressing his hand against his forehead.

"Dan?", Brandy asked. "What is it? What's wrong?"

Dan groaned, and staggered into a line of Walls. He almost fell over them, pitching Brandy off of his back, but somehow managed to keep his footing. "Oooh…"

"Dan?", Brandy asked again, nervousness and urgency creeping into her voice. "What's going on?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Brandy.", Dan growled, and starting stumbling off in the direction of the Clan Castle and the Laboratory. "I just… have a gigantic headache. Is all."

"A headache?", Brandy shouted, and tried to wrap her arms around Dan's head. She couldn't quite reach all the way, so she just squeezed him tighter instead. "You can't be having a headache now! We're about to go fight some weird Giant!"

"I know, I know.", Dan said, and slumped down against a Barracks. He closed his eyes in agony, almost cracking his teeth from clenching them too hard. "I just gotta… I just need to…"

Then his teeth unclenched, and his fists dropped open. Dan's head fell against the side of the Barracks, and did not move.

Brandy's face paled. She threw herself over his head, and landed on his chest. She grabbed Dan's face in her hands, but he did not respond. "Dan?", she yelled, trying to get him to wake up. But there was no answer. Brandy's heart started to beat faster, and her breathing grew shallow. She shrieked. "Dan!"

Herb slowly drew closer to the edge of the Village, noticing the frenzied operations of a pack of Builders. There were some Goblins helping them, as far as "jumping up and down on random Builder's heads" was helping, but it was mostly the Builders that were doing all the work.

They seemed to be making some sort of large, circular structure. Cheap wooden stands were arrayed in a circle around the far edge, away from the towering entrance. Torches lined the entire structure, even though it was well known they didn't do anything.

A Goblin stomped up and down on a Builder's head as he hammered in a decorative skull on the entrance arch- and then with a start, Herb realized exactly what they were building.

It was an arena. An arena for Bonoome. The stands were for the large audience, no doubt going to be made up of the dozens upon dozens of Troops Bonoome had brought.

But the realization would not frighten him. Herb set his jaw, pulling his bronzegold crown lower upon his head. He was his Village's mighty level 21 Barbarian King. He would protect his people, at all costs. Even if that meant dying against Bonoome. Even though Sophia's damage was greater, this was a relatively small arena. She would be crushed in close quarters. There was no time to train a Pekka before the match began. It had to be him.

Song: Powerful Enemy

Herb took a deep breath, steeling his mind and his quavering heart. He thrust his sword into the air once again, and bellowed his challenge for a second time.

"Bonoome!", Herb shouted. "Come out and fight me! Or are you afraid?"

Herb put his sword down by his side, and braced himself for whatever was coming. But he did not expect to hear what then came out of the trees- a chorus of laughter.

"Oi!", a Villager shouted. "You think Bonoome's afraid of you?"

"Bonoome's not afraid of nothing!", yelled a young Wizard. "He'll take you down easy!"

Herb spun around, about to yell at the Troops who dared to insult him so. But a sound from the treeline caught his attention, and he turned to see despair.

As he watched, the trees parted. A truly titanic figure stepped out of the forest, his muscles bulging with decorations and armor. So many broken bones of enemies long conquered adorned his body it was hard to tell when he ended and they began.

A spear and a shield were strapped across his back, though they might as well have been ceremonial compared to the sheer power contained within him. His bright red, soft mohawk stood up straight from his bald head, his rugged jawline nearly a square.

"Bonoome hears you, Barbarian King.", said Bonoome. He took a single gargantuan step into the makeshift arena, towering over Herb by a good 5 feet. He rolled and popped his neck, then leaned directly into Herb's face. His eyes lit up with both excitement and evil, ready to utterly destroy anyone and anything who dared to get in his way. "Bonoome hears you loud and clear."

Dan watched, as his body collapsed to the ground. He saw himself from the outside, mysteriously hovering in the air. He saw Brandy crawling over him, slapping his face, desperately trying to get him to wake up.

_Am I… dead?, _he thought, with strange calmness. _It doesn't look like I've turned into Elixir yet. I couldn't be. So what…_

"Daniel!", came a powerful voice from behind him, familiar in a silent way. Dan turned around, and his eyes widened with understanding.

"J- Jonathan!", Dan shouted, and dropped to one knee upon the grey air. "It's you!"

"Yes.", Jonathan said, an edge of urgency upon his voice. "It is I. Now get up."

Dan rose to his feet, and Jonathan put a hand on his shoulder. Even though he would tower over a regular Knight, Primal Troops were usually much larger than their mortal counterparts.

"Do you think you can defeat Bonoome?", Jonathan asked. "As you are right now?"

"Uh, yeah.", said Dan. "I think so. I mean, look at me. I'm strong as-"

"Incorrect.", Jonathan said, and Dan's face dropped. "You are powerful, yes, but Bonoome is far stronger. His title as Champion of the World did not come from out of nowhere."

"Champion… of the World?", Dan asked, and stumbled backwards in surprise. He looked at Jonathan strangely- he was being quite pushy compared to the other two times Dan had been lucky enough to speak with him. "But then- how- how can I beat him? If you're saying that I'm not strong enough, then-"

"Not yet.", said Jonathan, and spun around his sword. A shaft of golden light reflected off of it from an unknown source, shining onto Dan's heart. "I mean that you are not strong enough yet."

"Okay…", Dan said. "So do I have to train or something? Because if Bonoome is already here, then I don't think we have enough time."

Jonathan sighed. "No. We don't. However…"

He took a step forward, and raised the tip of his sword. "Hold still."

"Woah, woah.", Dan said, as Jonathan slowly moved the end of the blade closer to the center of his chest. "What are you doing there?"

Jonathan looked up and smiled, now seeming to be back to his old friendly self. "I think it's time we brought out some of the potential I've been talking about."

And with that, Jonathan stabbed his sword deep into Dan's chest.

Dan screamed, and fell to his knees. His soul felt like it was on fire, blazing with the heat of a million suns. His skin crawled with pure energy, his mouth and eyes lighting up from a fire deep within. Star flowed around him in massive amounts, as his very soul was affected. The metal on his chest where Jonathan had stabbed him warped and shifted, as the blade was pulled out and wiped clean. No longer was it a simple chest piece- it now bore a strange, arcane symbol.

When the pain subsided, Dan spat out a cough of blood. He put his hand to the gaping wound in his chest- or he would have, if there was one there. Or had he spat out any blood.

Instead, Dan sat up in surprise. He looked at his hands, now seeming harder and tougher. His metal armor, once of rather simple standard design, now flowed with elegant arches and curves. Although his helmet remained, it was now sleeker. Stronger. Just like him.

Dan stood, experimentally sending out a snap of Star. He had meant to just shoot a small bolt, one merely the width of his finger. Instead, a full blast erupted from his palm, one that looked capable of bringing down an entire Town Hall. His hand tingled for a few seconds afterward, as Dan stared in shock at his newfound strength.

"This power…", Dan whispered. "This strength…"

"Pretty good, eh?", Jonathan said. "Now, this isn't your full potential. That comes later."

Dan's eyes widened in excitement. "It's not?"

Jonathan smiled, the edges of his eyes crinkling together. "No. It's not. But-"

He slapped Dan on the back, and both their spirits began to fade, borne back to their bodies. "It's time for you to go. Your lady is getting worried."

"Right.", Dan said, and gave a smart salute. "I should."

They both grinned, as a father would to a son. Then they faded away, Dan back to his body below and Jonathan off to holy parts unknown.

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, tears of despair running down her face. "Dan, please wake up!"

She buried herself in his face, but he remained totally inert, unable to respond. Brandy's face trembled, and her entire body began to shake. "Dan…."

Then her despair turned to shock, as she saw the metal of his armor begin to flow. His thick metal gloves formed around his fists, his fingers becoming visible at least in form. His simple armor, standard for the Arenas, began to be shaped into a beautifully complex design. His helmet, once wide and bulky, slimmed and compacted to fit the shape of his head. Finally, to Brandy's relief, his eyes popped open, and he groaned in slight pain.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted, and wrapped her arms tightly around his still-recovering neck. "Oh Se'th! What happened?"

Dan was about to explain, when there was suddenly a great, unplaceable sound. They both looked down, and saw that Brandy was suddenly a few more feet from Dan's neck. The reason for this, upon slightly closer inspection, was that Dan had grown.

"Oh.", Brandy said. "You just-"

"Yeah.", Dan said. "I just grew."

"But…", Brandy said. "What happened? Why'd you faint? Why did you just change?"

"Oh.", Dan said, and slowly picked himself up off from the ground. He opened his hand, and Brandy let herself fall in. Dan dropped her onto his shoulder, and rolled and popped his neck.

"That was Jonathan.", Dan said, with a hint of glowing pride. "He said he just unlocked a little bit of my potential."

Brandy heard what he said, and nodded in understanding. Then she comprehended what he had said, and she stopped in shock. "Wait. _The_ Jonathan? As in-"

"Yep.", Dan said with a nod. "The Primal Knight."

Brandy blinked. "Woah."

"Yes.", Dan said, and started walking forward. "Very woah."

"Where are you going?", Brandy asked. "Shouldn't we-"

"Bonoome.", Dan said. "We still have to go and fight him."

"Oh right.", Brandy said. She took her bat out from one of her many pockets, and spun it around. "Well then, my big, strong, Mega- no, _Giga_ Knight. Lead the way."

"Giga Knight, eh?", Dan said, and ever so gently stroked Brandy's chin. "Yeah. I could get used to that."

Bonoome stood up to his full height, and Herb instinctively flinched. "So.", he boomed, and took a massive stride forward. Herb spun around to follow him, but Bonoome, even walking, was too fast. "You're the one who's going to battle Bonoome?"

"Yes!", Herb said, and spun around his sword. "I am!"

He tried to remain confident, aiming for a confident gait and a powerful swagger, but inside he was shivering with fear. Bonoome had no doubt defeated hundreds of Barbarian Kings over the years, probably all higher level than Herb. What chance did he stand, against the so-called Champion of the World?

"Well then…", Bonoome said, and suddenly jumped backwards. He took a ferocious stance, with blinding speed that belied his massive size. "What's your name, challenger? Tell Bonoome… so he can know who he just defeated."

Herb was noticeably unsettled by Bonoome's confident aura, not to mention his sheer size. "Well, I'm-"

Bonoome suddenly threw his arms up to the sky, startling Herb out of his sentence and sending him a step back. A microphone seemed to appear almost out of thin air, which Bonoome held to his lips. "It doesn't matter what your name is!"

He spun around to face the audience, pumping and waving his arms for maximum audience excitement. Screaming and stomping, they all were more than happy to play along.

"Because Bonoome's…", he bellowed, flexing and posing with his arms. Several of the female Troops in the audience dropped to their knees. "Gonna beat you into a pulp! And not even your friends will be able to recognize you!"

"Take my baby!", shouted a Villager, holding up a small child.

"I'll take your baby!", screamed a Valkyrie, somehow managing to keep herself from jumping over the side of the railing and running up to Bonoome. "Please!"

Bonoome just kept turning around, letting the screams of the audience soak into him. This was what he lived for. The glory, the combat, the thrill of crushing helpless foes underneath his massive feet- that was his ambition and his bliss.

He flexed again, ready to induce another round of fanscreams- when his ears somehow picked up a small sound from behind him. Bonoome turned around, and saw Dan and Brandy standing at the edge of the Arena.

"Sup.", Brandy said, and leapt down from Dan's shoulder. "Herb's not fighting you."

"He's not?", Bonoome asked with mock curiosity and false surprise.

"I'm not?", Herb asked, with real shock and unbridled relief. Then they both spoke together, with roughly the same emotions. "Then who's going to take on Bonoome?"

Brandy grinned, and spun around on one foot. She leaped high into the air, landing on the ground in a spunky pose. She looked up, and pointed to herself. "Me."

"You?", asked Bonoome. He chuckled a bit, and gestured to the audience. They, upon seeing Brandy, laughed as well. "You…"

Bonoome breathed in, collecting himself. He gave this speech often, and would hate to embarrass himself by getting a word wrong. Then finally, after a few seconds of waiting, he was ready to speak. "Hit Bonoome's music!"

At his command, a bunch of Goblins all ran over to an ancient looking speaker. After a few seconds of messing around with the mechanism, a powerful rap song started to blare out of it and over the entire area.

Song: Here Comes the Boom

"You know, they say all Troops are created equal!", he roared, pointing at Brandy with one massive finger. "But you look at Bonoome, and you look at you, and you can see that statement is not true! See normally, if you go one on one with another Giant, you got yourself a 50/50 chance of winning! But Bonoome's a genetic freak, and he's not normal! So you got a 10% chance at best, at beat me! You're just an Archer wearing a mask!"

"I'm not an Archer.", Brandy said indignantly. "I'm a Bandit. My name's-"

"It doesn't matter what your name is!", Bonoome roared, much to the delight of the crowd. Bonoome suddenly grew quiet, before launching back into his interrupted speech. "Now, as Bonoome was saying…"

Then he threw his arms up, and roared again. " And then you add my preliminary rounds to the mix, you chances of winning, drastic go down! So you got maybe a 25% chance of getting past all of them. But I got a 75% chance of not even having to bother fighting you, because my boys are gonna take you down! So little girl, you take your 10% chance of winning, if we were to go 1 one on one, and subtract your 25% chance, and you got a -15% chance of winning here! But I, I got a 165% chance of winning here, at this Village, right now!"

Brandy just stared at him, in complete astonishment. She had heard people say stupid things, but this was just on a whole other level. "Uh…", she said, trying not to laugh a little bit. "I'm not really an expert, but I'm pretty sure that's not how math works."

Bonoome stopped posing for a second, and sighed. "Well.", he said. "Looks like you're still not convinced."

Even though Bonoome put on a "big, strong, and stupid" act, he was actually quite smart. He had done his share of research on the other continents after waking up, and thus knew exactly what Brandy was. He knew exactly what to say next.

"Bandit!", he shouted, to Brandy's surprise. "You think that you're the best there is at what you do. But let me tell you something, girlie, you ain't no Surgical! And you just aren't enough to step up to a 15-time champion of the Grand Royal Rumble, first place finisher in the King's Volcanic Duelfest, 30 minute champion of the Roborush, 12 time attendee of the No-Holds-Barred Boom Beach Battle Royal, and Resident Ultimate Wrestlemania Champion years 750-812!"

He dropped his knee to the ground, making a massive crater. His face was red from all the shouting, but he kept on going, loud enough to deafen a small child.

"Do you know why you're doomed today, little girl?", he roared.

"I'm not a little girl!", Brandy fumed, but her words were drowned out by Bonoome's vocal eruption.

"Because the name's! Bonoome!", Bonoome bellowed, rising to his feet, slamming his hands out to the side in a dramatic pose.

"And it rhymes!", he shouted again, spreading his arms out in a T as he posed again. "With doom!"

"And yooooou're gonna be hurtin!", he screamed, doing another pose with his legs in the air. Each word he yelled, he took another pose- arms up to the sky, fist clenched to the right, and finally fully horizontal, only one leg keeping him upright. "All! Too! Sooooooooooooon!"

Brandy just continued to stare. She had thought that Bonoome's bizarre display couldn't possibly get any weirder and more flamboyant- and yet here she was.

"Uh…", she said, totally unsure how to respond. "Well. Um…"

Then in a flash of sudden inspiration, she knew how to respond. "Hit_ my_ music!", she said, jerking her thumb to somewhere behind her.

There was an awkward silence, save for Bonoome's theme music, which was still playing. But with a swift glance from Bonoome, one of the Goblins discreetly turned if off.

"Fine!", she shouted, and took a bold step forward. "Forget about the theme music. It's overrated, anyway. And I'm not the only one that's fighting you, you know."

"Oh?", Bonoome asked. "And who, Bonoome might ask, is joining you?"

"He is.", Brandy had been about to say, and would have been referring to Dan, had he not taken this precise moment in order to step into the Arena, pick Brandy up, place her ever so gently onto his shoulder, and turn to face Bonoome. "I am.", he said. "I'm going to help her fight."

Bonoome's eyes widened, as he took in Dan's massive bulk. Here, in his eyes, was a proper challenger. "Hoho!", he shouted, and took a step back. "Yes, yes. Bonoome can see it now. A fighting team, the little one the speed and the real one the power."

Brandy flared with anger upon hearing his words, but Dan blew a slight breath of air over her to calm her down. "Don't listen to him, Brandy honey. He's just trying to rile you up."

"I know, I know.", Brandy said. "But it's working…"

"However!", Bonoome bellowed, gesturing to the side of the arena. Several doors opened, presumably to let out enemy Troops. "You must first battle my preliminaries! And since the little one so graciously chose to challenge me first, she must face them all. Alone."

"Hey, wait a minute.", Dan said. "That's not fair-"

But Brandy, to both their surprises, had already slid down and off his shoulders. She landed on the ground with hardly a sound, then looked back up at him with a grin.  
"Hey.", she said. "It's fine. I don't want to tire you out before you kill this guy."

Dan was about to ask her what she was doing- but then he knew. He knew Brandy better than anyone else, and knew without a doubt that she knew exactly what she was doing. So he just nodded, and took a step back.

"Okay!", Brandy shouted, and swung her club in a wide circle. She took a pose, and snarled at Bonoome. "Who's the first one to die?"

Bonoome didn't say a word. Instead, he just tapped the area of wood over the first door. The gate lifted, and the enemy Troop came out- an imposing Elite Barbarian.

Song: Nella Cerneria

Dan immediately began to regret his decision of letting Brandy do the preliminaries alone. He took a step forward, about to enter the arena himself- but Brandy held out a single hand.  
"Hey. Dan.", she said. "I told you."

She crouched, ready to Dash, and blew him a kiss with a wink. "I love you. And don't worry about me."

The Elite Barbarian stepped forward, rotating his sword in his mechanical hand. "Aw, look at that pretty face.", he slurred, with the matter of his kind. "It's such a shame I have to destroy it-"

Then he stopped, as he saw that Brandy had already Dashed forward. He gave a wet gasp of shock, only now noticing what had happened to not only his right arm, but much of his torso.

It was gone, torn to shreds by Brandy's attack. A vast hole ran along the entire right side of his body, the edges of his body dripping into Elixir. It took a second for the pain to come- but once it did, he screamed like he had never screamed before. The sheer pain contained within it would have no doubt scarred many members of the audience, had it lasted for more than a few seconds. But the injury was massive and beyond critical, leading to his collapsing into Elixir only 3 seconds after he had been hit.

Brandy reappeared at the other edge of the arena, and wiped her mouth off from some Elixir that had spilled. She turned around, and took a classic pose- club behind the back, one leg bent up against the other. "Well, that was easy.", she said. "Now, who's next?"

Dan stared at her, astonished. She had just fought an Elite Barbarian, once the cause and root of all her torture. She had never even stood a chance even only about two months ago. And now, she had torn one apart with barely even a second glance. _Perhaps…, _Dan thought, and almost glowed with pride. _I'm not the only one with vast potential. _

Bonoome snorted with contempt, and moved on to the second gate. He lifted the heavy iron door, revealing the snarling beast that lay within. "Bonoome congratulates you. But do not think you can get past this next one so easily."

As the crowd roared in sheer anticipation, the next preliminary entered the arena. It seemed to be some sort of mutant Hog, 12 feet in length and 4 feet in girth. Factoring in all the solid muscle it was built from, it must have weighed anywhere from 1000 to 2000 pounds. It growled as it walked, swaying over the weight of its muscle as it moved from side to side, the cheers of the audience only further provoking its animalistic rage.

"A Hog.", Brandy said to herself, even as she noticed the line of foaming drool around the edges of its mouth. "I can handle a Hog. Even if it's some massive, souped up monster of one."

The Hog buried it's face into the ground, tearing up the grass for some reason only it knew.

"Then…", Brandy whispered. "Why am I so nervous? It is just because this Hog is so much uglier than regular ones, thereby acting as something unnatural and therefore fearful? Perhaps…"

Her hand, as if by acting on some bizarre instinct, slipped directly into her pocket. Her fingers closed around cold metal, and she stopped where she was.

With growing wonder, she pulled out the platinum mask charm she had stolen the day before setting out. It had somehow survived in her pocket this entire time, despite all that had happened.

"Huh.", Brandy said, and turned it over in her hand. She was so focused on the mysterious charm that she didn't even notice everything else around her, how it seemed to slow down and speed up all the same time. "Now isn't that interesting…"

Her eyes caught the light, reflecting off the shining metal of the mask. Her arm caught the Hog by the tusks, as it leapt out with intent to bite. It's ferocious expression suddenly turned to one of shock, as it realized Brandy had totally blocked the attack.

"Hey.", Brandy said, and let the charm fall back into her pocket. She slowly turned her gaze upwards to the Hog, then let it fall to the ground. "I'm trying to do something here."

The Hog snarled, its fear of her turning back to anger. "Eeeuaaaauuaooo…", it growled, and leapt forward. Its bloodshot eyes boiled with fury, foam boiling over by the side of its mouth. But Brandy just closed her eyes as it approached, and breathed in. Then with hardly even a motion, Brandy Dashed underneath it, landing on the other side. The Hog continued, not even noticing what had just happened for a few seconds. But as it slammed into the side of the arena wall, unable to stop its running feet, it gradually managed to come to a conclusion.

Brandy stood up from where she had slid down to, and held up her hand. Inside was a bundle of long, thin biological wires, dangling down from her fingers.  
"Oh shoot, I think I got the nerves.", Brandy said. "Yeah, I meant to aim for the heart. Oh well."

The Hog squealed in pain, and tried to turn around, but its nervous system had been mostly destroyed. It just flailed, unable to control itself, as it slowly dissolved into Elixir that sunk into the already soaked ground.

Brandy looked at the nerves, shivered, and threw them up into the air, straight at Bonoome. They too turned to purple mist upon the wind, and disappeared.

"Bonoome!", she yelled, and pointed a finger right at him. "I'm tired of fighting your crap! How about you get down here and fight?"  
She smiled, and spread her arms open. "Unless of course, you're scared…"

A single hair in Bonoome's scarlet mohawk suddenly snapped out of place. The corners of his mouth pulled down, exposing his Elixir-stained teeth. He took a gargantuan step forward, and leaned down directly to Brandy's height.

"Scared?", he roared, almost blowing Brandy over with the force of his anger. "The great Bonoome is never scared of anything!"

"Good.", said Brandy, and crouched down. She did a backwards flip through the air, landed on Dan's shoulder, and gestured for Bonoome to come and follow her. "Fight us, then."

Bonoome snarled, and beat his chest. He dropped his knuckles down to the ground, then spat off to the side. "I will!"

"No preliminaires.", Dan said, and slowly cracked his knuckles. "No crap. Just fight us, right here, right now-"

Then he decided that it was now time to stop talking. For Bonoome had gotten up from his stance, knuckles on the ground, and charged.

Bonoome bellowed as he rushed towards them, covering huge amounts of ground with every step. The dirt flew upwards every time he collided with it, sending plumes of grass flying up behind him. But his rampage was slowed, as he saw Dan holding up a hand.

"Hey!", Dan yelled. "You didn't let your opponent introduce himself!"

Bonoome thought for a moment, then stopped. "Oh.", he said, then stood up and gave a slight bow. He had indeed forgotten, in his haste, some of the ancient rules of honorable battle. "Bonoome apologizes."

"Right…", Dan said, then stepped forward. He posed as dramatically as he could, one hand over his face and one leg pulled upwards against his waist. Brandy, still on his shoulder, twisted herself around sideways, performing an intricate, striking, pose of her own.

"Hit my music!", Dan shouted, gesturing out somewhere in the general pose of where he had last seen Herb. Everyone waited a few seconds, during which nothing happened. Except for Herb politely beating his sword against the ground in an attempt to make a beat, and Sophia backing him up with a few off-key plucks of her bowstring, but they hardly even counted.

"Oh, forget this!", Dan shouted, and put his hands together. He breathed in as fast as he could, refusing to give Bonoome even a chance to respond.

"Wait, what-", Bonoome yelled, even as the golden light within Dan's hands grew larger.

"Overdrive Cannon!", Dan roared, and let the energy go.

Bonoome crossed his arms in defense, but it was too late. The massive blast of Star hit him head on, blasting him all the way out of the arena. The sides of the heavily makeshift structure blew aside, skidding along the ground until they stopped, now each over 100 feet away. Bonoome kept going, as Dan kept firing, the trail off from the blast of energy blowing away the grass and topsoil from the ground. Finally, with a massive explosion, the beam slammed into the side of a nearby hill, sending up a gigantic plume of smoke.

Dan let his beam fall, although he was not done. He breathed in again, and let loose a storm of smaller blasts that shot from his hands at high speed. Each volley of dozens streaked towards the spot where Bonoome had landed, detonating upon the hillside with another long round of violent explosions. The ground and arena shook from the force, and it was all Brandy could do to avoid being blown away.

Finally, Dan put his hands down, and took a deep, ragged breath. "Well.", he said, after not seeing any movement from the location he had just bombed. "That went better than I expected-"

Suddenly, the lingering smoke was disturbed. Dan stopped in the middle of his sentence, as the still-intact figure of Bonoome stood up from the hill.

"You didn't introduce yourself, challenger!", Bonoome shouted, as the smoke blew away entirely to reveal Bonoome. His shirt and armor were torn, and there were some hairs missing from his mohawk, but he was still very much alive.

"What?", Dan asked, and raised his fist. "How could you possibly just shrug that off?"

Bonoome grinned, revealing more than a few missing teeth. "Silly contender. The only thing Bonoome sells is autographed T-Shirts, mugs, and Elixir Collectors!"

Brandy looked up at Dan in confusion. "Did you get that?", she asked.

"No…", Dan whispered back. "Not unless he's suddenly taking the time to plug in his name brand."

Then Dan stood up to his full height of now 21 and a half feet, and flexed his massive muscles as far as they could go. "My name is Dan!", he shouted, and the crowd perked up. "Of King Oticat, and of Clan LosDementosCT!"

"And I am Brandy!", Brandy yelled, drawing up to her full height of 5 feet. "Of the same!"

"And we're here…", they said together, and once again posed. "To take! You! Down!"

Bonoome watched for a bit, then threw his head back in raucous laughter. "Wonderful!", he shouted, and pounded his fist into his hand. "You two sound like good challengers! Bonoome shall enjoy defeating you!"

"No.", Brandy said, and shook her head. "You'll enjoy no such thing."

Dan looked down at her, and she nodded. Brandy gave a ferocious war cry, Dan pounded on his chest a few times, and they both charged forward. Bonoome noticed their aggression, and decided to match it with some of his own. He too run straight towards them, once again pounding up the dirt with his bulk. The people in the arena booed in anger and disappointment, the majority of them now unable to see.

Dan, after just a few seconds, was now in close proximity of his opponent. He bent at the knees, and jumped into the air, golden Star crackling around him as he flew. Bonoome stopped, slamming his feet down deep into the dirt, and raised his own hands. Dan slammed his metal fists downwards, colliding with Bonoome's open palms. A shockwave spread out from where the two titans met, slamming into the spectator seats and blowing most of them down.

At the very edge of the Village, a small group of experts ran in. They had been running for almost a straight hour, and thus were totally exhausted- or at least they would have been, if they weren't directly on the trail of one of the largest stories in history.

"Larry…", breathed Jimmy Firecracker, laboring under the intensive weight of his own body. "Please tell me… you brought the spare camera."

His trusty cameraman, Larry, held up the small camera that he kept in his left hand. His other hand was full with a huge shoulder mounted number that he was currently using to film. "Sure did, Jimmy."

"Good.". Jimmy said, with a sigh of relief. "After what happened the last two times, we want to make sure that we're actually able to film."

The two, along with the rest of the small camera crew, immediately dropped to the ground, somewhere a bit distant from where the battle raged. Jimmy aimed the camera, a few others got out the sound and broadcasting equipment, and Jimmy straightened his tie and glasses.

"Get ready, Jimmy.", said Larry, and held up three fingers. Jimmy gulped, and turned around to face the camera. Larry began counting down from three. As soon as he reached zero, the live broadcast to a large portion of the world would begin. "We are live in three... two… one…"

He nodded, and flipped a switch. Jimmy took a deep breath, and gestured to somewhere behind him.

Bonoome and Dan pushed against each other, each struggling mightily to gain some upper hand. Sweat dripped down both their brows, the muscles in their arms turning sore from the massive effort involved.

"Bonoome's got to hand it to you.", grunted Bonoome, a small grin upon his face. "Dan, you're pretty strong."

"Pretty strong?", Dan growled, a small bit of anger suddenly bursting forth. "I'll show you more than just a little strong!"

Dan's eyes lit up slightly gold, and his pushing strength increased. Bonoome was pushed backwards just a bit, much to his and the audience's surprises.

"How's that… for strong?", Dan snarled, leaning a bit further in. Bonoome started to slide backwards along the dirt, breaking through the soft ground. "Huh?"

Bonoome grit his teeth, and set his sights on Dan's stomach. It was time to really fight. "Bonoome…"

"What?", Brandy asked, crouching in preparation to leap. "You sure are obsessed with saying your own name, but I think this now qualifies as ridiculous-"

"Kick!", yelled Bonoome, and planted his foot right into Dan's unprotected stomach. Dan sucked in a breath of pain broke off his grip, taking a step backwards. Brandy, unfortunately, had launched herself forward at exactly that moment, landing without support on Bonoome's forehead.

But if Bonoome had noticed that Brandy had landed right upon his head, he seemed to give no indication. "Bonoome…", he bellowed again, and wound up his fist for another strike.

Dan righted himself with a grunt of surprise and pain, raising a fist of his own. "Overdrive…"

Brandy, taking advantage of Bonoome's seeming unawareness, grabbed his eyebrow and swung down right in front of his eye. "Hey!", she yelled, and slashed her boot right across Bonoome's retina.

Bonoome howled in pain, and his non-punching hand flew up to his eye. Brandy attempted to dodge, but with speed beyond his massive size, Bonoome grabbed her in his giant hand.

"Fist!", he bellowed, clutching Brandy to his side, and threw his other punch forward.

"Blast!", Dan yelled, and launched a punch of his own.

The two forces collided right between them, sending out another massive shockwave. This one churned up the dust around them, sending up a smokecloud that obscured the vision of not only the spectators in the stands but Jimmy Firecracker's camera crew.

Brandy, still held tight at Bonoome's side, decided that now was the best time to make her move. She concentrated her Dash throughout her entire body, all while holding perfectly still- as still as she could remain in the iron grip of a Giant, that is. With luck, it would make her intangible, and able to just slip out.

"Larry!", shouted Jimmy Firecracker, clutching his microphone for all he was worth. "Please tell me you're getting this!"

Larry squinted, and held his hand up to his eyes. "Through all that smoke? Not really, sir. But we're getting a lot of views anyway."

"Good, good.", said Jimmy, pulling at his collar a bit. "How much?"

"Uh…", said Larry, and looked at the camera. "We've got 38 Castles watching right now."

"Nice.", said Jimmy, and gave Larry an appreciative thumbs up. "See if we can pump those numbers up."

Larry continued to film the battle, not really knowing or caring exactly who was watching. Why would he? But even though he did not care, a very particular Castle, and many Troops within, just so happened to be watching this fight.

Webert yawned, and scratched his prodigious belly. He fished around in the couch cushions for the remote, but failed to find it.

"Hey.", he grunted to Kars, who was sitting somewhere near him. "You see the remote anywhere? I kind of wanna change the channel."

Kars looked up from the sock puppets he was messing with to do a quick gaze around the room. Finding no remote after 2 entire seconds of searching, he once again ducked down and gave the sock puppets his undivided attention. "Nope. Sorry, mate!"

Webert let his head fall back down onto the back of the couch, just as Oticat walked in. "Hey guys.", he said. "Wassup?"

"Nothing.", said Webert, and gestured to the TV, which was currently playing a Goblin talk show/ cooking demonstration, which tended to be the same thing with Goblins. "Just like what's on."

"Hmmm.", said Oticat, and withdrew a spare remote from his pocket. He aimed it at the TV and clicked the Change Channel Up One button. "Well, why don't we just-"

Webert stared at the remote for a second, confused out of his semi-drunken brain, then quietly decided not to think about it anymore.

The channel buzzed and hummed, then abruptly changed to a live feed. It seemed to be of a Continent of the Clans Village, although outside of the actual Village walls. A huge cloud of smoke and dust tore up the ground, hiding the two massive figures that lay within.

"Eh?", Kars mumbled, looking up for a bit from his three-act drama. "Who's that?"

Webert waved a dismissive hand. "Probably just a couple of Boxer Giants. Maybe some Barbarian Kings. Why would it be anyone we know?"

"I don't know.", Kars shouted. "I just have a feeling!"

Webert rolled over, taking another long sip from his bottle of Dark Elixir. "Kars, that is ridiculous. Why would it be anyone we-"

As the two argued, Oticat stared at the screen. He too thought there was something very familiar about one of the figures, but he could not for the life of him figure out what. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself. Maybe it was the maddingly familiar shape. Or maybe it was the arcs of golden energy that flashed around him as the dust settled and-

Oticat jumped to his feet, pointed at the screen, and shouted something incoherent.

"What?", Kars yelled, jumping to his own feet. "What is it?"

"Look!", Oticat shouted again, jabbing his finger at the screen over and over again. "Look at him!"

Webert leaned down to look at the screen. He saw the dust finally blow away, and the figures fully revealed. "Holy Se'th.", he said. "Is that-"

"It is!", Oticat yelled, and fumbled for his communicator. Everyone would want to be seeing this. "It's Dan!"

Song: Overdrive

Dan and Bonoome's fists both flew at blisteringly high speeds, almost charring the air around them with their raw might and fury. Sparks of Star would fly off at random and streak across the ground, leaving a deep scar before exploding on a random tree or wall. They both stared at each other with fiery intensity, refusing to give up any ground.

"ORA!", Dan yelled, and suddenly thrust out his foot. Bonoome didn't see it coming, and Dan's leg slammed deep into the Giant's torso. Bonoome gasped, and spat out a spurt of blood and spit.

"Don't you move!", Bonoome growled, and held up his other hand. "I still have the girl in my-"

Then he took a better look. His brain slowly began to kick into some gear as realized that not only was his hand empty, it had been so for almost a full minute. He had also been using it to punch, which he was sure he would have noticed.

"Dora!", Brandy screamed, suddenly appearing right next to Bonoome's ear. She swung by his earlobe right onto his face, punching as hard as she could right into his other eye.

Bonoome growled in pain, and tried to swipe for her again, but Brandy had been expecting the move. She lightly jumped back, and landed on Dan's shoulder.

"ORA!", Dan yelled again, and slammed both his fists into Bonoome's chest. There was a massive explosion of dust from the sheer force, the only thing being able to be seen through the cloud Bonoome flying backwards. He hit the ground like a two-ton rock, skidding across the shattered grass until he slammed into the treeline. It broke.

"There.", Dan said, and let down his fists. Brandy noticed that his breathing was worryingly heavy. "Did that do it?"

But to his and Brandy's disappointments, Bonoome didn't even seem to be fazed. Placing both hands on the ground, he leapt off the treeline in a perfect handspring. He leaned all the way down, then back up again in a long stretch.

"You talking more smack, Dan?", he boasted, and posed once more. "Because the only smack anyone's allowed to give-"

The cheering audience finished his sentence. "Is the Bonoome Thunder Smack!"

Bonoome held up his flat palm, which seemed to be crackling with energy. "Uh uh. No spoilers."

He popped his neck to both sides, grinned, and charged. "Bonoome…"

"Brandy.", said Dan. "When I say the word-"

"Aim for his eyes again.", Brandy said. "Got it."

"What?", Dan asked, looking up at her. "No. I want you to reach inside his head and destroy his brain."

Brandy recoiled a bit. "Excuse me, you want me to do _what?_"

"You can turn parts of yourself intangible.", Dan said. "So just reach inside and-"

"Thunder Smack!", Bonoome roared, all too suddenly upon them. He swiped his hand downwards, right at Dan's shoulder where Brandy stood.

"Shoot!", Brandy cursed, and leapt in a random direction. Dan twisted as far as he could go, Bonoome's attack slashing through the empty air and hitting the ground. The dirt broke open, sending up another cloud of smoke.

Dan breathed in, drawing from his backwards momentum. The unspent energy he had gathered flowed from the air and nothing into his elbow, which now glowed a deep orange.

"ORA!", he bellowed, and threw his elbow at Bonoome's vulnerable face. There was a sickening crunch, as bone shattered and blood spilled. Bonoome staggered backwards, holding his broken nose in his hands.

"No!", he shouted in pain and anger. "Bonoome's prolific modeling career!"

"Is over!", Dan shouted, and thrust out his leg. "Ora!"

Dan's foot connected with Bonoome's stomach once again, sending him flying back.

"Brandy, now!", Dan shouted. "Finish him!"

Bonoome looked up from where he was expecting the attack- not knowing that it would not come from above. Instead, Brandy jumped up from the ground onto the back of Bonoome's neck, and raised her right hand.

"This is weird…", she muttered. "Let's hope this works."

Then she concentrated as hard as she could, and her hand glowed a brilliant bright blue. Silver light flowed around the edges. "Dora!", she yelled, and thrust her hand deep into the back of Bonoome's neck.

Brandy saw Bonoome's massive hands flail around, trying to grab her. But she didn't falter in her task, and soon felt her hand inside of his neck. She waved it around, trying to get a feel for where she was.

"Come on, come on…", she hissed, trying to hold on as Bonoome stumbled backwards. "Where's the brain?"

"Bonoome's gonna crush you!", Bonoome bellowed, and suddenly stopped moving. "Bonoome…"

"Does everything you do have to start with Bonoome-", Brandy snapped, then suddenly realized what he was doing. He had stopped moving backwards, and started moving down.

"Piledriver!", Bonoome roared, and launched himself downward. Brandy shrieked, yanked her arm out of his neck, and Dashed off of his shoulder a half second before he slammed into the ground. She tucked and rolled along the broken dirt, as the shockwave from Bonoome's impact shuddered through the ground like waves.

Brandy Dashed backwards, trying to find her way back to Dan. Bonoome lay upon the ground, growling in anger and pain. "Dan! I couldn't find his brain!"

She ran into something, which turned out to be Dan's hand. He scooped her up and placed her on his shoulder again, all while slowly creeping forward. "That's fine, Brandy. I think you did plenty to him anyway."

"Right.", Brandy said, noticing with dismay that her arm was coated in a mysterious grey fluid. She shook most of it off, but a great deal still remained. "Hopefully now we can finish him off."

Brandy put her hands to her mouth, cupping them around in order to get the best quality sound. "Hey! Big idiot! Are you dead yet?"

Song: A Fearsome Foe

Bonoome snarled, and slowly picked himself up off the ground. His breathing was labored, and he was injured in multiple places. _Would it be so bad if I just retreated?, _he thought to himself. He didn't refer to himself in the third person- what would be the point? _Perhaps if I went back to Lord Rakastamos, I would be able to- _

Then, through bloodstained eyes, he could see something that totally changed his mind- Jimmy's faraway camera crew. His eyes shot open, as the glory of the camera once again filled his mind.

"That's a camera.", he said to himself. "And they're probably filming. Which means that Bonoome has an audience all across the world!"

He stood up straight, all traces of his previous exhaustion suddenly gone. "And Bonoome… cannot let down… his fans!"

He concentrated on himself as hard as he could, flexing his already bulging muscles to truly exorbitant lengths. "Bonoome… will never… lose!"

"Dan?", Brandy asked, now able to observe how his energy had suddenly spiked. "What's he doing?"

"I don't know.", Dan said, instinctevely putting up his hand to shield Brandy from any incoming danger. "But I don't think it's good."

Bonoome opened up his eyes, and roared. A veritable storm of sonic energy erupted outwards, tearing up the already torn grass and dirt. The walls of the Village shook from his otherworldly bellow, and Jimmy's camera crew was very nearly blown off of their feet. The trees all bent outwards, in an opposite direction to the gargantuan roar.

"Bonoome…", shouted Bonoome, "Is… invincible. Bonoome… can never be… defeated!"

As Dan and Brandy watched in shock, Bonoome's muscles suddenly swelled. His fur shirt was torn to bits, and his pants swelled to nearly breaking. The air around him seemed to be heated to boiling from the sheer rage bubbling up within him, his eyes glowing pure Elixir Violet.

The ground shook as if from the force of an Earthquake, only on a much larger scale. The trees behind him began to fall, snapping into Gems once they did so. The paradees he had brought with him watched from the faraway, separated stands, their expressions a curious mix between horror and admiration. They had just seen their invincible champion tossed around like a doll- yet here he was now, about to do something none of them had ever seen.

"Hey…", Dan realized, as he squinted his eyes to protect against the storm of dust and force. "It's just like what you did during the final fight with Ryusei_Nakao69."

Brandy thought for a moment, then looked at Bonoome again. Her head slightly tilted. "Huh.", she said, remembering how she too had powered up. "Neat."

Bonoome kept on powering up, the air around him turning purple from all the concentrated anger. His muscles swelled and kept on swelling, his arms and torso growing to ridiculous proportions. The weapons that had been slung onto his back lay scattered and shattered, useless next to Bonoome's revealed strength. His crimson mohawk flew up into the air, snapping and curling in his own generated wind. His veins were visible through the skin, and foaming spit flew from his mouth as he continued to bellow.

"Folks at home!", Jimmy shouted to the camera, struggling to be heard over the deafening powerup. "Bonoome seems to have undergone a harrowing transformation! The other two were beating him back before, but now the odds may change! He was just a really powerful Giant before, but now-"

Bonoome's eyes flared up, and he gave one last roar. A nearly solid blast of red energy whipped out from him in all directions, Dan throwing up a quick shield. His screaming stopped, as the trees for a hundred feet all fell as one to the ground, destroyed by the force of the blast. A massive cloud of smoke obscured the area once again, much to the annoyance of the spectators- and a certain group at home.

Most of the Castle's Troops stood or sat huddled in front of the TV. There were enough Troops for two Kings there, although some of them had failed to show up. They were in the basement, or off visiting friends, or whatever it was Ice Golems did when no one else was looking.

But most of them were still there- and watching in a mixture of excitement, fear, and raw horror that events that were unfolding many miles away.

"Oh my Se'th…", Agatha whispered to herself, hands on her nose, watching as Dan and Brandy were enveloped by a massive cloud of smoke. "Please let them be alright…"

She shut her eyes and buried her head in Bowza's shoulder, no longer wishing to watch. Normally she was a calm and collected Witch, but this was too much.

"Where even are they?", Brenda shouted angrily, gesturing to the TV. She took a sip of Elixir and grabbed Meg on the shoulder. "What's going on? Who is he?"

Meg shivered, trying to keep herself from shaking at the sight on the screen. "I don't know. Why did you ask me? I don't know anything here!"

Brenda raised an eyebrow, then put her hands on Meg's cheeks. "Woah, woah. I didn't ask you-"

"You did.", Meg said, a bit louder than she normally would. "You asked me if- if… woah…"

Overloaded from the stress, Meg closed her eyes and gently fell into Brenda's arms. Brenda smiled a bit watching her sleep, then turned her attention back to the TV.

"Hmmm…", said Nicholas, and took a closer look. "Judging from the surrounding area… yes, and those are Town Hall 10 Walls, hmm… and from the mountains in the background, and then the-"

"They're in Spacekrakenx's Village.", Bowza said without a second thought. "Am I right?"

Nicholas turned to him, and grinned. The two put their arms up, and exchanged a ranged high five. "Yeah! Smart guys gang unite!"

"Wait.", said Oticat. "Space's Village? That's where they are?"

"Yes.", said Bowza with a slight nod. "That's what we said."  
"How can you be sure?", asked Oticat. "And what-"

He was about to say _what difference does it make, _but then SpaceKrakenX himself popped up on the view in front of him. "Hey, everyone!"

Most of his Troops shouted in surprise. A sudden appearance by their collective King always warranted attention.

"I know you guys can see me.", said Spacekrakenx, trying to ward off Jimmy's security. "But don't worry about me, I'm fine! And don't worry about Dan and Brandy either. They're doing really well."

Spacekrakenx finally let himself be pulled away from the camera, his message sent. He knew it wouldn't mean anything to the vast majority of the viewers other than mad ravings, but that's what everyone saw him as anyway. Mad. But now that his mission was accomplished, he would have to go hide. Somewhere safe, and away from the battle.

He saw Sophie, off in the distance, pull the top off from her slap and slip underneath. Herb did the same, only with his own resting point.

_Interesting…, _Spacekrakenx thought. _I have got to get myself one of those. _

But he did not have one- yet. So for now, the best option was just to run off to where he had left his speederbike, and make a quick getaway to a high place. Which, of course, is exactly what he did.

As the dust slowly cleared from the surrounding area, Dan let his hands fall from his eyes. The shield flickered and vanished, huge cracks running all across its front.

"Where is he?", Brandy asked quietly, not wishing to give away their position. "Can you see him?"

Dan waited a bit to respond. He was waiting for Bonoome to appear. And after a few seconds, appear he did. Striding through the ruined, cracked ground, the parched dust blowing over him, a slight ring of fire rotating around his entire body. Bonoome stood even taller and even broader now, his entire frame dripping sheer destructive force. An insane smile crossed his face, and he swung his arms from side to side as he walked.  
"Bonoome is ready now!", he boomed, shaking the trees with the might of his voice. "Come and fight!"

Dan flipped the visor of his helmet back into place, and slightly bent down. "Right, Brandy. Let's get this."

Brandy focused her Dash inside the palm of her left hand, getting ready to strike with the same thing she had hit the Kraken with. "Let's."

Brandy, Dan, and Bonoome all yelled at the same time, and charged forward, intent to kill written in all their eyes.

As soon as Bonoome came into range, and maybe even a bit before then, Dan was ready. He took a deep breath in, lighting up his arm with golden Star. It flowed and concentrated in his elbow, about to strike. "Take this, Bonoome!", Dan shouted, and attacked. "Concentrated-"

But Bonoome had powered up. Such an attack had worked once, but would most likely not work again. This time, Bonoome just grinned, ducked under Dan's arm, and landed a solid double punch right in the middle of his chest.

Dan gasped, and stopped in his tracks. Brandy, not noticing he had stopped until it was too late, kept on going, and flew over Bonoome's shoulder and onto the ground.

Dan crossed his arms in front of his chest to protect himself, but Bonoome had anticipated such a move. He grabbed Dan by the waist, and with a massive effort, hoisted him up into the air.

"Bonoome…", he shouted, not noticing that Dan was taking the opportunity to wind bits of rotating blue energy around his arms and legs. "Flying…"

Brandy got up from the ground, to see Dan held overhead by Bonoome. A flash of fear washed over her face, and she turned her head to face the ground.

"Launch!", Bonoome finished, and threw Dan as hard as he could. Dan sailed through the air, all the way to the Village, and landed on a row of walls. They shattered under the colossal impact, leaving Dan dazed on the ground.

Brandy looked up again in horror, suddenly realizing that she was alone on the battlefield. Bonoome was massive, fast, and way too strong. Even if she fought as hard as she could, she wouldn't stand a chance.

"Feeling afraid, are we?", Bonoome asked. "Little girl?"

Bonoome turned around, and gestured to the audience. "You know why? Bonoome'll tell you why!"

Bonoome threw his arms out to the side. "Because the name's! Bonoome!"

Then he turned around, raising one leg in the air in a long pose. "And it rhymes! With doom!"

He crossed his arms in an X over his chest, and tossed his head back. "And yoooou're gonna be hurtin!"

A quick lean back, arms up- "All!"  
Arms extended, spinning around on both feet- "Too!"

Dropping to one knee, arms raised diagonally in a ferocious dab- "Soooooon!"

The audience cheered wildly, despite most of them not actually being able to see. But they had heard their lord, and that to them was enough.

"Yeah? Well?", Brandy asked definitely, and struck a pose of her own, one arm back, one arm in front, foot to the knee, leaning slightly backwards. "You might be bigger than me. You might be stronger, and much more experienced. But I'm still a whole lot faster than you. And I'll have you know-"

She pointed to herself, desperately hoping her bluff would hold under the Giant's scrutiny. "I'm a Stand User! So you better watch out!"

"Stand… User?", Bonoome asked, cracking his knuckles as he slowly walked forward. "What's that? Is it a type of move?"

Brandy backed up as Bonoome approached, trying to look for ways out. "No. It's a-"

But she stopped talking, as Bonoome suddenly dove. Instead she jumped straight up, Bonoome plowing underneath her like some kind of infernal tiller. He crashed into a giant rock at the edge of the village, breaking it into pieces. A single Gem popped out, and lay upon the ground.

"I just gotta get to his neck…", Brandy growled, sneaking a look behind her to check on Dan. Her heart dropped as she saw he still lay on the destroyed patch of wall. But his continued presence meant he wasn't dead- that was a very good thing indeed.

Bonoome stood up, and rubbed his head. He looked eerily towards Brandy, and bent down again. "Now, what move should I take you down with? The Bonoome Piledriver? The Bonoome Press? The Bonoome Dark Elixir Field Special? Or my patented Bonoome Ultra Miracle Fighting Explosion?"

Brandy stood there a bit, before realizing that Bonoome was actually waiting for her to respond. "Uh…", she said, pretending to think. "How about… the…"

"Yes?", Bonoome asked, and nodded. He shuffled from one foot to the other, in giddy anticipation of his next defeated foe.

Brandy flicked one finger into the air. "Your Bonoome Nosedive!"

Brandy had expected him to become confused, as she had listed an option that didn't exist. But, of course, Bonoome was smarter than most people gave him credit for.

"My Bonoome Nosedive…", he muttered, trying to act dumb. Then he brightened up, the fire around him slightly increasing in intensity. "Okay!"

"Wait what-", Brandy blurted out, before Bonoome began his charge straight for her.

"Oh my Se- I mean, Da'ria!", shouted Jimmy into the microphone, as he saw the chaos unfold. "It appears as though Bonoome's powerup really did the trick, folks! First he incapacitated the big one, and now he's heading straight for the little girl! She's less than 20 times his size- it's going to be an absolute massacre!"

_I hope not though, _Jimmy gulped. _Those two seemed nice enough in the arena. Oh, if only Mr. Satan were here…"_

"Uh, sir?", said Larry, pointing towards the camera. His expression seemed wide with utter shock.

"What?", asked Jimmy, looking where Larry was pointing. It only took a second for his expression, as well, to turn to total surprise.

Song: Virtuous Pope

Brenda, still focused on the TV, suddenly noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Meg's gun, which had been lying underneath her, had slipped underneath her, and began to rise into the air.

"Uh, Meg?", Brenda whispered, shaking her shoulder in order to wake her. "You might want to take a look at this."

Meg still lay on Brenda's lap, asleep from the stress. She rolled over a bit, but that was all. Brenda sighed internally, and summoned up the Phantom. With a rush of cold air, he appeared over her, and looked down at all the general chaos.

"Mistress, what is it-", he asked, then Brenda pointed her head downwards at Meg, asleep.

The Phantom nodded, and gently touched her forehead. There was a flash of white light, and the Phantom retreated back into Brenda at the same instant that Meg awoke.

"What?", Meg asked, sitting up in surprise, but Brenda grabbed her on the back and pointed her towards the TV.

"Look.", she said, and Meg gasped. For there hovered her gun, soft sapphire light leaking out of it, as it slid into the TV screen and out of sight.

"What- what's going on?", she asked, looking around in confusion. "Did my gun just-"

"That wasn't your gun, Meg.", Brenda said, slowly cracking a grin.

"It… wasn't?", asked Meg with wide eyes. "Then what was it?"

"That, you little purple hair,", said Brenda, using her pet name for Meg, "Was your Stand."

"Bonoome…", Bonoome bellowed, and slammed facefirst into the ground. "Nosedive!" The dirt flew up in a high arc, the shockwave nearly launching Brandy off her feet. But she did a good job of that herself- leaping off the ground using its momentum paired with her Dash, and ending up almost 30 feet in the air.

"Seriously, why do you keep on yelling your name before every attack you make?", Brandy shouted over the chaos, as she fell back to the broken ground. "Does it make you tougher or something-"

"Gotcha!", Bonoome suddenly shouted, and thrust out his hand from the ground. "Bonoome was only pretending!"

He lurched up from the ground, and jumped into the air. One fist was raised, an expression of sadistic glee written across his face. "Bonoome… Fury…"

"Brandy!", Brandy heard a voice shout, although it was no one she knew. "Dodge the first attack!"

"The first one?", Brandy asked aloud, and tensed in preparation to dodge. "I'd rather just dodge all of them."

But Bonoome attacked with a deafening "Punch!", and Brandy obeyed the voice. She flipped back as hard as she could, and Bonoome's fist hit the ground. The rest of him followed, again making a massive body sized crater.

Brandy flew into the air, aiming for a nearby rock. "Okay. I dodged the first punch… now what?"

Bonoome lifted his face up out of the dirt to see where he was going, and maniacally laughed. Brandy was still falling, with no way to get out of his reach. Once he had her, he could crush her with a single blow. Then there would only be the big one to contend with, if he wasn't already dead.

"Bonoome has you now!", Bonoome roared, and pushed himself up from the dirt. "It's over-"

Yet even as his hand reached for Brandy, he stopped in his tracks. A low, wet gasp came from his lungs, pain rippling through his head. He fell backwards onto the ground, and the crater he had made, as a thin blue line still rippled through the air.

Brandy turned to where the line seemed to have its origin, and saw a truly bizarre sight. The modified gun of a Musketeer was pointing outwards, blue smoke rising from its barrel.

"My Se'th…", Jimmy breathed, as the gun slowly snaked back in. "Folks at home, it appears we have just witnessed a miracle. Larry, what do you think?"

Larry blinked, and stared at the spot where the gun had been. "Jimmy, I have been finding heaven ever since we got here."

"You're right, Larry.", Jimmy said, and wiped away a tear from his eye. "You're so, so, right."

Everyone in the Castle watched in wonder, as Meg's gun fell back out of the TV. They had seen the magical azure gunshot hit Bonoome in the forehead, and knew exactly what must have happened.

"Uh, Meg?", asked Oticat, as everyone turned their attention from the TV to watch the gun slither across the floor and back into Meg's arms, who was now wide awake. "Would you care to explain what just happened?"

Meg grabbed her gun, took a deep breath, and stood up. She turned to face the crowd, hoping in vain that none of them would notice how much her hands were shaking. "Hey, everyone.", she said, and gave a shy smile. She hefted the gun up in her hand, and somehow managed not to drop it. "This is my Stand. Uh…"

She looked around, trying to decide on what to name it. Her eyes fell upon a plaque on the wall, and she nodded in decision. "Azure Sky."

Brandy stood in the middle of the battlefield, her breathing short. She hoped to anyone listening, whether it be the gods she knew or the gods of this new land, that Bonoome wouldn't be able to get up. But he had not dissolved into Elixir after the hit, so Brandy knew her hopes were in vain.

"Bonoome…", growled the Gladiator Giant, as he stood up. He rubbed his head, the gunshot wound still a bit tender- even with his natural regeneration. "Did not like that. Whoever did that… will pay!"

He looked to where he had thought the shot had come from, and growled. There, right in the middle of the path, was Jimmy and his camera crew.

"Sir?", asked Larry, suddenly deeply nervous. "Why is he looking at us like that?"

Jimmy gulped, noticing that Bonoome had begun to dig at the ground with his feet, seemingly in preparation for a devastating Bonoome Rush. "I don't know, Larry. Let's move to somewhere where he can't."

They hurriedly picked up the camera stuff and started to move towards the Village, but a loud roar from Bonoome stopped them in their tracks. "Hey! Hold still so Bonoome can crush you!"

Brandy thought quickly. _It looks like he's easily distracted, _she thought. _I can use that to my advantage._

"Hey!", she shouted, and Bonoome looked down. "You're fighting me, remember?"

_I'm not really sure who those people are, _she thought, taking a look at Jimmy and his crew. _But they're clearly innocent here. I can't let them die._

Bonoome looked back to Jimmy, who was almost behind the rock, then again down to Brandy. "You wish to fight Bonoome before Bonoome can fight them?"

"Yes.", Brandy said, and gathered more energy in her right hand. It crackled with sheer silver and blue force, ready to pull away skin and turn muscle into air. "You have to fight me."

She took a quick look behind her, to check on both Jimmy and Dan. Jimmy and his crew were now behind the rock, and Dan-

Her heart nearly stopped. Dan was nowhere to be found. He wasn't on the walls, and she couldn't see him anywhere else. A cold chill of panic and fear ran through her heart, as she considered the possibility that he was now mere Elixir.

"Bonoome…", she suddenly heard Bonoome yell, and she screamed. "Hey wait-"

"Kick!", Bonoome roared, and lashed out with his right leg, slamming directly into Brandy's front.

For a moment, Brandy couldn't breathe. She felt all the sound of the world around her just sort of fade away, the all-encompassing pain of Bonoome's kick flowing all the way through her. Color gradually stopped working, everything fading to a soft grey. She tasted her own blood for half a second, and her eyes rolled back in her head.

Then she could breathe again, but not very well. Her lung felt like it had been collapsed. The sound came back into her head, only it was nothing but a rush of deafening wind. The pain was joined by a peculiar sensation of weightlessness, as she noticed herself flying backwards at a rather remarkable speed. The colors came back as well, all blurred together like a demented smoothie. She tasted more of her own blood, mixed with a bit of Elixir. She hoped it wasn't her own, but she really had no way of knowing.

Finally, as her senses returned completely, she noticed she was flying at a fast clip towards the edge of Bonoome's makeshift arena. Her leg seemed to be bent at a very bad angle, blood streaming out of her at several angles. She could hear a high pitched scream of absolute agony- it took her a few seconds to realize that it was her own.

And then with a sickening crunch, Brandy slammed into the stone side of the arena. She hit the side spread eagled, hanging there for a second, before the rocks fell on top of her and covered her completely.

Song: Un'altra Persona 

Jimmy, watching the scene with wide eyes, struggled to hold his microphone. He pulled at his collar, not sure he could follow through with the next bit of his live report.

"Folks at home, I'm not sure what to say here.", he gulped, looking at the spot were Brandy had landed. "She's not coming out. I think… I think…"

Everyone at Oticat's castle leaned forward, watching the TV with frantic worry. A thin aura of fear began to descend over the entire group.

"Brandy…", Agatha whispered, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "No…"

Jimmy took one last look at the rock pile, which had still failed to move. If he looked hard, he could see a thin trail of pink slowly leaking out. "I think…"

His voice echoed loudly over the entire area, and through his microphone. "Good Se'th, I think she's dead!"

A total, dreaded silence descended over Oticat and Spacekrakenx's Castle. Everyone just stared at the screen, unable to comprehend what had just happened. It looked as though Dan and Brandy were both dead, fallen to the hands of the strange, mighty Giant who called himself Bonoome.

"But…", Sadie whispered, trying not to think about it. "They can't be both dead. They can't be."

"Agatha?", Bowza whispered, trying to get her attention. "What do you sense? Can you still feel them?"

But Agatha just stared straight ahead, not looking at anything. Her eyes were glazed over, and she fell limp in Bowza's arms.

"Brenda?", asked Meg, almost too quietly for either of them to hear. "Did they really… just lose?"

Brenda didn't answer. She silently summoned the Phantom with a wave of her hand, who hovered above their heads, trying desperately to listen for any sign of life.

Bonoome took a long look at the place that he had kicked Brandy into. Other than a few falling pebbles, there was no movement. He took a look at where he had last seen Dan- he was not there. Bonoome smiled, got up, and slowly began walking towards where Jimmy had hidden behind the rock.

"Bonoome saw you fire.", said Bonoome, as he drew ever closer. He punched one hand with his colossal fist, and Jimmy shuddered where he stood. "Bonoome didn't like that."

"Uh, sir?", asked Larry, and slowly reached for the off button on his camera. He wasn't sure he wanted to record whatever was going to happen next. "Should we leave?"

Jimmy nodded, his legs already beginning to move on their own. "Yes, we should Larry. We should definitely-"

There was a flash of movement, and Bonoome was suddenly upon them. He towered over them, lifting the entire rock they had been hiding behind with one massive hand.

"I don't think we thought this through.", Jimmy squeaked.  
Bonoome leaned down, and raised his fist. "Bonoome agrees."

Jimmy and Larry's eyes met, as they turned to each other one last time.

"Where there's smoke…", Jimmy said with a single tear in his eye.

"There's firecracker, sir.", said Larry with a gulp.

Jimmy stepped forward, and they both bumped arms. "You're so right."

Then Bonoome grinned widely, and he swung his fist down to squash both of them flat.

Song: Stardust Crusaders

"ORA!", shouted a powerful voice. Bonoome was suddenly blasted off to one side, an impact that could shatter hills imprinted deeply to the side of his face. Jimmy looked up in shock, and almost jumped for joy.

There stood Dan, right in front of what seemed to be some kind of tunnel. His breathing was a little heavy, and bizarre blue light flickered around him, but he was very much alive.

Bonoome slammed face-first into the dirt, and groaned in pain. He tried to roll to one side- but before he could, Dan was already upon him, vengeance in his eyes.

"Ora!", he yelled, and hit Bonoome in the chest with a powerful punch. Golden light exploded around it, and Bonoome was flung spread eagled into the air.

"Oraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan bellowed, hitting Bonoome on every available inch of his body with a flurry of punches that a Pekka would envy. Shockwaves exploded out from him, Star plowing into his body and causing further damage with each and every strike. Bonoome bellowed in pain, but Dan did not let up his ruthless and well-deserved assault.

"Larry?", Jimmy said, beginning once again to get excited. "Please tell me that-"

"I'm recording this?", Larry asked, lifting the huge camera up onto his shoulders. "Oh yeah. I am."

JImmy clenched his fist, and brought his microphone closer to his mouth. "Fantastic, Larry. Now keep on tracking them."

Jimmy's eyes glinted with anticipation, and he slowly began to edge closer to the two dueling titans. "It's reporting time."

"Oraoraoraoraoraora!", Dan continued to yell, hitting Bonoome's vulnerable body with at least 50 more punches in that short time. But finally, he knew that he could do it no longer, and so stopped with one final, especially powerful blow. "ORA!"

Bonoome flew up into the sky, blood trailing from his broken face. The audience gasped in abject horror as their champion, now powered up, fell face-first into the ground with a sickening crunch. His body landed at a twisted angle, almost giving him the look of a vegetable just waiting to be picked. His legs twitched sticking up out of the dirt, but not much else.

"Oh my Da'ria.", said Jimmy excitedly, having finally picked up the new word. "It appears that this magical Mega Knight has just teleported from underground! What an astonishing comeback!"

Dan just stood there for a bit, still panting from the exertion. Using the Rotation to tunnel through the ground like that had taken a lot out of him, novice as he was. But it had all been worth it, just to get the real first hit on Bonoome.

"Brnuuume…", Dan heard from underground, and he took a step back in alarm. He also took a very deep breath, gathering the Star in his arms, just in case.

"Jibe!", Bonoome yelled, bursting forth from the ground and striking another pose. It wasn't a very accurate word to use, given that it was a sailing term, but Bonoome did not care. He just needed something to yell.

On the side of the arena building, the rocks slowly began to fall faster. The thin trail of Elixir between them halted, and a defiant fist punched through their ranks, out into the glorious sun.

"Ooohhh…", Brandy groaned, as she pushed the rocks covering her face free. "That hurt…"

With one last push and a Dash-infused jump, Brandy broke free of the rocks. She landed on the grass, stumbled, and almost fell over, but managed to keep herself on her feet.

"Darn it…", she growled, noticing the leak by her side. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a metal flask. There was a hole right in the middle of it, no doubt pierced through during the battle. "Bonoome broke my Elixir bottle. There was a lot in there, too."

But then Brandy bent down, adjusted her hood, gave her ears a quick rub, and grinned. "Don't worry, Dan.", she said. For a brief second, she thought she could somehow feel the feeling of how it felt to save someone you loved. Her eyes narrowed with chaotic justice. "I'm coming."

"Overdrive!", Dan yelled, and launched himself forward. The Star radiated outwards from his skin in waves, almost burning the air around him yellow. His fists glowed the very brightest, extended and ready to smash Bonoome into a tiny pulp.

"Bonoome…", Bonoome roared, and stood there for half a second trying to think up a good name. But he did get one, and so threw his fist forward as well. "Hammer Blow!"

Their attacks met in the attack center, sending out a shockwave that tore the very last layer of grass up off of the ground. Pain rushed down both of their arms, yet they did not falter. Both now knew each other's strength- there was no room for mistakes.

"You're… powerful.", said Bonoome, struggling as hard as he could in order to break the status quo. "Perhaps, after this fight is over… you could… join us? Join Rakastamos?"

It wasn't an innocent offer. Dan would have refused anyway. But when he heard those words, he was reminded just of what Chad had said to him, during the raid over a month ago.

"You…", Dan growled, and let the rage flow through him. His skin turned a light shade of purple, and his muscles bulged outwards even more than usual. "Don't you dare say that!"

He roared, the pupils in his eyes shrinking. And he pushed, as hard as he could possibly drive himself to do, until Bonoome's footwork began to slowly falter.

"Indeed, you are strong.", Bonoome grunted. His eyes flashed with determination, and he too began to push harder. "The strongest enemy Bonoome has ever fought."

With Bonoome's new strength, Dan's advantage suddenly vanished. He found himself pushed backwards, leading them both to the position where they were before.

"Fine then.", said Bonoome, and his eyes narrowed as he somehow prepared himself to push even harder than before. "Then Bonoome's just gonna have to kill ya-  
"Dorra!", came another voice, and there was another blow.

Dan's eyes widened in joy, as he saw Brandy plant her foot right into the side of Bonoome's nose. Time seemed to slow down, every detail of the breaking cartilage and spurting blood perfectly outlined against her. "Brandy?"

As Bonoome faltered, Dan knew the advantage was finally his. He roared, and pushed as hard as he could. Bonoome fell backwards, hitting the dirt with a thunderous crash of pain.

Brandy leapt backwards from where she had hit the Giant onto Dan's shoulder, and wiped her mouth free of dirt. "Hey, honey."

"Where were you?", Dan asked, and rolled his shoulder. "I didn't see you for a bit."

Brandy stretched, and popped her back with a satisfied sigh. "I was behind a bunch of rocks. Where were you?"

Dan pointed to the tunnel he had spun through. "Underground."

Brandy nodded, only sort of understanding. "I see."

Then they both nodded, and shifted to face Bonoome. He was getting up now, anger staining his usually jolly face. His mohawk was torn, and multiple teeth were missing. A long, bleeding cut ran down the right edge of his face, dripping blood out onto the ground below.

"Can Bonoome get a Mirror?", he asked, to no one in particular. "He feels he may have lost a tooth."

"Oooh, what happened to his face?", Brandy asked, and winced as she elbowed Dan. "It looks even uglier than before!"

Upon hearing this, Bonoome raised a fist. He stared the two down, and did some quick calculations in his head. If they were 40 feet away, then he could… yes. He grinned. That was perfect.

"Do you still dare to battle Bonoome!", he shouted, flexing his muscles as hard as he could. "The great and terrible?"

Brandy cupped her hands around her mouth, and shouted towards him. "We're crushing you, idiot!", she yelled, and saw Bonoome's face twitch. She had quite obviously hit a nerve. "Of course we're still gonna take you on!"

Bonoome grimaced, and struck a wild pose. "Well then!", he shouted. "The name's! Bonoome!"

He pawed at the ground with his feet, sending up another wild cloud of dust.

"And it rhymes!", Bonoome yelled, slamming his fists together like two great plates of stone. "With doom!"

The arena holding the audience slowly began to turn, as most of its strongest members pushed against the side in an effort to see their lord and master. Bonoome made sure to strike an extra powerful pose, causing much of the audience to swoon. "And you're gonna be hurtin! All! Too!"

He crouched down and bent all the way over, looking out between his legs with his arms straight up in the air. "Sooooooon!"

Then quick as a flash, he sprung out of it, and faced Dan down. The two titans both grinned, nodded, and began to charge.

Oticat gasped in relief, and put his hand over his eyes. He let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and almost laughed. "They're alive…"

He folded forward, wrapping his arms around himself. "I'm not sure what I would have done if they had died."

Meg was shaking, as usual, but this was more of a happy shake. She hugged Brenda as tight as she could, who returned the loving gesture with a light kiss on the cheek. "They're alive…"

Agatha opened up her eyes, Larry and Tarry popping up out of the ground from her stress. As soon as she saw Brandy and Dan together on the screen, she almost fainted with relief. "They did it.", she said weakly. "They survived."

"Yes.", said Bowza, and raised a hand to signal everyone to calm down. "They did. However…"

His face grew grim, as he looked again at what was happening on the screen right in front of them. "It's not over yet."

Song: The Power to Resist

Just as Dan and Brandy were about to reach Bonoome, they stopped. Dan ducked low, and Brandy jumped high. Bonoome's arms had already swung forward, hoping to catch both of them in a crushing bearhug, but his hands swung shut on empty air. Brandy spun in the air as she flew, making sure to get a good clip on the back of Bonoome's ear as she flew by. She Dashed down to the ground in order to get a good footing, and gritted her teeth in a mixture of ferocity, anger, anticipation, and truth be told,fear. Dan jumped up from his bent knees, stood still, and prepared all the energy he could.

"Come here, you little brat!", Bonoome shouted, turning around to snatch Brandy right off the ground. "Bonoome's gonna crush you!"

But as Bonoome's massive hands groped for Brandy's small body, she Dashed in and out of his grip, jumping and dodging every move he made. Even though Bonoome was faster than he had any right to being, he still wasn't as fast as her. "That's not an incentive!", Brandy yelled, and did a double backflip onto a nearby rock. "Try harder!"

"Try harder?", Bonoome shouted in anger, and his face turned red. "Bonoome shall show you try harder!"

Bonoome thrust out with both his hands at once, casting a veritable net across the ground. This, of course, did not bother Brandy in the least- she simply leapt up, and Dashed midair towards where Dan was still standing. "Then do it!", she shouted back, and stuck out her tongue. "Come on, big boy! Show me what you got!"

It would not be for several minutes that she would realize what she had just said, and every single one of the implications of it.

"Bonoome shall!", shouted Bonoome, and turned to follow her. "Bonoome will-"  
He was about to say "crush you like an insect and drink all your Elixir", but he saw that Brandy, for whatever reason, was standing perfectly still. Right there in the middle of the grass.

Rather than ponder this fact, however, and what it might mean, Bonoome just decided to go for it. He spread his arms out wide, ready to grab her- when he suddenly felt them get pushed even further apart. He looked up in shock to find Dan in midair, holding Bonoome's arms open with his feet, arms crossed in front of his chest. There was a ferocious golden glow coming from somewhere within them.

"You fell for it, fool!", shouted Dan, and raised his arms to strike. "Thunder Cross Split Attack!"

"A- amazing!", shouted Jimmy Firecracker from behind his rock, craning to get a better look. "By attacking with his arms crossed, he can keep up his guard while going on the offensive! It's- it's perfect!"

Larry flinched at the use of the word "perfect", given his past experiences, but Jimmy either did not notice or did not care. "Things are really heating up, folks! I think Bonoome might just lose this fight!"

"Uh, sir?", asked Larry, jerking his head towards the camera, desperately trying to get Jimmy's attention. "Take a look at this."

"Huh?", Jimmy asked, and leaned down. "What is it-"

Then he saw what it was on the camera's digital interface that Larry had been pointing to, and his eyes very nearly bugged out of his head. "Wha- it's on 8% battery? Already? How?"

Larry, not really knowing, just nodded his head yes to all questions. "Uh…"

"I thought we brought a spare battery!", Jimmy yelled, leaning in close. "What happened to that?"  
"We did, sir.", said Larry, gesturing to the camera again. "This is it."

Jimmy blinked, and turned around. "Ah.", he said, and stared semi-blankly at the sky. "I see."

Bonoome's face briefly reflected fear, as he saw Dan's crossed arms light up with pure Star. But then he grinned maniacally, and laughed. "You fool! Did you really think that such a thing would work on me-"

But Bonoome didn't get to finish his sentence. A quick slash across his ankle, and the words caught in his throat. He looked down and snarled- Somehow, he had forgotten about Brandy. But even if she hadn't attacked. Dan wasn't wasting any time. Instead, he just slammed his arms down right into Bonoome's face, directing the full flow of the energy right into him. "ORA!"

Bonoome's eyes grew wide, a half second before he was electrocuted. Then as the charge hit, they grew even wider. An otherworldly howl came out of Bonoome, as the powerful energy racked his entire body. His bones and nervous system could be seen even in the bright afternoon sun, illuminated through the skin. Dan kept up his mighty yell the entire time, projecting more and more force deep into Bonoome's head. Finally, after almost 8 seconds, the attack stopped. Dan jumped back down once more to the ground, and Bonoome was thrown back a good 40 feet against the Village walls.

Bonoome groaned, trying to push himself up off the ground. His skin was burned in many places, having received nearly the full brunt of Dan's Star. Blood pooled on the ground below him, darkening the dirt. His breathing was heavy, and he could barely even see out of one eye.

"You… think you can defeat Bonoome like this?", he snarled, taking a ragged step forward. "Bonoome… is… invincible!"

"Oh, give me a break.", Dan said, slowly beginning to walk towards him. "I've heard this one before. Do you know how many enemies I've beaten that think they're "invincible"?"

"They were wrong.", Bonoome said simply, and raised a fist. He made another quick set of calculations. Yes, this they would never see coming. "But Bonoome… Bonoome is right."

"Really?", asked Brandy, taking a few light steps towards Dan. "Because so far…"

She smoothed down her hood, letting the light catch on her hair. "Her eyes glinted with pure mischievous energy, and she gave a playful grin. "It looks like you're losing."

"Careful, Brandy.", Dan said, giving her a stern look. "We don't want to BM him too much. He might try something."

"What's he gonna try?", Brandy asked, and leaned up against Dan's leg. "We already beat him-"

"No, no, he's right.", Bonoome said, suddenly frightfully calm. He got up in a flash, seemingly without pain. "Bonoome might just try something."

He drew back a fist, and it began to vibrate with some unknown energy. "Bonoome… Thunderquake…"

Dan's eyes widened, and he threw an arm over Brandy to protect her. "Brandy, get down!"

"Wave Punch!", Bonoome finished, and struck at the air with a force he had not yet equaled. The speed of the blow tore right through the sound barrier, causing a sonic boom that damaged the hearing of anyone nearby. Brandy slapped her hands over her sensitive ears, tears suddenly streaming down her face.

Dan really tried not to, but he had no choice. The stream of debris blasted forward by Bonoome's punch scraped against his face so much, he had to close his eyes- even for just a second. And in that second, Bonoome struck.

Brandy felt Bonoome's massive hand close around her. "Gotcha!", he roared, and jumped back on his back.

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, suddenly knowing what Bonoome was about to do. A flicker of blue lights appeared behind her head, as she saw herself go through a cloud. "Help me-"

Dan opened his eyes again, and lunged for Brandy. But he was too late- Bonoome swung his hand up into the air and released, flinging Brandy up into the sky. She screamed as she soared ever higher, the air sucked from her lungs as she vanished into the clouds.

Jimmy stared at the sky, almost unable to process what he had just witnessed. "My Se'th…", he whispered to himself, then cleared his throat. "Ladies and gentlemen, folks at home, it appears that… Bonoome has just thrown that Bandit into the sky! Unless she's got wings, there's no way she'll be able to survive a fall like that!"

Bonoome grunted, and took a step back, as Jimmy kept talking. "It's just him vs the Mega Knight now! He might be able to win this one after all!"

Dan stared at the hand that had thrown Brandy. He stared at the exact spot where she had disappeared, a barely-visible hole in the square shaped cloud. His arm trembled, and an unspeakable rage began to boil up from deep inside him.

"Oh, I'm sorry.", Bonoome said, and Dan's head snapped up to stare at him. "It seems you had some sort of personal connection to her- was she your partner in combat?"

Dan's muscles swelled, and his eyes grew whiter and whiter. His pupils began to fade, the snarl on his lips becoming more and more evident. "You bastard…", he growled.

Something inside him snapped, and he rushed forward. "She was my wife!"

"Oh.", Bonoome said, then raised his fist. "Bonoome doesn't apologize."

Dan, barely able to control himself, raised two fingers. The blue lines that still hovered lightly around Bonoome glowed, and contracted against his flesh. "Rotation!", Dan shouted.

"What?", Bonoome grunted, then the traps blinked once. A burst of spinning energy shot out from each and every one of them, slicing deep into Bonoome's arms and legs. Dozens of spurts of blood shot out from each cut, and Bonoome screamed in agony.

"Overdrive Pummel!", Dan shouted, each of his fists lighting up with golden light. He slammed both of his hands into Bonoome's chest, launching him even further backwards. Bonoome raised a hand in defense, but Dan lashed out with a vicious kick to the side of the head. Bonoome slammed hard to the ground, his head bouncing back up from the force of the impact.

"My heart beats…", Dan said, and drew back his fists. "With heat enough to burn…"

Bonoome tried to scramble away, but his wrist broke from the pressure that had already been applied. He fell to the ground once again, unable to escape.

"My blood's beat…", Dan shouted, and his entire body lit up with golden light. His helmet broke from the sheer force. "Is razor sharp!"

He grabbed Bonoome by one hand, threw him up into the air, and attacked. "Sunlight Yellow Overdrive!"

Every single hit pounded Bonoome's body with the force of a Rocket. Shockwaves emanated out from each blow, the air rippling with raw power. Jimmy and his camera crew were almost blown away from the strength of Dan's Star, although it was Bonoome receiving 99% of the force. The attack continued for 8 long seconds, each one of which had over a hundred punches.

Finally, Dan broke off the attack. He concentrated all his remaining energy into one final blow, applying it directly to the side of Bonoome's head. "ORA!"

Bonoome shrieked through gurgles of blood, and flew high into the air. He flew in a glorious arc, every bit of his broken body visible, and landed in a bloody heap on the other side of the village.

The audience gasped in horror, to see their invincible champion in such a state. Jimmy and his camera crew just stood there stock still, not really knowing what was going on. Dan collapsed to his knees, totally exhausted. Such a magnificent attack barrage had taken pretty much everything out of him. But if he listened carefully, as hard as he could, he thought he could almost hear everyone back at home cheering his name. Which, in fact, they were.

"Oh my goodness…", said Sophia, sitting on a lawn chair atop her Queenpad. "Did you see that?"

Herb nodded, taking another sip of his drink. "I did. That was unbelievable!"

Spacekrakenx grabbed a handful and a piece of his experimental popcorn, which of course were both the same size. "I think he may have just outright killed Bonoome!"

"That would be great!", Herb said, and tried to peer at where Bonoome had fallen. "But do you think he really did it?"

"I don't know.", said Sophia, a hint of worry in her voice. "That Bonoome certainly seems to be one tough cookie."

Bonoome lay in the crater he had made when he hit the ground, barely conscious or alive. Blood ran out of him in a veritable river, and he could feel himself weakening. He couldn't move one arm, and both legs were totally unresponsive.

"Bonoome's…", he whispered, more trying to convince himself than impress anyone else. "Gonna… crush… you…"

He closed his eyes, and stopped moving. But even as his heartbeat slowed, his body was slowly knitting itself back together, a sickly green glow emanating from his chest. For Bonoome was not an ordinary Giant by any means. No, he was Bonoome, the mighty and only Gladiator Giant. And as such, he had the ability of regeneration, gifted from a peculiar jewel embedded in the middle of his chest.

His skull, broken nearly in half by Dan's final punch, ever so slowly slid back together. The holes and cuts in his limbs shrunk, and finally stopped bleeding. His shattered wrist and ankle warped back into their proper shape, and his spent strength began to gradually return.

"Heh.", he coughed out. It no longer hurt to speak. "Heh heh."

He slowly pushed himself to his feet, and looked at his arms. "Good as new."

Bonoome started walking to where Dan still was, a truly evil grin upon his face. "That was a good try, Dan.", he said to himself. "But I'm about to show you…"

He had dropped his whole wrestling persona at that point. His voice was deeper, softer, no longer proud and boastful. He didn't care about impressing an audience- he just cared about winning. He had finally revealed himself- no longer was he Bonoome the showoff, Bonoome the crowdpleaser. No, now he was Bonoome the killer, Bonoome the deathbringer, Bonoome the dreaded ender of life. He cracked his knuckles together, an evil grin flashing in his eyes. "Why I _never_ lose."

Dan sat on the grass, his breathing heavy and ragged. He couldn't believe he had done it- but his victory was nothing, compared to the pain of losing Brandy. She had been flung up into the sky, far beyond anywhere that she could survive a fall from. Even if she did, finding her would take ages. But Dan refused to think about that. She had to be alive, somewhere. Otherwise…

Dan shut his eyes in a painful grimace, his shredded muscles still aching in pain. He couldn't even think about that.

"Hey!", came the voice of Bonoome, as he slowly hobbled around the Laboratory on the edge of the village.

Dan's eyes shot open, and his heart dropped in his chest. To his utter shock, there was Bonoome, still coming towards him, looking good as new.

"What?", Dan coughed, hardly believing what he saw. "I- I killed you. You-"

"Did you think you could kill one such as I?", Bonoome scoffed, beating one hand repeatedly into his open palm. "For I am the great Bonoome! It rhymes with doom! And you're gonna be hurtin, all… too…"

Dan knew that he had exactly the right opportunity to strike. His lungs may have been exhausted past the point of using Star, but he still had Rotation in the pocket. So he closed one eye, raised his finger, and fired right where a strange green glow was coming from Bonoome's chest. "Soon!", Bonoome shouted- then stopped cold.

He felt a sharp, dangerous pain pierce through the front of his chest. He looked down in confusion to see a small hole in his skin, green liquid dripping out, mixing with the running blood.

"Wha-", he gasped, and tried to wipe the stuff away. "My jewel!"

He snarled at Dan, suddenly taken aback. "You broke my sacred jewel of regeneration!"

"Yeah, that's right.", Dan said, and gave a snarl of his own. "Looks like I broke your style too. You're not talking in third person anymore. Like this."

"You think you're funny?", Bonoome growled, and started to run forward. "I'll show you funny!"

He soared over the ground, each colossal footstep breaking a new crater in the already tortured grass and soil. "I'll crush you to bits!"

Dan stood up from the ground, forcing himself to rise. He started to gather a thin thread of blue Rotation around his finger, and stared Bonoome down with a glare of utter defiance.

"I broke your regeneration.", he growled, barely able to be heard by anyone but himself. "The next time you go down, Bonoome… will be for good!"

Song: Decisive Battle

"Bonoome…", Bonoome bellowed, and raised his fist in a glorious display.

"ORA!", Dan shouted, hatred and anger clouding his voice, and slammed his punch directly into Bonoome's unprotected stomach. He may not have been able to use the Star in his condition, but he sure could still punch. Bonoome's eyes bugged out from the blow, and he forgot what he was going to say.

"Ora!", Dan yelled again, and hit Bonoome's vulnerable chin with a vicious double uppercut. Bonoome gurgled, and his head snapped back with a sound like a cracking sheet of glacial ice.

"Ora! Ora! Oraoraoraora!", Dan roared, hitting Bonoome's head with as many punches as he could manage in his exhausted state. Bonoome was flung up, down, and all the way around, before skidding to a shaky stop several dozens of meters away.

Dan slammed his hands down on the ground, grunting with the effort. He spun around on the dirt, jumping as he did so, and slammed his feet into the side of Bonoome's head. It wasn't the strongest blow, but it was all he could manage.

Bonoome groaned, and grabbed his jaw. "You…", he spat. "Bonoome will crush you! No matter what it takes!"

As Dan's feet fell to the ground, Bonoome's hand reached out and grabbed them. He roared in triumph, every muscle in his exhausted body aching, as he slowly lifted Dan off of the ground, feetfirst.

"I've got-", Bonoome said, and cleared his throat. He figured that now was the best time to reintroduce his wrestling persona. "Bonoome's got you now! There's no escape!"

He turned his head toward the crowd, who were mostly now hiding behind the ruins of the arena. It had been destroyed by the various shockwaves. "Because the name's! Bonoome! And it rhymes! With-"

"Hey!", shouted Dan, with full lungs. Bonoome's head instinctively snapped around, to see Dan's hand full of golden light. "You suck!"

Bonoome's eyes widened, and he tried to shelter his face with his arm. But he tried to lift the one that was holding Dan, so it didn't work.

Dan shouted in raw justice, and let loose his power. "Overdrive!"

The burst of golden Star exploded right in Bonoome's face, covering him in a cloud of white smoke. The watching crowd gasped, as did Jimmy's crew. Although Dan could not see them, everyone in Oticat's castle was glued to the screen, barely even breathing for fear of messing something up.

Bonoome fell backwards onto the dirt, his limbs going limp. The smoke still covered his face, obscuring whatever had happened from the watching everyone. Dan fell as well, although he was able to rise to his feet. "Ha. Take that… you… stupid…"

Then his eyes closed, and Dan fell forward onto the stony ground.

"My Se'th…", Jimmy breathed, almost dropping the microphone. "He might have just taken Bonoome's head off!"

"Come on, come on…", said Spacekrakenx, digging through the giant storage containers outside of the Spell Factory. "Where is it…"

He opened a particularly large one, and his eyes lit up with joy. "Ah!"

He grabbed the potion inside, and turned back towards the fight. "This will help them for sure."

Sophia leaned forward, checking the body of Bonoome for any sign of movement. She thought she could see the tips of his fingers beginning to turn into Elixir-

But no. There it was. His hands, somehow, against all odds, began to move.

Bonoome slowly rose from the ground, the white smoke dissipating to reveal a truly monstrous visage. Most of his skin had been melted away by the blast, revealing a face of mere bone and muscle. When he grinned, blood and melted skin dripped away from his teeth.

"Bonoome…", he hissed, his vocal cords nearly destroyed. "_Is_ death. Bonoome… _is_ the end."

One of his arms began to swell, the muscles growing to a monstrous size. He lifted it up, with intent for a killing blow. "Bonoome… _will kill you."_

Dan opened his eyes, and stared at despair at Bonoome's enormous figure. Despite everything that had been done to him, he was somehow still alive. He was alive, and Brandy was gone.

"I'm… sorry.", Dan choked out, closing his eyes again. "I'm-"

Then, Dan heard a peculiar sound. Bonoome, judging from the way he turned to the sky, heard it too. It was quite high pitched, and seemed to be coming from very high above.

"What?", Bonoome mumbled, the bright sun burning his exposed flesh. "What the-"

Then Dan saw it. A small figure, falling from above, silver Dash surrounding her as she plummeted. His eyes lit up with hope, even as they quivered. "Brandy?"

Brandy fell at terminal velocity through the air, tumbling head over heels in the slicing wind. Her hair blew wildly around her face, and her cloak was tangled up in her arms and legs. Her Dash protected her from any damage, as she could slowly begin to see Spacekrakenx's Village again. Once she had started falling, she had activated it- although she was not sure how long she could keep it up. Hopefully long enough to land a really good hit on Bonoome.

She screamed a ferocious war cry as she went, although most of it was lost to the wind. She was still tumbling, although somehow managing to focus herself into a more stable shape. As the 1000 feet above the ground mark hit, she straightened herself out into a line, one fist extended at the very front.

"Hey, frick!", she shouted at the ground, although Bonoome couldn't hear her. She slowly felt her Dash begin to fade, but it would hold long enough for her to reach the ground.

She was now only 200 feet above Bonoome's head, and falling fast. She closed her eyes, clenched her fist even tighter, and whispered a single word. "Sup."

Only then did Bonoome's brain begin to kick into gear, and he crossed his arms in front of his face. But by then it was too late- Brandy had already collided with him, in the devastating explosion of a top-yield missile.

The shockwave ripped out across the already devastated village, going over the walls and into the complex itself. Trees bent, and some broke. The last, stubborn grass of the village finally ripped away, and the makeshift arena collapsed in on itself, brick and cardboard falling to pieces side by side. Goblins and Barbarians flew out of the village's borders, from some unknown source. The flash of white energy slammed into the camera that Jimmy and his crew were using to film, with a worrying snap. The camera heated up from the force, and then exploded right in Larry's hands with an even more worrying crash.

Once the white light cleared, Bonoome lay on the ground unmoving. The skin on his back had been burned off as well, leaving him with an almost Zombie-like appearance. Smoke rose off the ground, from fires that had broken out randomly. Dan still lay on the ground as well, but Brandy stood over him. She offered him her hand, although she knew she would never be able to pull him up.

"Hey honey.", she said, with a smile as casual as she could offer. "Need some help?"

Everyone at Oticat's castle could hardly even believe their eyes. They had just seen Brandy fall out of the sky, flatten Bonoome, and emerge from a gargantuan explosion virtually unharmed. The buckling ocean of emotions they had all been going through had nearly reached a fever point, and several members of the audience just fainted dead away.

"Holy Se'th.", Sadie whispered. "She's alive. Brandy just survived."

"And it looks like that Giant's down for good this time.", said Webert, stroking his chin thoughtfully. "No offense, Thad."

Thad, a nearby Giant, looked down, then back up with an expression of boredom. "Uh, none taken."

Brenda just stared forward, trying as hard as she could to see Brandy, tiny as she was on the screen. She looked different somehow, different from when she had seen her leave on the boat. "Phantom!", she whispered, and the glowing, ethereal figure of her Stand appeared floating over her head. "Tell me what's different about Brandy."

The Phantom gave a single solemn nod, and closed his eyes. He stretched out his mental presence as far as it could possibly go, tasting bits of Brandy's essence on some magical wind. Then his eyes snapped open, and he instantly transmitted the information about Brandy that he had found.

Brenda breathed in, and let her mouth fall open. "Oh, my Se'th.", she said.

Dan looked up, and gave a weak grin. "Hey, my thief.", he groaned, and tried to get up. "Oooh…"

Brandy threw out her hands, trying to signal him from moving. "Woah, woah, hey. Don't get up. You're fine. Bonoome's-"

"Not dead yet.", Dan grunted, one eye still closed. "See, look. He's not Elixir..."

Brandy turned around, and saw that he was right. Bonoome, massively damaged as though he was, had still somehow managed to cling on to life. Brandy grit her teeth. He needed to be finished off.

"Right…", she said, and held out her hand. She slowly began to gather Dash energy into it, preparing for the final killing blow. "Let's change that, shall we?"

Blue light streamed from her hand, as she slowly stepped onto Bonoome's head. She could feel his muscles twitch beneath her, and knew that she only had a few seconds at most to finish the job. She drew back her hand, preparing to swipe through his neck and sever his brain stem. It didn't matter how durable he was, he couldn't survive that. Not unless-

A shadow fell over her. Brandy stopped, looked up, and almost yelled. There was a huge bottle of something flying towards her, about as large as she was.

"What the-", she spat, and Dashed backwards out of the range of impact. The bottle broke all over Bonoome, spilling a giant circle of yellow energy out for dozens of feet in all directions. It washed over Dan, the cuts and bruises on his arm and face healing up almost instantly. It sloshed against Brandy's legs, her exhausted muscles suddenly returning to new.

However, the gigantic, Clansgrade Heal spell also covered the entirety of Bonoome. And as the skin on his back began to regrow, Brandy began to get very, very, angry. Not only at whoever had thrown the Heal spell, for messing everything up, but also at Bonoome for even surviving this long. Also a little bit at herself, for talking instead of just finishing the job sooner.

As Brandy watched in horror and frustration, the titanic form of Bonoome slowly rose off of the ground and to his full height of 26 and a half feet. His torn flesh and roasted skin warped back to normal, the golden glow of the Heal still running across him. A broken wrist snapped back into place, and his missing teeth regrew. As the last of the ill-played spell faded from the ground and air, Bonoome's mohawk shot forth once again from his now smooth head.

"Well.", he laughed, taking a look at his restored hands. "I think whoever threw that Heal spell should really be given my thanks."

He chanced a look to the side, in the direction of the Village- and saw Spacekrakenx, hands still out in the air, a look of utter fear and embarrassment on his face. He squeaked.

"Yo!", shouted Dan, and Brandy gave him a ferocious, angry scowl. "What the frick, man?"  
"I'm sorry!", Spacekrakenx yelled, and began looking for the right direction to run. "I didn't mean to do that! I didn't know it would heal up Bonoome!"

"Well, it did-", began Dan, but Bonoome finished his sentence. "And thank goodness for that!"

Bonoome slammed his hands together, and gave an evil grin. "Now, let's get back to pummeling both of you in the ground- shall we?"

Brandy leaned back, and took a stance. She looked up at Dan, and they both nodded. "We can take this guy, Dan."

Dan took a stance of his own, as well as a deep breath. Rich gold light flowed around his arms and chest, accented with flashing blue lines around his waist and legs. "Right."

"Oh no.", said Bonoome, with a shake of his head. "Oh no no no. Because you two- are going down! You know why?"

Brandy stuck out her finger. "Because the name's Bonoome, it rhymes with doom, and you're gonna be hurting, all too soon! Right?"

"Beca-", Bonoome began, then realized what Brandy had just said. He stood there for a second, his mouth agape, then snarled. "How the-"

"I'm a Bandit. I steal things.", said Brandy with a shrug, still not moving out of her stance. "And I just stole your catchphrase."

Bonoome growled again, and began to charge forward. "Well then, die!"

Song: Dream Tag Team Match

With a battle cry of pure fury, Brandy Dashed forward into the air. Dan startled a bit, then ran after her. "Brandy, wait!"

Bonoome stomped forward, tearing holes in the ground with every weighted step. He was mad now, not even caring what he looked like. Brandy's prediction of his catchphrase had touched a very deep nerve. "Bonoome's gonna kill you!"

"You said that already!", Brandy yelled, and suddenly lost altitude. She hit the ground, still Dashing, sliding along it in a plume of dirt. She sliced her club against Bonoome's ankle as he thundered overhead, hoping to inflict at least annoying damage. "Get new lines!"

Bonoome turned his head as he saw Brandy pass, and reached his arms down to grab her. But even as he did so, Dan's Star-infused elbow slammed into Bonoome's jaw with a satisfying crack and a mighty "ORA!"

Bonoome's eyes narrowed with rage, and he turned his head again to deal with this new threat. He reached out his hands, determined to grab Dan by the throat- when he suddenly felt part of his leg just sort of disappear. He bellowed in pain again, and swept his gaze downwards to see what had happened.

Brandy had not let go of her Dash energy- rather, she had just decided to use it somewhere else. She had swiped her hand directly through the back of Bonoome's thigh, swiping away part of his body onto the ground. "Ha!"

Bonoome, however, tried not to be phased. He threw his hands forward, blocking another one of Dan's blows. He lashed out with his non-slashed leg randomly behind him, trying to kick Brandy. "Bonoome's gonna crush you!", he shouted, rage turning his face a deep reddish purple. "Bonoome… is… the strongest there is!"

Brandy just smirked, and swung her bat in a circle. She scouted out Bonoome's ankles for weak points, ready to stab. She cast her gaze across his feet- there. There, right underneath his sandal strap, was a part that looked particularly tender. She kicked off the ground, did a double flip forwards, and stabbed her club right into the red spot.

Bonoome growled, and the pupils in his eyes began to fade. He gave up trying to block Dan, and twisted all the way around, trying all he could to stop Brandy from annoying him any further.

He bent down, and slammed his fists into the ground. The dirt buckled under the impact, throwing Brandy up into the air. She fumbled with her club, but managed not to drop it.

Bonoome leapt forward, his mouth wide open. If he couldn't catch Brandy with his hands, maybe he could do it with his teeth.

But that hope was dashed, as Brandy Dashed away in midair. Dan's fists, combined together in a double overhead, came right onto the top of Bonoome's skull, slamming him to the ground.

Bonoome snarled in utter frustration, and dug his hands into the ground. He threw himself upwards, landing shakedly on his feet. He stared at the two with bloodshot eyes, Brandy flipping back onto Dan's arm.

"That…", he snarled, shaking with barely contained fury. "Is it! Bonoome… Destroyer…"

He opened his mouth wide, and purple energy began to build within it, fueled by his undiluted rage. The air seemed to boil around it, as the beam built.

Dan quickly gathered up some energy in his own hands, but knew there was no point. The beam was more powerful than anything he could conjure up in so short of a time.

"Brandy, duck!", he yelled, before remembering that Brandy was still hanging from his arm. So he ducked himself, a half second before the beam flew overhead.

"GUN!", Bonoome finished, as he released the force. The Bonoome Destroyer Gun blasted over Dan's head, sizzling a bit of his hair, and right into the Village. It crashed through a line of buildings, shredding them all to bits and bricks, before continuing into the trees and exploding upon a nearby mountain.

"Ha!", shouted Brandy, once she checked no part of her was on fire from the heat the beam had cast. "You call that a beam attack?"

"Brandy, it's not a good idea to antagonize him any further.", Dan said, as he began to spin some energy around in his hand. "Look how angry he is already."

Brandy shrugged and closed one eye, calculating her next move. "Why not? He's just so easy to make fun of. Besides, it does make him less precise."

Dan looked up at Bonoome, who was currently foaming at the mouth. "Yeah, I guess."

Bonoome roared, unable at this point to even form words. He thrust his hands into the ground, and grabbed a massive boulder. "Grehahaaa!"

"Rotation…", Dan said, and plunged his own hand underground. He pumped as much Rotation into the ground as he could, bringing up vast quantities of mud and clay. "Burst!"

Brandy jumped off of his arm, and sped along the ground. She had seen an excellent target, exactly where Bonoome was most vulnerable. "Heh."

Bonoome yelled some ancient battle cry, and threw his rock forward. Dan roared as well, and fired his Rotation Burst. Brandy just kept running, and prepared to Dash.

A huge torrent of dirt and mud blasted up out of the ground, flew over Dan's head, and was immediately redirected towards Bonoome. It blew past his rock, and kept on going, splattering all over his face.

Bonoome, barely even able to think, started to claw at his face. He slashed off the mud in huge quantities, but more kept coming, accelerated to deadly speeds by Dan's Rotation.

Bonoome started to stumble backwards, the dirt still slamming into his face at high speed- when he felt something plunge deep into a very sensitive part of his body. He stopped roaring, only emitting a very high pitched, unplaceable sound.

Brandy dropped from where she had been hanging, having stabbed a sharp chunk of rock she had found directly into Bonoome's crotch. Judging from his reaction, it had hit the right place.

"Graaaahhh…", Bonoome groaned, and fell to the ground. Dan's Rotation Burst halted, as its target collapsed. Bonoome's face planted sideways into the dirt, sending up a spray of mud, wetted by all the blood.

Brandy skidded up to Dan, and stopped. She stared at where Bonoome had fallen- he didn't appear to be moving. His face stared blankly ahead, towards where the village was.

"He's… not moving.", said Brandy. "And he's not saying anything, either."  
"Well, you did hit him in quite the sensitive spot.", Dan said. "Even I winced."

But as they talked, Bonoome was still conscious. His eyes slowly blurred back into focus, and he could just barely see, at the very edge of his detailed sight, his crowd of adoring fans.

He could see them as they cheered, screaming for him to get up. He could see the worry present upon their faces, refusing to believe that their invincible champion could lose. He could see them yell and cheer for him, the mighty Gladiator Giant, the one and only Bonoome.

Gradually, sense and reason began to trickle their way back into his beastly mind. He blinked, now able to see more clearly. "My… fans…"

He narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists. A deep purple aura burned around him, as he pushed himself to his feet, and stood. The crowd exploded into cheers.

"We love you Bonoome!", shouted a Villager.

"Don't give up!", screamed a Witch, then silently motioned to her sisters. One by one, they slowly filed out of the arena, and began a slow walk towards Bonoome's battleground.

Bonoome closed his eyes, then thrust his fists into the air. "Because the name's! Bonoome!"

He spun around on one foot, pumping himself up even more than the crowd. "And it rhymes! With doom!"

He stopped spinning, and slammed one knee into the ground. "And you're gonna be hurtin! All! Too!"

He completed his maneuver of posing by striking one arm in front of his knee and face, ending in a ferocious dab. "Sooooon!"

Brandy looked up at Dan, who's hands started to instinctively sparkle. "Dan!", she shouted. "Let's try that attack we practiced last week!"

Dan raised an eyebrow, and they both jumped back to get some space. "The one where we-"

"Yes!", shouted Brandy, and crouched down. "Nothing else seems to get him down!"

Bonoome raised both his fists above his head, and slammed them down onto the ground. "Bonoome… Destructo… Wave!"

A pink wave of cutting energy sliced outwards from the impact point, jutting up from the crack. Brandy dodged out of the way as it flew past her, using the opportunity to sneak and roll behind Bonoome. But Dan wasn't so lucky- he knew he had to stay. So he had no choice but to take the hit, as it sliced open a thin cut in his chin.

"Take this, Bonoome!", Dan roared, and gathered up some energy of his own in his right palm. "Our duel, combined attack!"

The energy in his hand shaped itself into a sphere, and he threw it forward. "Mirrorcross Overdrive!"

The attack streaked forward at high speed, crackling with energy, and Bonoome jerked his head to one side. He also lifted his leg, because Dan had aimed it at the ground. It continued onwards, with no effect.

"Ha!", Bonoome shouted, and put his hands on his hips. "Was that supposed to-"

He was going to say "supposed to hurt", but he suddenly felt a massive heat build up from behind him. He twisted his arm to the right again, and saw the Mirrorcross Overdrive once again flash by.

"What?", he shouted, and turned his head around. There stood Brandy, feet firmly planted, one hand out- having reflected the attack.

"Every time it gets reflected, it grows more powerful!", Dan yelled, as the attack once again returned to his hand. "If you dodge it, it gets stronger! If you don't, well…"

He threw the orb again, and Bonoome instinctively dodged. He cursed himself inwardly, knowing that it was probably better to just take the hit now and be done with it.

"You die!", Brandy yelled, as she finished the sentence. She put her hands against the incoming orb and spun around, reflecting the power back at Dan. "What's it gonna be?"

Bonoome knew he had no choice. He stretched out his hand to take it- but to his surprise, Brandy had anticipated the move. The blast went far under his arm, almost upon the ground. Dan scooped it up with his leg, rolling it all the way to his shoulders, and thrust out his arm to fire it again.

"We've coded it to your body signature!", Dan yelled. "It will only explode upon contact with you!"

Bonoome jumped, trying to grab the ball, but Dan flicked his fingers. The Mirrorcross Overdrive swung underneath Bonoome's grasp by Dan's guide, and headed straight for Brandy.

"Is it worth it to just attack?", Brandy shouted, and flipped herself over. She kicked the sphere on its side, rolling it over Bonoome's thigh and once again out of his reach. "Because the moment you stop all that dodging you're doing-"

Dan flicked out his finger, and the energy rolled up his arm. He bounced it off of his head, and it arced far over Bonoome. "It hits!"

"Can you take that much energy, Bonoome?", Brandy grunted, as she flung the ball back at Dan. "Can even you take that much power?"

As the blast flew underneath his arm, Bonoome did some quick calculations. It had gotten ever faster and ever larger since the first throw, going from the size of a cantaloupe to the size of a huge beach ball. It had grown in brightness as well, going from a dim light to almost blinding.

"What'll you do, huh?", bellowed Dan, as he bounced it off of his elbow and knee. "Will you take the blast, before it grows any stronger? Or will you just keep on dodging like you're doing, and pray it doesn't hit you?"

Bonoome grimaced, and tried to grab for the ball again. But it flew just barely out of his reach, and Brandy was once again able to kick it underneath and between his legs. "Trying to touch it, huh? I wouldn't do that if I were you."

"No.", said Dan, as he spun the ball around on one finger, then threw it back. "By this point, it's far too powerful!"

Bonoome took one more careful look, and realized Dan was right. It was too strong at this point. If it hit him, Bonoome would be finished. He would just have to keep on dodging, hoping that he could figure something out. He would. He was, after all, the great and only Bonoome.

"Are you getting tired yet?", Brandy yelled, and spun it around on her back. She left a trail of Dash energy on the orb, further adding to its already immense strength. "I hope not!"

Dan spun his fingers around the ball as it passed by him, adding on a heaping dose of Rotation. The ball now swiftly phased between pink and blue, a crackling storm of raw power arcing around it. "Because look out, here comes some more!"

Dan and Brandy continued to throw the ball between them, each pass adding more and more explosive might. Bonoome gave up trying to catch it, and resorted to mere dodges. Every time it passed him, he could feel the heat from the blast increase. Every time he just barely managed to yank away his head, he could feel it getting more and more deadly. And every time he jumped onto one foot or stood on his hand to escape, he could feel the inescapable might of the Mirrorcross Overdrive grow even stronger.

"No!", Bonoome finally shouted, and snarled. "Bonoome will not have this!"

Brandy spun the blast around, grunting from the exertion. "Dan!", she shouted. "I can't do this much more! I think we should just-"

But Bonoome did not hear. He merely lunged forward, fist clenched so tight it was beginning to draw blood. He figured that if he took out one of them, the attack could no longer charge. "Bonoome's got you now, you little-"

Then he felt a powerful heat on his back. He stopped and turned around, to see the fully charged Mirrorcross Overdrive right in front of his face. There was no way to stop it.

"Oh, frick-", he said, just before the immense might of the double attack detonated directly upon him, in a dazzling display of lights, colors, and sound that could be heard and seen for miles.

Bonoome screamed in pain and terror, as the blast enveloped him. What little remained of his upper body armor was torn totally asunder, and cast upon the wind. His mohawk was ripped to shreds, it too vaporized in the overwhelming power of the blast. Brandy and Dan both rolled away, as a titanic shockwave of absolute force thundered outwards in an omnidirectional jet of destruction that swept throughout the entire village, temporarily blinding and deafening everyone that was there to hear and see it. The only ones to escape this fate was a small group of Witches, but they had been hiding behind a rather large rock.

Once the smoke cleared, everyone could hardly even believe their eyes. Bonoome lay in a massive crater, smoke still rising off of him. The hope of the audience soared, as his body was still intact- but then fell again, as they saw the edges of his limbs beginning to turn to Elixir.

Jimmy dizzily rose from a crater of his own, and gestured to Larry. The camera was broken, but they were still going to watch. "Larry, I… I think he's dead. I think they did it!"

He thrust his microphone into the air, and shouted in triumph and relief. "Ladies and gentlemen, Bonoome is dead!"

Brandy and Dan both fell to the ground, totally exhausted. They could see the sky overhead, as the smoke slowly cleared. They could see the three stars appear over the village, with a blast of ethereal trumpets that signaled both total victory, and total defeat.

"Heh.", said Brandy weakly, as she pointed at the sight. "Would you look at that."

"Huh.", said Dan, not even opening his eyes. "That's not something you see everyday. Three starring your own village."

"How d'you know so much about it?", Brandy asked, slurring her words. "Are you smart or something?"

Dan reached out blindly, trying to rub Brandy's head with his fingers, but instead just pushed her over onto her side. "You know I am, honey. You know I-"

He stopped, and opened his eyes. "Hold on. Do I hear… singing?"

Brandy tilted her head to listen, the sound reaching her sensitive ears. "Huh.", she mumbled. "Yeah, it does sound like chanting…"

She looked up, and her heart caught in her throat. She could see a circle of Witches all standing around Bonoome's crater, engaged in some sort of ancient dark ritual.

"Hey- hey!", she yelled, gesturing with her hand to try and shoo them away, but of course none of them responded. "Get away from there! He's already dead!"

The rightmost Witch turned to her, and Brandy felt a chill run down her spine.

"Oh no, he's not.", the Witch mused, with pure black eyes. "Not for long."

She turned back to the rest of the group, who held up their hands in triumph.

"Sisters!", she shouted. "Lord Bonoome shall never die!"

The Witch next to her continued the verse and chant. "Through our efforts, his death has been halted!"

"And now,"continued a third Witch. "Our great Emperor Bonoome does rise again!"

A vast flood of black energy shot out from the would-be tomb, and Brandy cried out. But it was too late- a vast, muscular arm gripped the side of the dirt.

"Behold!", the lead Witch shouted, and gave a mad cackle. "He lives!"

"No!", Brandy yelled, struggling to rise. "Are you kidding me?"

She clenched her fist and ground her teeth in anger, as the mighty figure of the restored Bonoome rose from the pit. He seemed even taller and more powerful now, his entire body crackling with black energy. His eyes glowed a sinister crimson, and his mouth was pulled back in a hideous grin. "Can't you ever just die?"

Bonoome laughed, the sound like claws against stone. "Of course not!", he bellowed, and spread his arms out open wide. "For I am Bonoome! I've haunted this land for thousands of years, and I always will!"

He cast a disapproving look down at Dan and Brandy, who were still exhausted upon the ground. "Of course, since you have given me such a good fight…"

He plunged both hands into the ground, and gave a long, loud, impossibly deep roar. "I'm going to finish this with a bang! Feel the wrath of the one, the only…"

Jimmy stopped jumping up and down with joy, and instead started looking back towards the woods. "Larry-"

But Larry was already running. After thinking for exactly .5 seconds, Jimmy decided that he should too. "Wait for me!"

Oticat slowly breathed in, trying to keep his breathing steady, watching from Spacekrakenx's personal cameradrone. But it was an impossible task. Next to him, Chloe had already begun to cry, her fragile mind overwhelmed by the sheer terror of what she was watching. "Daddy?", she asked Oticat, with trembling eyes and trembling lips. "Are Dan and Brandy gonna die?"

Oticat put his hands to his nose, not wanting to say anything. But he knew he had to- he was their King. "I don't know.", he whispered. "But I sure hope not."

"Bonoome…", Bonoome shouted with triumph, and a crackling dark aura began to build huge around him. "Ultra… Miracle… Fighting…"

Brandy looked back to Dan, who grit his teeth in frustration. "I'm… sorry, Brandy.", he said. "I can't… do anything."

"No, Dan.", said Brandy. She put a hand on his face, and managed one last smile. "You did alright."

"Infinite…", Bonoome continued. "All-Encompassing-"

Then something far behind him caught Brandy's eye. It seemed to be a streak of silver and green that shot out from a nearby mountain, approaching the Village with astonishing speed.

But she didn't think she would have time to know what it was.

"Super Exploooosion!", Bonoome yelled, and stood up. "Sorry, but you never stood a chance! You know why?"

Brandy stared up at him, blood dripping down her forehead, and a furious glint in her eye. She kept on trying to think of a way to get out of this situation, but there was none. She got angrier and angrier, until the very back of her heel gave off a single silver spark.

"Because the name's!", shouted Bonoome, and posed. His attack was ready to unleash- he just wanted to rub it in a little more before he did so. "Bonoome! And it rhymes! With doom! And yoooou're gonna be hurtin! All! Too-"

There was a flash of silver light, and the world went white. Then it came back on again, with a total, eerie, lack of sound. Brandy took a look up- and gasped in total shock.

Bonoome stood stock still- or at least half of him did, anyway. The other half had been completely blown away, by whatever had just appeared. He stood for another second in sheer, agonizing pain, his attack totally gone. Then as one last "Soon" escaped his lips, Bonoome the Gladiator Giant fell to the ground and broke apart into a purple river, decisively dead at last.

Brandy stood there in awe, as a tall figure stepped out from behind the column of smoke. She looked to be a Bandit- but different. She was much taller, and seemed to be far older than Brandy was. She shimmered with pure gold dust, leaving trails behind at every step.

"Good evening, Brandy.", she said with perfect pronunciation, little like Brandy's typically rushed speech, and suddenly appeared right in front of her. "I believe you have something of mine."

"Wha…", Brandy croaked, unable to form real words. "What?"

The Bandit brought up her hand, and Brandy's platinum mask charm she had stolen a few days ago appeared in her fingers. "Ah, yes. I was wondering where that had gone."  
"Wha- wait!", Brandy said, grasping at air. "Who- what- who are you?"

The Bandit smiled, and tucked her hair behind her ears. "Why, my child. Don't you recognize me?"

At the mention of "my child", Brandy's ears perked up. "Mom?", she asked, in a wild guess.

The Bandit laughed, and shook her head. "No. I'm not your mother."

"Then… who are you?", Brandy asked. "Who?"

The Bandit just winked, and threw up her shoulders. "Why, I'm Juno.", she said. "I'm, well… The Bandit."


	15. Chapter 14

"My, my…", said Juno, looking upon Brandy's shocked face. "That certainly had an effect, didn't it?"

Brandy just stood there, one finger softly twitching, barely even able to comprehend the sight in front of her. "J…", she somehow managed to squeak out, then shook her head. "Juno?"

"That is what I said, yes.", Juno said, and flicked her finger towards the circle of Witches. "Hey! You all!"

She jerked a thumb towards Brandy, still in shock, and Dan, still asleep. "These two need their cash prize."

The lead Witch staggered back a bit, unable to speak. One of her sisters nervously stepped forward, and raised an apologetic palm. "Yes, er, about that…"

"What?", asked Juno, Dashing faster than the eye could see right in front of the terrified Witch. The wind blew around her as she flashed through unknown space, blowing back Bonoome's Elixir upon the wind. "What is it?"

"We uh, well…", said the Witch, and closed her eyes. "We never thought Bonoome would actually be defeated. So…"

"So what?", Brandy asked, trying to be confident, as she Dashed up right next to Juno. She was silently freaking out a little bit, as would be expected whenever any Troop was to meet their Primal. "What about it?"

Juno looked at Brandy, who cowered a little bit. But Juno's smile was warm, and Brandy felt herself automatically relax.

"We kind of sort of don't have a cash prize of 10000000 Gold.", finished the Witch. "Sorry about that-"

But her words were cut off, as she suddenly found herself without a body. She screamed in pain, but was soon silenced by another of Juno's blows. Oddly enough, she did not splash into Elixir like normal- rather, she simply vanished, without a single trace.

"Hmph.", Juno huffed, crossing her arms and whispering to herself. "Little spellhoarder. I'd love to get my hands on a score that big…"

Her eyes still glittered at the thought of such treasure. Because despite her status as a legendary, immortal superbeing, Juno was at heart still a Bandit.

Then she brightened up her smile, and turned to Brandy. "So.", she said, flashing a grin. "That was quite a show you two put on against him."

"Really?", Brandy asked, her eyes shining with awe. "You think so?"

"Yes!", said Juno. "You did beat him, by the way. That resurrection of his didn't count. And at those levels, too- only 21 and 35!"

Then she blinked, and looked a little harder. "Seems like they upped the level cap, eh?"

Brandy's eyes nearly bugged out of her skull. "Wait, what? Did you just say-"

Dan finally woke up again, and lifted up his head to hear Brandy screaming. _"21 and 35?"_

"What?", he groaned, trying to lift himself to his feet. "What the-"

Juno frowned, seeing the damaged state he was in. She flicked her fingers upwards, and Dan instantly rose to his feet. A silver light briefly flashed around him, and his wounds knit closed almost immediately. "What the-", he said, then looked up. "Oh, hey Juno."

Then what he was seeing actually reached his brain, and he jumped up into the air in shock. He instantly dropped to his knees with force that would crush a small building, and closed his eyes in respect. "Juno-_sensai!"_

Juno saw Dan drop to his knees, and put her hand to her mouth. She laughed a little bit, then waved her fingers. "There's no need for that, student. We're not in any training ground out here."

"Oh.", said Dan, and awkwardly rose to his feet. "Right."

"Dan?", Brandy said in shock. "You know her?"

"Know here?", Dan asked. "Brandy, Juno was one of the ones who taught me Star at that camp!"

Brandy opened her mouth to say something, but didn't know what to say. Then she remembered with a start, and turned again to face Juno.

"Uh, you said something about us being levels 21 and 35.", Brandy said. "What uh.. What did you mean by that? Exactly?"

"Well.", said Juno, and blinked. A certain vision came over her eyes, one that scanned and tracked the strength of everyone she laid eyes upon. "I, being a Primal, can tell one's levels regardless of location. You, Brandy, are level 21, and Dan is level 35."

"But…", Brandy said, and Dan finished it. "We're not."

"We're both only level 10…", they said together, in total confusion.

"Really?", said Juno, with a raise of her mask. "Because I don't think any level 10 Troop could ever pull off what you two were doing back there."

Dan and Brandy looked at each other, then looked to the total wreckage of the entire area. Every tree within hundreds of feet had been turned into a Gem. The entire village still lay in a mostly destroyed state, although the buildings were slowly regenerating. Smoke rose from dozens of small random fires that had broken out on what remained of the torn up ground, and the wreckage of what had once been the makeshift arena now lay outside the Village walls, totally abandoned. Once Bonoome had gone down, his Parade had scattered into the woods, leaving behind nothing but garbage, a souped-up donation cart drawn by a Hog, and the arena. Then the Hog finished chewing through its ropes, snuffled, and ran away into the woods.

"Yeah.", said Dan, watching Sophie and a team of Builders try and put out the fires.

Brandy winced, as another Barracks collapsed just as it had finished regenerating. "I guess we did."

"And they didn't even bother to give you your cash prize.", Juno said, shaking her head. She gave a low whistle of disappointment. "How sad."  
Then she slowly turned around, her face darkening, to face Brandy, who took a step back in mild fear. "And you…"

All three of them stood there for a second, before Juno spread her arms and burst forth into a wild grin. "You are on fire, thief! Seriously, that was totally amazing!"

Song: Silver Twist

Brandy's face tightened a little bit from such praise, and she took a step backwards. "Wait, really?"

"Yes!", said Juno. "Did you not see yourself?"

Brandy waved her hand in front of her face, trying to play it off. She wasn't sure why. "No, no…"

"You saw it when you just Dashed a chunk out of his leg, right?", Juno said, with a raised eyebrow. "That- that was cool."

"Not that cool.", Brandy said. "I bet you could have done it too."

"Well, of course I could have.", said Juno. "I am, after all, the Primal Bandit. But hey."

She reached out and flipped down Brandy's hood, rustling her hand through her hair. "You're pretty good yourself, kid."

Brandy looked at the ground, then back up at Juno. "So uh…"

She eyed the charm that Juno had taken. "What was all that about?"

Juno looked at the charm, and grinned. "Oh, this is just a little something I crafted about a few dozen years ago. I was wondering where it had gotten off to…"

Faster than Brandy could blink, she slapped it onto her own face. There was a flash of bizarre light, and Juno's mask became an ivory sheen. The mask on the charm was replaced with one of simple black cloth, seeming to have almost been switched.

"Good thing I came along when I did, eh?", she laughed, looking out over the wreckage. "It looked like you guys weren't really doing so well."

Dan stiffened a little bit. "Hey! We were totally doing well. He just pulled something out of his rear end, is all."

Juno sniffed, and looked behind her. The village was beginning to restore to full, the very last of the flattened walls slowly uncrumbling. Far off at the very edge, she could see Herb and Sophia tending to the wounded. The last of Bonoome's Troops had finally vanished, even the Witches, a single trailing Skeleton fleeing into the woods. "Anyway…"

She turned back to Dan and Brandy. "You don't seem normal, Mega Knight. In fact, there's something rather…"

She leaned in, and grabbed his face. "Peculiar about you."

"Woah, hey-", Brandy said, but managed to restrain herself. Juno was far above her, both in power and in ranking. It would not be wise to go against her, for any reason.

"Hmm, yes.", Juno mumbled, then let go of Dan. She stood up again, and leaned against a sudden tree. "I was suspecting that. Jonathan did something to you."

"Why, yes he did.", Dan said. "He said he unlocked my power."

"Oh, did he?", said Juno. "Well. I guess he's finally getting ready again."

"Ready?", Dan asked. "Ready for what?"

Juno just shrugged. "I don't know. Who knows what goes on in that Knightly brain of his…"

She stared into the air for a moment, watching a leaf fall from a tree a dozen miles away. She could see it in perfect detail, every nook and cranny upon its side.

Then she brought her extreme vision back to the foreground. "But anyway."

She suddenly grabbed Brandy by the back, and spun her around. "Jonathan's teaching your man. How about I teach you a little something?"

Brandy was about to yell from suddenly being grabbed, but that faded away when she heard Juno's proposal. "Wait… really? You mean like actually teach me?"

"Sure.", Juno said. "I mean, I got a few minutes before Fallon arrives. So why not?"

"Fallon?", Brandy asked, then she saw Juno give her The Look. "Oh, I mean, yeah. Let's train."

"Honey, wait.", Dan said, raising an arm with a step forward. "Should you be-"

"Dan?", Brandy asked. "What are you worrying about?"

Dan stopped, and thought. "Nothing, I guess. You're fine."

Yet secretly, he was worried. He didn't know about what, only that a deep seated worry pulsed through his golden heart.

Juno straightened up, and Brandy did so as well. "I saw you were taking advantage of your Dash back there. Shielding yourself, using it to scrape, all that jazz."

"Yes…", Brandy said. "Is there something more I can do with it?"

"Oh, lots more.", said Juno, and slowly drew back her hand. "It's best not to think of it as a way to get from place to place that can also be used for different purposes, but as a force within you that you can use for almost anything. See, watch."

With a flick of her hand that was far too fast for Brandy to follow, Juno struck the air. All the sound disappeared for a second, sucked in to Juno's attack. Once it came back on, it did so as a huge rushing that blasted into the ears of everyone there. There was also a pure white beam of energy that flashed through over the village, and sliced deep into a nearby mountain. It shifted slightly and then settled uneasily, now almost 10 feet shorter.

Brandy's jaw dropped open, and she stared at the sight in shock. "Woah…"

Juno winked, and blew the smoke off of her fist. "Pretty cool, huh right? Wait till you see this."

"Wait, weren't you going to-", Brandy said, but she was stopped by Juno's sheer power. Juno crouched down, and concentrated mightily. "This is even cooler."

A low hum started to build, and the air around Juno hummed. "It took me a long time to figure this one out. But trust me-"

Her voice cracked, and she closed her eyes from the sheer effort. _"It was worth it!"_

A small silver aura started to flame up around her. Sparks of white light appeared behind her heels, and her eyes began to shine. "This, kid, is the ultimate potential of a Bandit. This...is…"

"Juno!", came a shout from behind, and Juno suddenly stopped. The silver light surrounding her faded away, and she let out a deep gasp of surprise.

Dan looked up from where he had been standing, and gasped as well. There, floating in midair, was a truly magnificent sight. Fallon the Primal Magic Archer, sitting crossed upon nothing, his bow floating behind his head, arms crossed. "Kanojo to wa nani o shite iru no?"

Juno looked up, and awkwardly grinned. She gave a little wave, suddenly seeming much less regal. "Oh. Uh... hey Dad."

Dan's eyes shot open even further, and he dropped to his knees once again. "Fallon-_sensai!", _he shouted. "It is an honor to see you again!"

"Dan?", Brandy asked. "Did he also train you?"

"Hai.", said Fallon, and slowly dropped down to standing. "Kono shōnen wa Sutā no watashi no seito no hitorideshita."

Brandy looked up to Dan, who just shrugged. "I don't know. I could never understand him either."

Fallon strode over to Juno, who stood up straight, her hands automatically flying to behind her back. "Hey, uh, Dad. I was just running ahead of you, and I found these two, and I thought that-"

Fallon pointed with an arrow. "Senaka no ushiro ni aru no wa Juno-san? Misete!"

Juno startled, and brought her hands up in front of her. They were empty, having snuck the charm into one of her many pockets long ago. "Nothing! See, look. Nothing."

Fallon huffed, and turned to Dan. He pointed with his arrow, and Dan suddenly looked very, very guilty. "Daniel ni oshietekudasai... Naze watashi no chīsana on'nanoko ga kon'nani hayaku koko ni kita nodesu ka?"

"Uuhhh…", Dan said, trying to think of a good answer. He looked to Brandy, who just looked as panicked as he did. He looked up at Fallon's stern gaze, and gulped. "No?"

Fallon knitted his brow, and smacked Dan on the shoulder with his bow. "No? Nanika no? Sā,-goe o kakete kudasai!"

Fallon raised his bow, ready for another smack, when Juno suddenly appeared in between them. She raised her hands to block the blow. "Woah, hey! Dad! He can't understand you!"

Fallon looked down at Dan, with an inscrutable gaze. Juno kept on pushing him back, slowly but surely. "Stop hitting him!"

Fallon looked up again, and turned around. "Ja, hai. Shimasu. Demo, watashi no chīsana on'nanoko, funeninoru kawarini koko de nani o shite ita no ka setsumei shite kurereba."

Juno hit the ground with her open palm, calling up a rock from deep underground with her Dash. She spun around in the air, landing on it with crossed legs. "You might want to sit down."

Fallon looked over his shoulder, and closed his eyes. "Watashi ga kiite iru."

"Well.", Juno said, beginning to gesture madly with her lightning fast fingers. "It all started when…"

As Juno talked to Fallon, despite the seeming language gap, Brandy made her way over to Dan again. He seemed to be sweating, and his breathing looked a bit off.

"Dan?", Brandy asked. "Are… you okay?"

"Yeah.", Dan grunted, rolling over onto his side. "I'm just a little, uh…"

"Dan?", Brandy said again, more urgently. "Dan?"

Then Dan sat up violently, almost throwing Brandy off. "I'm sorry, I'm just a little dizzy. And I'm, well…"

He whispered his next words, so quietly that Brandy could barely even hear them. "I'm afraid."

"Afraid?", Brandy asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Bonoome.", Dan said flatly. "I couldn't beat him."

Brandy sighed, and wound herself around Dan's shoulders. "Dan, we _did _beat him. It was only because of those Witches interfering that Juno had to save us."

"Exactly.", said Dan. "We beat him. Not me, we."

Brandy tilted her head. "Is… that bad?"

Dan paused a moment, struggling for words. "Well, no. I mean- um. Well-"

He sighed in frustration, Star spreading out from him. "You shouldn't have to do anything. I should be able to protect you from everything, without any help."

Brandy blinked, surprised at how straightforward Dan was being. She felt her eyes start to water, and she blinked again. She let herself fall forward across Dan's chest, rubbing herself into his skin. "Oh, Dan…"

She looked up, and stared into his eyes. "You don't have to, though. It's fine. You're alright."

"But I'm your husband.", Dan said. "Your protector. You shouldn't have to fight."

"Yes. Exactly.", Brandy said. "You're my husband. I'm your wife. We're married, and we're a team. That means we work together, no matter what."

Dan sat for a moment, turning these words over in his exhausted mind. Finally, he gave another deep sigh, and moved his hands upwards onto Brandy's back. "You know, I think you're really cute."

Brandy allowed herself to blush, and she closed her eyes. She let Dan's fingers run up her back, underneath the cloth of her tunic. She rubbed her head against Dan's neck, and purred. "And I think you're super hot."

Dan hugged her tighter, and whispered into her ear. "Don't you go anywhere. Okay? Don't you ever die."

"Don't worry, Dan.", Brandy breathed, barely able to control herself from all the things Dan was doing to her. "I won't."

But, of course, she could promise no such thing.

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

"Oi!", shouted Juno, and got up from her rock. It vanished into the ground with a puff of dirt, rocketing down at extreme speeds. "If you two lovebirds are done, I think we might leave now."

Brandy stiffened, and rolled out of Dan's grip. She jumped to her feet, and gestured wildly with her hands, not really knowing what any of her movements meant.

"Don't leave yet!", she shrieked. "I-"

Juno pointed with her finger, and leaned back. "You still have so many questions you want to ask me?"

"Still have so many questions I want to ask you-", Brandy shouted, then stopped. It took a few seconds for her to realize what had just happened- but once she did, she straightened as she stood. "Er, yes."

Juno looked to Fallon, who gave a solemn nod. Juno sat cross legged on the ground, and smoothed down her hair and skirt. "Well then.", she said, and waved her hand. "Ask me anything."

Brandy, not waiting for Dan to get up, instantly Dashed over to Juno's side. She sat down as well, her mind racing with questions.

"Okay.", she said. "So, Bandits and Magic Archers typically adopt a father-daughterish relationship. Is that because of-"

"Yes.", Juno nodded. "It is indeed because of the way Fallon adopted me."

"I see.", Brandy said, and thought harder. "Okay, so where did the Dash come from? How did you learn to use it?"

Juno looked up, and lit a single fingertip up silver. "I could always just do it, I guess. Probably because I absorbed my sister before we were born."  
"Huh.", said Brandy. "That makes sense I guess- _what?"_

She stared at Juno in shock, who looked back at her with a knowing smile. "You- you absorbed your sister? What does that mean?"

"I was an Archer.", said Juno. "Once. But I was born much more powerful. Even though I was strong, however, I emerged from a chest without a sister. My king took one look, and decided that, well… he did not want me. And off he sent me, with hardly even a care, into the woods to fend for myself or die."

Jimmy stared at the sight before him, frantically signing to Larry to turn on the emergency backup camera he still carried somewhere inside his pocket.

_Exclusive candid interview with the Primal Bandit Juno!, _said the news headlines inside his mind. _Top-tier reporter Jimmy Firecracker live on scene!_

"Oh.", Brandy said, seeing a single sparkle appear in Juno's eye. "Then what happened?"

Juno, noticing she had begun to let a single tear start to form, suddenly sat straight up. She forced the tear back inside her eye. Big girls didn't cry, no matter what happened.

"Well, I survived.", she said, with a touch of anger in her voice. "Showed that useless, stupid King what for."

Juno noticed she was beginning to look a bit uncomposed, and so straightened up again. "And soon enough, I met Fallon. He took me in, raised me, and eventually got me my own card in the Arenas."

She folded her arms and stared straight ahead, not wishing to answer any more questions about her difficult past and origins.

"Well, uh…", Brandy said, not quite sure how to continue. "How do you feel about us Bandits as a card right now?"

"Buff.", said Juno flatly. "But not too much of one. Just-"

She stood up, and spread out her hands in anger. "I think it's crap that one of us can get hooked by a Fisherman, _mid-dash. _Like seriously, that's just ridiculous."

"I know!", Brandy shouted. "What is up with that?"

"I'm not asking for much.", Juno said. "Just a little boost to help us out. Sure, we're one of the best Troops already, but it's just a little consistency change. Nothing wrong with that, right?"

"Yeah.", Brandy said. "It would be great to have a buff. Especially with the quest we're going on."

Juno's brow perked up in curiosity. "Quest? You two are going on a quest?"

She suddenly appeared closer to Brandy, Dan moving up from behind. "Tell me about it."

Brandy stiffened at two large figures closing in on her from either side without warning, but didn't really move. "Well, uh…"

"We're going on a quest to save the entire world.", Dan said rather bluntly. "There's a force of some kind that wants to exterminate all life, and a Dragon that wants to save it."

"Hmm.", Juno said, and thought. "Well. That does sound rather important…"

"Yeah.", said Brandy. "And it would actually be absolutely amazing if you could-"

She was about to say _join us, _but Juno interrupted her words. "A Dragon, you said? Well. From your description, it sounds like it's one of the Dragonlords."

"Dragonlords?", Brandy asked. The term sounded maddingly familiar, but she couldn't quite tell from where. "You mean, like-"

Juno nodded. "I do. And sorry if I keep interrupting you, I just speak fast. Dad?"

Fallon looked over his shoulder, away from where he had been speaking in rough English to Dan. "Hai?"

"Could you draw something real quick?", Juno asked. "I need to plan something out."

Fallon huffed, and twirled an arrow around in the air. It left markings of light behind it, which cooled into a hovering whiteboard. He gave one last flick, which turned into a marker.

"Thanks, Dad.", said Juno, and flipped backwards. She landed silently on one foot, picked up the marker, and began to draw.

"Okay.", she said. "So basically, there are 7 Dragonlords. One for each continent, or island chain, or whatever. There's Aiunraur for Royale- he's asleep underneath Pekka's Playhouse, and actually the strongest out of all of them. He's asleep though- did I mention that? There's Chuqalita- I think that was it- for the Rushlands. She's awake, and was actually seen crossing the ocean."

"They don't have to stay in their territories?", Brandy asked. "It seems like they would have to."

Juno shrugged. "Nope. They can come and go as they please."

She turned back to the whiteboard, scribbling furiously. "There's Reshpalatai for Brawltopia, Bonaralman for the Boom Beaches, and Talaq for the Hay Day farms. And then the one for here, the Continent of the Clans, is-"

She stopped, and stood there for a bit, marker in hand. "Shoot, I don't remember his name."

She looked over her shoulder to Fallon, who was busy shooting the tops off of trees with Dan. "Dad, what was the name of the Dragonlord for the Continent of the Clans?"

Fallon turned around, and thought for a moment. "Rakastamos.", he said, and then went back to throwing.

However, due to his heavy accent, of both Finnish and Japanese, Juno had heard something else entirely. So she wrote down Ladakamo on the whiteboard, then stood back to reveal her work. "There.", she said, looking up. "That's all the info we have."

Brandy looked at the diagram, which had been drawn with astonishing speed and detail. It showed a Dragon underneath a volcano, a Dragon flying over a large metal building, a long, snakelike Dragon winding his way through a chain of islands, and a massive, intricate dragon floating over a large city. To the far side was a smaller, friendlier looking Dragon wearing a hat tending to his crops, and in the center was a titanic red Dragon that seemed to boil with unnatural fury. "Those are the Dragons."

"I see.", said Brandy. "So uh… who's Rakastamos then?"

"Rakastamos?", asked Juno. Some faint memory of times long ago tickled at the back of her head, but nothing she could really get a grip on. The first time Rakastamos had risen had been very early in her life, when she was still a new Primal, and she could not remember it clearly. So she just shrugged. "Shoot, I don't know."

"Huh.", said Brandy, then turned to Dan. "Hey, Dan! Come over here!"  
She cracked her knuckles and stepped over to the whiteboard, as Dan slowly lumbered up behind her. "We're gonna make a plan."

Dan looked at the whiteboard without a word, slowly formulating a plan together in his mind. "So.", he said. "Those are the Dragonlords."

"Yes.", said Juno, with a hint of annoyance. "That's… literally what I just said. Pay attention."

Brandy stared at the whiteboard, deep in thought. "So… what if…"

"Yes?", asked Juno. "What is it?"

"Draw a map.", Brandy said. "What if we went around to all the Dragonlords in order, and told them about Rakastamos, and-"

"No.", said Dan, with a shake of his head. "There's not enough time for that. Such a journey would no doubt take months. Would be pretty fun though."

"Woah, ,why are we worrying about time all of a sudden?", Brandy asked, leaning back. "I never heard anything about a time limit."

"Oh right…", said Dan, and held up his other hand. "Guess you didn't see this then."

Brandy looked into Dan's hand, and saw a small black box. It had a small logo carved into the side, seeming to be of a pair of horns. She almost recoiled at its menacing aura. "What is that?"

Dan looked back over at the crater that Bonoome's death had left, which was now beginning to slowly close. "I found it over at his death site. Must have dropped it just before he died. And it is…"

He flipped a small switch- small for him, anyway. To a regular person it would have been quite large. But once he did, the box screamed open, lifted into the air, and displayed a massive hologram upon the air.

It appeared to be of the ruins of an old castle, or perhaps a dark and ancient cave. Two massive, burning eyes shone from far deep within, almost as terrifying and infernal as the voice that followed, scraping at the world with malevolent intent.

"Bonoome…", the voice began, as lines of almost visible fear began to radiate outwards from the box in all directions. "If you are hearing this, you seem to be stuck on your current mission- whatever that may be."

The voice grew darker and more serious, scraping at everyone's brain with sheer, bubbling evil. "Your task is to locate and destroy all who would interrupt me on my quest for greatness, and immortality. Take prisoners if you must, but kill whenever you wish. Just remember, Bonoome. You are the finest of the first team. And you shall not fail I, your master… Rakastamos."

Then the box beeped, spun, dropped the hologram, and fell back into Dan's hand right where it had been hovering. The group was silent for a bit, but Juno was the first to break the lull.

"Frick.", she said. "That sounds… defining."

"Yup.", said Dan. "Guess we have a lead on Rakastamos, though. Whoever, or whatever he is."

"What, indeed.", said Juno, scratching her cheek. "However…"

She ran the image of the hologram through her advanced mind, searching for anything she might use to identify the culprit. After a few seconds, her eyes shot open as she came to a conclusion.  
"Rakastamos is a Dragon.", she said, drawing a small, rather cartoonish drawing of a Dragon on the edge of the paper. "Judging by the bats behind him, I'd say he's somewhere in the Clashcrush mountains."

"Why'd you draw him like that?', Brandy asked, referring to the cartoonish way in which Rakastamos was drawn. "And also how do you know all that just from a vague hologram?"

Juno smirked, and gestured to the box. "Easy. Those horns engraved into the box's side aren't just for decoration- no, they are a patent. I could also see his sheer size in the hologram video- only Dragons can grow to that size. And his voice didn't sound like it could possibly see anything else. And before you ask, I saw a rather large piece of moss that only comes from one spot- and that's the very highest peak in the Clashcrush mountains."

"The Clashcrush Mountains…", Dan said, stroking his slightly bearded chin. "That name sounds familiar. I think I've heard of it before."

"Well, yeah.", said Juno with a roll of her eyes. "Of course you have. Everyone's heard of it."

"I haven't.", said Brandy. "This is my first time hearing about it."

"Oh.", said Juno. "Well then, never mind."

Dan stiffened a little bit at Juno's seeming dislike of him, Brandy also not sure what she thought of her obvious favoritism. "I mean-"

"So he's obviously in the Clashcrush Mountains.", said Juno with a flick of her marker. "So if you guys are so intent on saving the world from whoever Rakastamos is, you need to go there first thing."

"Right.", said Brandy. "However, there are some other things we need to do."

She jumped up to the whiteboard, and drew a Wizard and an Archer. "We also came here to find my parents. And…"

She circled the figure of Rakastamos, still thinking it was some other Dragon. "We need to find him. I think he wants to help save the world."

Juno raised an eyebrow. "Well then, I suppose I should let you two do it. I'll just..."

She took a step backwards, towards where Fallon was peacefully staring off into the woods. "Be off then. Lots of stuff to do, not a lot of time to do it."

Brandy, knowing she had only a few seconds left to ask questions, threw out her arms in momentary panic. "Wait! Hold on! Don't go yet! There's still so much more I want to ask you!"

Juno rolled her eyes inwardly. She had known full well Brandy was going to do this, which is why she had stood up in the first place. "Oh, fine. What are your questions?"

"Well…", Brandy said, her mind swirling. She tried to grab ahold on them, knowing she couldn't ask them all. "You can do cool stuff with Dash, right? Well… what cool stuff can Fallon do?"

Juno was about to answer, but Fallon had heard Brandy's question. So he simply extended one arm, nocked an arrow, and fired.

Brandy stared for a minute, expecting the arrow to appear. But it had flashed through the trees and disappeared without a trace. "Uuuh…"

"Give it a second.", said Juno, whispering with excitement. "It takes a bit. The world's pretty big, after all."

"Wait, the world-", began Brandy, but then the arrow flashed by right next to her head. Fallon caught it with an outstretched hand, grabbed an apple off of its edge, and began to eat.

"Oh.", said Brandy, with quiet respect. "Yes. The world. Um…"

She stopped for a moment to consider her next question. Speaking of the world...

"What was the creation of the world like?"

"The creation of the world?", Juno asked, and took a step back. "Well, I'm not that old. I wasn't there for that- none of us were. But that doesn't mean I don't know what happened…"

She looked over her shoulder, to where Fallon was hovering knowably. "Dad? A little lighting, please?"

Fallon, without even ceasing his meditation, spun around his hand. The light dimmed in a small arc around them, and Juno sat down. "Long ago, when the world was young, there was only ocean."

The air around her lit up in a dazzling spectacle of constellations, and both Brandy and Dan could not help but gasp. An image of a globe swirled into view, surrounded by the familiar images of the gods.

"But the gods got together, and decided to create. They had many failures at first…"

The globe was filled with shifting continents for a few seconds, the smokelike figures of the gods staring at it in disapprovement. One slammed his fist into a continent, breaking it into dark smoke. The others looked around at each other, then started to craft once again.

"Eventually…", said Juno, the light shining into her face, "The gods realized that although they had wonderful ideas, they lacked the patience to build their own world. So they created a servant out of stone- the Primal Golem, Anghammarad."

The smoke in front of the globe warped into a massive Golem, huge in size and shape. Even though he stood immoving, both Dan and Brandy could feel his power.

"He had the strength to sculpt mountains, yet the delicacy to paint the smallest flower.", said Juno, her voice lending excitement to the story. "He was the one who pushed the continents together, into what would one day be the lands you both know."

She spun her hand around in a circle, accelerating the globe's spin.  
"However, Anghammarad had one weakness- and that was the inability to create life. So acting on orders from the gods, he pushed a leftover landmass together into the shape of a being. And after an action of life from the gods-"

Upon the image of the globe, Anghammarad rapidly pushed together a huge mass of clay. A finger fell from the heavens, tapping the top, and washing over it with rainbow light. The construct's eyes slowly cracked open, as the Dragon rose towards the sky and roared.

"The Primal Dragon was born.", Juno finished. "His name was… um…"

She turned over her shoulder, temporarily putting the light show on pause. "Hey Dad?", she asked. "What was the name of-"

"Akulamastar.", said Fallon. He had already known exactly what Juno was going to ask. For some reason, that name in particular kept on evading her.

"Right, that.", said Juno, and again shined the light on her face from below. "Akulamaster, the Primal Dragon. He brought life to the land, spreading life and creation across the blank world that Anghammarad had sculpted."

The magical image of Akulamastar raised his hand, and several colored beams of light spread out from them. "Aklamaster had a few children, each of which he assigned to create a different species. I can't remember which ones were in charge of which, though…"

Juno shook her head, intent to finish the story. "And soon, the gods decided to organize this world that they had created. There were enough Dragonlords for each of them to eventually inherit a continent- and we already know who went where. Anghammarad was the primary architect for such projects- building the Arenas and such."

She spun her hand in a Dash-infused circle, causing an equally fast turn of the globe. Brandy watched in awe as she saw the world turn, soon becoming filled with all forms of diverse and wonderful life. But it was so fast, she could hardly keep up with it and all.

"But- wait.", she said, confused. "What happened to them? Anghammarad and the Dragon?"

Juno frowned. "Well, after the construction of the Rushlands, Anghammarad returned to his sleep, deep in the sea. Once the gods need him again, he shall awaken. As for Aklumaster, well…"

She pointed upwards, Dan and Brandy's gaze following. They could see the figure of Akulamastar flying away, stardust borne on his wings. "He grew too large. He had to leave the planet."

"Ah.", said Brandy.

"I see.", said Dan.

"Aaaand that's it for today.", said Juno, and sat up. The lights vanished, Fallon turned around, and Brandy's eyes shot open from their half asleep state in alarm.

"Wait!", she shouted. "I, uh…"

"Make it short, kid.", said Juno with some annoyance. "I gotta go somewhere now."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Where are you going?"

Juno looked up towards the sky. "To tell the truth, we both have to go. All the Primals, all the gods. To the Meeting."

"Meeting?", Brandy asked. "What meeting?"

"We're meeting with the citizens of several other planets in a realm known as Tencent. This is something that happens every 300 years, just routine."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "How long will it take?"

Fallon looked at his wrist, even though there was nothing there, and gave a quick look towards Juno. She nodded, somehow able to understand. "About a week."

Brandy bit her lip. Something about that seemed absolutely terrifying, but she could not quite figure out what. So she just nodded, and took a step back into Dan's tight grip. "Okay."

Juno took a step backwards, and flicked her fingers off her forehead. She placed one foot on the edge of a portal that Fallon had opened up using Star. "Well, nice talking to you kid. Goodbye!"  
The edge of the portal began to close, Juno and Fallon beginning to vanish- and it was then that Brandy finally remembered her question. Leaning forward and flipping back her hood, she shouted into the wind.

"How do I-", she yelled, but Juno already knew her question. And another that she had wanted to ask, but didn't think should.

"You'll know, kid!", she shouted, then flipped back her hood and hair to reveal her hair. "And yes, they are.". She winked. "Very."

And with a rush of magic, Juno and Fallon vanished into the air.

Brandy and Dan stood on the grass, as it slowly began to regrow under their feet. The battle with Bonoome had dealt tremendous amounts of damage to the surrounding area, and it had yet to fully recover.

"So.", said Brandy. "That happened."

"Yes.", said Dan, with a slow nod of his head. "It did."

They both stood there for a few more seconds, letting the knowledge they had gained soak in.

"And you know what needs to happen now?", Dan asked, letting his hand down to the ground.

"What?", Brandy asked, as she instinctively let herself fall into it. Dan put her up onto his shoulder, and looked towards the far horizon. The sun was starting to near the tops of the mountains.

"We should keep going.", Dan said. "That's what we need to do now."

Brandy looked around, and shrugged. "Yeah, you're right. Who knows what Rakastamos is doing right now. We don't have that much time to waste."

"Yeah…", said Dan, then whispered into Brandy's ear. "Also if we stay here for much longer, we might have to clean this place up."

Brandy covered her mouth with her hand, closed her eyes, and giggled. Dan's armor suddenly grew a little bit tighter, as he saw just how cute she looked in the late afternoon light. All happy like that.

"Hey!", came the shout of Sophie behind them, and Brandy jumped. She turned around, expecting to see orders to clean, but instead Sophie was holding a small stone object in her hands.

"We saw that you kids were about to leave.", said Herb, coming up behind her. "So we figured we might as well give you something for the road."

Sophie extended her hands, and Brandy could see what was in them- a small semi-round stone with a purple imprint of a drop of Elixir.

"Here.", said Sophie. "I heard from one of our Builders that you were on the verge of death from lack of Elixir when he found you. Take this, so that it doesn't happen again."

Herb had been standing still for a few seconds, but when he heard Sophie's words, his eyes popped. He grabbed the Rune of Elixir from Sophie's hands and held it as far away from her as he could. "Woah, what? What are you doing, woman?"

Sophie shot around, spreading out her arms. "I thought we were giving them the Rune of Elixir!"

"No!", shouted Herb. "Are you crazy? That thing's expensive! It cost us 1500 Gems!"

He clutched the Rune tightly to his chest, glaring at Sophie with somewhat protective eyes. "You were just going to give this away? In addition to the 1000 Gems you already spent? You're crazy! A beautiful nutcase!"

"Crazy?", Sophie yelled. "A beautiful nutca-"

Then she stopped, realizing what she had just said. She put her hands on her hips, and took a step back. "Excuse me, _beautiful?_ Do you really think compliments could get you out of this?"

"Yes.", said Herb. "Also, what do you mean out of this? You started it!"

"I didn't start it!", Sophie yelled, pointing to herself, her voice growing higher. "I thought we were going to give them the Rune!"

"No!", shouted Herb. "That thing's expensive! It cost us 1500 Gems!"

As they continued to argue, Dan and Brandy decided that the best thing to do in that situation was just to quietly slip away.

Song: A Dream

"So, you think we're actually getting that-", Dan started to say, but stopped when he suddenly ran into something down below. He casually looked down, only to yelp in surprise when he saw that he had just knocked over Spacekrakenx.

"Ah! Sir!", he shouted, and knelt down to help him up. "Are you alright? I'm so, so, sorry-"

But to his surprise, Spacekrakenx just sprung to his feet and struck a ballet pose. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Don't you worry."

He grabbed something from one of his many pockets, unrolling the scroll until it extended almost past his feet. "This is a map.", he said. "It will help you."

Dan grabbed the map by one end, lifting up so he could see. "A map?", he asked, turning it over and around as he attempted to make sense of it. "To where?"

"My clanmates.", said Spacekrakenx with a mixture of confusion and pride. "They'll help you on your journey."

Dan took another last look at the map, then handed it off to Brandy. She squinted at it for a second, then tucked it into a pocket that had conveniently appeared upon Dan's recarved armor.

"Well, thanks for the help.", said Dan, and gently shook Spacekrakenx's comparatively tiny hand. "We are truly grateful you could help us find some place to stay, even if it wasn't for long."

"And I'm grateful you could save my village from that Giant.", said Spacekrakenx, with a nod of his head. "I don't know what we would have done if you two hadn't shown up. You kids really do have something special, you know that?"

"We do?", Brandy asked, looking down at him in surprise.

"Yeah, honey.", said Dan, and gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek. She stopped moving for a second, then snuggled in closer to his neck. "We do."

Spacekrakenx coughed, drawing both Dan and Brandy's attentions. "Well.", he said. "If you have nothing better to do, then I think you should be off."

He clasped his hands together, and gave a small bow. "Thank you both for all your help. I will tell Oticat that you are both alright and well."

Dan gave a small bow as well, although with him it was actually rather large. "Thank you for that. We will return to him as soon as we can- after this Rakastamos, whoever he is, has been defeated."

Then they both stood straight up, and Dan began walking towards the edge of the village. But it only took a few seconds for him to realize he had forgotten something.

"Oh no!", he shouted, and slapped his hands on the sides of his face. "Shoot!"

"What?", Brandy asked. "Dan, what is it?"

"The Rune of Elixir!", Dan shouted again, and started to turn around. "We didn't get it-"

But then he saw Brandy give a wry smile, and pull a little something out of her pocket.

"But we did get it.", she said, throwing the Rune of Elixir up and down in her hand. "Remember?"

Dan stood there for a second, then cracked a smile of his own. "Oh.", he said. "Riiight."

Then they both turned towards the wilderness, Brandy taking another quick look at the map.

"So.", she said. "We first kill Rakastamos. Then find my parents."

"Right.", said Dan. "Unless you want to find them first?"

"No.", said Brandy with a shake of her head. "Rakastamos is a time-based threat. And if I've survived without my parents for this long, then I can go without them a little while longer."

Dan nodded, and Brandy sighed, stretched, and laid down across his shoulder. "Alright."

"We're heading into the wilderness, Dan.", she said. "No Villages for a good long while."  
"I know.", Dan said. "Invigorating, isn't it?"

"Yeah.", said Brandy, and slunk a little lower onto his shoulder. "Just think of all the cool things we'll see!"

"Right.", said Dan, and held up a fist. He slowly began walking, heading into a small path off the treeline. "And I know it'll be all so much cooler to find…"

He looked up into the world, seeing destiny on the horizon. "With you by my side."

And with that, Dan and Brandy left the civilized world behind, and walked off into the true unknown of the Continent of the Clans.

"Well…", said Sophie, her usually tranquil face red from all the shouting. "I have a crazy idea. What if we just…"

She held up her hand, which she thought still held the Rune of Elixir that Brandy had stolen. "Gave them the Rune of Elixir?"

"Well.", said Herb, taking notice that what Sophie was holding in her hand was actually just a compass. "I'd love to. But…"

"But what?", asked Sophie. "But-"

And then she saw out of the corner of her eye what she now held in her hand. Her eye twitched, realizing her argument of several minutes against Herb had in the end been all for nothing.

"But she already took it.", said Herb. "So I can't give it to her… can I?"

Sophie breathed out, and put her hands on her hips. She let the compass fall into her pocket, neatly tucked in by one of her hand Archers with a "Madam" and a quick salute.

"Well.", she said, looking out over the devastated village. "I suppose we really should begin to clean up."

Far off in the forest, still miles away from where Dan and Brandy were currently walking, a single young figure ran as fast as he could among the trees. He chanced a look behind him as he stumbled and fell, turning his trip into a roll that propelled him even further forward.

"You can't run forever!", he heard something hiss from behind him. He shot his head around to look- there was a Bat flying alongside him at top speed. It jeered at it flittered through the leaves of the forest, almost seeming to laugh. "Sooner or later, boy, you _will _tire."

The boy snarled, his anger and desperation evident upon his dirt-scarred face. "Shut up!", he yelled, and flicked his wrist with a sharp snap. A clean volley of metal blades shot forth from his fingers, slicing through the Bat almost as easily as they cut through the air.

But even as he cut one tormenter down, soon more appeared. They flipped and fluttered around him, making a mockery of his speed.

"There's nowhere you can escape to.", one crooned, sending a piercing wave of sound through the air, the toxic words unburdened by the rushing wind. "You're going to lose."

"Give it up, child.", screeched the other, ducking in close to the kid's hood. "If you turn yourself in now, we'll make sure your last memories will be at least somewhat enjoyable."

"I said shut up!", yelled the boy again, and jumped over a log. He flipped both of his hands at once, slicing the Bats apart into bits. He ducked underneath a branch and kept on running, not quite sure where he was running to.

"Boy!", shouted a much larger, more formidable voice from somewhere behind him. The boy glanced over his shoulder, to see a tall figure rushing towards him, borne aloft on a flock of Bats.

"She misses you, you know.", the figure crooned, the soft moonlight reflecting off of his bare purple hair. "She wants you back."

The boy almost stopped, but kept on crashing through the brush. However, his motivation was given a slight pause. "Jess?", he asked softly.

"Yes, her.", said the tall man, and slowly reached for his back-mounted weapon, the moonlight reflecting on its razor-sharp blades. "Now if you just come with us, you can make her very, very happy…"

The boy almost stopped when he heard those words- almost. But the last bit of the sentence made him remember why he was running in the first place. So he just grit his teeth, flipped a finger towards the man who was chasing him, and turned back into the woods.

"Come back here, boy!", shouted the man, and drew to his full height. The moonlight shone down, revealing him as a hatless Mortis. "Or I will kill you!"

"That's not a motivation!", shouted the boy, and ran even faster. Mortis attempted a ranged grab with his flock of Bats- but the one he was chasing rolled into a bush and disappeared from sight. Mortis snarled in frustration- he was incapable of seeing what was in a bush.

He raised one hand, and the roving cloud of Bats came to a stop. He silently withdrew a small device from his pocket, and held it up to his face. "Master?"

Although he heard the voice as though it came from the phone, in reality it came from within his own head. _Yes, Mortis? What word is there of the boy?_

Mortis gulped, his master's lovely yet menacing voice sweet blades upon his ears. "Um… I lost the boy.", he said. "I'm sorry, but his speed is almost unnatural."

Although Mortis could not actually see his master, he could almost hear his mouth curl down into a frown as his fingers slowly tapped together. _I don't like that, bat boy, _he said. _Not… one...bit._

Mortis almost dropped his phone in fear. "Y- yes, master.", he said, very nearly shaking. "I'm sorry, I'll look for him harder."

His mysterious master leaned back in his unreal chair. _Good, good. Don't fail me, Mortis. We all know what happens to those who fail me, correct?_

Mortis shivered, as he thought of exactly what had happened. The way she had screamed was scarring even for someone like him. "Yes, master."

_Good, _said the master with a smile. _Now get to it. The boy won't find himself… and neither will the girl._

"Too right, your grandliness.", said the Mortis, and gave another signal to his Bats. They rode off instantly, pulling Mortis along at high speed. "Too right you are."

Yet even as they rushed along, the boy had not quite run away. He was hiding behind a tree just up ahead, waiting in anticipation for Mortis to pass by.

"Come on…", he thought, his fingers twitching for the chance to attack. "Come on, just a little while more…"

He waited for a few more seconds- until Mortis at last crossed his path. He stared straight forward in anger, suspecting absolutely nothing. Good.

"Hey, rockface!", shouted the boy, suddenly leaping out into Mortis's path. He drew a strange object from his back, and pointed it directly at him. "Eat it!"

"What?", Mortis shrieked. "What the-"

Then the boy's strange device activated, and the only sound that could be heard were that of high-octane, multi-chamber ballistic explosions.

Song: Virus

The forest shivered, as two dark inhabitants walked its once peaceful paths. One was tall and thin, a stumbling, shambling wreck of a berserk wild animal. Its form shivered with dripping acids and virulent poisons, a low snarl constantly forcing its way out from behind its cracked, bleeding lips. Its eyes were covered with a rotting steel bar, yet it somehow managed to find its way along the dissolving path. It hissed with an unspeakable rage, the torn remnants of its Goblin heritage fighting to be heard amongst all the filth and disease.

The other one walking was in almost total contrast. He was still a dark, evil being, yet in a totally different way. He stood tall and proud, keeping his back straight and his chin level. His bow was slung in an invisible quiver along his back, no arrows to be seen. His jet black hair was smoothed back, flicks of white visible along its length. He wore a dark grey tunic, with small bits of slate blue and blood red to add splashes of flavor. He cast a look at his disheveled partner, and sniffed in utter disgust.

"You there.", he spat, and held up a torn piece of paper. The stumbling pile of rot didn't respond, instead choosing to tear apart a nearby bush into strands of rotting plant matter.

"Ugof, was it…", muttered the elegant man, then cleared his throat and shouted. "Ugof! Pay attention!"

Ugof the Toxic Goblin, upon hearing his name, snapped his head up to look. Drool dripped from his misaligned fangs, eating into the dirt. He slashed his hands against the dirt of the road, and growled once more in curiosity.

Villasteel the Night Archer sighed, and shook his head. He had forgotten just how irritating Ugof could be in their shared slumber of many, many years. But he managed to get ahold of himself, and remind himself just what he was doing, and held up the piece of paper once more.

"These are our targets.", he said, pointing to a few line drawings on the worn slip of paper. They were a slightly inaccurate sketch of Dan and Brandy, although the similarity was enough to go off of. "Do you think you can handle that?"

Ugof stared at the paper for a few seconds, his miniscule brain not strong enough to handle such information. He gently swayed his arms from side to side, another string of drool leaking from his jagged mouth. "Graaahh…"

Villasteel clutched his nose and closed his eyes, shaking his head back and forth.

"Why did I ever let you get paired up with me…", he asked, and looked towards the sky. "Rakastamos, why couldn't I have been with Vulgalia? Or Taklavastoss, or-"

He was suddenly interrupted by the sensation of Ugof tugging at the piece of paper, trying desperately to get it free. The beast almost screamed, seemingly infuriated at the parchment.

"What?", barked Villasteel, tugging back at first, but then letting go. Ugo happily took the paper, barked wetly, and tossed it into his mouth.

"Oh.", said Villasteel. "Oh great, you're eating it. Good, we didn't need that at all-"

But he stopped, when he saw Ugof's nose flare. His ears perked up, and he turned back down towards the trail.

"What?", asked Villasteel in sarcasm and impeccable disgust. "What is it, do you have a scent?"

Ugof looked up at him and jerked his head forward, as if to say _duh. Follow me. _Then he howled in rage, and took off down the path. Villasteel inwardly shrugged, and externally followed him at top speed.

Ugof kept running, caustic slime dripping off him in droves. He barked a gutteral sound as he screeched to a halt in front of a large bush, and sat on his hind legs. He would wait for Villasteel to arrive- for he had found the target. Or, at the very least, something that would lead them to it.

"What is it, beast?", Villasteel snapped, as he caught up with Ugof. "Have you found something, or are you just going to-"

Then he stopped, seeing what Ugof had arrived at with a sneer. It was nothing but a discarded slip of paper, burned on one side and no doubt muddy and poisoned on the other.

"Fool.", said Villasteel, and snapped his fingers. "We're supposed to be looking for two beings. Living ones. Do you think you can handle that?"

If Ugof understood his words, he gave no indication. Instead, he just growled softly to himself, still sitting on his haunches on the ground, snarling softly.

"Grrraaahhh…", he moaned, rising shakily to his feet. He heaved a bit, out of breath, before he once again began the endless field of green drool. "Aaaahhhhh…"

Villasteel watched Ugof stumble around, in a strange mixture of disappointment and amusement. "What a totally savage creature. I wonder if it's even capable of reasonable thought."

Ugof sniffed at the ground, recoiling in surprise. A scorpion had lunged out of its underground burrow, intent on attacking him. It jabbed with its stinger, trying to push him away- but Ugof was suddenly over his shock. He reached out with one hand, grabbing the scorpion around its sides. It flashed its tail forward, sinking deep into the skin, but no pain was felt, with only superficial damage.

"Grr...ah?", mumbled Ugof, and tried to shake the scorpion off. He didn't bother to grip it, for whatever reason. The scorpion, terrified by having been picked up, started to flail around angrily. But Ugof didn't notice any of that- he just poked the scorpion in the stomach with a single rotting finger.

But once the scorpion stung again, whatever bit of rotting flesh within Ugof's brain recognized it was a threat. He growled and flung the scorpion away, into the woods. The tree that the unfortunate arthropod splattered upon almost instantly grew dozens of large spores, the creaking of the wood lasting for only a few seconds before the entire tree collapsed into putrid dust. Ugof stood there heaving for a few seconds, admiring what he had done.

"Hmph.", Villasteel sniffed, coming up from behind Ugof. "You fool, you're wasting your poison."

He grabbed a stick from off the ground and jabbed it underneath Ugof's arm, lifting it high into the air. Ignoring Ugof's bubbling grunts of protest, Villasteel looked for a small bar on the bottom of Ugof's forearm. Sure enough, it was only half as full as it had been when they had set out that morning.

"If you run out of you, you'll die.", Villasteel huffed, letting the arm fall. "Be sure you don't."

Ugof tucked his arm closer to his chest, apparently offended at Villasteel's inspection. He extended a long, spiked tongue and licked his forearm where the stick had touched, softly whimpering as he did so.

Villasteel watched the Toxic Goblins's activities for a while, then turned away before he got sick. He folded his arms in slight frustration, and looked up into the sky. He was trying to get himself calmed down- but then a silver and gold shape flashed across the sky, a mere speck in his vision.

Villasteel lost his calm almost immediately, tearing his darkbow off his back on instinct. One hand flew to the string and created an arrow, another aiming the bow right at the moving target- but Villasteel sighed. There was no point in trying to shoot. Even if he did manage to hit dead on, it would do nothing to such a powerful being. And then Fallon would know he was awake, and by that know Rakastamos was awake as well.

"Curse you, Fallon…", Villasteel growled, almost shaking with anger. "Curse you all to the below…"

He watched the flying blur of motion that was Juno and Fallon move farther across the valley, and disappear as they shot past a mountain. His eyes narrowed, and his fists tightly clenched.

"I was always the one in the back, wasn't I?", he spat, remembering his unfortunate early life. "And of course, Mother always did like you best. And then Father never had enough time for me- no, it was always him and Bo doing something. Well, who's laughing now? You and Bo may have your silly Primal Status, but I have what you do not. Potential."

He began to laugh, ignoring the small but crucial fact that there was no one around to really see it. "I have the great Dragonlord Rakastamos on my side, brother. And when he rises… it shall be you that falls."

He stopped laughing, and looked around for Ugof. He found him eating half a bear, and sighed.

"Ugof!", he shouted, flipping his hands into the air to get Ugof to rise. "Come on, you idiotic beast!"

Ugof looked up, chuffed, and got on all fours. He started following Villasteel as he walked further into the woods, leaving a trail of slime as the two passed. "We have some Troops to kill."

As Dan and Brandy walked along the forest path, lit by the cool afternoon sun, Brandy thought she could feel something nearby. It seemed off, but in a way she could not quite place.

"Something feels weird.", she said out loud. "I don't know what, but it does."

Dan stopped in his tracks, and looked around. "I don't see anything weird."  
"Yeah, exactly.", said Brandy. "I don't see anything weird, but I feel something weird. Unnatural."

Dan stuck his finger up into the wind, and thought for a moment. "Hmm… I still don't feel anything. You know what's really weird though?"

Brandy frowned, and kept on walking. "Huh. Must have just been my imagination then-"

Then she realized what Dan had said, and turned her head to look up at him. "What?"  
"How cute you are.", said Dan, and tapped his finger against his waist. "That just seems impossible."

Brandy perked up, and her cheeks turned a little redder. A sly grin crept up the side of her face, as she slowly stopped walking. "Oh? And what's weird about that?"

"It just doesn't make sense.", said Dan, leaning down to her level. "For anything or anyone to be as cute as you are, well…"

Brandy felt her legs go a little weak, and her heart started to beat a little faster at Dan's words. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and took a single step backwards. "Well what?"

"It seems impossible.", said Dan, as he slowly ran a single massive finger down Brandy's back. "Everything about you is just so perfect."

Brandy closed her eyes, and let herself fall backwards against Dan's arm. "Mmmm… not as perfect as you though."

Song: Sudden Battle

Ugof ran frantically through the bushes and trees, his jaw swinging back and forth as he approached the targets. Villasteel leapt after him, jumping over bushes and fallen logs as fast as he could in a mad effort to keep up.

After about a minute or so of running, Ugof finally skid to a halt. The scent was very strong here, very strong indeed. Drool fell from his cracked mouth, as he focused as much of his toxicity as he could deep within his fists. "Ushaaa…"

Villasteel jumped over a bush and ducked underneath a tree simulatenously, landing next to Ugof with a dramatic flourish. "What is it, beast? Have you picked up a-"

Suddenly, Ugof erupted into a berserk rage. He roared a ferocious war cry, and threw a volley of rot-filled punches forwards as fast as he could. "Ubashaaaaaa!"

Villasteel ducked, covering his face with his hands, as Ugof's strike erupted. A massive cone of pure painful death shot outwards from the impact point, turning trees and bushes into mere strings of sickly green, slightly vibrating muck.

"Impressive…", Villasteel muttered, letting down his arms to witness the wreckage. "However."

He looked forwards as far as he could, seeing a distinct lack of anything large that had been hit. "We're not even close to our targets. Save your poison, and let's try again."

Ugof nodded, somehow able to understand. He put his nose to the ground and took off, Villasteel not far behind.

Brandy rubbed her head up against Dan's hand, letting herself be lost in his presence. "I don't think anyone could be as perfect as you."

"Mmm, are you sure?", Dan asked, and gently gripped Brandy's head in his hand. He rubbed Brandy's ears with the delicacy of a painter, and she slightly moaned. "Because you're as perfect as anyone can be-"

Then he stopped. Some bizarre, menacing sound had reached his ears. It sounded evil, and highly destructive. He let go of Brandy's head and turned his head, much to her dismay.

"Dan, what was that?", she asked, opening her eyes again. "I was just starting to-"

Then she heard it too, a grating scream of guttural fury that echoed over the tops of the tree. Another shiver ran down her back, but this one was of worry rather than happiness.

"Oh-", she began, and Dan finished her sentence.

"Shoot.", he said, and looked down. "That sounded bad."

"You know what it is?", Brandy asked. Dan started to respond that he didn't, when he realized it was actually probably a rhetorical question. And he, of course, was correct.

"It's one of those things that have been following us.", Brandy said, and stretched in preparation for combat. "Another weird troop-"

Then she stopped, and slapped her own forehead with both hands, tugging at the edges of her mask. "Oh, shoot!", she said, and groaned. "We didn't ask Juno about what those things were!"

Dan frowned, and breathed in. A shot of golden Star lit up his arms, and he tried to look forward as much as he could. "Darn. Well, next time we see her, I guess. Now let's go."

Brandy grinned, and started running. "Let's."

"Come on, come on…", Villasteel growled, as Ugof ran with reckless abandon through the wild woods. A stick of bamboo broke as he crashed through it, sending splinters all over the place and right into Villasteel's face with a ring of loud cursing.

Villasteel drew his bow, and jumped over a rock. He guessed that they were getting close, but it was still hard to tell. It was a very big forest,and they were only hunting for two individuals.

"Ubashaaaaa!", Ugof again screamed, and let loose another volley of punches. A terrifyingly powerful cloud of sheer poison gas erupted from his fists, spreading out over an entire area of trees. All plant life touched buckled and split into strings, any insects unfortunate enough to be caught in the cloud dissolving at its touch.

Villasteel shook his head, and sighed. "Again, an impressive show. But until you learn to work on your aim, that's all it is… a show."

He grabbed Ugof by the shoulder, using a long steel glove, and gently pulled him away from the destroyed area. "By my estimates, you've only got one more charge of poison left before you need to recharge. WE should just take it easy for now."

Ugof looked up at him, shook his head, and ran off further into the woods.

"See, there it is again.", said Brandy. "That weird sound, almost like something is in pain."

Dan snuck forward, as odd as it might have sounded that a Mega Knight could be doing anything of the sort. "We do have to be careful though. Who knows what's been sent after us this time."

"Heh.", said Brandy, thinking back to their previous encounters. "Well, from the sounds that we're hearing, it might be one of those rotting things."

Dan lifted up a tree branch over his head, straining one ear to listen. "Like the one we faced right after we got onto the dock? I don't think so."

He slowly crept forward, Brandy following him into the woods. "We've only faced one of each type so far. I don't think that's gonna change."

Brandy slipped right underneath Dan's legs, softly Dashing through a pile of pine needles. She huffed the hair out of her face, trying to take a look forward. "Huh. Yeah, maybe you're right."

Dan thought for a moment, still not seeing anything among the trees. "No, you're right. Maybe we will."

Brandy looked up at him in slight confusion. "What are you talking about? You're right."

Dan's eyebrows raised. "No, you're the right one here. You're always right."

Brandy's hands went to her hips, and she looked at Dan in disbelief. "I don't see how I'm the right one here, honey."

"Oh, but you are.", said Dan. "You're always right. How could you not be? You're already perfect…"

Brandy felt her skin tingle, and she relaxed a bit. "Oh really? But I'm not as perfect as you."

Dan took a quick look towards the woods where he had heard the sound- nothing. Then he turned back towards Brandy, who seemed to glow in the late afternoon light. He grinned and bent down- whatever it was could wait, just a little while.

"Ugof, slow down!", shouted Villasteel, sprinting as fast as he could through the woods. He couldn't believe the Toxic Goblin's stamina- it had seemed only moments ago that his poison was running out. But now it dripped behind him in droves, cutting a path on the forest floor, a clear sign that it was anything but.

But Ugof ignored his words, and continued to forge ahead. His nose perked up as he sniffed the air, seeking the scent that he had found. His muscles automatically clenched, as he prepared to lunge at the prey once he had reached it.

"Uuu…", he growled, as Villasteel finally caught up to him. "Ugof, wait-"  
Then Ugof exploded into rage, flinging his fists and toxin forward at the speed of a rushing river. "Ubashaaaaaaaaaaa!"  
Once again, the entire grove in front of him collapsed into nothing. Trees wailed in silent agony as they fell, every bit of them dissolving into festering muck. The seeping remnants of leaves soaked into the ground and disappeared, the entire area going from forest to toxic swamp in the space of a few deafening seconds.

Ugof stood there breathing heavily for a few seconds, admiring his handiwork as much as he was able. He heard Villasteel's slow, disgusted clap from behind him, and turned around.

"Yes.", said Villasteel, flinging a strand of rotted tree off of his shoulder. "Very… impressive. However…"

He suddenly smacked Ugof in the face with the side of his bow, sending him back onto the ground. "We're supposed to be chasing the targets, you fool! Not rotting down the entire bloody forest! What, do you think this is some sort of game? We have a job to finish- not time to waste turning trees into muck! They'll spot us, you simpleton fool! And then what? The Mega Knight has ranged attacks that outshine even my own!"

Ugof rubbed his face where he had been hit, and looked up at Villasteel, who was red in the face from his shouting. And deep within whatever he had that passed for a heart, there began to stir a single spark of resentment.

Dan suddenly looked up. "Do you hear… yelling?"

Brandy stopped, even as she was rubbing against Dan's arm. "No. Why?"

"Nothing.", said Dan. "I just thought I heard yelling. Oh well…"

He leaned down, and whispered into Brandy's ear. "Now I can get back to telling you how perfect you are."

"No, you're perfect.", said Brandy, as she leaned back against Dan's hand. "I don't think you have much of an argument here, honey."

Dan rubbed his fingers against Brandy's chest, and she let herself fall further into his grasp. "No, no, you're the perfect one here. That's just facts, my little thief."

Brandy smiled. "You know, I love it when you call me that. Your naughty little thief."

"Naughty?", asked Dan. "No, you're not naughty. You're the best girl in the entire world."

Brandy bit her lip, and gently stroked Dan's arm. "Oh… but I like being naughty though. It's fun."

"Heh.", said Dan. "Well then, you can be naughty for me."

"I will.", said Brandy, and suddenly turned around. She jumped up to grab Dan by the shoulders, leaning into his face. "Why don't we start right now?"

Dan grabbed Brandy by the back, bringing her closer in. She couldn't get away- not that she even remotely wanted to. "Yes, my cute little thief. We can start right now."

Brandy closed her eyes. "I love it when you talk like that…"

Then she leaned in even further, and kissed him as hard as she could.

Villasteel stopped yelling for a second, his beeping wristwatch commanding his attention. "What…"

He took a look at it, and shouted in joy. "Yes! It's working! My pheromone shot was a success! They must be rolling all over each other by now. If we act fast, they won't know what hit them."

He gestured to Ugof, who by now knew what to expect. He sighed, and started a fast run into the woods.

"Yes, yes…", said Villasteel under his breath. "We have to hurry. Rakastamos will reward us well."

He kept running, shaking his wrist as he went. The pheromone shot was strong, but the vapors dissipated quickly. If they didn't take their shot soon, their target would already be gone.

Ugof ran quickly through the woods, building up as much poison as possible within his fingertips. He almost steamed with sheer toxicity, the very air seeming to turn green with acid and venom. He snarled in anticipation, ready to finally make his move, return to base, and never talk to Villasteel again. He kind of disliked him now.

Finally, he arrived near the spot he was seeking. He could hear the frenzied sounds of two beings engaged in some high-energy activity just behind a wall of trees. He could smell the scent he had been seeking this whole time, just waiting for him to reach out and take it. And so, as Villasteel slowly came jogging up behind him, he spat on his hands, raised them up into the air, and-

"RUSHAAAAAAA!", he screamed, flinging his attack forward with all the force he could possibly muster. "ARUHIAHUHSFDUHUAHFIHSIUDHFJAKXJZXCJXKAJUDHHKAJHAAAAAAAA!"

A massive cloud of pure, encroaching panic in the form of venom seeped outwards from him, spreading out over the entire clearing. Anything it touched turned to dust almost immediately, which turned to even smaller dust, which seemed to vanish entirely. Even Ugof was forced to blink at the sheer biochemical devastation that his attack had unleashed.

Once the smoke cleared, however, the sight that met both of their eyes was quite different from the one Villasteel had imagined. For one thing, there was no pool of Elixir upon the ground that had once been the Priority Targets. There was instead a pair of mortally embarrassed bears, running away from the scene as fast as they could. And for another, instead of Ugof going forward and distilling the fallen Elixir to turn into Blood Elixir for their master, he instead saw Ugof striding forward and picking something up off the ground.

"Ugof?", asked Villasteel, trying and failing to remain calm. "What, may I ask, is that?"

Ugof held out his hand, to reveal half of a week-old burrito that had been abandoned some time ago. "Brrr.", he said, and popped it into his mouth with a satisfied burp.

Villasteel's eye twitched. Then his other eye. Then his mouth, then a vein on his forehead, then his nose, then his arm, until his entire body was just a twitching, furious mess. Then he exploded into rage, flinging his arms up into the air in pure frustration.  
"Ugof, you… idiot!", he roared, his face once again turning red. "You were on the scent of a dead burrito this entire time? I assumed you were following our targets!"

Ugof just stared at him. He had gotten what he wanted from the expedition- why was Villasteel so angry at him? It didn't matter though- he had gotten a burrito. And to him, that was the real prize.

"You know what?", Villasteel said, setting his jaw and trying not to scream. "Just… don't worry about it. Let's try something else. Yeah."

He pointed to Ugof, and bent down. "Ugof, we need to move fast. Let's try operation B."

Ugof's pupils dilated at the thought of it, but he knew he had no other choice. So he bent down, Villasteel hopped on his back, and then they were away.

Brandy rolled off of Dan's shoulders onto the ground, and took a deep breath. Her face had turned red from lack of air, having been locked together with Dan for almost a full minute. She spread out her arms, not moving for a few seconds while she recollected herself.

Dan took a deep breath as well, Star flashing around his body as a side effect. He turned his head to look at Brandy, both of them lying on the dirt. "You're cute, you know."

Brandy took another deep breath, her face beginning to return to normal. She grabbed her tunic where it had come undone around her shoulders, and pulled it back on. "And you're handsome. And amazing."

Dan smiled, and Brandy smiled back. He reached over with one arm and put it on Brandy's, preventing her from putting her skirt back on all the way.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing?", he asked. "We're just getting started."

Brandy blinked, and let her arm fall by her side. A sly smile came over her face, and she slowly crept towards Dan's waist. When she was in a state of mind like this, she was more easily manipulated than she would ever care to admit."You know, you're right."

She placed her hands on Dan's belt, her eyes lighting up with energy. "Maybe we should start by getting this off…"

But just as she was about to, the pheromone shot abruptly wore off. Dan and Brandy's raging hormones suddenly wound down, leaving both of them in states of beginning undress and wondering just what they had been doing.

"We should…", she said awkwardly, and Dan stiffened where he lay. He scrambled to his feet, and plucked Brandy off the ground and onto his shoulder.

"Right.", he said, and cleared his throat. "Save it for tonight. When we're actually somewhere appropriate."

"Yes.", said Brandy, and winked. "Save it for tonight."

She looked around, realizing she had no idea where they were. "Uh, Dan?", she asked. "Where exactly are we?"

Dan blinked, and looked around as well. "Uh… I don't know.", he said. "I think North is that way, though."

He pointed in a random direction, and Brandy slowly nodded. "Right.", she said. "North."

She looked in another direction, her eyes randomly focusing on some far corner of the small clearing. She had expected to see nothing there- but to her surprise, there was a large wooden cart. She sat up straight on Dan's shoulder, grabbed his head, and pointed right at it.

"Dan, look!", she said excitedly, pressing her cheek into Dan's ear. "It's a donation cart!"

"A donation cart?", Dan asked, and turned around to where Brandy was looking. "Oh. So it is."

"Do you realize what this means?", she asked. "We don't have to walk anymore!"

She pumped her arms up and down. "Epic!"

Dan started walking towards the donation cart, keeping a wary eye out for anything nearby that may have been a trap. "Uh, I don't think we can get this working. There's nothing to pull it. No Hogs, no Skeletons, no Ponies, no anything."

"Oh, silly.", Brandy giggled, hopping down from Dan's shoulder and sliding right into the front seat. She got the Rune of Elixir out of her pocket, and pointed to a small symbol on the front of the dash. "See? It's Elixir powered."

"Oh.", said Dan. "So it is."

He knew that there wasn't really any point in talking about it anymore, so he climbed in right next to Brandy. It was a tight fit, but once Brandy sat on his lap, they made it work.

"Alright, let's head out.", said Brandy, and touched a button on the Rune. A stream of Elixir poured out into the tank, and the cart roared to life. She poured some into her own mouth as well, then gave it to Dan. Neither of them had had anything to drink since early that morning, and as such were quite thirsty.

"Alright, Dan, let's go.", she said, and pointed North. "Forward!", she shouted, and the cart jetted forward at the speed of a Hog on Rage.

Song: Throwing

They had barely even traveled a few dozen meters before a rather peculiar sound reached Brandy's ears. It sounded like the frantic yelling of a crazed man, and the squelching of boots through mud- only at very high speed. "Uh, Dan?", she asked. "Do you hear that?"

Dan looked up, and behind them. He scanned the tree line for any threats, before he realized that Brandy had asked about anything he had heard. So he listened for a second- and heard the bizarre noises too. "Yes.", he said, and stroked his chin. "Why, yes I do."

"Let me know if you see anything.", said Brandy, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "It would be nice to know if-"

There was a blur of motion from the side, and Brandy instinctively jerked the steering wheel backwards. The entire cart pulled back, its front side leaving the ground before there was hardly a second. It was a good thing she did- for at that precise moment, Ugof came tearing out of the path in front of them, Villasteel on his back. As they crossed right in front of each other's paths, time seemed to slow down, both of them staring at each other with rather shocked expressions.

Then time turned back to normal, Ugof tore off into the trees, the cart slammed back down onto the ground, and Brandy shrieked. She yanked the steering wheel as hard as she could and kicked the forward pedal as hard as she could, pushing the cart forwards in a burst of speed.

"Holy frick!", she shouted, the cart shot forwards down the path. "Did you see that?"

Dan grabbed the edges of the cart, Star flowing into him. His eyes narrowed, as he prepared his next move. "I did. I think that's our next badguy."

"Yeah…" , muttered Brandy, trying to keep her eyes on the road. She jerked the wheel to avoid a low hanging branch, which would have smacked Dan in the back of the head. It wouldn't have done anything, but it was best not to get him annoyed. "It looks so."

Dan saw a flash of movement along the treeline, and brought up his fist. "Strafing Overdrive!"

A hailstorm of golden bullets sprayed outwards from his fingers, shredding the front of the treeline like paper mache in a blender. Destroyed plant matter flew outwards, some reaching as far as the cart speeding along. A single burning leaf slapped across Brandy's face, and she hurriedly slapped it away. "Woah, hey!"  
"Sorry!", Dan winced, even as he kept a look at where he had hit. He lowered his fist to see a smoking line of total ruin- yet no destroyed Toxic Goblin. He had apparently moved on.

"Did you see where they went?", asked Brandy, almost shutting her eyes against a storm of dust that had suddenly appeared. They crashed through it- and then emerged on the other side covered in biting sand. "That would be a good thing to know!"

"I didn't!", shouted Dan back, and raised his hand over his head. "Maybe we should slow down a bit and check!"

Brandy yanked on the wheel, narrowly avoiding an oddly shaped tree that seemed to have been intentionally planted to make passing drivers crash. This actually was the case- although neither of them knew it. "Too dangerous! They might catch up to us!"

"But if we find them, it doesn't matter that they might sneak up on us!", Dan shouted, gathering Star between his fingers into a storm of round cutters. "Then we can take them out!"

"Are you sure?", Brandy yelled back, ducking to avoid a cloud of bees. "Also, what is up with all the random crap in this forest?"

"Yes!", Dan shouted, as he fired another beam at a shape in the trees. It detonated upon the shape- a mere rock, sending up a pillar of destruction that flattened the are for several meters. "I don't know!"

"Don't know what?", Brandy yelled, squinting again. She spun the wheel around, taking the cart in a crazy turn around what appeared to be a patch of randomly spinning stone. "Don't know if you're sure, or don't know what's up with all the random crap?"

"Both!", Dan roared, as something racing near the edge of his vision caught his eye. He turned to look, and realized that their conversation no longer mattered.

"Never mind!", he shouted, and gathered up some Star in his hands. "I don't think it matters!"  
"What?", shouted Brandy, struggling to be heard over the rush of passing wind. "What doesn't matter!"  
Dan was about to say something, but decided to just show it instead. He pointed one finger behind them, at Ugof and Villasteel rapidly coming up from behind them along the trail. "Look, Brandy!" he shouted. "They're here!" 

Brandy didn't dare to look- the road hazards up in front of her were two great. But she knew Dan was telling the truth- he had never once before lied. "Shoot!", she shouted, and sped up.

She steered around a stone obelisk that was in the middle of the road for some reason, a dead tree, and a large Skeleton that had been laying right in the path.

"Why…", she shouted in red-faced frustration, as a large thin blanket of fog blew onto them. "Are there so many hazards… in this part of the woods?"

"Good question.", said Dan, and carefully took aim. "We can figure that out once these two buggers are dead."

Ugof and Villasteel tore down the trail, the rotting arms of the Toxic Goblin beating a brutal mark onto the dirt. Villasteel carefully drew his bowstring from off of his back, and nocked another specialty arrow.

"If only my pheromone shot hadn't so suddenly worn off…", he mused, as he precisely calculated the direct spot to hit that would cause the most damage. "This could be easy."

He saw Dan charge up an attack of his own, and grimaced. "The man would have been easier to take down, and then the girl would have been quite open to following us home…"

He had just been talking to himself, but Dan had used Star to heighten his senses for the battle. And he could hear exactly what Villasteel had just said.

"The frick you just say about her, you little crap?", Dan bellowed, and roared. He let loose his Star, which barreled right at Ugof like a shot from an Eagle Artillery.

Villasteel's eyes widened, and he swore out loud. He grabbed Ugof's shoulders and yanked him to one side, the blast continuing onwards to blast through a large stone and half a dozen trees.

"What are you doing?", Villasteel shouted, and yanked at Ugof's ear. "Blast them, you-"

Then the faint image of a glowing orb appeared above Villasteel's head, as he realized that he had a projectile weapon as well. His bow was still on his back.

He grinned to himself, and slowly slipped his bow into his hand. "Take this, fools!", he shouted, and thought of the precise arrow type that he wanted to shoot. A black notched arrow appeared in his hand, and he fit it along the string of his bow as he aimed.

"Dodge!", Dan shouted, and raised his arm. A round shield appeared around his forearm as he did so. Brandy heard his yell, and jerked the wheel to the right as hard as she could. Almost as soon as she did, a black arrow flew by faster than she could track and sliced right through a nearby tree. It flickered a few times, before disappearing into a puff of ashy smoke.

"What was that?", Brandy screamed in frustration, as she pulled the cart back into the middle of the trail with a loud crash. The entire frame bent, not being designed for this kind of activity.

"He shot something weird at us!", Dan shouted back, and let down his shield. "I don't know what it was!"

"Hahahaha!", laughed Villasteel, and stood up a little taller on Ugof's back. "You fools! It is your doom! For I, Villasteel the Night Archer shall bring you at last down!"  
"What?", Dan spat, all of it clicking into place. "Night Archer? Then that means…"

"Yes!", shouted Villasteel, and raised his hand behind him. A single glowing green arrow neatly slid into place, and he brought it down to his bow. "I am a loyal servent of the great Rakastamos! And by his order, I will-"

He was jolted out of his words by Ugof suddenly jerking to the right, almost tossing him off. Villasteel swore and grabbed Ugof by the shoulders, now hanging on for life.

"What are you doing, you-", he began, then saw another flash of Star shoot by overhead, the amount of which would have easily sliced him in half.

"Oh.", he said, looking down at Ugof as he ran. "You just saved my life."

Ugof rolled his eyes, and ran faster towards the Donation Cart up ahead. "Graah."

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, as she looked forward. Her eyes widened as she saw that around a small turn and through a broken down steel fence, there was the edge of a cliff. "There's a dropoff!"  
Dan turned around, making sure to duck- and glad he was for that, as a sizzling green arrow shot directly path. It sliced through the leaves of another tree, as they shriveled and died within mre moments.

Dan thought for a moment, staring at the cliff up ahead- then he had an idea.

"Brandy!", he yelled, flexing one arm. "Don't worry about it! Just drive over the cliff!"  
"Wha-", Brandy shouted, almost turning around. "Are you crazy?"

Dan fixed her with a stern stare, making sure to put the full power of his voice into his words. Time seems to stop for a moment, as he uttered a single answer. "No."

Brandy stared at him back, before nodding. She slammed a foot on the gas pedal, and sped up. "Okay."

Villasteel stared at the same spot he knew they were all heading. He gritted his teeth, knowing there was a good chance he could lose them here. If Ugof couldn't make the jump…

"But let's not worry about that, eh?", he muttered, stroking the back of Ugof's head. "Cause you're gonna make it! Aren't you boy?"

Ugof growled, having no idea what Villasteel was talking about. He was, however, already plotting in his mind how he could clear the cliff.

"You're finished!", shouted Villasteel as loud as he could, hoping to catch the two off guard. "Either you go over that cliff and die, or-"

He grabbed a blinking red arrow from the air behind him, and attached it to his bowstring with an evil grin. "You go down by me."

"Dan?", Brandy asked nervously, as they broke out of the treeline with a crash. The edge of the cliff approached rapidly, a rampaging monster behind and a yawning abyss below. "Are you gonna do whatever you're gonna do?"

"In a minute!", shouted Dan, as he carefully and precisely judged the ground below him. If he was off by just a little bit, this wouldn't work, so had to carefully measure and remeasure every tiny detail-

That was, of course, until the explosive arrow that Villasteel had fired came crashing down directly in front of them, knocking the cart off its course and almost causing Brandy to let go of the wheel.

"Dan!", she shouted, as the distance between them and the cliff reached the single meters. "I can't-"

"Ora!", Dan shouted, as he drove his fist into the ground. He wasn't exact, but they would just to hope for the best. "Don't let go of the reins!"

"Reins?", Brandy asked. "Don't you mean steering whe-"

But the rest of her words were cut off, as she flew into the air. So did Dan, and the donation cart, flying through the sky. They saw Ugof and Villasteel left behind on the ground- oh. No, wait, they were jumping too. Ugof sprang up from the ground like a spring loaded missile, Villastee clinging to his back like a cheap trick.

"They're following us, Dan!", Brandy yelled, as she began to feel weight again. The jump across the canyon hadn't lasted long, and they were about to hit the ground. "What do we do?"

"I don't know.", Dan shrugged, as he grabbed the sides of the cart to stabilize it. "Let's just figure it out once we get there."

"What?", Brandy began to shout, but then stopped as they hit the ground. She pressed down on the gas pedal on instinct, and the cart roared away at top speed.

Song: Incursion

Ugof landed with a pained grunt on the ground, and began running almost immediately. He started to build up as much poison as possible in one hand- he had a secret plan.

"Faster, Ugof, faster!", shouted Villasteel. "We've almost caught up to them!"

Ugof rolled his eyes, and spat into his hand. Villasteel drew a white arrow from his pocket dimension, struggling to contain the power within the charge. "Just a little more…"

Brandy spun the wheel around, spinning the cart to dodge around a large stone statue of a meditating Goblin. She growled in confusion, as they ran over an inexplicably placed speedbump. "Why…", she spat to no one listening, "Are all these random things in the woods?"

Dan grabbed a blast of energy from his arm, and aimed it straight at Ugof. He looked fragile enough- just a single blast of Star would bring him down. If only he would stand still…

Villasteel drew back his bowstring, aiming directly at Dan. His specialty White Arrow could pierce through any known substance. It would be a sure kill- if only his target could stop moving around for a second and let him fire…

"Dan!", Brandy shouted. She squinted her eyes against a cloud of dust kicked up by the smoke, and tried to keep the cart still. "There's something up ahead! I can't quite see what it is!"

Dan growled, trying to give attention to Brandy and the threat at the same time. "What?", he shouted in frustration. "What is it, Brandy?"

If Brandy was paying enough attention to pick up on the anger in his voice, she made no show of it. She just pointed ahead, at the large stone structure the road led directly into. "There's a tunnel! A pretty big one, too!"

"A tunnel?", snarled Dan, trying to keep the Star blast contained within his hands. "Oh, great. Here we go now."

"A tunnel?", Villasteel asked, recoiling in shock. "This wasn't part of our plan! This wasn't on any map! Ugof, was this on any map?"

Ugof shook his head, continuing to add more poison to the blast. He had one shot to make this work, his final master plan. "Rakshaaaa.", he said.

"See?", Villasteel said, gesturing to absolutely no one. "You get it!"

Brandy shut her eyes, then opened them again as she realized that it was in no way a good idea to shut her eyes in that situation. So she steeled herself and gripped the wheel harder, as they dived right into the dark and stony tunnel, Ugof and Villasteel hot on their trail.

The light vanished almost instantly as soon as Dan and Brandy entered the tunnel, dozens of Bats fleeing from their approach. Brandy covered her eyes with her hand to avoid the flapping swarms, but she somehow knew the perfect ways to keep the cart from crashing into the walls. She did not see the flashing blue lights behind her head, but she certainly felt their influence.

"Dan!", she shouted, struggling to be heard over the rumbling of the cart against the stone and the intense screeching of the Bats. "Can I get a light!"

"Sure!", Dan shouted back, taking another wild shot at Ugof. Ugof ducked underneath the blast and skidded forwards, as the cannon of Star continued past out the cave entrance, carving a deep furrow in the stone it hit. "As soon as I hit these guys!"

Ugof gathered even more toxic gas in his hands, then rolled it up onto his shoulder. He now needed all four limbs to run at max speed- the treacherous terrain of the bizarre cave was far too dangerous otherwise.

Villasteel recoiled as the festering ball of death was placed down gently right beside him, then drew another arrow. The white one he had not yet fired, still waiting for the perfect opportunity. He had the ability to hold more than one type of arrow in his bowstring- that was, as the one and only Night Archer- one of his special abilities.

"Ugof!", he shouted, suddenly sensing a great heat up ahead. "Get ready! I think there's about to be-"

Brandy pressed down ever harder on the Elixir pedal, and the cart shot forward. A long stalactite broke on Dan's head, as they entered a new chamber of the cave. The heat hit Brandy's face first, and she gasped. "What the-", she said. "Lava?"

The room they had entered was a huge one. Crossing its entire length was a simple, thin, fragile looking stone bridge- and underneath that was a bubbling lake of pure lava. Heat rose from the surface in waves, almost visible upon the cave air. The entire cavern was lit up from the magma bubbling at its bottom, the numerous scars along the walls evidence of something alive.

"Brandy, the bridge!", shouted Dan, and pointed to the worryingly narrow crossing up ahead. "If we blow it up as we cross, they won't be able to-"

"Yes!", Brandy yelled, and plotted a careful course. "Just be careful! We don't want to be on there when it blows!"

"Right!", Dan bellowed, and gathered up some star in between his hands.

Villasteel drew back his bow, the arrows he had grabbed quickly blinking at the tips. "Excellent idea!", he shouted, and aimed. "To blow up the bridge before we get there! Unfortunately for you, however…"

He breathed out, and shot the arrow. It arced high in the air, sailing over and past the Donation Cart, and detonated upon the far bridge with a devastating crash. "It's going to collapse long before that! With you still on it!"

Brandy almost swore. She grabbed the steering wheel tightly, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation. "Dan!", she said experimentally. "Do you think you could try and-"

But as something rose out of the lava in front of them, she forgot what she was going to say.

"Holy frick!", Dan shouted, looking up at the beast. It rose far above the edge of the lava, towering even over the bridge. It dripped with sheer magma- that was, after all, what it was made of. That and pure, absolute annoyance. "It's a Lava Golem!"

"Shoot!", Brandy shouted, almost turning the cart around at the size of the thing. It looked down at the two pairs of runners with distaste, raising a fist to crush both of them at once. "Dan, what do we do?"

"Uhhhh…", Dan thought out loud. Even though he couldn't think of anything, he had to keep breathing. That is what his teacher had taught him during all his training. Breathing was the key, breathing was the answer-

Dan's eyes shot open with the spark of a bright idea. "I know what to do!"

An arrow shot by Brandy's head as she narrowly dodged, sinking into the Lava Golem's hide without even a second thought. "Do it!"

"Alright!", Dan shouted, and breathed in. He would normally have converted the energy into the air he breathed into Star- but this time, he decided to skip the final step. Instead, he just breathed out all the air he had taken in as a high-octane, face rippling breath of wind.

The Lava Golem grunted in annoyance, then shock, then agony as he realized his shoulders had been cooled stiff. They were now only mere rock.

"We don't have a path?", Dan asked in mock surprise, then gritted his teeth. "Well then, I guess we'll just have to make one!"

The Lava Golem groaned in pain, and flexed its shoulder muscles. The part of him that Dan had frozen with his chilled breath was now beginning to thaw- soon, he would be back to his fiery self. But even so, he could see it was too late- the Donation Cart was already upon him. With a howl of triumph from Brandy and a shout of victory from Dan, they drove right over the Lava Golem's cooled spot like it was nothing but a regular road.

Villasteel shouted at Ugof something unintelligible, and Ugof nodded. Quick as a flash, Ugof rolled his eyes inside out, and began to scream.

_You fool!, _shouted the voice inside the Lava Golem's head. _What are you doing? We are your superiors! We both work for the same master!_

For the Lava Golem, of course, this was not actually true. He was just someone that lived in a cave. However, the tone of voice in Ugof's and Villasteel's messages was too much for his primitive brain. The Lava Golem frowned and sank back into the magma below, leaving a clear path for Ugof's running to cross.

"There!", Brandy shouted, pointing forward towards a light. It was still very faint, but it was growing stronger with every second. "There's the exit!"

Dan pumped a fist, and leaned forward on the cart. A crack spread through the wood as he redistributed his weight- a simple Donation Cart wasn't meant for this kind of action, even if it was Elixir powered. "Yes! Go for it, Brandy!"

Brandy slammed her foot down as hard as she could on the pedal, and turned the Rune of Elixir to give it a bit more oomph. The engine of the cart screamed from the pressure, but somehow managed to keep on going irregardless.

"You can't escape!", shouted Villasteel, as they jumped over the Lava Golem descending below the level of the broken bridge. "Within seconds, my White Arrow will-"

"Ubashaaaaaaaaa!", screamed Ugof, and let go some of the toxin he had been building up. It rushed forward in a thick rust-orange cloud, settling on the sides of the cavern. It hissed as it settled into the sides, but there was only rock. There was nothing to infect.

"Ugof, you fool!", shouted Villasteel, and smacked him on the side of the head. "Save your poison for when you need it! Now I'll have to fire my arrow bli-"

Then he looked at his quiver, and his eyes widened. His white arrow, the one he had been saving up for almost 2 minutes to launch, was gone. While he had been giving Ugof a smacking, his hands had somehow fired it.

"We're almost there!", shouted Brandy, as the light up ahead grew even stronger. "We just gotta-"

Then she felt a massive sense of sudden urgency coming up from behind her. Blue lights flickered unseen behind her head, as she whipped around to yell at Dan.

"Dan!", she screamed, undisguised panic in her voice. "Get down!"  
"Wha-", Dan said, looking away from his shot to address her. It was a good thing he did, for not even a full second after he turned, a white arrow shot directly through his right shoulder. Had it gotten aimed for his head, it might have killed him instantly.

"Gah!", Dan spat, and a spurt of blood erupted from his mouth. He slammed down to the bottom of the loot cart, spitting blood onto the creaking wood, his breathing heavy. "What the-"

"Dan!", Brandy shrieked, even more panic clouding her words. "Dan!"

"Don't worry!", Dan grunted, putting one hand to his shoulder to try and stop the bleeding. "I'm fine! I just gotta use Star to-"  
Then he stopped, and his face turned pale. He tried to suck in a breath, but couldn't. He tried to hold it, only to find that his lungs could do little more than a shallow exchange. "Shoot!", he roared. "I can't use Star! That shot weakened my lungs!"

Brandy suddenly stopped. Stopped moving, stopped screaming, stopped paying attention. She just stopped everything. And for a brief, silent second, suspended in the air right before they entered the blinding light at the end of the tunnel, only a single thought word echoed through her mind. And that word was _"...frick."_

Then they burst through the end of the tunnel and into the light, Ugof and Villasteel mere meters behind them.

"Darn it, Ugof…", growled Villasteel, as he desperately fished for another arrow. He cycled through almost a dozen useless "trick" arrows before finding a good one- an explosive. He clutched in his hand for a second before feeding into his bow. "Now you have to build up your poison again!"

Ugof grumbled, and rubbed his hands together, sending more and more poison into the air around him. His skin sizzled and popped from all the effort he was putting into it- such an attack would no doubt be devastating beyond reason. "Gushaaa…"

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, both trying to look at him and steer her way through the dozens of obstacles in her path at once. It was an exhausting job, and she could feel herself being stretched between both at once. "Are you okay?"

"No!", Dan yelled, and gripped his shoulder tighter. "I can't use Star, I'm bleeding from the shoulder, and we still need to stop these guys!"

"Well then, what do we do?", Brandy screamed, trying to stay focused. But as she accidentally ran over a stone bump, she realized she could not look at Dan and the road at once. So she slammed her foot down on the pedal again, and grit her teeth in anger.

"I don't know!", Dan roared, and snuck a look behind him. He could see Ugof still running as fast as he could, keeping an even pace with the cart. "That bugger seems to have infinite stamina. And with the guy on top of him shooting us like this…"

"What are you saying?", Brandy yelled, trying to hear him over the general roar of the situation.

"I'm saying that I need something to throw!", Dan yelled. "I _could _still use rotation, but only if I get close to them or throw something that's spinning!"

"Well, what's spinning?", Brandy shouted, not really thinking about what she was asking.

"I don't know!", Dan yelled- then stopped, as he realized with a start that he did.

"Ugof!", Villasteel snapped, as he aimed another shot. "Are you ready?"

Ugof grunted, and rolled his eyes. His full power blast wouldn't be ready for a few more minutes, but he supposed that his imperfect work would have to suffice. So he nodded, and Villasteel's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Fantastic!", he shouted, and grabbed Ugof's shoulders. "Now get ready to fire…"

"Brandy!", shouted Dan, as he leaned over the side of the cart. "Pop a wheelie!"

"What?", Brandy screamed in confusion. "What do you mean, pop a-"

"Do it!", Dan roared, and grabbed the wheel as it spun. Brandy breathed out, nodded, and yanked the steering wheel up and back. The entire cart lifted up on its two back wheels, leaving Dan clutching one of them.

"Shoot.", he said under his breath, and grabbed the front wheel instead. With a small grunt of effort, he yanked it off, the entire framework of the cart shuddering under the impact.

"Hey, idiots!", he shouted, and held the wheel aloft. With a squeeze of his fingers, he imbued it with sparkling blue rotation, and it began to spin in his hand. Villasteel looked up, and saw Dan flash a wide grin. "Catch!"

Villasteel's eyes widened, as he saw the wheel fly towards them. "Ugof, fire!", he shouted, and Ugof prepared his shot. Then Villasteel ducked as the wheel flew right over their heads, arcing high over the treeline and into the sky.

For a second, nobody spoke. Then Villasteel laughed, extending one finger out towards Dan. "Ha! Did you really think that such a-"

Then the wheel came slicing back down towards the ground, catching Ugof at the middle of the spine just as he released his attack, cutting him in half and spraying his body all across the bark of the nearby trees.

Villasteel's triumphant shout died in his throat, as he suddenly realized that he no longer had anything to stand on. Ugof's lower body kept running for a few more seconds, until it too dissolved into Elixir. The massive poison charge had had been building up shot into the air and vanished into the clouds, borne aloft to some unknown place. Villasteel shrieked as he was thrown unceremoniously from his spot in the now empty air, rolling along the dirt path until he fell down a nearby steep hill and into a river, disappearing with, for whatever reason, an explosion. He screamed as he fell, until he could be heard no more once he reached the bottom.

The wheel flew directly back into Dan's waiting hands, and he snapped it back on to its axle. Or he would have, had the wheel not taken that precise time to snap directly in half.

"Uh…", he said, looking up at Brandy. "Should I-"

"Don't worry!", Brandy wheezed, her face red from the effort of holding the wheel up so long. "I got it, I got it!"

A small computerized voice suddenly sounded from the middle of the Donation Cart, telling her that the entire structure had been fatally compromised and would probably explode at any second, and that she did in fact not have this. The exact words chosen were: "Warning. Warning. Donation Cart will now self destruct, due to excessive wear and tear. Thank you for your time."

"What?", Brandy shrieked, as she grabbed the Rune of Elixir. She threw off her seatbelt and jumped out the front, landing on Dan's good shoulder. "Are you serious?"

"Are we jumping, Brandy?", Dan shouted, grabbing her tight.

"Yes!", Brandy yelled back. "In 3…"

"Jump!", they both yelled together, not waiting for 3, as the Donation Cart verbally apologized and exploded violently, showering them in bits and pieces of broken wood as they jumped free of the impact and rolled eventually to a stop underneath a small copse of leafy trees.

Song: Rubicon

Both Dan and Brandy lay there for a second, just breathing hard and making sure they were both alive. Brandy's arms were incredibly sore from the drive, and Dan's shoulder still bled a tiny river onto the ground. But as they slowly looked towards each other, made eye contact, and began to laugh, they knew it was alright.

"Oh, it hurts to laugh.", said Dan, and groaned. "Ha ha- ow."

"Oh, Dan…", said Brandy, slowly climbing onto his chest. She started to move her hands towards his shoulder, and he instinctively flinched.

"I haven't touched it yet.", said Brandy, some form of maternal instinct kicking in. "Stop fussing and let me take a look at it, okay?"

Dan's face stiffened a bit, and his shoulder relaxed. His chest dropped a little bit, and Brandy let herself fall all the way across it. She placed her hands on the neat hole that had been drilled all the way through Dan's shoulder, his flesh utterly destroyed by the white arrow.

"Ooh, this looks bad.", said Brandy. "We might need to set up a shelter."

"What?", Dan coughed. "No, no we don't. I can keep walking. See, look."

"Wait, don't stand up-", Brandy began, but Dan suddenly thrust himself to his feet.

"See, look!", he said, and took an unstable step forward. "I'm fine. I can handle it! I can-"

Then he took one step too many, right on top of a rock he had not seen before. It was a very sharp and pointed rock, one that punched through the bottom of his foot immediately and came out the other side.

The words uttered by Dan in that moment, as he snapped his leg forward, threw his head up to the sky, and raged, had never before been heard by another living soul. And from the sheer, absolute rage erupting from his voice, they would probably never be heard from again either.

But once the storm of fury raging from his mouth calmed down, and he fell to the ground once again, he stopped unleashing his primal wrath in the form of near demonic words.

"Ow….", he finally settled on, and grabbed his shoulder and his foot. "That hurt. And that was extremely dumb."

He pointed to the rock, even as Brandy moved from his shoulder to his feet. "I mean, who just leaves a sharp rock pointing up like that in the middle of the woods? Seriously, what kind of crap is that? Those things are dangerous!"

"Woah, woah, woah.", said Brandy, as she looked at Dan's foot. He now had both a hole in the shoulder and a hole in the foot- not a good combination. Especially when the hole in the shoulder prevented him from using Star. "I'm not sure someone intentionally left a sharp rock this far deep into the woods. Still unfair though yeah."

Dan pushed one arm against the ground, forcing himself into a more comfortable position. He groaned as he sat against a rock, and let out a deep sigh.

"Honestly, I'm exhausted.", he breathed, letting his eyes fall closed. "Two standard battles in a row, then we had to fight Bonoome, then we got a visit from two Primal Troops, then we got attacked by two more enemy troops, and also we have no food."

"Yeah.", said Brandy. "Having to do all these fights has been exhausting- wait, what?"

She sat up, and stared at Dan with worry. "We're out of food?"

"Yeah.", said Dan. "We left all our supplies at that hotel, remember? And we forgot to take some with us when we left Spacekrakenx's Village."

"Oh.", said Brandy after thinking about this for a few seconds. "You're right."

"But…", she said, pulling her communicator from her pocket. "That does not mean we have to give up. I'll just call Spacekrakenx and he can get us some food. No big deal."

She pressed the button for Spacekrakenx's phone- not knowing that it was the one that called his phone which had been left at home. The one he did not, technically speaking, have.

It took Brandy about 8 rings for her to realize this, and bury her communicator back in her pocket in discouragement. "Okay, not that then. Let's try something else."

She looked around, and began to get an idea. She hardly enjoyed the thought of it, but with Dan currently out of commission, there was no other choice. Perhaps she could find something to help him as well.

"Here.", she said, and took something out of her pocket. "Let's set this up."

She slammed the thing down on the ground, and it expanded into a large, thin sheet of plastic.

"Huh?", asked Dan, looking up from the ground. "Honey, what is that?"

"It's an expandable tent!", Brandy said with excitement, and pressed a small button also on her waist. "I picked it up before we left. Now, this model says it can hold up to 30 people, so-"

The tent popped open with a shower of apparently pre-installed rain, revealing itself as a smallish, dilapidated construct of cloth that would lose a fight with a particularly nasty shower.

"Heh.", Brandy said. "Or not. It covers one leg I guess. Sort of."

Dan smiled weakly, then groaned and moved his leg into the tent. "Still though.", he said. "It feels kind of nice."

His stomach rumbled at the same time when a beam of light started to fall through the trees, reminding him of just how hungry he was and how late it was starting to become.

"Uuuh…", he said, looking awkwardly at Brandy. "I know you don't normally do this, but…"'

"Yeah, sure, I can get food.", said Brandy, leaning against Dan's sides. "I'm sure there are plenty of things to eat in these woods."

Dan smiled, and gently stroked her back. "Okay, honey. Go get food."

Brandy rubbed her back against his arm back, got up, and began to walk away. As Dan saw her walk away, he affixed her with a mighty stare.

"Stay safe, alright?", Dan asked. He had to make absolutely sure.

"No matter what happens.", said Brandy with a mischievous grin. "I'm gonna be fine."

"Okay... ", Dan said, and sighed. "But the instasecond you have enough food, bring it back here. I don't want you to be less than a part of me fort any longer than you have to."

Brandy nodded, and gave a single salute. "I understand, Dan. But I really have to go get food."

And with that she turned and walked away, in search of whatever food she could find.

Dan sighed deeply, and lay down straighter across the ground. His leg lay inside the cheap tent like a makeshift stretcher, the flow of blood from both his foot and his shoulder beginning to slow. "Oooohhh…"

He cast a glance in Brandy's direction, now wishing he hadn't let her go. He knew that he needed to- with him in his current state, he would just be dead weight on any sort of trip. Brandy had to go and collect food. But that wasn't the part that bothered him- no, the part that bothered him was that she was doing it on her own. The last time she had gone out on her own like this- well, the second to last time- it had not ended well at all. So he hoped with all his heart Brandy would be okay out there, in the vast uncharted woods of the Continent of the Clans. But seeing as there was basically nothing he could do except hope and worry, Dan closed his eyes, folded his massive arms behind his head, and settled in for a nap.

Brandy had not walked long in the forest, carving out a makeshift path through the thick branches and vines, before she came to a small clearing. It had seemed to be made from a very large explosion, judging from the way the dirt was bunched up in a ring around its edges.

"Interesting…", said Brandy to herself, and bent down to inspect the soil. It seemed burnt somehow, like whatever malice had shaped the explosion was somehow still present.

"That's weird.", she said, as she noticed a symbol in the center of the grass. It had been burned into the dirt almost as clean as a tattoo, nothing even daring to grow where it was. "What is that?"

She Dashed over to the symbol, and placed her hand upon it. Looking closer at it now, she could see what it was- a stylized head of a horned Dragon, the smoldering edges still burning with some mystic flame. It was colored black and red, the horns seeming to impossibly twist even as she looked at them. "What the…"

Then for half of a second, blue lights flickered behind her head. An image of pure evil and hatred flashed through her mind, and she snapped her hand back as if it had been burned. Brandy gasped in phantom pain and cradled her hand in her other arm, staring at the spot where the symbol was burned.

"Oh…", she said, and shook her head to clear her mind. She stepped away from the symbol and back into the trees, slightly fearful of whatever it had truly been.

Song: Danger Draws Near

Brandy looked up, and sniffed the air. She wasn't sure what exactly she was looking for, only that she had to find food as soon as she could. The sooner she found food, the sooner she could come back, and the sooner she could check on Dan. Truth be told, she was a little worried about him. He had looked absolutely exhausted when he sat down, his shoulder and food injured, his muscles shredded, his entire body worn down. She hoped he was alright.

Brandy knew she had to get food for him. He always took care of her- now it was time for her to take care of him. Maybe once she found food, she could carry it back to their little camp, and they could cook it together, and eat it together, and then just lie there together under the stars, lasting in each other's company. Yes, that would be nice.

But, Brandy reminded herself as she set her shoulders and flared her nostrils, that would come later. Now, she had to find something. A mushroom, maybe. She had heard they grew in these woods.

She crept along the path, making sure to look around herself for any sign of potential danger. There was a lot of stuff in these woods- most of it probably none too nice. She had seen many monsters already- she did not need to run in to anymore.

"Come on, come on….", she mumbled under her breath, looking around. "Where's a mushroom, come on, give me a mushroom…"

She suddenly spotted a quick flash of movement out of the corner of her eye, and spun around on her heel. A nearby bush shook from the impact of something diving into it mere seconds earlier, leaves and twigs still falling to the ground. Brandy affixed it with what she hoped was the most threatening air she could possibly give off, posing with one hand over her bat.

But then the bush rustled again, and out flew a bird. It hovered to the top of the bush, gave a low beep, and then flew off again, to parts totally unknown.

"Oh.", Brandy huffed, and kept on walking. "It was just a bir-"

Then she looked down, and jumped back. She had been right about to step on what looked like a brand new patch of mushrooms. Brandy's face lit up, and she leaned down to scoop them all up.

"Hey, wait a minute.", she said to herself, just as she was about to pick them up. "Doesn't a black hourglass on the heads mean they're poisonous?"

She grabbed the stalk of one of the mushrooms and tipped it back, revealing the spot where such a mark was supposed to be. To her delight, there was no such marking there.

"Epic.", she said to herself, and yanked a few of the mushrooms off of their stalks, as much as she could carry in ohe hand. "Those'll be good to have."

She continued to walk for a bit longer, swiveling her head from side to side, watching out for any threats- when she saw something at the far side of the row that attracted her immensely. It was a slow flowing river, the water deep blue with flowing magic. It looked so inviting she almost forgot what had happened the last time she had jumped into water without really knowing anything about it. But that was a bit ago, and it had only happened in deep water, and Brandy was a lot stronger now than she had been. So really, what was the harm?

"Don't you go anywhere.", she said to the mushrooms as she sat them down on a nearby stump. Then she slipped out of her tunic, tossed it on top of them, and walked into the river.

"Meanwhile, I've got some time all to myself.", she aid slyly. "Finally time to take the...perfect bath."

She considered a quick Dash to the waterfall at the other end of the tranquil pond, but realized it would attract too much attention to anything that might be around. So she instead walked slowly and quietly over to the fall of rushing water, pulling her hair to the top of her head.

"Let's see, there's no soap out here.", she muttered to herself, looking around at the rock. "There's probably not a mine for a while, either. Oh well. Hardly worth looking for one anyway. I can just-"

With a quick elbow strike, Brandy broke off a small chunk of rock. It was a bit crumbly in her hand, and black powder came off of it as she rubbed it against her skin. "Yes, I can just do that."

She stepped underneath the waterfall and instinctively tensed, expecting it to be cold- but to her surprise, it was actually quite warm. The water had a very soft feel to it, almost as if it was meant to be bathed in. Brandy relaxed a bit- then realized it felt all a bit too convenient.

A chill ran over her, and she jumped out from the waterfall. She looked around her for anything that might be waiting- but saw nothing. Just a deer calmly grazing at the water's edge, a forest of trees, and an ugly statue at the other edge of the pond, staring straight forward with a nasty jeer and sharp teeth.

Brandy kept her eye on the statue, instantly suspicious. She looked out of the corner of her eye to where she had left her clothes on the stump- they were still there. They hadn't been taken.

But Brandy still wasn't sure the statue wasn't evil somehow. She inched towards it, ready to fight- then saw a small, weathered sign sticking up out of the dirt next to it.

_Welcome to the ancient and venerated Bathing Falls!, _said the sign, with faded colors. _The natural warm water and soapy cliffs of this spring make it an ideal space for bathing in the wild. Enjoy your stay!_

Brandy blinked, and relaxed. Now that she thought about it, Bowza had told her something like this had once existed. The legendary Bathing Falls, a place where the water ran warm and soft, and the cliffs were made of a natural, high quality black soap.

"Oh.", said Brandy, and looked at the black "stone" once more. "Well, I guess that's pretty nice."

She leaned back and stretched, popping her back as she did so. However, the popping of her back released a tiny bit of Villasteel's pheromone shot that had lingered for some reason. And as Brandy once again began to bathe, the chemical wafted into her nose.

Brandy ran the black soapstone through her hair, then suddenly felt a little weird. Her heart started to beat faster, yet it was not something she could control. Her arm started to slow down, and she felt her limbs grow hot and sluggish.

"What…", she mumbled, and looked around. Nothing had changed in her immediate vicinity, save that the deer had left. But that probably didn't matter. "What's wrong with me?"

Then the effects of the pheromone took full effect, and she was suddenly filled with heat and energy. She stood straight at attention, and stopped running the soapstone through her hair.

"Se'th, I wish Dan was here…", she mumbled. "Taking a bath with me. But he's back at the camp, all lonely. I should cheer him up."

Almost without noticing, her fingers went to her back. "Fortunately, I know just how to do it-"

Then she heard a bush from behind her crack, and something make some sort of noise. She stopped in her tracks, the sudden panic driving away the pheromones. If she listened very carefully, Brandy thought she could hear someone saying a single word- and that word was "_Niiiiiiice."_

Song: Instant-Kill Battle

Brandy whipped around in fury, and stopped messing with her clothes. Her anger shot through in her gaze, staring directly into the bush. Whatever, or whoever was in there instantly jumped out the back and began to run, the feeling of instant regret staining the air.

"Don't you run away from me!", she screamed, as she Dashed out of the pool. With one swift motion she grabbed her cloak and flung it on, the rest of her clothes going on with her other arm. "I'll end you, you little frick!"

As she looked carefully, the figure up ahead sped through the trees almost as fast as she could run. In fact, as she pursued him for a few more seconds, it looked as though he was actually running faster. But that was no matter- if she was merely to utilize her Dash, Brandy could outrun anyone, and anybody.

Brandy slid along the ground on her knees, ducking to avoid a branch. Once she jumped up again, she did so with power, boosting the motion with a burst of Dash that sent her high into the air and covering over 20 feet with a single jump.

"Where'd you go?", she screamed, her face red. "You think you can just look at me, bathing like that, and live?"

Her eyes swept the area, looking for any sign of fast movement- and then she saw it. A streak of green, running to beat all through one of the many woodland paths. Not, she realized, unlike her.

Brandy landed back on the ground, and began running even before she had made terrestrial contact. She ran as fast as she possibly could, absolutely refusing to let whoever it was that had seen her get away. "You can't outrun me, scum!"

Then she felt something in front of her, and saw a sharp object in her mind's eye. A single blue light flickered behind her, and she ducked. Not even half a second later, a spinning metal blade came soaring right where her head had been, slicing through the air and cutting deep into a nearby tree.

_So he throws blades, huh?, _Brandy thought to herself, and pumped her legs to run even faster. _Not that it'll matter, once I get close to him. After all, he's only a-_

Then she paused in her thinking, while allowing her body to still run. _What kind of Troops _is _he?, _she thought. _I've never heard of or seen anything that throws metal blades like that._

Then she grinned, and charged up her Dash with a low whine. _Of course, I've never seen anyone else like me, either. And yet here I am. _

The air whistled as an entire volley of steel cutters came slicing through it, but Brandy didn't even blink. She just spun around on one heel as The Dreamer flashed behind her head, dodging each and every single one. The storm of blades sliced through branches and leaves, ending up embedded deep in trees.

Brandy gripped her bat as she ran, and spun it around in her hand. She flicked it towards where she saw a flash of green and yellow among the trees, and waited- until she heard the sound of metal slicing through wood. She grimaced, and redoubled her speed.

"Where are you going?", she shouted, and Dashed forward through a tree. The distance between her and the one she was chasing was cut by almost 25%, and she grinned maniacally.

"Don't you know you can't outrun a Bandit with her Dash? Huh?"

She saw the figure's shoulders tense, then he disappeared into another bush just up ahead. Brandy crashed through the bush a second later, and saw him a few dozen feet up ahead through the trees. She figured he was about to throw more blades, and she brought up her arm to block- but to her surprise, he pulled something from his pocket.

It looked silver and blue in color, covered with flashing lights. The way he pulled it, it looked like he didn't expect anyone to see it. And the peculiar fire around it, the way it shimmered in the light-

Brandy's chasing grin vanished from her face. Her mind spun as she realized just what she was looking at, even as her heart raced. "What?", she said out loud. "A Stand?"

A low whine built up from the figure's position, and Brandy knew she had to duck. She threw herself to the ground as hard and fast as she could, using a thin shield of Dash to protect her back. She was glad she did- for almost as soon as Brandy hit the dirt, a storm of razor bullets flew overhead. They tore through trees like wet paper, even shattering a large boulder after just a few hits. Brandy lay on her back a bit after it ended though, just to be sure.

As soon as the bullet storm was over, Brandy jumped back to her feet. She jumped into the air- she could still see the figure, running down the darkened path.

_His Stand seems to fire bullets, _she thought as she jumped over a boulder and continued the chase. _Interesting… I didn't know there were Stands that were just weapons like that. _

"Hey!", she shouted, now wanting to catch his attention. "Stand User!"

For a brief second, the figure she could now see was a boy turned around in shock. Brandy could see that he was wearing a hood- also like hers. A yellow stripe ran up the middle of it, the long front covering his eyes. "What?", he yelled. "What did you just call me?"

"Stand User!", shouted Brandy, and ran even faster. The boy startled and started his own sprint, trying to make up for lost ground. But it was an impossible cause- Brandy had once more begun to Dash. "I called you a Stand User!"

As the two of them hit a long road, Brandy started to pull up to him. She reached out her hand to grab the back of his shirt, eager to grab him and find out who he was, then beat him up for staring at her- but then the boy suddenly, without a trace, vanished into thin air.

Brandy tried to stop running, but her forward momentum was too strong. Her hand clamped shut on empty air, and she rolled forward in an out of control somersault. Her scraping against the dirt would have been quite painful, had she not activated her Dash shield at the last moment.

When she stopped rolling, Brandy dug her foot into the ground and looked in anger. She wiped her face off with one hand and curled the other into a fist.

"Where did you go…", she growled, looking around for any sign of his moves. "You little-"

Then the sound of a single cracking leaf up ahead caught her attention, and Brandy looked up. There, just at the end of the path, she could see a leaf crack underneath nothing. And right next to that leaf were some footprints upon the dirt path.

Brandy grinned, and leapt forward. "Gotcha!"

The boy shrieked and started running once more, his body becoming visible once again. It appeared he couldn't do it as much as he wanted. However, his attacks were another story altogether.

"Stop chasing me!", he screamed in fear, as he flicked another round of spinning blades. "What did I do?"

Brandy Dashed in between and around the blades, each of them flying past her and ending up in the trees. Her face turned red as she shouted, both from anger and embarrassment. "You looked at me taking a bath! That's what you did!"

The boy almost shouted back, but thought better of it. He instead focused his energies on running as fast as he could, slamming one foot against the ground and jumping over a tree.

He grabbed the top of the trunk and spun around, abruptly changing his direction and heading the other way with a burst of wind that blew back the leaves.

Brandy jumped the way he had been heading with a furious snarl- only for him to come flying right back past her. She turned her head in a millisecond and locked eyes with him, and time seemed to slow down. She could see that a bit of red fabric hung down from his green hoodie, which was pulled down so low it covered his eyes. How he could see where he was going was anyone's guess. His face reflected shock, as he stared into Brandy's eyes, boiling over with raw fury. Just as she reached out to grab him, time resumed at normal speed, and they sped past each other in opposite directions.

"Why, you little-", spat Brandy, and lashed out with her leg. A shockwave of pure Dash energy erupted outwards from it, halting her in her path and blasting her in the other direction.

"I'm gonna rip that stupid little face of yours right off your HEAD!"

The boy looked behind him, to see Brandy approaching at blazing speed. Her heels sparked and flickered with pure silver energy, her entire body blurring as she continuously Dashed. Her eyes were narrowed in rage, a trail of deep purple flying past her in her anger.

Brandy looked past the boy, and saw they were coming to a river. Next to the river was a large cliff, full of rocks that seemed about to crumble at a powerful blow. She grinned- that was perfect. She had him now.

"I hope you enjoyed running, you little frick!", she shouted, and gathered some Dash in her right fist. "Because I'm about to-"

"Die!", shouted the boy, and raised his own hand. His Stand burst forth into being once again with a shining silver spin, as he jumped off a rock, twisted it around in midair, and aimed it right at Brandy's chest. He pulled his mouth back in a snarl, and shouted as he pulled the trigger.

Brandy stopped in mid-movement, and threw up her arm. Dash rolled over it in a shining silver dome, the bullets all exploding upon contact with her handmade shield. But as the last of the volley impacted upon her protected forearm, Brandy whipped her entire body around- spraying the bullet storm right at the fragile cliff.

The boy gasped in shock, and hit the ground in a tight roll. He leapt into a nearby bush and stayed still, hoping that Brandy wouldn't see him.

But his plan was doomed to fail- Brandy's reflection of his attack had already hit the stones on the cliff. With a creak and a groan, the stones fell like an avalanche, heading straight towards the boy's bush. He panicked and threw up a hand in defense- only for Brandy to slam right into his side, knocking the wind out of him and carrying him for dozens of feet through the cliff and all the way into the woods.

Brandy and the boy rolled along the ground, Brandy's hand around his neck, shaking him like a pair of dice. The boy's hood was yanked off his head, his face turning red from lack of oxygen even as he struggled to draw his weapon. He hit his head on a rock just as he was about to summon up his Stand, breaking his concentration and dissipating the gun into cold mist.

Brandy pulled back her fist, surrounding it in silver energy. She snarled as they rolled to a stop, and prepared to smash the boy who had seen her into a purple puddle.

"Alright, you little-", she spat, then stopped. She saw the boy's face, shivering in intense fear. One of his eyes had been blackened, although not from any blow of Brandy's. His eyes quivered, beginning to overflow with tears.

"Pl…", he said, choking out his words. "Please don't… hurt me…"

His arms trembled with the fear of death, as he closed his eyes in terror.

Brandy's enraged gaze softened, and she let down her hand. She slowly moved off the boy's chest, and he took a deep, ragged breath.

He felt the feeling return to his limbs, and coughed up a spatter of blood. He looked up and instinctively flinched- but only saw Brandy standing there, her arm extended to help him up.

"What's your name, kid?", she asked, and yanked him to his feet. She gave him a hearty slap on the back, still a little bit angry, without the bloodcurdling rage she had just a few seconds earlier.

"I'm…", said the boy, and flipped his hood back on. Brandy could now see that a lollipop had somehow been in his mouth the whole time, although it did not affect his speech. He looked straight up into Brandy's face, and told her.

"I'm Leon."

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

"Leon, huh?", Brandy asked, and raised an eyebrow. "That's a pretty cool name."

She looked him over again, seeing his worn green hoodie, his short, curled tail, and what appeared to be two button eyes on either side of his head. "What uh… what troop are you, Leon? If you don't mind me asking."

Leon stared at her, his mouth hanging slightly open as he thought of what to say. "...troop?", he finally murmured after what seemed like an eternity, but was really only a few seconds.

"Yes.", said Brandy in annoyance. "Your Troop. You know, what you _are?_"

Leon's mind raced, as he tried to think of what Brandy could be talking about. "Umm…", he said, and looked around. He didn't know what a troop was- why would he? He was a Brawler.

"Yo!", said Brandy, and flicked his forehead. She had done it lightly, but the force of it was enough to blast his hoodie right off his head, revealing his blinking eyes and a shock of brown hair. "I'm talking to you! Did I bump your brain loose or something?"

Leon suddenly snapped back to reality, and he shouted. "I'm a Leon!", he yelled. "I already told you, lady!"

"Yes.", said Brandy. "You did tell me your name. But you didn't tell me what you are. And that's what I'm asking."

"I told you.", said Leon. "I'm a Leon. Are you not understanding?"

Brandy stared at him in offense, and her fingers twitched. "No, you're the one who's not understanding. That's not what you are, that's your name."

Leon looked at Brandy in utter confusion, rolling his lollipop around on his tongue. Here was someone he had never seen before, who apparently didn't know that Leons existed, and was calling him out for it. Well, he refused to stand for it.

"Okay, okay.", he said. "I don't think you understand what I'm saying here. I am a Leon. We are all named Leon. Get it?"

Brandy stared at him again, and blinked. Then she spread her arms out open wide, in an overwhelming shrug. "What the frick is a Leon then? Did they add a new Troop in the-"

She stopped and looked up, trying to calculate how long her and Dan had been gone. "Two days I've been gone?"

Leon's cheeks grew red, and he flicked a spinner blade into the ground from each hand. "I'm not a Troop!", he shouted. "Whatever that is! I'm a Brawler!"

"A Brawle-", Brandy began, then stopped. She suddenly remembered what Bowza had taught her about the rest of the world, places she had never been. She remembered strange people she had seen occasionally, who seemed far different from regular Troops.

"Oh.", she said, and relaxed. "A Brawler. Huh. Neat."

"Yeah.", said Leon. "Now uh… what's your name…"

He stared at Brandy for a second, before gulping hard and attempting his next move. "Cutie pie?"

A cold shock of blazing red ran through Brandy's mind. She gasped, and all the muscles in her body tensed at once. She looked up at Leon in shock, and snarled. That is what _he _had called her. And no one would ever call her that ever again.

"The _frick _you just call me, you little frick?", she snapped, and Dashed forward. She grabbed Leon by his throat before he even had a chance to react, slamming him against a tree with a harsh snap. "You want me to kill you for real?"

"What-", Leon squeaked, his face alight with confusion and horror. "What did I do?"

"You called me-", Brandy said, then blinked away a tear. "You called me cutie pie. No one calls me that!"

She pushed harder, and Leon felt himself starting to black out. He kicked and squirmed, trying to get free- but to no avail. Brandy's grip was too powerful. "Why… not?"

Brandy pushed harder, her teeth grit tightly, and was about to finish him off. But then once again she saw his face, sweating with fear and agony, and realized just exactly what she was doing.

Brandy loosened her grip, and let Leon fall to the ground. He put one hand on his throat, trying to bring it back to normal size, and the other hand on the ground. He fell flat on his chest, from the total lack of blood in his limbs.

"I'm sorry.", said Brandy. "I just uh… got a little carried away there. I'll try not to do it again."

Leon looked up at her in fear, and scrambled to his feet. He quickly took a seat on a rock and moved his lollipop around in his mouth, trying to think of what to say next.

"I'm Brandy, by the way.", said Brandy. "Brandy the Bandit."

Leon stopped messing with his lollipop for a second, and once again stared at her in confusion. "Uuh… what?"

Brandy rolled her eyes, and sighed. "I'm Brandy.", she said, louder than before. "Brandy the Bandit."

"I know that.", said Leon. "But- like- that doesn't make any sense. Your name is different from what you are?"

"Yes.", said Brandy. "Is that weird for you?"

Leon thought for a moment. "Kind of, yeah. We don't really have a lot of unique names like that, back where I'm from. In Brawltopia."

"Where are you from then-", Brandy said, then realized that Leon had already told her. "Ah."

They sat there awkwardly for a second, neither of them sure what to say, the tension still hanging in the air. Brandy swung her legs back and forth on the stump, and Leon looked at the air. He coughed a bit, then realized how to break the ice.

"Hey.", he said, and took the lollipop out of his mouth. "Look what I can do."

Brandy perked up a bit, and took a quick look at the lollipop. "A sucker.", she asked. "Hmmm… what flavor is it?"

"Strawberry.", said Leon, and popped it back into his mouth. He rolled his tongue on and around it, rapidly rolling it through his mouth like it was on a conveyor belt. "Rerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorerorero."

Brandy's face instantly became one of deep concern. She stood up from her stump, and looked at the horizon. She noticed with some alarm that the sun was already beginning to set, and she still had not gathered any food.

"Shoot.", she whispered underneath her breath. "Dan's not gonna be happy. What am I gonna tell him?"

Then she looked over at Leon, who was still focused intently on breaking the laws of physics and sanity with his lollipop and tongue. "Hey, kid!", she asked. "How about you come back to camp with me?"

Leon thought for a moment, smoothed down his hoodie pocket, and nodded. "Rerorerorerorerorerorerorero." he said, as he continued the bizarre trick.

Brandy put her hands on her hips. "Okay, that's just weird. And kind of unsettling. Could you stop that?"

Leon looked up at her, shrugged, and continued to rerorerorero even faster.

Brandy's nostrils flared, and she held up one finger. "Leon, I swear that if you do that one more time, I will drag you back to my camp by your ears."

Leon, seeing absolutely nothing bad about this situation, blinked, grinned, and resumed at an even greater intensity. "Ololololololololololololololo-"

Far away, back on the Continent of Royale, a Princess stood on her balcony, watching the stars. She looked out over the cold night as it slowly swept over the world. Soon it would reach all the other continents, and the entire planet would be plunged into the soft grey blanket of night.

"Dad?", she asked, attracting the attention of her father on the other balcony.

"Yes, Laurie?", asked her father, AngryHospitalBed. "What is it?"

"I'm worried.", Laurie said. "I think… that something's coming."

AngryHospitalBed put on his reading glasses, and looked over at her. "Coming? Why, whatever do you mean?"  
Laurie sighed, and put her arms on the side of the balcony. "I don't know. I just feel like… something big is about to happen. Something very, very, bad."

She looked behind her- her sister was already asleep. Her father leaned back in his easy chair, apparently deep in thought. However, it was more likely that he was about to go to sleep.

Suddenly she felt a rock tap her balcony, and she looked down in mild curiosity. Her heart leapt when she saw that a very familiar Prince stood at the path below, holding a supply of rocks with which to get her attention. "Come, Laurie!", he said, gesturing to his steed. "Our night awaits!"

Laurie pressed a button she had installed herself on her balcony, and it slid down to the ground. She grabbed her bow and quiver from where they had been put down beside her, and jumped into the Prince's arms. "Yes, my love."

She quickly slid onto the pony's back, and they both took off into the woods.

"Have fun, now!", shouted AngryHospitalBed from his balcony, giving a lazy wave. "Be back by 10!"

"We will, Dad!", Laurie shouted back, then they turned a corner and could no longer be seen.

AngryHospitalBed lay back in his easy chair and tried to fall asleep. But it was a difficult task- for he too had felt things coming. Angry things, evil things, things that shouldn't be.

Laurie and her Prince had not gone far when they suddenly heard something rustle in the bushes in front of her. The pony reared up automatically, and stopped its run.

"Woah, boy.", said the Prince to his pony, and looked up ahead. "What's got you spooked?"

They didn't have to wait to find out- a tall, pale, and very thin Wizard emerged from the bush in front of them. Laurie recognized him immediately- it was her most recent ex.

"Hello, Laurie.", he spat with pure hatred. "I don't think you should have come out here tonight."

He wetly skulked to the middle of the path, and held up a button. "Because you see, once I press this button, all my friends will arrive. And even your little boyfriend will be no match for-"

He was suddenly interrupted in his poisoned words by something else in his mouth. And as he looked down, he could see that thing was the tip of a sharpened metal lance. Then he felt it move past his mouth, all the way through the back of his throat, until it had impaled his face completely.

"Gack.", he said pathetically, and died without a further sound.

The Prince pulled back his lance, and sniffed. "Hmph.", he said. "What a horrid creature."

The pony snorted and stepped on the side of the button, crushing it into bits, making sure it could never be used.

Laurie's lip quivered, and she swung her arms around the Prince's chest. "I love you.", she said.

The Prince gave a gentle smile, and kissed her on the head. "I love you too."

Then they both rode off, into the warming night.

The sun was setting by the time Brandy dragged Leon back into the camp. As she had said, she was dragging him by the ear. Leon had accepted it at first, as he found it kind of fun, but had decided it was a lot less fun after the first 10 minutes.

"Okay.", said Brandy, and gently shoved him forward into the middle of the campsite. "Here we are. I'm not sure why I brought you."

Leon stumbled into the middle of the camp, and spun around on one heel. "Well, obviously it's because… um…"

He remembered what Brandy had called him, and made a grab at that. "You wanted to talk to me about my Stand. My gun."

"Oh, right.", said Brandy, and suddenly appeared next to him. She held out a hand, and raised an eyebrow. "May I see it?"

Leon saluted, and Brandy leaned back a little bit in surprise. "Yes, ma'am.", he said, and spun his Stand into existence. It appeared in his hand with a burst of silver smoke, and he held it out to present to Brandy.

"Don't call me ma'am.", she said, and plucked it out of his hand. "It's weird."

"What do you mean, it's weird?", Leon said. "Didn't you bring me to your camp beca-"

Brandy placed a finger on his mouth, and closely inspected Leon's Stand. "Hush.", she said. "I'm trying to look."

She stared at the smooth metal blaster, turning it on its end. It was soft grey in color, several light blue lines running vertically alongside it. The ends of it both hummed with sheer energy, presumably used for firing rounds. The weapon itself wasn't too heavy- it was, after all, a Stand. Pure metaphysical energy generally didn't weigh very much.

"Huh.", she said, and removed her finger from against Leon's mouth. "Pretty nice Stand you got there, kid. Very useful object type. What is it called?"

Leon snapped his hand back, and the Stand vanished. It reappeared in his hand a second later, then he tucked it into empty air. "Called… oh .Yeah. It's named…"

He leaned back, hands in his pockets, trying to look as cool as he could. "Hunter Killer."

"Hunter Killer.", Brandy said. "Huh. Why'd you name it that?"

Leon shrugged, and flicked a spinner blade from one hand to the other. "I don't know. Just sounded cool, I guess."

Then he looked up, having made a sudden realization. "Hold on. I thought only other Stand users could see Stands."

"That's right.", said Brandy, expecting what would be coming next. "And you're about to ask me how I can see your Stand then."

"How can you see my Stand then-", said Leon, then stopped. He looked up at Brandy, and closed his mouth.

"Well.", Brandy said, pacing back and forth. "It's because I, too, possess a Stand. It's not a flashy one, or particularly strong. However, it is very useful when it wishes to be."

She shivered, remembering the times that it had saved her life, or given her the will to keep going. "My Stand is known as The Dreamer. It allows me to see the future, however vague and meaningless that vision may be."

"Huh.", said Leon. "I guess you've not been training with it, then."

Brandy took a step back, offended. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Well, you've had it your whole life.", said Leon. "And you still can't control it?"

"I've _not _had it my whole life.", said Brandy. "I only got it like, a month and a half ago."

Leon stared at her. "Really.", he said with a slight curiosity. "Because I've had mine my entire life. I was just born with it."

"Huh.", Brandy said, and folded her arms. "Lucky. I had to get fricking stabbed."

"Woah woah woah.", said Leon, and held up his hands. "You were stabbed to get it? By what?"

"I don't know.", Brandy said, and blew some of the hair out of her face. "Some weird golden thing. It blew up when it touched me though- for some reason."

"Hmmm…", said Leon, and rolled his lollipop around in his mouth again. "I got the good end of the deal again."

"Hmph.", said Brandy, but she was only half listening. Inside of her mid, some things were coming together. She had gained her Stand just after she had been informed she was pregnant. And that was about a month and a half ago. And that was-

But her train of thought was interrupted, when she heard a very low, very long yawn from across the entire clearing. She spun her head around to look- and saw Dan at the far end.

"Dan!", she shouted, and waved. "You're awake!"

"Yup.", Dan grunted, and stepped further into the camp to reveal that he had a massive tree branch under each arm. Stacked on top of the branches were various bunches of fruit, yanked straight from the trees. Although he was standing, he looked still absolutely exhausted. "I'm awake. Kind of wish I wasn't though."

With a heave of pure, rippling strength, Dan tossed the tree trunks into the center of the campsite. They split upon landing, the food rolling to a stop in front of Brandy and Leon. With another flick of his fingers and a mumbled "overdrive", a spark of electricity shot into the pile of wood. It took only a second for them to catch, and soon the chunks had turned into a roaring fire.

"I'm gonna go get dinner, honey.", Dan grunted, and turned back towards his tent. "Stay right there. Don't wander off. Eat something else in the meantime."

"Dan, wait-", Brandy began, but Dan had already walked beyond the edges of the firelight, and into the dark woods.

"Uh, _honey_?", Leon asked, not sure if he wanted to hear the answer. "Does that mean that-"

"Oh yeah.", Brandy said, and plucked a small bag of hot chocolate mix off the ground. It had inexplicably grown on one of the trees, along with a pail of hot water and a small mug. She quickly prepared the mix in a blur of Dash-infused movements, and handed one to Leon. He gently took it, removing his lollipop from his mouth temporarily. "Dan's my husband. Why?"

Inwardly, Leon cursed. But outwardly, he just shrugged. "I don't know. Just, uh, curious. I guess."

"Mmhmm.", said Brandy, and took a sip. "Yeah, we've known each other… well, pretty much as far back as I can remember."

Leon took a sip, and winced. It was incredibly hot, despite Brandy seemingly not caring. "And uh, how far is that?"

Brandy sipped again, noticing how the sparks flew off the burning wood. The air of the woods was calm and inviting, despite all the dangers that lurked within. "I don't really know, actually. Some years, I suppose. I was actually born of natural parents- I never came from a chest."

She shook her head, and set her mug down. "I'm sorry, is this too much for you? I didn't mean to-"  
"No, no.", said Leon with a shake of his own head and tail. "I'm fine."

Brandy raised an eyebrow. "I meant the hot chocolate.", she said, noting that Leon had failed to drink anything since his first scalding bite.

"Oh." said Leon, and looked down. "Well, not that either. I'm just waiting for it to cool down."

"Ah.", said Brandy, and laughed. "I see."

"Neither did I.", Leon blurted out, and Brandy looked at him in confusion. "Come from a chest, or a box, or whatever."

"Huh.", Brandy said, and took another sip. This time, it had marshmallows. "Where did you come from, then?"

Leon looked up to the sky, recalling his earliest days. "Well, it's still all a little fuzzy. But I remember that I was brought to my Brawler house by someone."

"Mmhmm…", said Brandy, and took another sip. She was a little distracted, tired, and cold, so she was really only half listening. "Who?"

Leon scratched his head, and yawned. "I don't really remember her name, but she was kind of like this flying, gold lady."

Something tickled at the back of Brandy's mind, but she couldn't quite tell what it was. However, it was enough to pique her interest. She opened her eyes again, and leaned forward. "Are you sure you can't remember her name?"  
"Well…", Leon said, trying to rack his brain. "I think it might have been… um…"

Brandy closed her eyes again, and gently leaned back. But she instantly opened them back up again, when she heard Leon's next words.

"Hailizi?", he pondered, and scratched the top of his head. "Yeah, I think it was something like that."

For a moment, Brandy's heart stopped beating. Her breath caught in her throat, and every muscle in he entire body tensed at once. She felt a strange feeling wash over her, as she realized truly just what this meant. She looked out over all the evidence she had seen so far- his age, the Stand, now this- it couldn't have been a coincidence. This could only mean one thing.

Brandy's voice got very quiet, as she slowly placed a hand on Leon's shoulder. She flipped back his hood with the other, staring right at him in a strange mixture of relief and total shock.

"Oh. My. Se'th.", she said, as she put her finger against the side of Leon's face. He squirmed and looked at her funny, but Brandy's grip was tight.

"Hey, hey, what are you doing-", he began, but one look at Brandy's face told him it would be best to stay quiet in this situation.

"Leon, I…", Brandy began, then looked down at the fire and ground. She gulped in nervousness, then looked back up again with a face as soft as a cloud. "I'm not sure how to explain this."

"Yo, explain what?", he asked, trying to get away from Brandy's grip, but secretly enjoying the attention. "What's going on here?"

Brandy sighed, and slowly closed her eyes. Then she opened them up again with fierce determination, and stared right into Leon's eyes.

"Leon, I…", she said, and for just a second, the entire world seemed to hang still. No noises were made, not even from the ground or air itself. Then she sighed deeply, and let out the truth.

"Leon.", she said. "I'm your mother."

Leon took this image in with varying levels of emotion. First there was the shock, as he heard Brandy's words. Then there was the shock again, as he actually understood them. Then there was the excitement coursing through his very veins, as he realized that he had finally found what he had been searching for the last few days without rest. Then came the total, overwhelming horror, as he realized that the woman he had seen taking a bath and developed a little bit of an infatuation with was, in fact, his very own flesh and blood mother.

On the outside, he just slowly nodded, as if he was able to take this information well, and without complication. But on the inside, he screamed a wail of existential horror, knowing that no matter how many times he scrubbed his brain and eyeballs, they would never truly be the same.

"Um.", he said, and blinked, trying not to collapse. "Well, uh…"

"I know.", said Brandy, and took her hand off of Leon's shoulder. "I'm surprised too. I didn't expect to find you out here."

Trying to ignore his reeling mind, Leon worked up the frame of mind to ask a question. "Wait. So if you're my mother… who's the dad? That's how it works, right?"

Brandy's face grew dark, and she looked down. She hadn't thought she would end up telling Leon this, but she supposed she had no choice. He was her son, after all. She had to tell him the truth.

Brandy looked up, and took a deep breath. "Well-"

Then Leon saw, from behind Brandy's shoulder, Dan slowly get up, and wander in their general direction. He hadn't seen Leon before- he had simply been far too tired. So when Leon actually did address him, it came as kind of a shock. He sluggishly picked up the Rune of Elixir, poured some out into a cup, and took a big sip.

"Hey Dad!", shouted Leon from behind him, and gave a huge wave.

Dan hurked, and spat out his Elixir. It sprayed across the entire campsite in a purple rain, and he spun around on both heels. His eyes were wide open, now instantly awake.

"What?", he coughed, covering his mouth with one hand. "Where the-"

Only then did he see Leon, gently cowering right next to Brandy. He gave a shy little wave, and pulled his hood down closer over his face.

"Dad?", Dan coughed, and made his way over to Leon. "Excuse me, but who the frick are you?"

He loomed high over Leon, his massive form of 21 feet not fully visible in the soft firelight. Leon looked back up at him, obvious fear written across his face.

"Wait!", Brandy said, waving her hands. "He's okay. His name's Leon. I found him in the woods while I was getting food."

"And turns out I'm her son.", said Leon, folding his arms behind his back. "So I guess that makes you my dad."

Dan turned a furious gaze towards Brandy, who shrunk under her cloak. "Excuse us.", he said, grabbed Brandy by the waist, and stomped over to the other side of the camp.

"What?", Dan roared, thereby negating any reason for going to the other side of the camp in the first place. "Your son? How?"

"I can-", Brandy said, trying to explain, but Dan wasn't finished.

"You told me you couldn't get pregnant anymore!", he yelled, throwing the arm that wasn't holding Brandy high into the air. "And I don't exactly remember us fooling around while I was just a Knight!"

"Dan, he's…", Brandy said, and looked down. Her eyes began to water. "Not yours."

"What?", Dan rumbled, the tips of his fingers lighting up gold. "Brandy, do you mean to tell me that-"  
"He's Chad's.", said Brandy, and hiccuped. A single tear rolled down her cheek and hit the dirt, her face dark as ash.

Song: Himeru Omai

For a second, nobody moved. Dan stood there in shock, the cool darkness of the night now seeming icy cold, and deadly sharp around them.

"Oh.", he said, searching his memory. "From when you were-"

"Yes.", Brandy choked out, trying not to cry.

"In the forest.", said Dan, and almost stumbled back. "I- I wasn't even really there. I had forgotten."

Brandy looked up at him, and buried her face in his chest. She rubbed her head against his stomach, trying to calm herself. Her mind rolled with flashbacks, though she was trying desperately to fight them off. "I know.", she breathed, so quiet she could barely be heard. "I was there. I carried him the entire time you were gone."

Dan cast a single glance towards Leon, who was still sitting on the stump in mild curiosity. "So… he's your son then."

Brandy sighed deeply, and took a look over towards him as well. "Yes. He is."  
A small smile spread over her face, despite how she had been acting just a few moments before. "Dan.", she said. "I'm a mother. We're parents."

Then her eyes shot open, and she looked up. "Oh my S'eth, I'm a mother."  
"Hmph.", Dan said. "Yes, you are a mother. But we're not parents."

Brandy's eyes softened in shock. "What?", she asked. "Dan, what do you-"

As if to help answer this question, Leon suddenly appeared next to them with a shimmer of the light. He held up one hand, the other in his pocket. "Hey uh… Dad?", he asked. "What are you talking about?"

Dan turned to look at him, but there was only sternness in his voice. "Don't call me that.", he snarled, and turned all the way around. "You're not my son."

Leon's casual grin vanished off his face, and he took a step backwards. He could see just how huge Dan loomed over them both, all 21 feet and nearly 6000 pounds on display.

"Wait… what?", he asked, and spread his hands. "But she's my mom, and you guys are clearly together, so-"  
"I said…", rumbled Dan, and snapped out his hand to the right. A burst of Star appeared around it, and Leon leapt backwards. "You're not my son!"

Leon stared at him in open fear, his Stand slowly beginning to slip out of his sleeve. But he told it not yet, and Hunter Killer ever so quietly pulled itself back in.

Dan slammed his Star into the ground, slicing open a large crack that spread all the way to the other end of the camp. He stood there for a second, still entranced by rage, when he saw Brandy standing on the ground beside him.

"Dan…", she said, and her face trembled. "Why… what are you doing?"

Dan took one look at Brandy, and his anger melted. He almost instantaneously rushed to her side, and put one giant arm around her. "Woah, woah, what's wrong?"

"You… hate him.", she said, and took a deep sniff. "My own son. You hate mine- no, our son."

Her shoulders heaved, and the tears began to fall. Dan instantly reached out a hand to catch them, and leaned more around Brandy.

"No, no.", he said. "Don't cry. PLease. I… can't take it very well."

Brandy looked up at him, and rubbed her eyes. "Oh.", she said with shock. "Well then, we can split the crying equally."

Dan rubbed the small of Brandy's back, and gave a deep low rumble. "It's okay, Brandy.", he said. "It's alright."

Then he looked down at Leon, who was still standing afraid. He leaned in as close as he could, making sure Leon could see every bit of muscle on his face that he could have. "Listen, kid.", he growled, rumbling Leon's bones. "You may be the child she gave birth too. But I am not the other half."

Leon slowly took another step back, and held up his hands. "Uh…", he mumbled, trying not to freak out. "Okay, sir. I understand."

"No.", said Brandy, and stretched herself a little taller in Dan's grip. "Dan, he is my son. You are his dad."

Dan's face suddenly grew furious, a flash of pure hatred blinking across his face as he was reminded of the past. "No.", he said. "I am not his father."

Brandy looked to Leon, his face still uncertain with fear. She looked back to Dan, his face a carving of underlying rage. She sighed, wiped a tear from her eye, and went limp in Dan's arms.

"Okay.", she said quietly. "Let's just… not argue anymore. I don't want to."

Dan said nothing, only gently setting Brandy down on the ground. He looked at the empty pot over the fire, that was supposed to be for soup.

"Hmm.", he said. "Well alright then, let's get some soup going. For two."

"Wait, what-", Leon started, but Dan affixed him with a look of such withering authority that he temporarily forgot how to speak.

"That's what I said.", Dan grunted, and breathed in. "For two."

Then with a powerful "Ora", Dan thrust his hand into the ground. A shot of pure energy blasted deep into the dirt, throwing up small pebbles and clods of dust, until he hit what he was looking for- a salt layer, deep underground. With an upwards jerk of his arm, and a small grunt of effort, Dan launched a solid chunk of salt hundreds of feet back upwards through the hole, all the way to the surface. As soon as it landed in his hand, he squeezed, and crushed it between his fingers.

His other hand opened up to reveal a large pile of potatoes and various greens, which he tossed into the pot. He sprinkled in some salt, and clapped his hands together.

"Uh, Dan?", Brandy asked. "Don't you usually like meat in your soup?"

She was saying this as a test. It was true that he did- however, Brandy hated all forms of meat. And this was going to be a shared soup. Dan usually took every opportunity to think about what Brandy wanted. If he put meat in the soup, that would mean that-

"Oh, you're right.", Dan said, and stuck a finger into the air. He fired off a quick blast of Star, and a flying bird fell straight into the pot, already feathered. "Thanks for reminding me."

Brandy gasped, and her eyes watered. She looked away from the pot, and buried her face in her hands.  
"Woah, Mom.", said Leon, and stood up. One hand went towards her, and the other towards a bowl on the ground. "What's wrong-"  
"Brandy?", said Dan much louder, and bolted to his feet. "What's going on?"

Brandy sniffed, and looked up at Dan. If this was his reaction, then surely he did still care.

"Nothing.", she said, and dabbed at her eye a bit. "Just uh… a spark flew into my eye."

"Oh, let me take a look at it.", said Dan, and dropped to one knee. He raised one hand in glowing Star, and cupped Brandy's head in the other. "Just hold still and…"

There was a bright flash, and pure healing Star flowed into Brandy's eye. Even though there had been no actual injury, it was still a pleasurable feeling.

"There you go.", said Dan, and gave Brandy a kiss. "All better."

Brandy sniffed, and sat up straighter. "Aw, thanks honey."

He reached for a bowl, noticing with dismay there was only one. There should have been two.

"Here, have a bowl of soup.", he said. "I'll just use the pot, I guess…"

He cast a glance to his right, and snarled. There was the second bowl seemingly hanging in the air, its contents draining as if by magic. "Because it looks like _somebody_ took the other bowl."

Leon took an extra large sip, finishing off his soup, then abruptly became visible again. He looked awkwardly at Dan and Brandy, stood up, and cleared his throat.

"Well uh…", he said, and started walking. "I think I'm going to go to bed now. It doesn't seem that there's that much I can contribute to the conversation."

He looked around, and stopped. "Where am I sleeping-"

"On the ground.", Dan rumbled. "Outside the tent."

"Oh.", Leon said, and looked at the ground. "Well… I guess that's where I've been sleeping anyway. A little more couldn't hurt, right?"

He walked off towards a clear spot between two trees, hands in his pockets, head down, aimlessly kicking a rock. "Right."

Brandy watched him go, maternal pain aching in her heart. "Dan-"

"I know.", Dan said, and dug his spoon into the pot of soup. "I know you care about him. But-"

He stared at the ground for a second, then flared up with Star. His shoulders lit up a blazing gold, almost causing the surrounding trees to burst into flame. "He hurts me, Brandy. Just him existing. Knowing that you have a son, and I don't. That the person- no, the _thing _that took you made you his, if only for a little while. His… in a way that I can never have."

The Star around him faded, leaving him dull. "I just can't take it."

His shoulders heaved, and he leaned forward. A single tear dripped down his cheek, and landed on the dirt. "I know that you're his mom, and you care about him. But I can't. I just could never."

"Dan…", Brandy said, and leaned forward. She hugged Dan's torso, rubbing her head into his shirt. "I know. I know what he did to me, and that Leon is a direct result of that. But… I still love him. Because he's not His. He's mine, and only mine."

She looked up, and realized what she had said. "Well, no. I guess. He's yours too. Because any son of mine is a son of yours."

Dan sighed, and relaxed his muscles. "Listen, Brandy. I know that you're trying to make the situation better. But… it's really not. I don't like him. Plain and simple."

His face clouded over, remembering what had happened. "Every time I see him… every time he says something… I just remember that I was not able to protect you. Not before he… well, you know. Made him."

Brandy closed her eyes, and hugged Dan even tighter. "Don't think about that, Dan. Don't think about what happened then- think about what's happening now. I mean, look at this. You've got everything."

She lifted one leg into the air, and tried to wrap it around Dan's shoulder. "A loving wife, a purpose in life, an epic quest to save the world… what more could you want?"

Dan kept on staring straight ahead, watching Leon roll over on the cold, stony ground. "A kid.", he said. "Of my own."

"But-", Brandy began, only for Dan to cut her off with a raise of his hand.

"No.", he said. "I don't have one."

For a minute, there was silence in the air. No sounds could be heard but the low, deep noises of the deep forest night. Dan stared ahead in sadness, with Brandy still thinking of how to cheer him up. But they just continued to sit there, until the fire ran out of the last fuel it had to burn.

"We should-", Brandy began.

"Yes. Go to bed.", Dan finished, and stood up. Brandy gripped his waist a little tighter, and leapt up onto his shoulder.

"You know…", Brandy said, trying to salvage the situation. "We haven't-"  
"No.", said Dan, with an empty shake of his head. "I don't feel like it. Not tonight."

"Oh.". Brandy said. "Okay. I guess we don't have to every night. It's just that-"

Dan took a massive step, and arrived at the entrance of the tent. He lay down against a nearby tree, Brandy taking her usual spot lying on his chest.

"I love you.", Brandy said, finishing her sentence. "You know that, right?"

"Of course I do.", said Dan, but his words sounded less full than normal. "I always know that."

"Okay.", said Brandy. "Just uh… just making sure."

She laid her head against Dan's muscular chest, and closed her eyes. Neither of them said anything else, and they were soon both in a deep sleep.

At the other end of the campsite, however, Leon could not sleep. He finally stopped rolling around, sat up, and looked at the tent. His ears had picked up everything- every word they had said. And he hated himself for it.

"Oh…", he said, barely able to breathe. In just about an hour, he had gone from not knowing who his parents were, to crushing on his mom, to finding out it was his mom, to finding his dad, to thinking he had been some sort of mistake, only to realize that he had been the product of some sort of abusive relationship. At least, that's what he had been able to piece together from Dan and Brandy's conversation.

_Am I… _he said, looking down at his hands. _A mistake? Am I even supposed to exist?_

He sighed, and closed his eyes. There was most likely a huge day ahead of him, and he had to rest well. If we was to strike out onto the road again as early as possible, he had to get ready now.

_Hold on., _he thought, and sat up. _What am I thinking? I don't have to be on the road again. Not by myself, anyway. I found-_

_Found what?, _he heard another voice in his head say. _Found your family? No. You found a mother who couldn't raise you and a father who hates you. You have found nobody._

Leon slapped the side of his head, trying to silence some inner demon. _Oh, shut up, _he thought. _I need to go to bed._

He yawned, and blinked. He stretched out, pulled his hoodie as far over his face as it would go, and laid down flat. _I really… need to… to…_

Then his brain quietly switched, and he fell asleep at last.

Song: Only a Chilling Elegy

Miles away, deep in a haunted part of the forest, a broken figure of a man lay on the dirt path. Bullet holes riddled his devastated body, yet he still somehow managed to cling onto life. A dark power filled his every vein, refusing to let his soul pass. And as the seconds turned to minutes, the destroyed form of the No Hat Mortis was slowly knitted back together.

"Gaaah…", he gasped, and spat out purple blood. The black of his torn muscle was slowly hidden beneath his growing grey skin, as he grabbed his shovel from where it lay.

With a grunt of effort, Mortis pushed himself to his feet. He took a moment to breathe, the cool night air flowing through his still-shredded lungs.

_Mortis!, _shouted a voice in his head, and Mortis jumped. He spun around, looking for anyone near him, but there was nobody there.

"Who dares sneak up on a creature of the night?", he spat, brandishing his shovel. "For let it be known that I shall-"

_Mortis?, _came the voice again, and Mortis realized where the voice was coming from. _It's me. You know… your _master?

"Oh.", said Mortis, and hastily slung his shovel onto his back. "I'm sorry, master, I was just a little bit distracted. I guess I lost my cool when I-"

He gestured to his body, which was no longer destroyed, but still bleeding in some areas. "Almost died. By his hand."

_Yes, yes, it does appear that Leon got the jump on you, _said the voice, and somehow stroked its non corporal chin. Then he grinned. _But that doesn't matter… now does it?_

"No, master.", said Mortis. "Not when you can regenerate me from any injury."

_Yes, yes, _said the voice, and clapped its hands. _Now, where are the others? We're going to need them to help._

Mortis perked up, and scratched his head. "You're right!", he said. "Just uh, allow me to get them…"

He raised his shovel, and a chorus of Bats flew out from somewhere behind his head. "Creatures of the night!", he shouted. "Bring me my allies, and spell our enemy's dooms!"

The Bats flew off, and immediately scattered into the woods. Mortis gave a satisfied nod, and slammed his shovel down into the ground.

"There you go, my lord.", he said. "Soon, my friends-"

He felt a sudden rise in the dark presence behind him, and scrambled to correct his words. "Sorry, I mean- allies, yes my allies, will arrive."

He swallowed a bit in nervousness. His master hated all mentions of friendship, but especially anything that could be taken as a mere mention of love. They had lost a member of their group that way- torn straight to bits by pure dark energy. That, and the master's enormous sword.

_Good, good, _said his master. _Now… here's the rest of the plan._

"Yes, sir.", said Mortis, and gave a sharp salute. "I'm listening."

His master leaned in, and Mortis offered up one ear.

_Send out two scouts in advance, _said he, the dark whispers itching at Mortis's ear. _Try and take them by cooperation. If that does not work, take them by force. The child and the girl, I mean. Kill the boy, and deliver the other two straight to me._

"Yes, sir.", said Mortis. "But… what if your scouts don't work?"

_I'm getting to that, _the dark shadow said, starting to become slightly visible from the power of his will. _I'm anticipating they will stop at the nearest village, based off of previous behavior. And once they do, that is when you will strike. The very instant they fall asleep, make sure they stay that way. And then, we will all make our move. _

Mortis nodded, as he started to notice the rest of the group had begun to arrive. "Yes, sir.", he said. "I shall explain the plan to the rest of my group."

The evil figure smiled, and faded back into thought. Mortis looked up, and saw his allies arrive.

Out of the trees strode a massive El Primo, although Mortis knew he could become an El Rudo if he so wished. Next to him was a slinking Bibi, as she loudly chewed a bubble. To the right of those two was a Tara, running with her hands behind her in between the trees. A Rico stepped precisely in an 87 degree angle into the clearing, his head swiveling around automatically. A Sleepy Sandy staggered into the clearing, his eyes half closed and a snore starting to escape from his lips. There was a Gene, laughing softly to himself as his lamp flew around his head. And in the very rear was a Tick, small mechanical beeps escaping his ever-smiling face.

Mortis smiled, and spread open wide his arms. "Welcome, everyone.", he said. "I'm sure you're all just dying to hear the next phase of the plan."

Bibi popped her bubble, yawned, then blew another one. She spun her bat around on one fingertip, then slammed it onto the ground. She leaned on it casually, and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, you bet.", she scoffed. "Me and El Primo have been waiting for hours."

"Si.", El Primo said, with an unnecessary flex of his muscles. "Mi bebé y yo apenas podemos esperar."

Mortis chuckled. "Right… so I suppose I should tell you all then?"

"Yes.", said the Rico, his head still spinning randomly around as he kept a sharp lookout. "Tell. Us."

"Woooo.", said Sandy, pumping the air with his fist, even as he yawned again. "Okay."

Mortis stood as tall as he could, and spun his shovel around on his shoulder. "Alright then.", he said, and grinned an evil smile. "Here's what we're gonna do."

As he explained the evil plan to his group, the master slowly rose into the air. He looked out over the woods, searching for his target- but of course, he could not see them. Their campfire had already been put out almost an hour earlier. But still he scoured his vision, rage building within his vengeful and lustful heart.

_Mark my words, _he thought, and snarled. _I will get you. For once I'm done with you… one of you shall be dead. And the other two shall be all mine to keep. _

His eyes narrowed, and dark light flashed from the spot where he hovered in the trees.

_Forever._

Then he threw back his head, and began to maniacally laugh, as his underlings finished up the plan below.

Song: Rubicon

The next morning, an unsettling aura covered the sky. The light slowly trickled down from over the forested mountains to the deep woods themselves, the harsh blue hues of dawn illuminating Dan and Brandy's still campsite. The fire had since long burned out, the sticks now mere husks of ash. Leon had rolled all the way across the entire campsite, and was now pressed up against Dan and Brandy's tent.

"Wha…", Brandy mumbled, as she looked up. "Is it morning already?"

She blinked through sleepy eyes, and pushed her hair out of her face. "Oh. It is."

Dan opened his own eyes, although he didn't budge from his spot. He saw Brandy's tired face, trying to blink the bleariness from her face, and couldn't help himself.

"You know, honey, you look really cute.", he mumbled, and stroked the side of Brandy's face with a single massive finger.

"Aw, Dan…", said Brandy, and let herself flop down on his chest again. "You look cute too."

"Oh, really?", said Dan. "Cause I think you look way cuter."

But even as his words were soft, they concealed desperate intentions. He was intentionally trying to be as lovey towards Brandy as possible. Now that Leon had suddenly arrived, he was inspired to pour as much attention and affection on Brandy as he could.

Then his vision refocused to somewhere behind him, and his eyes narrowed.

"Hey!", he barked, startling Leon into a sudden fall. "Stay out of there!"

Leon cried out and slipped on a patch of mud, dropping the food he had grabbed. He landed on his back, his hood falling over the back of his head. His hands instinctively flew to his sleeves, a spinner blade sliding neatly into each one.

"Dan!", Brandy said, and leaned back. "Don't yell at him!"

"Why not?", Dan growled, his peaceful mood suddenly shattered. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because…", Brandy said, "He has done nothing to deserve it. And he's our son anyway- you shouldn't be yelling at him like this!"

"No.", said Dan, and shook his head. "He may be your son, Brandy, but he is not mine."

"But-", Brandy began, but Dan just raised a hand. He pointed a finger at Leon, who had stood up again and was now standing next to a tree in awkward silence.

"He may have come from you, but I had no part in it.", Dan said quietly. "He came from… him. And every time I look at him, I am reminded of that fact."

Brandy was silent for a bit. She took a long, sorrowful look back at Leon, then looked back down at Dan. She snuggled in right up to his neck, rubbing her head against the spot where he liked the most.

"Yes.", she purred. "I know that. But… we can pretend that he's yours, can't we? Just put the past behind us?"

Dan felt her rub against him for a bit, and he decided that he did feel a bit better.

"Okay.", he said, and slowly stood up. Brandy Dashed up to his shoulder, and settled in. "I guess I could try to be somewhat sort of indifferent towards him some of the time. For you."

"Thanks Dan.", said Brandy, hugging him tightly around the neck with a kiss. "You're the best."

Leon chanced a quick look behind him, to try and see what was going on. He almost jumped out of his feet when he saw Dan no less than 4 feet away from him, Brandy and the entire campsite riding on his shoulder.

"Hey, kid.", said Dan with a forced smile and an even more forced extension of the hand. "We just got packed up. And now we're leaving."

"Wait, how?", asked Leon, and craned his neck to look behind Dan. "The campsite was up just like a minute ago! How did you-"  
"I said…", boomed Dan, and Leon did jump. "We just got packed up. And now, we are leaving."

Leon nodded, pursed his lips together, and readjusted his hood on top of his head. He crouched down on the ground, about to try and make the jump. "Okay. Let me just-"

"No.", said Dan, and put his hand over Leon. "You will walk."

"Oh.", said Leon, and his face fell. "Okay then."

Dan started to take a step, only for Brandy to give a sharp tug on his ear. "Now hold on a minute, Dan. Did I not say that he was allowed to ride on your shoulder?"

Dan stopped walking, threw his head back, and groaned so loud it could be heard by the birds overhead. "Fiiine."

He leaned down, grabbed Leon daintily by the waist, and dropped him unceremoniously onto his shoulder. "Here you go, kid. Just… don't make too much noise. And-"

He turned and faced Leon, the underlying, burning rage in his voice almost visible. "If you ever so much as _scratch_ my wife…", he said, and narrowed his eyes. A thin coating of flame surrounded him, pure Star rushing over his body in minute amounts. "I'll kill you."

Leon nodded, and scooted a little further away from Brandy's side of Dan's shoulders. "Alright, sir.", he said, and quickly nodded his head. "I understand."

"Good.", said Dan, and started walking. "And don't you forget it."

As Dan strode down the path, the entire campsite on his back, Brandy turned towards Leon. She could see the tears beginning to run down his face, carving a laborious path through the dirt. One eye was still blackened, and a long, thin scar ran across the bridge of his nose.

"Hey, Leon?", Brandy asked quietly, scooching over to the center of Dan's shoulders.

"Yeah Mom?", Leon asked, sort of morosely.

"If you don't mind me asking….", Brandy asked, preparing what to say next. "Why are you so injured?"

Leon looked up, his hand instantly flying up to his cheek. "I'm not hurt. I'm fine."

Brandy scooted further towards Leon, and gently put her hand on his face. "No.", she said. "No, you're not. You're hurt."

Leon tried to keep his strong look up, before he finally broke down. He sighed deeply, and let his own hand fall. "Okay. Yes. I'm hurt."

"Here.", said Brandy, and reached into her pocket. Her fingers grabbed ahold of a travel size Heal spell, and brought it into the light. "Let me just-"

She popped off the cork, and wet the tip of her finger. Leon grimaced as Brandy rubbed a bit of the magical liquid substance against his cheek, the dirt beginning to vanish.

"Leon, stop squirming.", she said, and grabbed hold of his shoulders. She tried to rub her finger against Leon's eye to clear it up, but the way Dan kept moving wasn't helping. "I'm just trying to Heal you."

"Yeah, I know.", said Leon, and closed his eyes. "I just don't like it when people like, fawn over me like this. I don't know."

Brandy grabbed him by the eye, and rubbed his eye vigorously with her hand. The Heal, although a thin layer on her skin, was enough to remove most of Leon's black eye.

"Okay, we're almost done.", said Brandy, and dipped a little more Heal onto her hand. "Just hold still, and-"

She rubbed her hand across Leon's arm, the Heal soaking through the cloth. Leon gasped, both in surprise and a little pain.

"How did you know I was hurt there?", he asked. "I didn't show you even once."

Brandy just smiled, and tapped the side of her head. "I'm your mom, Leon.", she said slyly. "I can tell."

The single flicker of a soft blue light behind her head helped as well, but she didn't really feel like mentioning that one.

"Huh.", he said. "I guess that makes sense." 

"Excuse me.", Dan said, and suddenly stopped walking. "If you two are finished, I believe we are about to run into something."

Brandy looked up, and tucked the Heal back into her pocket. "What?", she asked, looking around. "What is it? What are we getting attacked by?"

"Woah, hey!", said Leon, putting his hands into his pocket. "No one said anything about being attacked."

"Heh, boy.", said Dan, and bent down a little to give himself a stance. "We've been getting attacked ever since we got here. This is nothing new."

He took a deep breath, and flared over with Star. The heat felt too warm on Leon's skin, but Brandy snuggled up against the side of Dan's head like he was a warm oven.

"Keep an eye out for anything, Brandy.", he said. "I'll look too."

Then Leon looked down at the ground, his eyes instinctively searching for tracks. He was just sweeping the grass at first, hardly even noticing what he was doing- then his blood ran cold, as he saw something he recognized.

"Uh, sir?", he asked, tapping on Dan's shoulder. "I think you might want to take a look at this."

"Look at the trees.", Dan said quietly. "There might be something in there."

"Sir?", Leon asked, a little more urgently. "I really think you should take a look at this."

"You know, Brandy, this kind of reminds me of the time when you and I-", Dan said, before he heard Leon's yell.

"Hey! Dad!", Leon shouted, and the hairs on the back of Dan's neck all stood up. "Look at this!"

"What?", Dan snarled, and looked to where Leon was pointing. "What is it, boy-"

Then he saw what Leon had been pointing at, and his face immediately softened. He bent down to take a closer look- at a curious insect that had just entered the clearing.

"Why, it's a Red Spalmer Beetle!", he said, whispering in wonder. "Very rare find these days. Good eye, kid."

Leon watched him stare at the insect for a few seconds, soaking in the positive attention. However, the tiny animal was not the thing that had captured his attention.

"Actually, sir?", Leon asked, and Dan looked up. "I was referring to that."

"What-", Dan began, then looked to the right. He saw that all the grass in one area had been pushed down to the ground- by some sort of long, round shape. "Oh."

He took another look around him, to see that the entire edge of the clearing had been trampled down by the same thing that had left the markings. "Ohhhhh…"

"What do you think it is?", Brandy asked, leaning down to get a closer look. "Cause it looks like, to me, that-"  
"I know what it is.", said Leon. "I've seen it before."

Brandy had been about to say "giant slab of stone moving around on its own", but she decided to let Leon take this one. He needed it more than she did.

"I saw it traveling through the woods.", said Leon. "It, and this other big monster. It looked like they were on their way to do something."

"Yes…", said Dan, and clenched his fist. He pounded it into his hand, and snarled. "And we are probably something."

It took a moment for what he had said to register in Leon and Brandy's minds. But once it did, it only took a second for Brandy to snort with laughter. She giggled a few short bursts, then fell backwards onto his shoulder.

Following his mother's example, Leon let out a short laugh. He put his hand on Dan's shoulder, and then started laughing uncontrollably.

"What?", Dan asked, trying to turn his head to look. "What is it? What's going on?"  
But both Brandy and Leon kept on laughing, unable to breathe to tell him.

"What?", Dan asked again, but that just sent them both into even more laughter. "What did I say?"

"You said-", Brandy gasped, trying to sit up. "You said that-"

"They were coming to do us.", said Leon, grabbing onto Dan's shoulder in an attempt to compose himself. "And you mean that-"

"Oh.", said Dan, only now remembering all the stuff jokes that Brandy liked to make. "Right."

"Also uh…", said Leon, his ears twitching under his hood. "I hear something. Up ahead."

Brandy took one last gasp of laughter, and looked up. "Wait, what-"

Then there was a great crack up ahead, and the trees parted to reveal a pair of beasts. One was a vast serpent, it's enormous body stretching all the way back into the woods. The other was a heavyset lizard with many heads, each drooling in anticipation of blood.

Song: Burning Colosseum

"It's them!", Leon shouted, and dropped some spinner blades into his hands. "The Serpent and the Hydra!"

Dan jumped backwards, and took a deep breath. He silently gestured to Brandy to get ready, and she nodded. "That's what they're called?"

"Yes.", said Leon. "I was approached by this guy earlier that wanted me to join a team- and they were part of it."

Dan's mind, acting fast in the face of battle, put two and two together, looking at Leon in shock.

"Wait- Rakastamos?", he asked. "Rakastamos wanted you to join him?"  
"Uuhh…", said Leon, and gripped Dan's shoulder tighter. "Let's talk about this later."

"Right, sweetie.", said Brandy, blue and silver light trailing off of her as she prepared to fight. "After we kill these guys."

"Yes.", Dan said, and took a defensive stance. He breathed in and out, the golden light around him flaring to immense proportions. "Let's."

The Serpent laughed a deep, throaty chuckle, and reared up. Its immense body towered over the trees, a full 50 feet off of the ground. It opened its mouth and drooled, revealing line upon line of dagger like teeth.

The Hydra twisted around, each one of its heads letting out a mighty hiss. Some were long and thin, others were short and bulky. Some had teeth like needles, others like worn stubs. But the thing that connected them all was their milky white, almost blank eyes.

"I'm guessing the one with all the heads is the Hydra.", Brandy said. "Right?"

"Right.", said Leon. "Also I'm like… 85% sure he's blind. Except for one head."

"Blind except for one head?", Dan asked, and took another look. Sure enough, one small, frail head in the center of the wriggling mass had not eyes of white, but a brilliant, piercing gaze. It swung rhythmically back and forth, most likely to pick up information for all the other heads.

"Got it!", he shouted, and fired a blast. "Shining Spear Overdrive!"

Leon's eyes widened in fear. "Wait no-", he began, but it was too late. Dan's Star energy shot like a lance of lightning, hitting the seeing head straight on and blowing it into pieces.

The eyes of the serpent lit up with glee, and it dived forward in a blur of motion, it's huge head heading straight for Dan. Dan noticed just a bit too late, crossing his arms in defense almost before the Serpent's attack hit.

With a ferocious growl, the Serpent coiled around Dan's body. It laughed deeply as it coiled tighter, even more of its gigantic body entering the clearing. Brandy and Leon leaped from Dan's shoulders and hit the ground, skidding until they came up against the trees.

The Serpent finished winding around Dan's entire body, then reared up its head even more to attack his head. With a powerful roar, it rolled its eyes all the way around its head.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted, and concentrated Dash within her hand. "Don't worry, we're-"  
She had been about to say "coming", when she saw Dan crack a small smile.

Brandy stopped in her tracks, and put away her hand. She smiled a little bit, despite the situation. If Dan was smiling, that meant he had a plan.

"Your scales…", Dan said, and the Serpent stopped laughing. A bit of fear came over his face, as he saw Dan begin to glow. Then Dan shouted in fury, and the Serpent gasped. "Are perfect conductors!"

A flash of Star erupted from Dan's arms, not even taking a second to continue onwards to the Serpent. "Encircling Ripple Overdrive!"

The Star rolled up and down all of the Serpent's body, as it shrieked in agony. Sparks and pops of sizzling light flashed and sizzled, the nervous system of the beast briefly becoming visible from the sheer power of the blow. Finally, after a few seconds, Dan let up the attack, and the Serpent let out one final scream as it was blown backwards, its entire body slamming against the trees.

"There.", said Dan, and drew himself to his full height. "Now let's check on the Hydra-"

Then he saw what the Hydra was doing, and regretted his past actions. For where he had blown the seeing head off, there were now 2. Both of them could see, but it also seemed that one of them could spit acid.

"See, sir?", groaned Leon, coming up from behind Dan. "That's what I was trying to warn you about."

"I see.", said Dan, starting to growl. "Then why, boy…"  
He looked down at Leon in anger, and a chill ran through Leon's body. "Didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I'm sorry.", Leon said, and winced. "It won't happen again, I promise-"

"Hey!", shouted Brandy, and Dashed right by them. "Let's fight!"

"Brandy, wait!", shouted Dan, holding out a hand to try and stop her, but Brandy had already gone out of range. Extending one leg in a long kick, she aimed right for the Serpent's eye.

"Dorra!", she yelled, as the Serpent rose from the ground, shaking its head from Dan's colossal attack. Its eye was positioned directly where Brandy had predicted it would be, and her boot sunk into it with a satisfying squelch. There was a spray of blood, and the Serpent let out an otherworldly shriek of pain.

Brandy jumped backwards and skidded across the ground, flicking out her bat behind her.

"Hey!", she shouted, looking back at Dan and Leon. "Are you gonna stand there, or help me?"

Leon nodded, and started to move forward. "Sorry, Mom."

Dan nodded, and took a deep breath. "Sorry…", he said, and glared at Leon once again. "Honey."

The Serpent rolled around on the ground, still bellowing its shrill cry, and shot into the trees. The Hydra reared up on its hind legs, each and every head turning to face the group.

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, making several meaningless gestures with her arms and hands. "Cover me! I'm gonna go in deep, try and find out it's weakness!"

She gestured towards Leon, who stood up straight at attention. "Leon!"

Then her voice grew softer, and she smiled. "Come with me."

Brandy didn't even wait for her orders to be carried out before she attacked. With a lightning fast Dash, she slid underneath the Hydra's forest of necks, her hand beginning to sparkle with shining silver light.

"Ushaaaaa!", screamed one of the Hydra's heads, and spat a huge spray of acid. It arced towards Dan, who merely grimaced and threw up his arm. A blast of blazing Star appeared in front of him, turning the spray of caustic liquid into mere harmless gas.

"Leon!", shouted Brandy, as she ducked and rolled to avoid one of the Hydra's stomping legs as it took on Dan. "Get under its stomach and shoot it!"

"Yes, ma'am-", Leon started, before one of the Hydra's feet came stomping straight for his position. He yelped and rolled away, grabbing his Stand out of the air as he did so.

"Good.", said Brandy, and gathered more energy in her hand. "Also, don't call me ma'am. It's weird."

Dan charged forward, taking an even deeper breath in. Flashes of golden light sparkled all around him, as a low roar began to build in his throat. Raising one hand into the air, he gathered a glowing golden orb.

"Raging Spirit…", he yelled, and threw the shot. "Overdrive!"

The Hydra reared back, all but one of its heads trying to dodge the blow. Only one did not react in time, and was caught full force by the enormous blow. There was an explosion of orange light that blew the leaves off of the trees, sending both Brandy and Leon backwards. They rolled away on either side of the Hydra, just as they had been about to attack.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted. "Hey!"

"What?", Dan shouted back. "I'm just trying to kill the Hydra!"

"Yes!", shouted Brandy, her hand once again beginning to spark. "It would just be great if-"

Then she saw it. The smoke clearing from the Raging Spirit Overdrive, where the Hydra had been hit on one of its heads. She blinked in surprise, as she saw the head laying there, as if asleep- yet a river of blood coming from its mouth.

"Is it…", she asked herself. "Dead?"

But it was an impossibility. Troops turned into Elixir when they died- they didn't just hang around for a bit. Brandy stared at the head, jumping to her right to avoid a strike by another- then it came to her, in a flash of realization.

"Guys!", she shouted, and both Leon and Dan turned to look at her. "We can kill the individual heads without causing it to grow more!"

Dan startled a bit, then grinned. He breathed in, gathering another Raging Spirit Overdrive in his right palm. "You're right, honey!", he shouted, and carefully took aim.

Leon fired off a quick spray of spinner blades out of pure instinct, right at a head which had been about to attack him. Unfortunately, they sliced right through the neck, and two more heads had appeared within seconds. "Oops.", he said, and jumped backwards to avoid them. "Sorry, Mom."

"Boy!", shouted Dan, calculating the right jump to land in front of Brandy as quickly as he could. "What did you do that for?"

"Sorry!", Leon yelled, dodging another strike. A Hydra head buried itself into the ground where he had been a mere moment before, sending up a high plume of burned dirt.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted, as she once again prepared her Dash Swipe. "Aim for the big head! And keep an eye out for the Serpent!"

"The Serpent?", Dan asked, raising his hand to fire. "What about it?"

"It went into the trees!", Brandy yelled. "After you knocked it away! We don't know where it is now!"

"Shoot.", Dan said, as he scanned the treeline, seeing no sign of the Serpent. "You're right."

Then he roared, thrust his hand forward, and launched the orange ball of Star. It streaked towards the largest head, a drooling fanged one, and detonated violently upon impact.

Once the smoke cleared, the head lay flopping from its neck, dead. Another one was down- now there were only about 12 or 13 more to go.

"Hey!", Brandy yelled, attracting the attention of about three of them. They turned as one to look at Brandy, as she raised her hand. "You!"

She grunted in effort and a little pain, as she swiped her hand downwards, right through the Hydra's body. There was a bright flash of silver and blue, the downwards momentum of her palm taking the Hydra's skin and muscle with it.

The Hydra roared in pain, stumbling back across the grass. One of the heads rose into the air, emitting a curious sound- and then began to change. Its scales turned from a dark, mottled grey to somewhat white. Its teeth shrunk, becoming more stublike in shape. Finally its eyes shifted from a blank milky white to a shimmering blue and gold.

"Is that good?", Brandy asked, backflipping towards the treeline. "I don't think that's good."

"No.", Dan said, and breathed in. He flexed his leg muscles, and prepared to jump. "It's not."

The Hydra whipped its transformed head around, and to everyone's surprise, bit down directly on the spot where Brandy had taken a chunk out of it. Then their surprise turned to anger, as they saw the injured area completely heal up.

_It looks like it can adapt its heads to suit its needs, _thought Dan, and leapt into the air. He fired off another quick round of shots as he soared overhead, each blast strafing the top of the Hydra in a round of small explosions. "Great. That's totally what we needed."

He landed next to Brandy with a thunderous crash, throwing up his arm in anticipation of any attacks. "Brandy. See if you can identify any sort of main or leader head. Then attack that."

"Right.", Brandy said and nodded, trying to look at every head at once. But it was a difficult task- the heads turned and swirled around at random, forming an almost hypnotic pattern that was difficult to look away from.

Brandy shook her head, and tried to think of what to do. Using her Dash Swipe took a lot out of her, and it could just be healed up. It wouldn't be a good idea to get close to all of the Hydra's gnashing teeth and dripping acids. She had no ranged attacks, so how was she to fight?

She looked at the Hydra again- then a cold chill ran down her back. "Leon?"

She took a look around the clearing- Leon was nowhere to be found. "Dan? Where did Leon go?"

A random Hydra head lashed out at Dan, and he smashed it directly in the face with his fist. It flew back, and Dan took a defensive stance. "I don't know. Why should I care?"

Brandy gasped, a little hurt. "Dan!"  
"What?", Dan growled, and lit up one arm with Star. He slammed it right into a wave of acid thrown by one head, and broke the jaw of another. "I don't!"

The Hydra roared through all its heads as one, and took a colossal step back. Two of the largest heads reared up, and stared at each other, as if discussing something.

"Okay.", Dan said, and took another deep breath. "If I just keep on killing the heads without removing them, we can win. I just gotta-"  
His words died in his throat, as the heads of the Hydra bit off the broken heads, leaving empty stumps in their place.

"Oh, come on!", Dan shouted. "That's not fair!"

"Dan!", Brandy shrieked. "Where's Leon?"  
"Hey Mom!", came the voice of Leon, from somewhere behind her. "Check this out."

Brandy spun around, to see Leon at the other end of the clearing. She gasped in relief. "Leon!"

"Hey!", Leon shouted, and the Hydra looked up. "Eat this!"

He spun his Stand out of his sleeve, and pointed it directly at the Hydra's heart. "Hunter Killer!"

Then Brandy's relief turned to horror, as she saw the grinning, scarred face of the Serpent loom above him in the trees.

In that moment, the world seemed to slow down. Brandy's vision narrowed, blackness seeping in from all directions, until the only things she could see were the Serpent and Leon.

"No.", she whispered, still not even a second passing. A ferocious maternal rage suddenly coursed through her, and a glorious purple flashed around her as flame.

"Don't…", she whispered, feeling the immense power flow through her. "You dare…"

Then time turned back to normal, and the blackness in her vision turned to a furious purple. A blast of sheer energy shot outwards, cracking the ground and bending the trees. Brandy's hair stood up on her head, born aloft from the force of her strength. Her eyes glowed pure violet, her hood blown back off of her hair. "TOUCH HIM!"

She leapt forward faster than anyone could follow, her entire body an unstoppable engine of destruction. Before the Serpent could even react, Brandy's fist had already impacted its side. With a blow born of both Dash and pure Rage, the Serpent began to come apart. It roared in agony as its scales blew off in all directions, scattering into the surrounding woods. Its flesh tore and ripped, its skeleton briefly becoming visible, before it collapsed into a huge puddle of Elixir that fell all over Leon.

Song: Clash

Brandy Dashed next to Leon in a blur of wind, the purple aura still floating and intertwining around her like flames. The wind blew the Elixir of the fallen Serpent into the woods, before it soaked into the trees and ground, disappearing with hardly a trace.

"Sweetie?", Brandy asked Leon, grabbing his face in her hands and staring into his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"Uhh…", Leon said, trying to stop staring at the sheer brightness emanating from every inch of Brandy's being. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright."

"Good.", Brandy said, and turned around. She flicked her hand towards the ground, wiping off a few droplets of pure boiling energy. "Let's finish this."

Dan stared from where he was in total shock, at the sheer power boost Brandy had just undergone. It reminded him of that battle against Ryusei_Nakao69- how she had gone from level 10 to level 21 in a matter of moments. _But according to Juno, _he thought, _she was already level 21 before. So what is she now?_

"Dan!", he heard Brandy shout from across the clearing, and he was startled out of thought. "Let's take this bugger out!"

Dan clenched his fist, and drew it back. "Right!"

The Hydra drew back on its hind legs, and assessed the situation. On one side of it was the muscular titan that had been bashing in several of its heads. On the other side was the fighter with the gun, and the other that had suddenly been able to strike down the mighty Serpent with but a single blow. So the Hydra did what all wild animals would do in that situation- it bellowed, turned, and ran.

Brandy flexed her legs, and sprung after like a meteor. She blasted straight through a copse of trees, sending them flying into a batch of Gems. "Don't let it get away!"

"Though you may flee…", Dan said to himself, taking a deep breath and slowly drawing apart his arms. "My light shall always pursue!"

A glowing orb of light appeared between his hands, and he shot with a mighty roar. "Thunderous Tracking Overdrive!"

Leon grumbled, and started running forward as fast as he could. "Come on, come on…"

The Hydra ran as fast as it could through the trees, each head sharply barking to the others any orders that each of them could come up with. But they had no order- for their leader head had been impaled through the eye and brain on one of Dan's attacks.

"Run!", Brandy yelled, as she smashed through another rock in a a slash of purple flame. "Run, you stupid lizard!"

The Hydra's second largest head barked in alarm, and turned to the third. They conversed amongst each other for a few more seconds, the shouts of the pursuit gradually fading to nothing behind them, until at last a solution was revealed. Their conversation continued until a hail of bullets erupted from behind them, and they both jerked their heads to the side before the attacks reached them.

"You can't run forever!", Dan roared, and threw his fist forwards. The Thunderous Tracking Overdrive suddenly became visible, a flash of light from next to the Hydra. Dan flicked his hand upwards, the blast detonating right underneath the neck of one of the heads. Once the Hydra ran away from the billowing smoke, it revealed another head lying dead.

"Yes!", Dan shouted, and pumped his fist. "Another one down!"

The Hydra roared in pain, and crashed through a thick growth of trees that had been blocking its path. It tried to dodge to the right- only for a hail of bullets from Hunter Killer to slice directly into its side. It screamed this time, one of its heads swiveling around to see Leon coming from behind.

The Hydra thought for half a second, and carefully considered all the options here. Fighting was out- his opponents were far too strong now. Running was another thing that could not be done- he was already trying that, and it was not working out. There wasn't anything else he could do, really, he just had to-

Then the gears clicked inside of the Hydra's head, and it lit up in recognition. One of the heads barked that there was a clearing up ahead- prompting the Hydra to stop running and slide to a heavy stop.

The Hydra roared with all its heads, trying to scare its pursuers off. It was a desperate ruse, but the only thing it had left. They had quickly managed to figure out its weakness, and had taken out its partner the Serpent faster than it had expected. It had no other choice.

But, of course, the roar did not work. And as the purple streak that was Brandy flashed out of the trees, foot extended for a colossal impact, the Hydra began to regret its recent decisions.

"Dorra!", Brandy yelled, slamming the side of her sharp boot right into one of the Hydra's many heads. The entire lower jaw of that portion of the beast was thrown aside spinning into the woods, a spray of blood following it. With another vicious kick, Brandy detached the other half of the head, leaving behind only a bloody, flailing stump.

"Wait, shoot.", she said as she dropped to the ground, sending up a huge spray of dust. "I wasn't supposed to do that. Oh well…"

Brandy yelled, concentrating her Rage even more. The flare of purple energy around her rose, the spikes and crackles becoming even more prevalent.

Dan jumped between a tree, and took an astonished look. He could feel the sheer, undiluted power roll of off Brandy in waves, approaching even his level of strength. Although at times, he could swear she was actually surpassing him.

"Brandy…", he said to himself, not even bothering to charge up a breath of Star. "What are you?"

The Hydra groaned, the stump that Brandy had kicked splitting into two more heads. It growled a ferocious snarl, the blood mixing with the drool. One of the heads looked up, and screamed.

"What-", Brandy said, and looked up as well. But there was nothing there, only the sky and faraway birds passing by. She looked down again- to see a truly bizarre sight.

The heads of the Hydra were merging together, into a gigantic, thick stalk in the center. A head that radiated orange light twisted around one with a pale blue tinge, molding together into a strong violet. A long, thin neck wrapped around a thick rocky head, fusing together into a large head full of gnashing teeth. And yet even those were twisting and merging together, into one gigantic, multi-eyed head that loomed over all.

A low, otherworldly rumble emanated from the giant head, as it slowly aimed itself towards the ground. Its eight-ended jaw swung open, revealing a glowing light beginning to build from somewhere deep within. Then the rumble changed to a screech, and the heads began to spin.

"Shoot.", Brandy said, noticing that she had begun to lose feeling in her fingers. If it was anything like last time, the Rage boost only had a few seconds left. "I gotta-"

Then the beam abruptly shot, and Brandy leapt into the air.

The beam carved through the ground and into the trees, leaving behind a path of destruction. Brandy sucked in a breath, noticing how she had leapt without even realizing it. The beam was multicolored, flecks of light orbiting around it, as she hovered midair. It took a minute for Brandy to realize just how fast her reflexes were going- to her, it almost seemed like everything was standing still.

Then as the beam continued onwards, swooping upwards into the sky, time dropped back to normal. Brandy started falling downwards from her upside down position, right towards the Hydra's conjoined head. It hadn't noticed that she had jumped- it was just totally focused on firing the ray.

Brandy locked her elbow in a 90 degree angle, and started to fall downwards faster. She gave a ferocious battle cry as she did so, the edge of her fist starting to heat up a mighty purple. The comet of Rage around her grew as she fell, faster and faster, the approaching punch growing harder and harder, until finally-

Just as she was about to hit the Hydra's forehead, her Rage suddenly ran out. The impact lessened dramatically, going from a killing blow to only hard enough to annoy, causing the Hydra to stop firing and to throw Brandy in a random direction.

Brandy tumbled along the ground, hitting rocks and sticks as she rolled, now unable to move her limbs. The Rage boost had taken everything out of her.

"Gaahhhh…", she groaned as she rolled up against a tree, and spat up a cough of blood. She coughed a few more times, and turned her head to look at the Hydra. It was charging up its beam once again, preparing to fire right at her.

Before it could do that, however, a spray of bullets and spinning metal blades suddenly slashed into the front of its face from directly behind Brandy. The Hydra stopped charging, and looked up to see Leon standing perfectly in them middle of the clearing.

"Hey, come and get me, you big stupid monster!", he shouted, continuing his volley of shots. "And get away from my mom!"

The Hydra growled, and turned its head a little more. It opened up its mouth even wider, ignoring the rain of blades and bullets that were beginning to tear its skin. The light built up within its mouth, brighter and brighter, until-

"Overdrive!", Dan shouted from the left, and suddenly swung into view. He raised one hand and shot a powerful blast, which pierced the Hydra right through the side of the mouth and continued onwards, leaving a gaping hole almost 4 feet across.

The Hydra tried to gasp, but its lungs were rapidly filling with liquid. This liquid was, of course, the monster's own Elixir, which very soon became for than its lungs, and became its entire body, splashing down across the ground in a grand puddle of ancient purple.

Brandy let out a long gasp of relief, and closed her eyes. She groaned in pain, still feeling the burning spread across her limbs.

"Woah, woah, woah.", said Dan, and she felt herself get picked up, even as his voice grew quieter. "Brandy? Are you alright?"

Brandy strained to hear him speaking, but she could no longer hear a sound. She opened her eyes, and saw nothing. Or at least she thought she had opened her eyes- it was hard to tell. She saw nothing either way.

"My body appears to have shut down all non-critical functions.", she said as a wild guess for what was happening. "I cannot hear or see. However, I can feel a certain someone picking me up."

"Don't worry, Brandy.", Dan said. "I'll heal you really quick."

"She can't hear you, Da-", Leon said, then Dan gave him a stern look. "I mean, sir. She can't hear you, sir."

"Yeah, I don't care.", said Dan, and built up some energy in his right palm. "If you think I'm not gonna talk to my wife, you're either stupid, insane, or both."

He hoisted Brandy up in one hand, and pushed the healing energy into her with the other. It didn't take long for the energy to soak in- and when it did, Brandy coughed like she was trying to expel a lung. Then she shakily opened her eyes, and blinked a few dozen times.

"Brandy?", Dan asked, and held her close. "Are you okay?"

Brandy laughed a little bit. "Yes, Dan. I'm okay. I'm fine."

"Okay, good.", said Dan. "I just wanted to make sure."

He stood there for a bit, silent, before finally remembering what it was that he had wanted to say next. "What exactly was that thing you did back there? I mean, it's some sort of boost, I just-"  
"It's Rage.", Brandy said, looking at her still tingling hands. "I mean, I think. I know that I just got really angry, and sort of lost control of myself, and then suddenly I could take down the Serpent with a single blow."

"Huh.", Dan said, and slowly lifted her up. "Here, do you think you can still-"  
Brandy slid off of Dan's hand and onto his shoulder, grasping his neck to steady herself. "Yeah, I still can."

"Great.", said Dan, and grabbed Leon around the waist. He let out a small meep before being tossed onto Dan's other shoulder with decidedly less care. "You can tell me all about it as we walk."

"Walk?", Brandy asked, looking ahead. "Where are we going?"

"Spacekrakenx's clanmate.", said Dan, and started to walk forwards. "You can look at the map in my pocket, if you want to."

"Sure.", said Brandy, and leaned down. "Now, which pocket was it?"

She looked down, trying to figure out which pocket to search. Leon flailed his limbs, trying to right himself, and Dan just calmly kept on walking. Yet even as they set off towards their next goal, they had no idea that they were, at that very moment, being watched. Watched, in both immense hatred and subtly curiosity.

Song: Ancientry

Far away, at the very top and center of the Clashcrush Mountains, inside the lair of Rakastamos, the great Dragonlord was mourning.

"First Villasteel and Ugof.", he said morosely, staring himself in his mirror. "And now the Serpent and the Hydra. I had just taught them some new tricks too…"

He looked deep within his own eyes, seeing his own reflection shown back at him a million times over. "We are losing too many, too fast.", he said with a crack of his mighty voice. "I have to do something about this… but what?"

He heard the patter of mortal feet from somewhere behind him, and decided that any distraction would be welcome. "Yes?"

He could hear the panting of an eager messenger, and decided it would be worth turning around for. Rakastamos slowly adjusted his entire colossal being, looking down to stare at the small figure before him. "Speak!", he boomed, and the figure stumbled back. "And I shall listen."

"News!", the small one gasped, almost falling to the ground from exhaustion. He had run all the way up the mountain, even though he had never thought it would be a good idea. But he had to bring his master news- that was the entire point of his being as The Messenger. "I bring- _gasp- _news, my lord."

"Good, good.", said Rakastamos, folding his paws and laying his head in them. "What?"

"We have three confirmed deaths.", The Messenger said morosely, folding his hands and bowing his head. "Ugof, The Serpent, and The Hydra. Villasteel's death is not confirmed- he may in fact still be alive."

Rakastamos's eyes lit up, and his mood brightened a tiny little bit. "Oh, that is good.", he said, then remembered the losses. "A small bit, I mean. I did just lose three of my children."

Before The Messenger could respond, Rakastamos began to rise. He clenched his fist, and stared out of a cave window, at the forest down below. "But no longer. I shall not venture them outwards any longer, as long as my new allies still live."

He gestured to The Messenger with a single gargantuan claw, patronly anger written on his face. "Send in His group. My children shall suffer no longer."

The Messenger bowed, and scurried away. "Yes, sir. Right away sir."

Rakastamos sniffed, and growled. "I hope you serve me well, whatever your name is. We shall see if you are truly as elite as you claim."

As he stared out the window, he suddenly felt a great vibration from somewhere behind him. He turned around, and was reminded of what he had been going to do that afternoon.  
"Ah, yes.", he said, and began his walk. "I remember now."

He spread out his wings, and shook his head. The crusted up Elixir of dozens of would be assassins fell off of him, and onto the stony, tortured ground. He smiled, but it was a smile of true happiness rather than sadistic evil. "It's always nice to have a little _family visit."_


	16. Chapter 15

It was thousands of years ago, deep in the mists of time, that Rakastamos was first defeated. It was a coalition of many powerful beings- Primal Troops, Primal Brawlers, and several mysterious beings engineered specifically for that moment. And it was headed by a truly legendary figure- the great and powerful Wizard, Askari the First.

Song: Bardock Falls

"Stay close.", whispered Askari, as he tapped his biomechanical eye. "I think he's resting for now. We've got to sneak up on him."

"Sneak up?", asked Avalayas, the Primal Witch, the purple smoke emanating from her highly magical body serving to cover the group from view. "We can't do that. His senses are too strong."

"Oh, come on.", said Mariah, the Primal Musketeer. "We can totally do this. Right guys?"

She looked behind her, to see most of the group not quite sure if they were actually ready. There was the Primal Bomber, Scarl, gently tossing his bombs from one hand to the other. There was the Primal Executioner, Falce, trying to keep his split mind balanced. There was the Primal Prince, Andrew, attempting to keep his horse composed. Next to them was the Primal Bowler, Grug, wiping a drink of Dark Elixir from his lips. Behind them were many more Primal Troops- but, of course, they numbered far too many to count.

But in front of the group were several Primal Brawlers, from across the sea. Rakastamos's army had gone after their land first, intent on exterminating the few Regular People that still lived there. But several of the Brawlers had risen up against him, refusing to let Rakastamos destroy their land without a fight. Their names were Dynamike, Brock, Piper, and Ricochet.

"Yeah.", said the Primal Miner Micheangelo, and stabbed his shovel up into the air. "Let's get him!"

"Hold it!", shouted Askari, just before the Primal Troops all rushed in. They were not yet the godly beings they would eventually become. That would come later, once the gods decided power would be split amongst the Primals, rather than the Dragonlords. However, they still were very powerful in their own rights.

"I admire your enthusiasm, Micheangelo.", said Askari, tapping the side of his head. "But we need a plan. We can't just go in there without one- Rakastamos will eat us all alive."

"That what do you suggest?", whispered Falce, not to Askari- but to himself. Or, more accurately, his two halves.

_We all attack at once, _he heard himself say- his dark, twisted side. _There will be deaths- but Rakastamos will be among them. _

_How about we just talk it out?, _asked his more sane side. _Try and change Rakastamos's mind.'_

"Everyone!", shouted Fallon at the front, and everyone turned to look. Fallon winked, and drew a shining arrow. "Let's Clash."

Then he jumped forward on one foot, past the border of the darkness and into the massive cave. It took only a second until everyone there, even the ones in the far back, nodded, gave mighty battle yells, and followed him into fate.

Rakastamos lay in the center of his cave, muttering to himself.

"It's quite the irony, is it not?", he asked the Archer Queen in front of him. "That even though I have at last awakened the very fullest of my strength, that it is a secret to all the world?"

"Yup.", said the Archer Queen, and nodded. "Uh huh."

"Really, I almost wish someone would know.", said Rakastamos, flicking a single massive claw against the stone wall. "It's ever so dreary- to attain such power without any flourish. To put on the greatest show ever told, but to have no audience to present it to."

"Yes.", said the Archer Queen with another quick nod and a forced smile. "It sure is."

Rakastamos looked down in distaste, and brought his hand up towards his face.

"You're not listening, Suzie.", he said, and sneered. "I don't think you're listening at all."

The Archer Queen startled, and crossed her arms to try and protect herself from the draconic onslaught that was about to be unleashed. "Wait no please-"

"Honestly, I think you've served me long enough.", said Rakastamos dryly, as his hand began to move down. "Goodbye."

But even as he started to attack, a huge blast of electricity hit him right in the back of the neck, sending small Zaps in every direction.

Rakastamos turned around, and snarled. "What the-"

Then he saw it. A vast, assembled army of Primals, their weaponry drawn and intent to kill written upon all of their faces. He took a step back, and let his fist fall open.

"What is this?", he asked, moving around his massive head on his neck. "A little visit? How utterly delightful. I don't get them that often- in fact, hardly ever."

"Rakastamos!", he heard someone shout from below. He looked down, to see the small figure of Askari the First standing proudly atop a rock. "Your reign of terror ends here!"

"What?", Rakastamos asked, pretending to look hurt. "What reign of terror? I haven't done anything."

"Ah, but you were about to.", said Askari with a raise of his white eyebrows. "Trust me, I could tell."

"Hmph.", said Rakastamos, beginning to draw out his full strength. "I suppose you could. What with your silly, _mortal_, science and all."

Then he spread his wings in a massive cloak, golden red light starting to pull out from between every scale. "But what good is your science, mortal, when you face one such as I?"

But even as Rakastamos spread himself up to his full height and width, Askari just smirked. He had calculated this battle to every measure, and Rakastamos would fall.

"You absolute fool!", he shouted at the top of his lungs, subtly gesturing for the Primal Army to fire on his command. "I bring no ordinary science. No-"

He stepped to one side and swung down his hand, prompting the battle to begin. "For the science of the Ivory Tower is indeed the finest in the entire world!"

Before Rakastamos could come up with a proper retort, the entire Primal Army attacked. All three Wizards fired their respective projectiles, ice wrapping around flame and electricity wrapping around both. Mariah shot off a hail of bullets from her boomstick, stopping only for a half second to completely reload. Falce swung his axe as hard as he could, hearing it cut through stone, air, and even the sound it encountered along the way.

In the back, a young Juno covered her face with her mask, as the wrath of the combined attacks kicked up a massive cloud of dust. She was waiting until the fighting got to closer quarters- that was her specialty.

"Dad!", she yelled into her communicator, even as Fallon fired off a perfect shot. It sung through the air and pierced directly through Rakastamos's hand, sliding deep into his skin before vanishing. "How do I help?"

Fallon jumped on one finger and fired again, this time sliding so deep into Rakastamos's scales the attack could no longer be seen. "Just keep on doing what you're doing, kid. You're gonna do great."

Juno huffed, and sat down. She looked over to the entrance of the cave, where a certain something was being pulled in. "Okay."

The barrage of high-intensity weaponry flew towards Rakastamos, and he almost flinched. But he managed to keep himself collected, and his entire being flared with golden light.

"You dare attack me?", he bellowed, and swung his hand forward. "Your overlord?"

His gargantuan palm collided with Falce's axe, a deafening crack filling the entire cavern. A large slice ran up his hand, scales flying off, and the axe rebound. Rakastamos grimaced, even as Mariah's bullets shot directly into the open wound. There was a sizable explosion from the fast attack, leaving much of Rakastamos's hand mangled.

"What-", Rakastamos managed to spit out, before a barrage of fire, electricity, and ice slammed into his left leg. He howled in agony as his skin was burned, shocked, and frozen all at once, the bizarre multi attack wreaking massive havoc.

"Why, you little…", he spat, and stumbled backwards. The Primals below all revved up for another shot, several more members joining their ranks. Rakastamos's eyes narrowed, and he prepared his own fire, his entire head beginning to glow. "Brats!"

With a massive rush of pure heat, Rakastamos unleashed his flame. It flowed forwards like a flash flood, flowing through the cave and reaching the Primals in mere seconds.

"Woah!", shouted Emmaline, the Primal Healer, and threw up her hand. A thick wall of Heal rose to life in front of the army, blocking the fire as it splashed up against them. The flame poured relentlessly around the group, scorching the rocks to black, but was unable to get through.

"Everyone!", shouted Fallon, and pointed his finger forward. "Rakastamos is weakening! Attack!"

He fired off another arrow, which shot directly into Rakastamos's other hand. The Dragonlord roared, and swept his giant wings in front of his entire body.

"You think you can defeat me?", he shouted, and closed his eyes. He let his rage fill him, imbuing his entire body with his true inherited might as a Dragonlord. "You cannot! You will not!"

Just before the Primal army began their attack, they saw Rakastamos's body start to glow. "You...are...nothing!"  
He gave a roar so loud it could scarcely be heard as more than a flat wall of noise. A golden light flared out from him, burning the skin of anyone it touched. Several members of the ranks stumbled back, even as they charged their attacks once more. When the light finally fell away, Rakastamo's hand had fully healed up. He seemed to stand even higher than he had, his muscles bulging to an unnatural size.

"Perish!", he roared, and swept forward his immense tail. "And be no more!"

His tail slammed into Emmaline's barrier with the force of a collapsing mountain, sending a shockwave through the entire cavern that shook the walls. Emmaline grimaced and tried to hold on, but the pressure was too much.

"I'm sorry, everyone.", she said, her arms about to give out. "I can't hold it-"

Then she screamed as her barrier was broken, and her breath gave out. She fell unconscious to the ground, landing in the arms of Andrew with hardly even a sound.

"Shoot.", Andrew said, looking around for any place he might put her. "That's not good."

"None of this is good.", Micheangelo said from next to him. "How do we actually take this guy on? He's so huge…"

And indeed, Rakastamos was. At that time, he measured just a little over 750 feet tall at the shoulder, almost 3000 feet in length, and hundreds, if not actually thousands, of tons. He was not just a big Dragon- he was The Big Dragon.

"Don't worry, gentlemen, I have a plan.", said Fallon, coming to a stop in between them. "For we are not the only ones who await our revenge this day. And we are certainly not the only ones who turned out to fight."

Andrew nodded, handing Emmaline off to someone else. He couldn't quite see who. "Right."

Then he looked to the right, to where The Brawlers had begun their conflict. "So we do."  
Juno ran as far away from the fighting as possible, an unconscious Emmaline carried in her arms. She was not a large troop- only 5'2 and 115 pounds. But she still had the strength to carry.

"Where do I take her?", she asked into her communicator, trying to figure something out- but there was no response. Fallon's communicator had been broken in the heat of battle.

"Shoot…", she said to herself, and jumped over a rock. She could see the light in the tunnel up ahead- she was almost out.

Juno gave one final yell and one last leap, landing outside of Rakastamo's tunnel. She blinked in the bright light and set the still unconscious Emmaline down, patting her on the forehead.

"There you go.", she said. "Stay safe."

Then she ran back into the tunnel, hearing the sounds of combat.

Rakastamos roared, and flung his head forward. A massive blow from the three Primal Wizards slammed into him, crunching his jaw a little bit and breaking a few of his teeth.

"Keep the pressure up, everyone!", Fallon shouted, as he aimed another shot. "Don't let him rest!"

"You!", bellowed Rakastamos, and reared up to his full height. The tips of his horns scraped against the stone ceiling of the cave, shaving bits of it off. "You will die first!"

Fallon jumped backwards in a clean prediction, as Rakastamos's massive claws swiped straight through the space where he would have been. They continued onwards, slashing apart an upright boulder and almost causing a small shockwave with their speed.

"Fire again!", yelled Falce timidly, and caught his axe. He took aim and released it, hearing the sweet sing as it cut through the air. "Don't let him-"

"Attack!", finished Juno, suddenly appearing behind him. "Let's get him!"

She crouched to Dash, aiming straight for what looked like a sensitive spot on Rakastamos's neck. She could deal some real damage there, if only she hit.

Fallon fired another arrow, then his glance turned to his left. His eyes widened, as he saw Juno leap through the air straight for Rakastamos. "Juno!", he yelled, and twisted around.

Rakastamos saw Juno head right for him, Dash flickering around her entire body, and grinned. "Yes…", he said, and brought back his hand. "You will make a good first death!"

He swung his hand forward, directly into Juno's angle of flight. "Come to me!"

Juno's face whitened in fear, as she realized she had no way to dodge. She tried slowing down, only to speed up in her panic. "Wait, shoot-"

She cried out in terror, as Rakastamos's hand shot forward and grabbed her. Her Dash kept her from being crushed, but she could no longer move.

"Aha…", Rakastamos said, ignoring the constant assault of firepower that rained upon his side. He lifted Juno up as high as he could, and opened his mouth far below. "Yes, a good first death indeed."

Then he let go, and Juno fell screaming towards his gaping maw- until an arrow of light shot through the back of her cape, shooting her towards a wall, and sticking her there.

"Juno, I told you!", shouted Fallon, his face deadly serious. "Now stay away."

"Hmph.", Juno huffed, and crossed her arms. "Fine. I will."  
Yet she was grateful inside of what had happened- for Fallon had certainly just saved her life.

Rakastamos's jaw slammed shut on empty air with a colossal bang, sending a wave of solid sound all throughout the cave. His eyes narrowed and he swung his head downwards, angling to look at the assembled Primal army.

Fallon looked up at Rakastamos. Despite all their best efforts, and near constant attacks, he was barely injured. Any time they managed to hurt him, he would regenerate it just as quickly. Fallon crouched- he knew what he had to do.

"Fall back!", he shouted, and leapt. "Fall back, and pool our power!"

The army began to retreat, but Rakastamos just laughed. "Fools!", he shouted, and reared up. "Where do you think you can possibly run to? Do you think that-"  
"Hey!", he heard from down below, and saw the assembled team of the four Brawlers. "We'll hold him off."

Rakastamos saw the ones before him. He looked back up at the retreating army, backing up towards the far side of the cave. He pondered the two in his mind, flipped the thought over, and then finished processing it as a single thought- an uproarious laugh.

"Haha, you fools!", he laughed, and began to build the fire in his throat. "Do you think you four could ever possibly defeat me-"

Then his laughter stopped, as a rocket lodged itself deep inside his throat. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was, then it exploded.

Rakastamos roared in pain, and thrashed around his head. He slammed it into a dozen different spots on the wall, creating a new massive crater every time it hit. He coughed once, expelling a cloud of smoke, and then landed on his hands upon the floor.

"So, that's it?", he whispered without opening his mouth, and started to build up more flame."I don't blame you. You mortals, after all…."

The charge built up even more inside of his throat, and he lowered his head to shoot at the Brawlers. His eyes narrowed. "Are so easy to make afraid."

He had been just about to fire, when something hit him right in the eye. He shifted his vision to check what it was- and there he saw Juno, still hanging from the wall, grabbing another rock to infuse with Dash energy and then throw them at whoever she saw.

"Hey, you!", Juno yelled, trying to keep her heat from beating outside of her chest. "You wanna die?

"No…", said Rakastamos, as he reached up a hand to grab her. "But I suspect you do."

Then a gigantic blast of dynamite landed on his shoulder, tearing away some of the scales. Rakastamos looked away for half of a second, and saw Old Dynamike carefully running between a confusing looking pile of rocks.

"Curse…", he snarled, and turned away from Juno to more important prey. "You!"

But Dynamike kept on running, throwing dynamite as we went, until finally Rakastamos knew he needed a plan. Breathing fire took a lot out of him- which meant he couldn't just spam fire blasts until everything had been killed. No, this required a plan. And that meant skill.

"Heyo!", shouted Piper from down below, and shot off three quick shots. Each one streaked through the air, gathering more damage as it went, until finally it impacted on the bottom of Rakastamos's jaw. There was a crack of popping teeth, and Rakastamos groaned in pain.

"You insolent little-", he spat, and whipped around his tail. It raced directly towards Piper, faster than she could possibly hope to move out of the way. Her eyes widened in terror- then she suddenly felt herself get pushed out of the way.

"Ricochet?", she breathed, looking up as she flew. She saw Ricochet, holding her in his arms- or, rather, arm. The other one had been torn off by the very tip of Rakastamos's supersonic tail.

"Ricochet, your arm!", she said, and slipped down to the ground. "Oh, sweetie-"

"Do. Not. Worry.", said Ricochet, and unslung his gun from his back. He took aim at the titanic figure of Rakastamos overhead, currently locked in combat with some more Primals. "I. Am. Fine."

"Noooo, you're not.", Piper said, dragging him away. "You need attention."

Ricochet swung his head around, staring Piper right in the eyes. "I. Do. Not. I. Can. Fight."

"Rico!", Piper yelled, using his nickname. "You need help!"

Ricochet stared at her with all the force he could muster, and once again took aim. "NO."

Piper looked at him in shock. Ricochet had never raised his voice- not even once. So she nodded, gripped her own weapon, and took aim alongside him. "Alright."

A rain of arrows suddenly hit Rakastamos from the side, and he looked over his shoulder. "What-"

Then a bolt of lightning hit him right in the side of the neck, causing a huge spurt of blood to erupt. He staggered backwards, his eyes boiling over in rage. "Gaaah!"

Falce had been watching, preparing to throw, when his eyes lit up in an idea. He turned to Fallon, who landed next to him with a soft tap upon the stony ground.

"I found his weakness, sir.", Falce grunted, and pointed. "He seems to be very easily distracted."

"Yes…", said Fallon, then slapped Falce on top of the head with his bow. "That would be a prime weakness to exploit, if he was able to be hurt!"  
"What?", Falce stammered. "You mean that-"  
"I do.", said Fallon with a stern look upwards. He watched as Rakastamos tore a huge chunk straight out of the ceiling, forcing many of the Primals to retreat. "I do."

He watched as a huge barrage of attacks rained upon Rakastamos's side, none of them hardly even noticed by the Dragon. Rakastamos boiled over with raw, primal fury, his draconic body radiating pure power. "Rakastamos seems to be impossible to kill."

Rakastamos once again reared up to his full height, and roared so loud it came out as just a pure white wall of noise. The walls of the cavern shook, rocks falling from the ceiling.

"You fools!", he bellowed, and slashed at his own body with his claws. "I am immortal! Unkillable! Unmatched! I am the great Dragonlord Rakastamos, and none of you can stop me!"

He prepared once again to fire his destructive breath, looming far overhead. "Once I defeat you, there shall be nothing to stop me and my Forgotten army from cleansing this world of its baser inhabitants! I shall save Dragonkind!"

He saw the Primal army back up, and smiled so wide it seemed to extend past the borders of his face. "Yes, yes! I see you surrender, run away- admitting your servitude to true power!"

He was about to strike again- when he heard a booming voice ring out from across the entire cave.

"RAKASTAMOSSSSSSSSSS!", came a confident scream, and everyone in the cave turned to look. There stood their leader Askari, perched atop a giant machine, one hand on his forehead, and the other extended in a pointer finger.

His mechanical eye beeped and spun, as his Builder attendants frantically tried to get the machine working. "Your time has ended, Dragon!"  
"Oh?", Rakastamos said, and slowly began to crawl towards Askari. "And who might you be to try and end it?"

"My name is Askari the first!", shouted Askari, and flipped a switch. The machine started to hum, its interior turbines coming to life. "And this is my finest invention-"

He posed once again, and the massive construct turned on. "THE DRAGON CANNON!"

"The first?", Rakastamos asked with a raise of his eyebrow. "You are so bold as to assume you will have a line?"

Then he realized what else Askari had said, and his eyes went wide. "Wait, the what-"

"FIRE!", Askari screamed, and flung his hand downwards. The Builders all looked up, nodded, and pressed their respective buttons. Nothing happened for a second- until a gargantuan blast of gold and white energy shot from the Dragon Cannon like a volcanic eruption.

"Oh shoot-", Rakastamos spat, and tried to bring up his hands to block it. He just barely managed to reach in time, and the attack slammed into him with the force of a breaking mountain. There was a flash of white light that seemed like a supernova, and everything, for a brief moment in time, disappeared.

When the light faded, Rakastamos was struggling to hold back the blast. Sweat dripped from between his scales, and his jaw trembled with the exertion. Askari stood on top of the Dragon Cannon, teeth gritted, signaling to his workers for more power.

"We've almost got him!", he shouted, in anger. "Just a little more power, and he'll be finished!"

One of his Builders looked up at him, in panic. "Sir!", he shouted. "There's no more power!"  
"What?", Askari yelled. "What do you mean, there's no more power?"

He looked at Rakastamos, who was beginning to overpower the blast. Askari's face turned pale, and his hands began to heat up with panic. "Get more! We have to get more!"

Far down below, on the stony ground, Brock looked at his two partners. Dynamike thought for a moment, then nodded. Ricochet looked at his fellows, at Piper, then nodded as well.

"Gentlemen.", said Brock, and raised his rocket launcher. "It has been an honor brawling with you all."

"Same to you, old boy.", said Dynamike, and grabbed a huge charge out of his barrel. "Same to you."

"Good. Bye.", said Rico, turning to look at Piper one last time. "My. Love."

"Ricochet?", Piper asked. She ran to him, wrapping her arms around his torso. "What are you doing?"

But Ricochet said nothing. He merely looked to his fellows, as they all put everything they had into one final attack.

"Rocket…", said Brock, and pushed his soul into his effort. "Raiiiinn!"

A barrage of massive rockets shot outwards from his launcher, even as he himself disappeared. His body slowly vanished, until all that was left was a pair of glasses and the launcher.

"Ka…", Dynamike said, and spun around one last time. "Boom!"

He heaved a gargantuan charge of explosive powder, the effort knocking him back, his barrel sticking straight up. It rolled away into a corner, revealing nothing underneath.

Piper saw them sacrifice themselves, and a cold shock shot through her heart as she realized what Ricochet was about to do. She started to cry. "Ricochet, no!"

But even as Piper tried to hold his arm down, Ricochet aimed up. A single tear fell from his eye- not of oil, but of real, actual tears. "Good. Bye."

"Ricochet!", Piper screamed, her voice cracking. "Richocheeettt!"

Then Ricochet fired one final blast of bullets, his body slowly falling to pieces. Piper screamed in pain, as he vanished right in front of her, the Brawler's final attacks borne upon the wind.

"Yes!", Askari yelled, seeing the power of their last actions flow into the Dragon Cannon. "We have enough power!"  
Just as Rakastamos was about to push the blast back, Askari flung his hand downwards again. "FINISH HIM!"  
The Builders pushed on their buttons, and the Dragon Cannon roared in rage. The blast redoubled, forcing Rakastamos back. He stumbled, and fell to the ground.

"No!", he shouted in anger, still trying to push. "I- am- immortal! I- am-"

Just then, he saw something around the corner. A glimmer of hope, come to help him.

Tremon the Aqua Wizard ran at the head of the army of Forgotten, breathing hard.  
"Rakastamos, sire!", he yelled. "We've come to help-"

Then with a massive clap of sound that could have drowned out an earthquake, the top of the cave cracked from the pressure. Rakastamos screamed, as the Dragon Cannon finally flung him back, right towards his army of Forgotten. "NOOOOOO-"

Then the top of the cave collapsed in a shower of gigantic rocks. The Forgotten army screamed as one, as both they and Rakastamos were covered in an avalanche of stone that melted from the heat, leaving them covered in a blanket of solid rock that would keep them dormant for many, many years.

Askari stood huffing and puffing on top of his Dragon Cannon, and cracked a grin. Even though there had been losses, Rakastamos and his entire cursed army had finally been defeated.

"Uh… hello?", yelled Juno from overhead, still pinned against the wall. "Could somebody get me down? Anyone? Dad?"

There was a flash of movement, and Fallon landed right beside Askari. Juno fell from the wall, and landed roughly in his arms. She huffed and slid down, blowing her bangs out of her face.

Fallon put his hand over Askari's shoulder, and bumped fists. He looked out over the landscape- his army had survived. For the most part, anyway. But those that had fallen would be remembered- their prodigy would take on their names and roles in life, wielding whatever they had left behind.

"Well boys, we did it.", he said with pride, rustling Juno's hair. "Rakastamos is no more."

Song: Ancientry

Rakastamos closed the ancient, torn book with a slam, sending a fine rain of dust over the entire nursery. Several of the Baby Dragons there let out a few small coughs, but Rakastamos paid them no heed.

"And that, children…", he said with a pained smile, "Is how I first fell."

"Father Rakastamos?", asked a Baby Dragon in the front row. "Father?"

"Yes, my child?", Rakastamos asked, as he set the book back on the shelf, carved deep into the rock. The entire shelf was filled with books of gigantic size, their ancient pages filled with everything from age-old stories to recipes for forgotten spells. "What is it?"

"Then what happened?", the Baby Dragon asked. "After they beat you?"

The edges of Rakastamos's face twitched, but he managed to keep his cool. He closed his eyes, and shook his wings. "Well, I was asleep under that rock for many, many years. I'm not sure exactly what happened. But eventually, He woke me, and I was free, along with my loyal army."

The Baby Dragon tilted his head. "He?", he asked in curiosity. "Who's He?"

For half a second, Rakastamos stopped moving. He just stared straight ahead, remembering how it was when Grrshknn had awoken him.

"Serve me, Rakastamos.", he heard, still echoing in his mind. "For although the paltry efforts of mortals have fallen short, I know that you have no such weaknesses."

"Right.", said Rakastamos, to the confusion of the Baby Dragons. "That is correct. I have no-"

He suddenly slumped to the side of the wall, clutching at his heart. He gasped, and closed one eye. "Weaknesses."

"Father Rakastamos?", asked another of the Baby Dragons, taking a plate of meat from a Skeletal attendant. "What's wrong. What are you talking about?"  
"DON'T!", bellowed Rakastamos suddenly, and the entire cavern seemed blown back by the force of his voice. "Do not interrupt me."

He clutched tighter at his chest, feeling the dark laughter of Grrshknn fill his mind. To call the sound hellish would be like calling the ocean damp. But finally, it vanished, leaving him leaned against the side of the wall in silence. No sound interrupted the quiet, not even the rhythmic sound of the Blood Elixir Extractor that had been pumping for weeks.

"Sire?", asked one of the Skeletons, as everyone in the nursery looked up at him in stunned silence. They had just seen their invincible Dragonlord Rakastamos, the one who would cleanse the world in a baptism by fire, seem to have a panic attack. "Are you-"

"I'm FINE!", Rakastamos shouted, slightly melting the rock around him with his words. "Do not talk to me."

"Oh.", said the Skeleton, and backed up. "I just wanted to tell you that your sister was here."

"What did I just say-", Rakastamos growled, then stopped. He took in the Skeleton's words, turned them over in his mind, and then broke forth into a wide grin.

"Well, why didn't you say so?", Rakastamos asked. "By all means, let her in."

His command, even though it was merely spoken, was still loud enough to carry. A few robots on the far side of the cavern heard his voice, and nodded. As one, they tugged on a rope- which tugged on another rope, which pulled a gear, which spun around another machine part, which slammed a huge hammer into several sections of a door. And as a vast brassy tone rang out across the entire cave, the massive door slowly swung open.

The robots in front of it scattered, as the immense turquoise figure of Chuqalita burst into the cavern. She swung her head back and forth, and shook her wings in a glorious display of seablue light. She looked up as the dust settled, and saw the smiling face of Rakastamos looking back at her. His was a genuine smile, not one of haughtiness or evil.

"Why, Chuqalita!", he boomed, spreading out his wings in greetings. "It is so very nice to see you!"

But Chuqalita seemed not to be listening, as she stomped towards him. Her eyes boiled over with fury, and her muscles tensed.

"I hear you finally got your own continent to rule over- the Rushlands, right? How is that holding up?", Rakastamos asked, the smile on his face getting a little stale as his sister continued to not respond. "Is it doing well?"

But Chuqalita just approached, continuing her strained silence. Rakastamos's eyes softened, and he sat back a bit. "Chuqalita?"

He stared at her in confusion, his ears beginning to notice the lack of a grinding in the background. "Chuqalita, could you at least acknowledge that I'm here-"

And then, finally, Chuqalita did answer. But it was not the answer that Rakastamos had expected- no, this one came in the form of a slap to the side of his face, sending him shocked and reeling.

"Rakastamos!", Chuqalita shouted, her voice full of confusion, shock, anger, and fear. She spread her arms around to indicate the entire cave, and leaned forward to address him. "What the Illk'aa are you _doing?"_

Rakastamos bent his head back around from the force of Chuqalita's slap, staring at her in just as much shock as she did. He looked back, and rubbed the spot where he had been hit. "Reading to the children?"

Chuqalita stared at him, and rolled her eyes as wide as she could. "No, not that. I know that you're doing that but-"

She gestured to the army of robots and Skeletons that patrolled the cave, dried Elixir from dozens of failed assassination teams littering the ground. "What's all this? The robots? The Skeletons? All this spilled Elixir? And what the frick is the _gigantic machine in the other room that seems to have been made for the sole purpose of killing people?"_

Chuqalita's voice was accusatory, but Rakastamos's face lit up in delight. "Ah, that!", he said. "Yes, I was wondering when you were going to ask me about that. You see-"

"Rakastamos!", said Chuqalita again. "You were killing hundreds upon hundreds of people- and you're happy about that?"

"Well…", said Rakastamos, and shrugged. "Yes. Why would I not be? After all…"

He chuckled. "They're just mortals."

Chuqalita stared at him in total shock, and backed up a bit. She had known her brother for a very, very long time. He had never been this cold, nor this callous.

"What- what do you mean just mortals?", she asked. "Have you forgotten, Raksy? They are your charge!"

Rakastamos's eyes widened. "Raksy?", he asked. "No one's called me that in a very long time."

"Oh, that's what you're worried about?", Chuqalita asked. "Not the thousands of innocent souls you were killing up until now?"

"I told you.", said Rakastamos, starting to get a little agitated. "They are just mortals-"

Then he stopped. He tilted his head a little bit, starting to put things together in his mind. "Wait a minute, Chuqalita.", he said slowly. "You're talking about that in the past tense."

He took a single step forward, his wings flattening down against his back. "What did you do to my machine?"

Chuqalita huffed, and slammed her foot down onto the ground, asserting her position. "I destroyed it, of course.", she said. "And I set all of those innocent people free."

Rakastamos blinked. When he closed his eyes, his pupils were rounder, almost even friendly looking. But when he opened them again, they were ferocious slits of pure fury.

"Oh.", he said calmly, and started to snake his neck forward. "You did, hmmm?"

"Yes.", said Chuqalita. "I did. No one else will die."

"No one did die." said Rakastamos, as he slowly drew himself closer towards her. "The only things lost were a handful of mortals."

Chuqalita sighed, and started forward. "Oh, again with you and all the "mortal" talk!", she shouted. "You're always "oh, mortal this", and "oh, mortal that"! Why?"

Rakastamos was about to speak, but Chuqalita cut him off. "Oh wait. I know why. It's because you have this weird theory about how mortals somehow destroyed the perfect Old World, and killing them all is the only way to bring it back. Am I right?"

Rakastamos slowly nodded. "Yes, that is true."

Chuqalita stared at him in fear. She could see now- there was no sense in trying to reason with him.

"Rakastamos!", she said. "What would Dad think?"

Rakastamos's face grew shadowed, and he pulled back slightly. Then he rushed forward in full force, causing Chuqalita to back up.

"Father…", he snarled, shouting as he pulled back his upper lip. "Would be PROUD! Of what I am doing."

His arm tightened, his massive claws scraping against the rock as he glared at his sister. "If he were here today, this would be his goal as well. I assure you of that."

"Really?", Chuqalita asked, trying to regain ground. "Then why are you getting so defensive about it?"

Rakastamos snarled in frustration, before closing his eyes. "Look.", he said, and gestured to the Baby Dragons, still watching in utter fascination. "All I'm doing is trying to make a better environment for children to live in. Is that so bad?"

"Yes!", Chuqalita yelled. "Well, not that part but- the way you're doing it. That's what's bad!"

"Really?", asked Rakastamos, and folded his arms. "What am I doing that's bad?"

Chuqalita's mouth hung open in sheer disbelief, as she gestured to the level of the mountain where The Machine had been. "Um, you mean _besides literal genocide?"_

"That's not a bad thing.", Rakastamos scoffed. "Not when it's done to mere mortals."

Chuqalita stared at him for a moment, then shook her head. "I don't think I'm getting through to you."

"That's because there's nothing _to _get through to.", said Rakastamos, then realized his words did not come out the way he had meant them to. "Wait, I mean-"

"Rakastamos, listen.", said Chuqalita, and poked Rakastamos in the chest. He looked utterly taken aback, pushed back a little bit. "Dad's not gonna be very happy when he finds out about this."

She tried to keep her demeanor calm and confident, but in reality she was beginning to get scared. The look in her brother's eyes terrified her, all the way down to the bone.

"What?", Rakastamos asked, and drew himself backwards. His eyes shot wide open with terror, and his crimson skin crawled. "Father is- returning home?"

"Yes.", Chuqalita said. "I don't know exactly when, but he is coming home soon. And he's going to see you first."

She stared forward, desperately hoping that her bluff would hold. But as her eye twitched nervously, the look of fear upon Rakastamos's face slowly disappeared.

"Now, dear sister.", said Rakastamos, and started to advance. "Why would you ever lie?"

Chuqalita swallowed nervously, but managed to hold her ground against her much larger brother. "Because,", she said, "I wanted to scare you. So you would stop this."

She had considered lying again, but then decided for some reason on telling the truth. No matter how powerful Rakastamos was, there was no way in a million years he could possibly stand up to the Primal Dragon himself.

"Oh.", said Rakastamos. "Hmm. I see."

Although unseen by anyone, a strange crimson glow began to emanate from his entire body. He looked up, staring into Chuqalita's eyes with an unknown ferocity. "And you wish to stop me from doing… what? What am I doing that you would consider undesirable?"

"Undesirable?", asked Chuqalita in disbelief, pulling down the corners of her mouth in agitation. "Rakastamos, you are slaughtering thousands! Thousands of innocent lives, wasted just to-"

"Chuqalita.", said Rakastamos, both incredibly loud and yet terrifyingly soft. "Do you know why I sent out my army of Forgotten?"

"What?", asked Chuqalita. "Excuse me, I was talking-"

Rakastamos flicked his claws on a nearby rock, sending up a sharp shower of sparks into the air. He slowly raised his head, and looked up. "To remove those I found… an irritant. Those who would… interfere with my plans."

Chuqalita looked up, and noticed by just how much Rakastamos towered over her. She was an absolute titan of a Dragon, but he had at least four or five hundred feet on her.  
"Ra… Rakastamos?", she asked nervously, as she saw him slash a deep, pulsating gash deep within the rock. It, and his eyes, burned a rich smoldering crimson. "What are you… doing…?"

"And right now, Chuqalita…", Rakastamos said, as he clenched his fist. A spill of crimson power burst out of it, dripping onto the floor and splattering the walls. "Do you know what you are being?"

Chuqalita couldn't respond. It felt like she couldn't even breathe. Her heart began a faster beat, as she felt the terror build. Even though she was a Dragonlord, ruler over an entire continent, her power was nothing compared to the sheer, overwhelming might she knew that Rakastamos was capable of wielding.

"That's right.", said Rakastamos, and placed a hand on her shoulder. He slowly turned around her, as if bragging that he could move and she was unable to. "An irritant."

Chuqalita tried to respond, but the only thing she could manage was a small, high pitched groan. Rakastamos continued talking, seemingly oblivious of her absolute terror.

"By the way, _sister,"__, _Rakastamos said, spitting out the word between his jaws, "Do you know what happens when a Dragonlord dies?"

This time, Chuqalita was able to respond- a simple, quiet "No", forced out from her mouth.

"Ah.", said Rakastamos, and began to pace. "Well then, let me tell you. You see, when a Dragonlord dies…"

While he spoke, Chuqalita tried to search for a way out. She clearly could not remain in here much longer- Rakastamos had clearly become far too unhinged.

"Their continent breaks down, goes into decline, and eventually dies with them.", Rakastamos said. "Most of their population experiences very quick deaths- but a few of them go on and survive. Only a few, however…"

He leaned in close to Chuqalita's ear, and breathed out his final words. "And you wouldn't want that to happen to your Rushlands, now would you? No, you just got it…"

Then he leaned back, and his eyes went from a deep blood red to normal. He waved his hand towards the exit, and raised an eyebrow. "Go on, then."

Chuqalita blinked, and stared at him. "Wait, what?"

Rakastamos sighed, and gestured once again. "Go on. You are now free to leave."

"Oh- oh.", said Chuqalita, and sat up. "Well, uh-"  
"I said go!", shouted Rakastamos, his form bulging with sheer, absolute rage. "Before I kill you myself!"

Chuqalita's face twisted in horror, before she scrambled to her feet, ran towards the exit at top speed, and jumped, propelling herself into the sky.

As she flew away, she could not help but shiver at the thing Rakastamos had become. She knew she had to tell somebody- but who?

Then, as her mind tossed things over and around, sifting deep through her memories, it suddenly came to her in a bolt of mental thunder. Her eyes widened.

"Oh, of course!", she said to herself, and took a deep bank. "They can help."

And as she dived for the far side of the continent, seeking the first sign of silver, she didn't even notice the small black vapors that hung in the forest- nor a small party of 3, walking through the woods thousands of feet below where she flew.

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

Dan still trudged on through the forest, occasionally stepping over a broken bush or fallen log. Leon and Brandy sat on his shoulders, both of them trying their best not to fall off. But even if they did, they knew that Dan would be there to catch them- Brandy, anyway. Leon wasn't so sure. Even if Brandy loved him, Dan still seemed totally aloof.

Brandy almost wanted to fall off- she liked the prospect of Dan catching her in his giant hands. But she knew that he wouldn't like to be bothered as he walked, and so she didn't try it. Perhaps she would have tried it near the beginning of their journey, but they were far too far along by now.

"Hey Mom?", Leon whispered, rolling his lollipop around in his mouth. "I'm getting kinda hungry. What do we have for food?"

"You mean besides that lollipop of yours?", Brandy asked, flicking some dirt off of Dan's heavy metal armor. "You've got that."

Leon rolled his eyes, and gave a half shrug. "Well yeah, but, this doesn't count. As Primo used to say-"

He suddenly assumed a Mexican accent, although it wasn't very good. "It has no nutrients!"

Then he leaned back, and crossed his hands behind his head. "Yeah, I need some real food."

Brandy frowned, her mom brain starting to take over. She leaned towards Dan's head, and spoke into his ear. "Hey, honey?"

"Mmm?", Dan grunted, smashing straight through a thick curtain of spiderweb. It almost draped across Brandy and Leon, but he burned it away in an instant with a small flash of Star. "What?"

"Where's the food?", Brandy asked, and nervously grinned. "We're getting hungry, and, well…"

"We can't find any.", finished Leon. "Anywhere on you."

_Not with his clothes on, of course,_ thought Brandy, but knew it would be best not to say it out loud. "Yeah. That."

"That's cause we're out.", said Dan, and stepped over a large rock right into a small river. The water splashed as his foot impacted, but it didn't even come up to past his ankle.

"Out?", Brandy asked. "What do you mean, out-"  
"I said we're out of food.", said Dan. "We left it all back at the hotel… remember?"

"Then what was all that stuff we had last night?", asked Leon. "The hot ch-"

"I found it.", Dan said. "It was just out there in the woods."

"You found… hot chocolate.", said Leon in disbelief. "In the middle of the frickin woods."

"Yes.", said Dan, and flexed his shoulder a little bit. Leon stumbled, and held tighter trying to stay on. "I did."

"But like, how?", Leon asked, trying to wrap his head around this strange idea. "How did you-"  
"What?", Dan asked, with barely hidden force. "Don't they have hot chocolate trees where you come from?"

"Uhhh…", said Leon, and tried to remember. "No."  
"Heh.", said Dan, and kept on walking. "Neither do we, kid. But apparently, this place does."

"Good hot chocolate though, isn't it?", asked Brandy, trying to break the tension. But it was a difficult task- the tension in the air was thicker than a Pekka's armor. "I think it was."

"Yes…", said Dan, and stopped, right in the middle of a small clearing. "It was." 

"Hey, why did we stop-", Leon asked, then stopped when Dan bucked his shoulder. Brandy grabbed on to him, and silently told him to listen.

"I think we all want food.", said Dan. "You guys said you were hungry ,and now I'm hungry as well. We don't have any food with us-"

He gestured to the woods, no doubt filled with all manner of strange animals and even stranger plants. "But we can certainly find some."

He bent down, before either of them could respond, and gestured for both of them to hop off. Both Brandy and Leon slid down to the ground, and stood up at attention.

"Now.", said Dan, and slammed his hands together. "These are dangerous woods, and there are most likely some weird things in them. Hence, I want you to stay together, and stay safe. If you see something dangerous, report it back to me, and we can both take it on together. Sure, fine, all of us, not just both."

Leon almost said something, but realized that Dan had anticipated and answered his own question. So he just put his hand down, and resumed his silence.

"Now when you think you've found enough food, report back here, okay?", Dan asked, then clapped his hands together once more. "Alright! Let's move!"

Dan turned around, and immediately headed into the woods. He took a breath and snapped his fingers, a golden flame appearing above his head for illumination as the overhead leaves grew dim. Brandy and Leon still lingered in the clearing, not sure if they should follow him or stay.

"Leon?", asked Brandy, and put a hand on his shoulder. "Do you want to stay here?"  
"What?", Leon asked. "Why do you think I would want to-"  
"Bad things have happened to you in those woods.", said Brandy. "It wasn't a question."

Then she pulled him closer, and hugged him in a surprisingly tight embrace. "And I don't want my little boy to feel afraid."

Leon coughed a little bit as Brandy hugged him, not used to the attention. His face went a little red, both from embarrassment and from lack of oxygen. "Mom…"

"Okay, okay.", said Brandy, and let go. "I don't have to hug you if you don't want."

Leon huffed, and pulled his hoodie closer over his face. Then he shifted on his feet a little bit and said something out of the corner of his mouth.

"What?", Brandy said, and her ear twitched. "I couldn't hear you."

"I said…", Leon said, and again whispered his words so quietly that Brandy was unable to hear them. "There."

Brandy sighed, and took a step closer. "I can't hear you, Leon. Speak up."

Leon, to Brandy's surprise, grabbed her ear and leaned directly into it. She stiffened a little bit at the contact, but listened to what Leon was trying to say.

"It's fine you can hug me.", Leon said, and clenched his teeth together. "There. I said it."

"Aww, Leon!", Brandy said, again wrapping him in a hug. "It's fine! I'm your mother. I can hug you all I want."

Leon rolled his eyes, and his lollipop around in his mouth. "Okay, Mom.", was all he said.

Brandy broke off the hug, and stretched her arms into the air. She bounced on her heels a few times, then landed with a confident grin. "Alright. Now let's go get food."

"Right…", Leon said, and coughed into his collar. "Food."

"What's wrong?", Brandy asked, immediately sensing that something was up. "Leon?"

"Nothing.", said Leon, and turned away. "I'm good."

"No, you're not.", said Brandy, and grabbed her shoulder. "Something is bothering you."

Leon fiddled with his jacket pocket a bit, then sighed. "Okay. Yes. It's uh… the way you move."

"Hm?", Brandy asked, leaning backwards. "What about it?"

"Well it's uh…", Leon said, trying not to look at the way Brandy leaned. "It's just a little provocative. I feel."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and immediately stood straight up. "I'm sorry. I guess I've just been alone with Dan for a while. Just us and him, wandering around in the woods, with no one else to bother us at all…"

She stared off into space for a few seconds, before Leon politely coughed. "Mom?", he said. "You're doing it again."

"Oh!", Brandy said, and uncrossed her legs. "Sorry."

Then she started walking towards the woods, her hood pulled a little tighter over her face. "Now follow me. We had better find some food."

"Right.", said Leon, and followed her.

They had hardly gone a dozen feet into the trees, sunlight barely filtering down through the thick canopy, when Brandy abruptly stopped. She leaned down to grab something off of the ground, and held it up in front of her face.

"Woah…", she said, and smiled. "Epic!"

"What?", Leon asked, trying to see what it was. "What did you find?"

Brandy opened her hand, to reveal a shiny green Gem. "I found a Gem. Just here, on the ground."

"Oh.", said Leon, and tensed his arms. "Uh, mind if I have it? I kind of really need it for a skin."

Brandy stared at him, then smiled. "You're my son, alright."  
"What?", Leon asked, but Brandy had already dropped the Gem into his open hand. She closed his palm and patted it, then turned back to the path.

"There you go.", she said. "I want you to have good things."  
"Uuhh…", Leon said, and tucked the Gem into his pocket. "Okay."

He started jogging to keep up with Brandy, who had already moved ahead.

"Aaaand…", she said, stopping next to a large fruit tree. The fruit it bore seemed like a strange mix of apple and banana, with perhaps a hint of cherry thrown in. "What's this?"  
She waited a second for Leon to show up next to her, as he looked up into the branches of the tree. "Uh…", he said, and thought ."I think that's a banareyy tree."

"Hmmm.", Brandy said, and drew back her fist. "What do they taste like?"

"Oh, they're pretty good.", said Leon, not having any idea what he was saying. "We had some back home. Want me to get some for you-"

"Dorra!", Brandy yelled, and slammed her fist into the side of the tree. It shook violently for a few seconds, and half a dozen banareies waved from their stalks.

"Could you catch those, Leon?", asked Brandy, as they fell. Leon spun his arms around as fast as he could, trying to catch them all, and somehow succeeded.

"And carry them, too.", Brandy said, making her way over to her next tree. "I have a lot of gathering to do."

Leon hurried after her, trying not to drop any of the fruits, almost bumping into Brandy in the process. She was staring down another strange tree, this one bearing fruits that looked to be a rather vibrant blue. It was almost as if the blue had been added to the fruit digitally.

"What's this one?", she asked, pointing up at it. "It's strange."

"That.", said Leon, and readjusted his grip so as to not drop all the fruit. "Is. Um."

He took a look, and tried to make something up. "The Blue fruit. Yes."

"Blue fruit…", said Brandy, and again her hand started to glow. "Doesn't sound half bad."

"Wait!", Leon said, and Brandy paused right before she threw her punch. "You can't eat those. They're not viable for consumption."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and frowned. "Darn. Follow me, then."

Leon, inwardly, sighed in relief. Although Blue fruits actually were quite edible, they were also very dense. And Leon did not wish to carry any more fruit. He would leave that up to Dan.

He had gone only a few more steps before he once again ran into Brandy, who had stopped.

"What?", he muttered under his breath. "Can I not go three steps without-"

Brandy slapped a hand over his mouth, and tried not to make any noise. "Shhh.", she said, and pointed. "Look up ahead."

"What?", Leon asked, but it was muffled through Brandy's hand. "What is it?"

"Make no sound.", Brandy said. "We don't want to scare it."

"Scare it?", asked Leon, and knit his brow together. "Scare what-"

Then Brandy grabbed his chin in her hand, pointed him towards where she was looking at, and Leon gasped.

"Oh my R'yan…", he said under his breath. "Is that a…"  
"Yes.", said Brandy, and leaned a touch forward. "I've never seen one before."

"Amazing…", Leon said. "In real life- a Panda."

They both stared forward at the rolling, black and white ball of fur that lay on the ground before them. It was on its back in a bundle of bamboo shoots, sticking up out from the ground. It lazily munched on one, closed its eyes, and relaxed in the early morning sun.

"That's what they're called?", Brandy asked. "I thought they were called Panders."

"No.", Leon said, and shook his head. "Pandas. Although I could have sworn they were native to Brawltopia…"

"Really.", said Brandy. "I've never heard of them being there."

Leon turned to look at her, a strange look upon his face. "What are you talking about?", he asked. "There are totally Pandas in Brawltopia. Where do you think Panda Nita comes from?"

Brandy blinked, having no idea who or what he was talking about. "What?"

Leon shook his head, and turned back to watch the Panda some more. "Eh, just forget it. It's a me thing."  
"That means it's a me thing too.", said Brandy, and grabbed his shoulder. "I'm your mom, that's why."

"But why-", Leon started to say, then stopped, as he realized that Brandy had predicted his next words. "Oh. I'm not sure about that."

"Yes, but I am.", said Brandy, and sat down on a rock. She crossed her legs and folded her arms, staring down her button nose at Leon. "Now tell me more."

"Uh, okay.", said Leon, and cleared his throat. "You see, there's this Brawler at home- her name is Nita. She has a skin that's called Panda Nita."

"Skin?", Brandy asked. "Like… star skins?"

"No.", said Leon. "It's a Gem skin."

"What?", Brandy asked in astonishment. "You can buy skins for Gems where you come from?"

"Yeah.", said Leon. "Why, can you not do it where you live?"

"No.", said Brandy. "We can only get skins with Star Points."

"Aw man, that sucks.", said Leon, and slapped his knee. "Even if Star Skins are the coolest ones."

"So… what's Nita like?", Brandy asked, trying to get back to the point. "What does she do?"

"Well, she's my sister-", Leon began, and Brandy's eyes nearly bugged out of her head.

"WHAT?", she screamed, jumping up from the stump. She sputtered for words, her hands flying everywhere. "You have a sister? But that means that-"

She slapped her hands to the side of her face, and stared down at the ground. "I had twins?"

"Woah, woah, woah.", said Leon, and stood up. "No. I mean that like she's my sister figure. Not literally my personal sister."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and her face went neutral. She sat down on the stump again, and crossed her arms. "I see."

"Yeah.", said Leon, and looked down at the ground. His eyes lit up as he noticed something, reaching down and grabbing it off the grass. He squinted, and held it up to his face.

"Hey…", he said. "Is this… gum?"

Song: Wind in the Wilderness

Brandy leaned over, and looked at the small pink material in Leon's fingers.

"Huh.", she said. "I think that is. Why is there gum out here?"

"I don't know." said Leon. "Not unless-"

He stopped, his face turning pale. He stood up, and flicked a spinner blade into each palm. "It's her.", he said with shallow breaths. "She's here."

"Who?", asked Brandy, and stood up behind him. "What's going on?"  
"She found me.", said Leon. "I don't know how, but she found me."

"Who?", Brandy asked, a little louder, and stood in front of him. "Tell me who it is."

"Her name's Bibi.", said Leon, trying to keep his hands from trembling, as he remembered what she had done to him. "She chews gum, talks big, and uses a big bat."

"I see.", said Brandy, and started to carefully inch forward. "Well don't worry. Mom's here."

She threw out her hand, and shouted into the woods. "Hey! Whoever the frick Bibi is, show yourself! Now!"

She growled under her breath, flickers of purple starting to light up under her palm. "No one hurts my little boy."

She heard the pop of a bubble from in front of her, her head immediately swiveling towards the sound. There she saw a girl in a black jacket, head full of hair, casually swinging a large metal bat in one hand. With the other, she popped another piece of gum into her mouth, and began to loudly chew.  
"Hey, nerd!" she shouted, and swung her bat up onto her shoulder. "Who is that with you?"

She pointed with her free hand, and chuckled. "Your mommy?"

"Yes!", shouted Brandy, and put a hand on her hips. "And who are you, his failed escort?"

Leon put his hand over his mouth, and felt the edges of his cheeks heat up a bit. Bibi was a little taken aback by the sudden insult. She gripped the edges of her bat a little tighter, and thought up a retort of her own.

"So you really are his mother, huh?", she asked, looking over Brandy with a sneer and a glare.

"Makes sense. You've both got the hood, the pre-blackened eyes, the whole green scheme…"

She chewed and popped a bubble, then took a step back. "And just from looking, I can tell you're both hard subs. So how about I start this off by getting you two on your knees, where you belong."

She snapped her fingers, and a nearby bush rustled. With a grunt of effort, the El Rudo Primo stood up, and dramatically posed. Bibi grinned, and grabbed another piece of gum out of her pocket.

"Because you may be his mother.", she said, and took a single step forward. Her bat began to glow a light purple, and started to spin. "But I guarantee that in just a few minutes…"

Her eyes narrowed. "You're both gonna be calling me Mommy."

"Hey!", came a shout of anger, and the trees parted. Dan pushed his way out of the foliage, all 21 feet of him glowing in the sunlight.

"Oh.", said Bibi, and took a step back. She looked up to El Rudo, who kept his evil smile plastered upon his face. "Hey uh…"

El Rudo nodded, and jumped back. He brought his hands up in a vicious pose, and snarled.

"Right.", said Bibi, and brought her bat out to her side.

Song: Broly begins to battle

"Dan.", said Brandy, and Dan leaned in to listen. "I'm betting these guys are from Rakastamos, same as the rest of them. But they don't look that hard."

"I should take the big guy.", said Dan, and popped his knuckles. "Or at least, big to you. He's not big at all compared to me."

"Right.", said Brandy, and gripped her own bat tighter in her hands. "And I'll take the… uh…"

She turned to Leon. "What was her name again?"

"Bibi.", said Leon. "Her name is Bibi."

"Right, thot, that was it.", said Brandy, and nodded. "Thot."

She took up a stance next to Dan, who took a deep breath as he prepared to fight. Bibi took up a stance of her own next to El Rudo, who stared at Dan from somewhere underneath his impenetrable mask. Leon just stood there, not really sure what to do.

"Yaaaah!", Brandy finally screamed, and threw herself forward, Dash flickering off of her.

Bibi snarled, and brought up her bat in front of her. El Rudo jumped forward as well, intent on landing directly upon Brandy. But before he could, a colossal blow from Dan slammed into the side of his torso, throwing him away and to the side.

"Hey!", Dan shouted, and brought up his fists. "You're fighting me!"

El Rudo laughed and crouched in an attack position, trying to conceal the fact that Dan was almost three times as tall as he was. "Buenas noches!"

Dan took a deep breath, Star flickering around his hands as El Rudo charged.

Brandy's kick landed with a loud smack upon the front of Bibi's bat with a sound that reverberated for miles. She yelled in anger, and threw another blow that almost caused the bat to slip out of Bibi's hands.

"What are you doing, twerp?", Bibi growled, and took a step back. She tightened her grip on her bat, and it started to spin with a loud whine. "You think you can take me?"

"Twerp?", Brandy yelled, remembering who else had called her that once. "You're trying to take my son from me!"

She charged up a handful of Dash, and jumped forward once again. Bibi's hands flashed as she swung her bat around almost too fast to see, somehow managing to absorb the blow.

"What-", Brandy began, and instinctively protected her head with her hand a half second before Bibi's charged Home Run shot went straight for her skull. There was another loud crack, and Brandy flew back.

"Mom!", shouted Leon, his limbs stiffening in panic, but stopped when Brandy regained control of herself. She slashed one foot into the ground, carving a deep trail before she slowly slid to a stop. She jerked herself up off of the ground, wiped a bit of blood from her mouth, and spat.

"Don't worry.", she said to Leon. "Mom's gonna beat this one into the ground."

Then she yelled again, the grass around her blowing back from the force of her energy. Brandy leapt forward right at Bibi, plowing a furrow in the dirt behind her from the energy she shed.

Bibi brought up her bat again, and grinned evilly. Even though her Home Run wouldn't be ready for a few more seconds, she could still hit pretty hard without it.

"That's right, come to me.", she said, and blew another small bubble. "Right into my-"

She was about to say "range", when Brandy suddenly seemed to vanish from her sight. She blinked and looked up, only to see nothing. She looked to the right and the left, and saw Dan and El Rudo circling each other in aggression. It occurred to her too late to look down- and that is, of course, where Brandy was.

"Ha!", Brandy yelled, and planted her feet firmly into the middle of Bibi's torso. Bibi's head flew back a second before she did, propelled from the force of the kick almost a dozen feet.

Bibi slid across the grass, her eyes spinning around in a daze, before stopping just in front of a rock. She placed a hand on the ground and stood up, spitting a bit of her own blood to the side.

"You're kind of tough, aren't you?", she said, holding her bat out to the side. It started to recharge, faint purple light running up its side. "I mean, for someone like you."

Brandy could have come up with a witty retort, but she chose not to. Instead, she just chose to change the grip on her bat, and leap forward holding it like a sharpened spike instead of a club.

Bibi took more than a few steps backwards, trying to dodge Brandy's attack- but Brandy just pushed off the ground, boosting herself with a sudden Dash. Bibi brought up her bat just in time to block Brandy's attack- but the force wasn't simply absorbed. Instead, Brandy actually bounced away, using the returned energy to skid further back into the tall grass.

There was hardly even an elapsed second before Brandy once again attacked, striking forwards with her fist out. Bibi spun around her bat, trying to block- but as Brandy extended her leg, that suddenly didn't work anymore. Bibi yelped as Brandy's foot connected with her stomach, sending her backwards and almost knocking her into the ground.

But unlike the last times, Bibi didn't wait to recover. She instead lashed out instantly, catching Brandy off guard and surprising her with a hard whack to the ribs. Brandy hissed under her breath, jumping backwards as well, now subconsciously clutching her ribcage.

Brandy thought for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action. Bibi seemed to be rather strong, but she didn't seem to be able to take that much. Brandy could use that to her advantage- if she was somehow able to avoid getting hit. But Brandy actually had a shorter range than Bibi- out-maneuvering her would be tricky.

But, she reminded herself, just because something was tricky did not mean that it could not be done.

So she jumped forward again, not even saying a word. Bibi nodded, and once again brought up her bat to strike. She swung it right at Brandy- not expecting that Brandy would dodge, slip right up underneath the bat's range, and deliver a powerful elbow directly to Bibi's stomach.

Bibi gasped and swung, but Brandy was too quick. She threw up an arm and moved the attack aside, following up with another strong knee right to Bibi's chest.

Bibi let herself be carried by the force of the attack, feeling herself gain some distance from Brandy. She slowly took a piece of high-powered bubble gum out of her pocket, popped it into her mouth, and began to chew.  
"You think you're funny, huh?', she asked, and started to grow a bubble. "You think you're so tough?"

Leon's eyes widened- he had seen this buildup enough times to know exactly what was coming next. He stretched out his hand, trying to give Brandy a warning. "Mom!", he shouted in mild panic. "Look out! She's gonna-"

"Then chew…", Bibi said, and blew the bubble. It hovered over her, almost as large as she was. Brandy looked to Leon, trying to figure out what he was shouting about. "What?"

"On this!", Bibi finished, and released her attack. The gigantic ball of magically charged bubble gum flew forward, light glinting off of it as it barreled straight for Brandy.

"That.", said Leon, and shrugged. "Avoid it!"

"Yeah.", said Brandy, and crouched. "I figured."

As the giant buble rolled towards her, Brandy continued to run. She picked up speed as she went, silver Dash lines flickering around her, until her skin began to vibrate.

She breathed in, trying to calm herself. She saw the way the bubble moved- she could tell that it was going to automatically target her. So instead of trying to outrun it, she did what no one would expect- and that was to close her eyes.

She didn't see anything, as was expected. However, she could still feel- and that was the important part. She could feel the aura of the giant bubble in her mind's eye, seeing not only where it was, but also where it was going to be. She saw every potential path it could take, and knew exactly what she had to do in order to avoid it.

Brandy spun on one finger around on the grass, as the bubble roared past her. It soon stopped, reversed course without turning, and sped up again, but by that time Brandy had moved on. She tapped one heel against the ground, leaning back just enough to dodge. Her hair slowly blew as she did so, far slower than it would have in any ordinary wind.

Bib growled in frustration, flicking her finger around in order to guide the bubble- but to her increasing anger, Brandy was able to somehow dodge each and every shot.

"What the…", she spat, taking another look at Brandy. "What is she?"

Yet even as she kept up the relentless attack, Brandy was coming ever closer. She not only dodged with every leap- she was slowly, surely closing the distance between her and Bibi.

Finally, after one particularly fancy dodge in which she seemed almost to turn intangible, Bibi dropped her fingers. The bubble continued onwards without her guidance, vanishing somewhere into the woods.

Brandy opened up her eyes again, no longer able to sense the bubble's energy. She saw Bibi in front of her, huffing and panting from all the spent energy. Brandy pushed against the ground in another leap, and aimed right for her opponent.

"You…", they both growled, and tightened their grips on their bats. "Die!"

They swung at the same time, just as they reached each other. Bibi had had time to fully charge her Home Run, and Brandy's blow was Dash-enhanced. The two superpowered impacts met each other in a flash of light and sound, sending a nearly visible shockwave out through the entire area that flattened the grass.

Brandy and Bibi stared into each other's eyes as they both pushed, each struggling to gain some upper hand. But after a few seconds, Bibi's superior bat strength had won out- Brandy's cracked all down the middle, collapsing to bits of wood upon the ground.  
"Ha!", Bibi yelled, and pushed down. "How do you like that, you bi-"

Then she stopped talking. For although Brandy's bat had broken, that didn't even slow her down. In the time that Bibi had taken to talk, she had already slammed her boot as hard as she could into the underside of Bibi's chin.

"Swing…", Bibi groaned, as her eyes rolled back in her head. Her grip loosened, and she fell unconscious to the grassy ground. "... and a miss."

"Hmph.", said Brandy, and wiped the sweat from her brow. "Nobody hurts my little boy."

Leon watched her in awe, as she grabbed Bibi's bat from her grasp and threw it to the side. She gathered a huge amount of Dash in her left hand, straining from the effort, and held it above Bibi's neck for the kill.

Then Leon saw it- a flash of pink and purple from somewhere behind him. He ducked as soon as the sight reached his eyes, throwing himself down to the ground. He saw Bibi's bubble pass overhead- somehow, she had recalled it at the very last second.

Leon had two choices here. Either he could shout to try and warn Brandy- but there was no guarantee that would work. The bubble was traveling very fast, perhaps too fast for him to shout in time. That left only one other.

Brandy was just about to swipe through Bibi's neck, finishing her off, when she heard a strange sound from somewhere behind her. She turned on instinct and saw Bibi's bubble bearing down on her- then it vanished.

She blinked, and heard the roar of Hunter Killer's bullets. They flashed through the air right next to her, plowing into the soft dirt with a small explosion each. And there stood Leon behind them, Stand drawn, one eye closed.

"Thank you, Leon.", said Brandy, and let the Dash disappear from her hand. "I missed that."

Leon gave a weary thumbs up, and staggered forward. "No problem, Mom. It's no problem at all."

Nearby in the same field, El Rudo and Dan's battle was nearing it's short climax. El Rudo, big and strong as he was, had stood no chance against the much larger and much more powerful Dan. El Rudo was breathing heavily, his muscles sore and his mask ripped in places, while Dan had hardly even broken a sweat.

But inwardly, El Rudo smiled. He had somehow landed enough hits on Dan to charge his super, and a faint yellow light came off of him. Flames soared deep within him, ready to be unleashed upon landing from his legendary elbow drop. He just had to land a direct hit on Dan and then attack with all he had, and he could win this battle.

"Ellll…", he shouted, and jumped into the air. He soared, elbow out, right towards Dan.

"Primo-", he continued, and noticed that his attack had ended prematurely. He then noticed that the reason for this was that Dan had reached out a hand and caught him, before he could properly land. He stared at El Rudo with a face that was an odd mixture between boredom and total contempt. "-ooooh shoot-"

"ORA!", Dan roared, and punched El Rudo with such force he was blown off of Dan's hand and into the sky. He screamed as he went, old flames falling from him, until he landed next to Bibi's unconscious body with a loud fwump. He too sent up a large plume of dirt- the area had unusually soft and malleable soil.

Brandy stared down at the two, beaten and bruised, totally out cold. Leon stared over her shoulder, silently counting in his head to see if they would get back up. After a few seconds Dan came over to join them, Star still held in his hands just in case.

"What should we do with them?", Brandy asked. "Kill them?"

"I think we should get information out of them.", said Dan. "Find out more about Rakastamos."

"Guys…", said Leon, and winced. As much as it pained him to tell the truth, he knew that he had to do it. "Mom… Dad.."

"What is it, sweetie?", Brandy asked, turning. "Is there something you have to tell us?"

Leon looked at Bibi, feeling a little sorry for her. Now that she was knocked out and the spell likely broken, she looked a lot less malicious. In fact, she almost looked sad.

"I know these two…", he said. "They're sort of my family. Please don't kill them. They're not usually like this."

"Oh.", said Brandy. She wasn't entirely sure how that worked, but she was guessing it was similar to how troops all lived in castles. "Okay. I guess we'll leave them then."

"Right…", said Dan, although he didn't exactly relish the thought. "Let's move on."

And so they walked away, leaving Bibi and El Rudo sleeping peacefully, a note on each of their faces that said "Do not disturb". Also each of them were missing the bacon sandwiches they had brought for the journey, because Dan was getting a little hungry. Brandy, however, had declined to eat any. She just didn't like meat.

Far away, in a small research laboratory precariously perched atop an ancient cliff, a Valkyrie was working the morning shift.

"All signs of the range point towards normal.", she muttered, writing things down in one of her various notebooks. "No sign of anything dangerous."

She took a bite of her roast beef sandwich, and took a glance over at the array of seismographs beside her. She noticed something odd in the one furthest to the right.

She saw the paper tremble, the needle scratching anxious marks. She slowly put down her sandwich, put on her glasses, tightened her lab coat, and made her way over.

"What…", she whispered to herself, peering down at the glass display. The needle once again jumped, going past the 3 inch "Safe" zone and into the "Caution" zone. That couldn't be a good sign of anything.

She gasped softly, realizing this was too important not to share. She turned away from the seismograph and swiftly walked to her supervisor's office, all the way across the lab. But what she failed to notice, missing it by just a few seconds, was that the needle jumped up again, this time all the way into the 9 inch "Danger" zone.

"Uh, sir?", she asked, and slowly pushed the door open. Her supervisor, a kindly old Wizard, was reclining in a large stuffed chair, fast asleep.

She sighed and placed one hand on the chair, shaking it gently a bit to wake him. "Sir?", she asked again, louder. But still, there was no reply.

The Valkyrie rolled her eyes, and shook the chair vigorously. "Sir!", she shouted, and the Wizard awoke with a start, fumbling around and trying to find his glasses.

"What?", he shouted, flailing around. "What is it, Stella? What, what?"

Stella pushed his glasses down off of his forehead in front of his eyes, and the Wizard stopped moving around. He blinked, adjusted the glasses a little bit, and spun his chair to face Stella with a friendly, if confused, smile. "Ah, that's better. Thank you. Now what is it you have to speak to me about?"

The worried look on Stella's face was all he needed to hear. The Wizard nodded solemnly, got up, and leaned on the wall. "I see.", he said. "Bring me to the emergency."

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say emergency.", said Stella, gently escorting him out of the office and towards the seismographs. "But I think you should take a look at it all the same."

When the two reached her workstation, the Wizard's eyes furrowed in anger. "Stella?", he said. "What have I told you about eating in your station?"

"I'm sorry, sir, but that's not what I wanted to speak to you about.", said Stella, and grabbed the paper from one of the seismographs. "Look at this!"

"What?", the Wizard grunted, and grabbed the paper. He held it in front of his face and squinted, trying to make sense of it. "I hope this isn't another one of your-"

Then he stopped, realizing just what it was that he was looking at. His eyes widened, and his fingers began to shake. Before Stella could stop him, he dropped the paper onto the floor, and turned to look out the windows towards the Clashcrush Mountains.

"No.", he said, barely even able to hear himself. "Noooo…."

"What?", Stella said, worried to see her usually collected supervisor like this. "What is it?"

"Call someone.", said the Wizard, and pointed towards the nearby phone, not removing his gaze from the tallest mountain in the range. "Right. Now."

Stella nodded, and ran over to the phone. She dialed the first number she could think of- another researcher that worked at the lab every other day.

"It's….", said the Wizard, and continued to stare forward. Dark memories flooded his mind, memories of when he was but a young boy. "It's…"

"Hello, Emmaline?", the Valkyrie said, trying to get her co-worker on the phone.

"Yes?", said Emmaline the Princess, on the other line. "What is it?"

"I'm…", said Stella, and took a deep breath. "Detecting seismic activity."

"Is that what you called me for?", asked Emmaline with annoyance. "Because I-"

"No.", said Stella, hoping Emmaline would remember the code they used. "I mean I'm _detecting seismic activity."_

Stella could hear Emmaline's phone almost drop from her hands, as she realized what this meant. "Oh…", she could hear quietly from the other end. "Oh my Se'th…"

"It's…", said the Wizard quietly, still looking out the window. "Him…"

Song: Desperate Plan

"Okay.", said Brandy, once all three of them had walked a sufficient amount of distance away from the two defeated enemies. "Let's stop here for a moment."

"Yes, please.", said Leon, dropping to his knees. "My back is killing me."

"What, already?", asked Dan, coming to a halt. "It's not been that long."

"That's not why we're stopping.", said Brandy. "We're stopping because we need information. Information that Leon has."

Leon's eyes widened. "Woah, where are you going with this-"

"I mean that we're just gonna ask you!", Brandy said, suddenly finding herself hugging Leon. "Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you. Sorry."

"Right…", said Leon, and cast a wary eye at Dan. Even if he knew that Brandy would never hurt him, he wasn't as sure about Dan. "Sure…"

"Yes.", said Brandy, and clapped her hands. "Now, Leon. You said those were called Brawlers… correct?"

"Yes.", said Leon, with a nod. "Bibi and El Primo. Although I guess he was really more of an El Rudo-"

"And will there be more coming?", Brandy asked, drawing a circle in the dirt. "If so, what and when?"

"Well, uh…", said Leon, trying to remember all the members that Mortis would have likely recruited. "I know there's Tick, and Rico, and Tara, and Gene, and-"  
"Woah, woah.", said Dan, and Leon flinched. "Slow down. We don't know who any of those are."

"Oh.", said Leon. "Right. So, basically…"

He held out his hand towards Brandy, who dropped the stick into his own. He started scratching the ground with its sharp end, making a line of marked soil. "There's Tick. He throws mines a lot. Everywhere. All the time."

He drew a Tick- it was nothing too realistic, but it was good to go by. "Watch out for him."

"Okay.", said Brandy, and flickered. She reappeared behind Leon, and wiggled her fingers.

"And then there's Rico.", said Leon, drawing a simple Rico in the dirt. "Some people call him Ricochet, but I-"

Then he felt someone touch his back, and he jumped a full eight feet into the air. He immediately spun around to see who had done it, only to find Brandy.

"Woah, Mom.", he said, trying to calm himself down. "What are you doing-"

"What?", Brandy asked, and shrugged. "You said your back was hurting. I figured I might as well massage it."

"Oh.", said Leon, and relaxed a tiny bit. "I guess you can do that."

"Yay!", Brandy said, and grinned. She rolled up her sleeves, popped her knuckles, and laid her hands upon Leon's upper back. "I like giving massages. They're fun."

"Right…", said Leon, and turned his attention back to his drawing. "So anyway, there's Rico. He can shoot bullets that bounce off of stuff. Pretty dangerous to face if you're stuck."

He felt Brandy's hands press against his back, and he began to get a bit woozy. But he blinked a few times, and moved on.

"And then there's Gene.", said Leon, not even noticing that he had skipped one. "He can shoot a huge hand that grabs people. Right where they are."

Brandy's wrist suddenly twisted open a small socket in his back, and Leon took in a sharp breath. He could feel his cheeks get a little hot, but he was determined to push on.

"And then. Um.", he said. "There's Tara. She can… um...like…"

He was struggling to still maintain speech, while Brandy kept on pushing his muscles and popping his joints. Leon groaned just a little bit, and dropped the stick.

"There.", said Brandy with a grin. "Now doesn't that feel all better?"  
"Yes.", said Leon, trying not to make a sound that he didn't want to. "It does."

"Ooh…", said Brandy, with a sly smile. "Then how about…"

Leon tensed a bit, before Brandy slipped her hands underneath his hoodie and grabbed him by the sides of his torso. "This?"

Leon's eyes suddenly went a little weak, and his hearing clouded up. His heart threatened to beat out of his chest, and he sucked in a deep breath.  
"Uummm…", he said, unable to say anything else. The positive attention he was finally getting was just too much for him yet. "Ummm…"

Then as Brandy started actually massaging his back instead of just holding it, Leon's eyes rolled back into his head. He audibly moaned, and fell face first onto the dirt. "Woaaah…"

Brandy looked at him, and her eyes tightened. "Aww, do I have a tired little boy?"

"Yes…", said Leon, barely able to speak. "I'm a tired boy…"

"Mmm…", said Brandy, and grabbed his hair. "I think you need to wake up though. There's still so much that you have to tell us."

"Right!", Leon shouted, jolting awake. A small bolt of Star had reached him from underground, giving his nervous system a sudden boost. "I do. I do, I do, I do."

He hurriedly reached for his stick, sketching out the form of one more brawler. "And then there was the leader- Mortis."

"Mmm…", said Brandy, taking a look. He looked oddly familiar, although Brandy could not quite place why. "And what can he do?"

"Well, he dashes.", said Leon, and Brandy's eyes widened. "And he has a really sharp shovel and can summon Bats."  
"Wait… dashes?", Brandy asked. "You mean like- like me?"

"What?", Leon asked. "You can do that?"

Brandy stared at him in shock. "Of _course _I can do that!", she said. "What do you think this is?"

She gathered Dash in one hand and punched the ground, sending out a small shockwave. Then she jumped into the air and Dashed even higher, coming down with a soft timp.

"Uhhh…", Leon said. "Yeah I'm pretty sure he can't do something like that."

Brandy huffed, blowing her bangs out of her face. "He better."

"Yeah…", said Leon, once more picking up his stick. He drew a pair of X's over Mortis's eyes. "I'm pretty sure he's dead now though. I shot him full of holes yesterday afternoon."

"Oh.", said Dan, leaning over. "Did you now?"

"Yes.", said Leon, shrinking back a little. "That is what I said, yes."

"Hm.", said Dan, and returned to his previous position. "Just making sure."

"Alright…", Brandy said, and stood up. "So that's all the Brawlers? All the ones we have to look out for?"  
"Well, there may be a few others.", said Leon, trying to think. "They might have brought along a Rosa. Or maybe a Bull. Or perhaps even a-"

Then his eyes lit up, and he remembered. "Oh, right!", he said, and started to sketch again. "I almost forgot about the Sandy!"

Brandy tightened a bit, as she remembered about Sandy. "Yes, him-"

"So Sandy can throw sand.", said Leon, drawing as fast as he could. "He can be dangerous to go up against, but-"  
_You know, we already know about this, _thought Brandy, and Dan looked up. _Want me to tell him?  
Sure. Go ahead, _was Dan's silent response. _Tell your new pet anything you want. _

_Wha-, _Brandy thought, and her eyes started to get a little wet. _Dan, what are you talking about?_

_You're treating him like a pet, _said Dan. _All the petting and care and baby talk._

_Yeah, because he is in fact my child, _thought Brandy, with a slight huff of her nose. _In case you have forgotten._

_No, no, I remember, _said Dan, and looked up. _Your child, alright. Not mine. _

Brandy took a step back, stepping on Leon's hand. A single tear fell from her eye, unable to focus on anything else- not even Leon's yelps of pain and protest.

"Dan…", she said out loud, not even bothering for secrecy. "I thought…"

She looked down at the dirt, the tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "You… loved me…"

"What?", Dan gasped, and stood up. He walked over to Brandy in a single massive step, Leon just barely managing to dodge out of the way. He scooped up Brandy in his massive hands, despite her weak attempts to fight him off.

"Brandy.", he said, staring her in the eyes with all the force he could muster. "I _do_ love you. No matter what. So where are you getting this from?"

Brandy pointed towards Leon, who was staring up at them in immeasurable awkwardness. "But you don't love him. And he's part of me."

"Yes, but-", Dan said, and sighed deeply. "He's not all you. He's _him _too."

He gripped Brandy tighter, trying to give her the best hug he could. "And every time I see you giving him a hug, or massaging his back… it's like you're doing those things to him."

"Dan, I know that.", said Brandy. "But I can't just ignore him and treat him like that. He needs love. Look at him."

Leon just stood there sort of awkwardly, shifting back and forth on both feet. "He doesn't know who his biological father was. He has no trace of him inside his soul. He just knows his real father- and that's you."

Dan sighed, and gripped Brandy tighter. "I know that, Brandy. I'm trying to be. I just… I love you. You know that, right?"  
"Yes., said Brandy, and let herself be hugged. "I do."

"And I still _hate _him.", said Dan. "Almost as much as I love you. I'm sure he's burning or rotting in Hell somewhere- but I still hate him. You know that."

"Yes.", said Brandy. "I hate him too. And yet, I still love Leon."  
She stroked Dan's chin, looking up at him with big pleading eyes. "So can't you just give him a chance?"

Dan thought for a moment, then sighed deeply. "I'll try, Brandy.", he said. "I will try."

They hugged each other again, pressing tightly against each other, until they heard Leon cough from behind. He slowly rocked back and forth on his heels, rolling his lollipop around in his mouth.

"So, uh…", he said. "I'm sure that conversation was important and all, but aren't we supposed to be somewhere by nightfall?"

"Oh, right.", said Brandy, and gently tapped on Dan's arm. He looked up and down, and Brandy tipped her head upwards. Dan nodded, and gently placed her on his shoulder. "Yes."

"We're going to one of the clanmates.", said Dan, with an affirmative tone. "I believe his name was...um…"

Brandy started to reach for the map in Dan's back pocket, but he just flicked his hand into the air, and Brandy withdrew. She still gave his back packet an affectionate tap. "Never mind that. We know where he is, and we need to get going."

"Well, where is he?", Leon asked, reaching for Dan's hand. But Dan just looked straight ahead, pretending not to notice. "Dad, could you give me a lift?"

"Brandy, where is he?", asked Dan, again pretending not to notice Leon. "Could you get the map?"

_If you let Leon onto your shoulder, _Brandy thought, but didn't say. She didn't exactly want to offend Dan any further. So she just sighed, rolled her eyes, and once again reached towards Dan's pocket. She had almost reached it when Dan suddenly stopped, bouncing her against his back and almost causing her to let go.

"What is it now-", she said, then Dan grabbed her across the waist. He threw her back onto his shoulder, his other hand reaching out in front of Leon. Whether he did it on purpose or just out of habit was unknown to any of them.

"There's something out there.", he said, whispering so as to better hear. "Listen."

They all stopped, and listened as hard as they could. Leon struggled to hear anything but the sounds of the forest, the rustling of leaves in the wind and the constant trill of birdsong. Dan could hear something, of course- a faint, barely perceptible humming at the very top of his hearing. Brandy, however, with her sensitive ears could hear it well, the sound of walking machinery on stubby little legs.

"I hear it.", she said, tilting her head one way and the other. "But I can't quite tell what it is. It does seem to be coming from the left…"

Dan thought for a moment, then raised his open palm. He took a deep breath, and golden light began to flow into it. "Shining…"

Then a lightning fast volley of blades flew by him, slicing into the woods like a sword through hot butter. He looked down in surprise, to see Leon flashing his own fingers.

Dan let his hand fall, as Leon continued the storm of metal. Once he was done, he took a deep breath, put his hands on his hips, and rolled his lollipop around in his mouth. "Well, whatever it was…"

He looked up at Dan and Brandy, a hopeful look in his eyes. "I think it's gone now."

Brandy smiled and gave a soft clap. "Good job, sweetie. That was wonderful."

But Dan just looked away, continuing to walk.

Song: Calm Sightseeing

Not overly far away, but about an hour later, at the village of Atoy the Great, an Archer Queen was leaning against a wall, inspecting her fingernails. She huffed her hair out of her face, and the Builder beside her waited patiently.

"When is my suit gonna be done polishing?", she asked. "I'm getting a little bored."

"Sorry, Rachel.", said the Builder, and bowed. "It will be another couple of hours."

"Sorry?", asked Rachel, and waved her hand. "Oh, psha. You're fine. No need to apologize. Really."

"Ah.", said the Builder, and straightened up. "Thank you, Rachel."

"Yeah, you're cool.", said Rachel (known to her friends as Kayce) the Archer Queen, and took a quick glance at her watch. She looked up towards the horizon and the treeline, and squinted.

"When are our clan castle troops supposed to be here?", she asked, and the Builder shrugged. "Clan mail said they were supposed to arrive half an hour ago."

"I don't know, madam.", said the Builder, leaning against the walls as well. He took out a piece of grass from his pocket, lit the tip, and stuck it in his mouth. "I don't know."

He took a deep drag on his handmade cigar, when Rachel slapped it out of his mouth with a single finger. He turned in protest, but Rachel just shook her head.

"Don't smoke, George.", she said in disappointment. "It's bad for you."

Elsewhere in the forest, in a location that grew closer to that village with every step, was the semi-exhausted trio of Dan, Brandy, and Leon.

"Mom?", asked Leon, leaning lethargically forward on Dan's shoulder. "I'm hungry. Like, I'm really, really hungry."

Brandy looked up from where she lay curled around Dan's neck, and adjusted her crooked hood. "Well, you have that lollipop if you're hungry."

"Yeah, but I can't eat that.", Leon whined. "I need something else."

"You can eat it, honey.", said Brandy, and Dan noticeably twitched. "You're fine."

She looked up, and saw that Leon's face hadn't changed. "Or do you mean that you literally can't eat it?"

Leon sighed, and bit down as hard as he could on the lollipop. It didn't show any sign of wear at all. "I've been sucking on it for months, and it hasn't gone down."

"Hmmm…", said Brandy, and a thought suddenly occurred to her. She was his mother. Mothers typically fed their children in a way that only they could.

She bit on her lip a bit, and thought about it. Sure, he wasn't exactly a baby, but he was still her own offspring. And the only other one around to see it was Dan, so maybe-

"Here.", she heard Dan say, interrupting her train of thought. She saw him hold up a branch full of fruit, grabbed off of a random tree. "Heard you were hungry."

Brandy almost grabbed for the branch, hungry as well, when she noticed that she had unconsciously begun to lower her tunic. Her face turned a little redder as she hurriedly pulled it back up, hoping that nobody had noticed.

"Yeah, thanks.", said Leon, and plucked a piece of fruit off of the branch. He eagerly bit into it, then noticed Brandy trying to right the awkward position of her clothes.

"Hey, uh, Mom?", Leon asked, taking another bite, and Brandy stiffened. "Were you just trying to-"

"No!", Brandy yelped, and pulled her tunic back on. She looked away, and grabbed Dan by the neck. "I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. Hmph."

"Right…", Leon said, and took another bite. He wiped the juices from his chin, and swallowed.

_I'm kinda into that sort of stuff, really, _he thought to himself. _It's almost a shame she's my mother. And married. To a man who hates me and could most likely kill me with a single blow._

He looked down at his legs, and tucked them near to himself. He audibly sniffed, causing Brandy's mom senses to activate and her to look up.

"Leon?", she asked, crawling across Dan's shoulders and placing a hand on Leon's knee. "Is everything alright?"

"No.", said Leon, and slightly turned away. "He still hates me. And I'm still hungry and I still have no idea where we're going and I'm still being followed."

Brandy sighed, and squeezed his knee a little bit. He tensed a little bit, then relaxed at the touch. "He doesn't hate you, Leon.", she said. "He's just… you remind him of someone else. That's all."

"Who?", asked Leon. "My real father?"

"Well- I mean…", Brandy said, and shut her eyes. She tried to not think about him, but it was hard to keep the intrusive thoughts from her mind. "Yes. The man who shares his genes with you was an absolute monster. But he's dead now. I killed him."

She brought up her other hand and pulsed her Dash, filling it with a soft silver light. "With my own hands. And his brother too."

Leon gulped, trying to imagine what his biological father could have been like to warrant such actions. "Oh.", he said. "I see. And how do I fit into this?"

"Well, you are technically Ch-", Brandy began, then caught herself. "_His _child. Even if you're my son now, and by extension, Dan's. But he doesn't see that."

"I can hear you, you know.", said Dan, and gave his shoulders a small flex. Both Brandy and Leon bounced a few inches in the air, and Brandy's nostrils flared.

"Yes, Dan.", she said. "I know you can hear us. But I'm trying to talk to you too-"

Only then did she realize what Leon had said last. She slowly turned to look at him, alarm rising from within her. "Leon?", she asked. "Did you say you were… being followed?"

Song: Second Bomb

"Yes.", said Leon, and felt the tail on his jacket begin to twitch. It wasn't technically part of his body, but it still reacted to certain stimuli. "I probably should have mentioned that sooner."

"By who?", Brandy asked. "Where are they? Are they the Brawlers you showed us before- oh. They're those, aren't they?"

"Yes.", said Leon. "So… I guess I did mention it before then."

"Right…", said Dan, and stopped in his tracks. He looked down, to see small tracks running across the dirt. "Does this look like any of your friends to you?"

"They're not my friends.", said Leon, and looked down. He could see the tracks, alternating holes in the dirt. "But yes. They look like they're from a-"

His words were interrupted when there came a metallic thwump from the other side of the nearby treeline. A trio of blinking metal objects flew out of the bushes and landed on the trail, right in front of Dan. Leon winced. "Tick."

"A Tick…", Brandy murmured, and tried to remember. "Was that the one that throws bombs?"  
"Yes.", said Leon. "He throws a lot, and he throws them everywhere. He's super annoying."

"They don't seem to be doing much.", said Dan, and pointed a single finger. He shot out a beam of Star that pierced straight through the third bomb, triggering it's explosion. The shockwave hit the other two, causing them to explode as well. "And they're not very strong."

"Yeah, but it's the amount of them that matters.", said Leon. "They're weak individually, but they can get very dangerous in groups."

Dan thought for a moment, then started walking again. "Well, let's get going.", he said. "Better than just staying here and letting ourselves get bombarded."

"Dad, wait!", Leon shouted, and held out an arm. Dan hesitated, but did stop in his tracks. He was glad he did- for there in front of him, not even a full step away, the path was covered with a dozen ticking bombs.

"Hmm.", said Dan, and once again raised a finger. "He's not very accurate, now is he?"

"No.", said Leon, and his brain began to think. "He doesn't seem to be firing them with much accuracy. It almost makes me wonder if-"

Then half the bombs vanished, and Leon looked up. "Duck!"

Dan threw his arms over them in a huge protective shield, Brandy grabbing Leon and sliding underneath. The fresh batch of mines detonated upon Dan's arms, the explosion impressive even if the bombs themselves didn't do much.

"Huh.", said Leon, looking out. "That's weird. Usually he doesn't aim directly at people."  
"Hmph.", said Dan, and looked at his barely touched arms. "Looks like it didn't even do much."

"No.", said Leon, and realized what Tick had been trying to do. He looked up again and around, searching for the inevitable attack. "He's just trying to charge."

"Charge?", Dan asked, then heard a peculiar sound coming from the top of the bush.

There, hanging in the air for half a second, was a veritable blanket of bombs. Then the half second ended, and the bombs all started to fall, straight towards Dan.

"Dang it!", he shouted, and leapt backwards. The bombs fell towards the ground, colliding with the dirt- except for one, just barely nicking Dan at the edge of his foot.

Leon counted all the bombs that had gone off so far, did some calculations in his head, and shivered. "Shoot.", he said. "That last bomb- it was enough damage for his super."

"His super?", asked Dan, and bent down. Both Brandy and Leon slid off of his shoulder, Brandy taking a stance and Leon's eyes widening in panic. "Here. Take the back."

"What's his super?", Dan asked, his bias against Leon vanishing in the face of combat. "What do we have to watch out for?"

"Um-", Leon said, then heard a metallic ring at the edge of his vision. He slowly turned towards it, to see a bouncing, smiling, metal head.

"Look over here!", it shouted, leaned towards him, and shot forward faster than it had any right to. "Look at me!"

"That!", Leon said, and crossed his arms in defense. But it would be useless against the massive explosion. He screamed as it drew closer, ticking and whirring manically, until-

Until Brandy jumped forward and stuck out her arm, momentarily covering herself with Dash to block the explosion. Tick's head smacked against her, detonating in a nasty looking blast, but when the smoke cleared, there was no damage that had been done.

To Brandy, anyway. Some of the blast had hit Leon, streaking his face with soot and a tiny streak of blood. He blinked a few times, trying to clear his face of the damage. Brandy's arm had left a negative tattoo of the ash across his face, a mask of clear skin across his eyes.

"That was close.", said Brandy, and turned around. "Are you okay?"

Leon rubbed his arm across his face, and blinked a few more times. "Yes.", he said. "I'm okay."

"Good.", said Brandy, and gave him a tight hug. She buried her face in his neck, his one inch of height on her allowing her to do so. "I don't want you hurt."

Dan breathed out a little, and drew himself up to his full height. "Let's get whatever was in this bush, shall we?", he boomed, and then refilled his lungs.

"Yes.", Brandy said, and broke off the hug. She turned to the bush, charging up Dash in her right fist. "You break the bush, I'll kill the thing."

"And I'll shoot it.", said Leon, and spun around his hand. With a flash of light, Hunter Killer appeared in his grasp. "I guess."

Dan yelled, and shot out a blast of energy so bright it illuminated every inch of the forest around them like a noonday sun. "Overdrive Cannon!"

Brandy and Leon both stumbled back behind Dan, as the blast from his hand shot forward. It tore the bush into atoms, continuing onwards through the woods. A Tick briefly became visible for less than a second before the blast hit him, turning him into a red splotch almost faster than the eye could see. The blast shot upwards into the sky after about a thousand feet, leaving behind a patch of burned forest that extended far onwards.

"Oh.", said Brandy, and let her charge drop from her hand. Her fingers tingled a little bit as she did so. "Or not."

"Hm.", said Leon, and made a gesture. Hunter Killer disappeared back into his hand, and he folded his arms inside of his pockets. "Well, you did destroy the bush."

"Yep.", said Dan, and put down his hand. "That was impressive, wasn't it?"

"It was.", said Brandy, and slowly walked over to him. She crouched, then jumped onto his shoulder. Laying across him, she slowly ran her fingers across his ear. "My big strong man…"

Then she yanked on his ear, prompting a shocked "What?", from him. "That just destroyed a thousand feet of forest and told every enemy in the valley exactly where we were! Dan, what were you _thinking?_"

"Ow!", Dan said, and winced as Brandy again tugged on his ear. He took a step back, flattening a bush and forcing Leon to dodge. "I was just trying to make sure he was dead!"

"Yes, but any one of us could have done that!", Brandy said. "You didn't need to go full Dragon Cannon on him!"

"Yes, you could have, but I wanted to make sure I could do something like that.", said Dan. "Just in case we ran into something really strong, and I needed to protect you."

Brandy stopped tugging on Dan's ear, and relaxed. "Oh.", she said. "You mean… you were doing that… for me?"

"Yes.", said Dan, and brought his hand lower to the ground. Leon hopped into his grasp, and Dan gently set him down, right next to Brandy. "I do. And I was."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and brightened slightly up. She took her hands off of his ear, and moved them to his neck. "Well then. I guess that's better. You did give away our position though…"

"I'm sure it'll be fine.", said Dan, giving her a little pat on the back. She gave a quiet purr, and arched her back as he did so. "We just gotta keep walking."

Dan started to walk down the path, giving a few looks around as he did so. Even though no enemies were likely around, it still could not hurt to check.

"Where are we going, again?", asked Leon. "To what village?"

Brandy just shrugged, figuring that Dan wasn't going to answer. "Don't worry about it, sweetie.", she said, and started to stroke his arm. "Just wait till we get there."

"Mom?", asked Leon, and started to slide off of Dan's shoulders. "I'm getting kind… of… tired…"

Brandy patted her lap, and spread her legs just a few inches for a good resting spot. "You can lay on me, Leon. My little boy."

"Yes.", said Leon, and closed his eyes. He instantly fell into Brandy's lap, his back reclining between her thighs. "Just gonna…"

Then he was asleep, and Brandy smiled.

_I have a son, _she thought. _A real son, asleep in my lap._

Then her own eyelids grew heavy, and closed. She fell forwards, laying across Leon's back, the rhythmic pattern of Dan's footsteps and the crunch of the rocks underfoot lulling her to sleep.

Song: Propaganda

Far away, somewhere around the middle of the vast continent, there was a range of small mountains. In the middle of these rough, weather-scarred mountains was a small valley, both rocky and volcanic and overgrowing with life. And in the exact middle of that bizarre valley was an immense shining tower, the outsides constructed of the purest ivory.

Yes, this was the legendary Ivory Tower, the place constructed thousands of years ago in order to defend the world from any threats that might threaten to destroy it. Legions of elite, battle hardened troops constantly patrolled its halls and perimeter, nothing escaping their veteran gazes. From Archers and Goblins to Pekkas, Barbarian Kings, and things not yet even given names, the forces of the Ivory Tower were immense.

Deep down in the basement, experiments were constantly running. Hundreds of Wizards from all walks of life congregated together, pushing the limits of science beyond the boundaries of mere rational thought. Regular Wizards, Ice Wizards, Electro Wizards, even the rare and wild Plasma Wizards all produced fantastical creations for their leader.

Even further below, in the understories of the deep down structure, Witches and Night Witches pursued their own works. These were not flashy and physical fabrications like the Wizards- no, they built far stranger things. Bizarre potions and ancient scrolls, raw implementations of mental trickery that boiled and spit at their glass jars. Magical equations that revealed the secrets of life and reality themselves were scrawled across chalkboards, argued over, and eventually put towards constructive use.

The middle of the tower, and really most of the compound, was home to rank upon rank and legion upon legion of Troops. Barbarians sparred with Knights, both of them exceeding their natural levels and moving beyond. Archers practiced almost nonstop, being able to shoot behind themselves in a rainstorm and hit a moving drop. Pekkas and Golems were constantly being worked upon, all sorts of modifications being made to make them into the best fighters they could possibly be. Exotic troops- everything from Ram Riders to Flying Machines- trained there as well, bursting with power far above what they could ever find in the Arenas. And yet, it was not just Troops that trained at the Ivory Tower.

It was also home to Brawlers, come to train in defense of their homeland. The Troops of the Boom Beaches were there as well, bringing their advanced technology to fuse with the magic of Clash. Even a few farmers from the Hay Day farms made the Ivory Tower their homestead- the troops all had to eat.

And at the very top of the tower, supervising the entire operation, was a man known in myth throughout most of the entire known world. The legendary Wizard, the one who currently served as The World's Protector, descendent of the one who first sealed Rakastamos away- the one and only Askari the 15th.

At the moment, he was in his room, arms folded behind him, standing in front of the picture window. He looked out over the entire valley at once, scratching his chin and beard with his mechanical hand. His technomagical eye zoomed rapidly in and out, keeping a careful watch on the trainees below. He refused to let any of them slack off- not when the rumors of something happening were on the horizon.

"Yes?", he asked, as soon as he heard the sound of breathing just outside his door.

"Master Askari?", asked a young Builder, stumbling through the door with a handful of sheets of papers. "I have some news for you."

"What is it?", asked Askari, turning around without taking his eye off of the window. "I should see, correct. It must be vital information."

The Builder stared at his leader in a mixture of wonderment and fear. He had never seen him up close before, and now to be talking with him was more than slightly intimidating. He stared for a moment more before realizing what Askari had said, then grabbed ahold of his papers.

"Right, sir.", said the Builder, and brought out a piece of paper. He handed it to Askari, who took it in a single lightning fast motion with his mechanical hand. He held it up in front of his face, then brought it down again. "What's your name, boy?"

"Donny.", said the Builder, and shuffled his feet. "Uh, Donny, sir. After my grandfather."

"Well, Donny…", said Askari, and placed the sheet of paper on a small stand that had popped out of his shoulder. "You've brought me some interesting news indeed."

His eye beeped and spun, taking in the information on the letter within a single second. "It's from… Lady Chuqalita.", he said in surprise. "And she says…"

He allowed the information to settle in his mind for a few seconds, then slowly began to laugh. He threw back his head and spread wide his arms, allowing all the mechanized parts of his body to whir along with him. Donny took a step back, not sure what to do in this situation at all.

"Donny, my boy.", said Askari, calming down. "Do you know why I was born a cyborg, after a dozen generations of pure flesh?"

"Um…", Donny said. "No?"

"It's because I have a job to finish.", said Askari, letting the paper fall to the floor. "A job that my great ancestor started."

He looked up towards the distant peak that was Clashcrush Mountain, and smirked. A hint of fire appeared in his eye, and he stood calm for a few seconds.

Then he threw his arm up into the air, startling Donny. "So tell the Troops to train! Tell the Wizards to work, and tell the Builders to build! Our army must be truly invincible if we are to win!"

Before Donny could ask, Askari brought up a clenched fist. "Because it appears that Rakastamos… is back."

About an hour after they had cleared a rather large swath of forest, the group of Dan, Brandy, and Leon finally stumbled into the edges of the village they had been coming towards.

"So.", said Dan, and put his hands on his bent knees to rest. "This is it."

He waited a few seconds for some sort of response, but he didn't get so much as even a peep. After looking to his shoulders, he realized that the reason for this was because both Brandy and Leon were still fast asleep. Brandy sat with her back against Dan's head, Leon laying across her lap.

"Hmph.", said Dan, and considered waking them up. They looked rather peaceful, with Brandy gently breathing in and out, Leon face down in her legs. Her hand was resting on his neck-

Dan scowled. The only person she had ever done that too was him. And now Leon was getting the same attention, despite the fact that she had known Leon for only a day and Dan for her entire life. He felt a bolt of anger shoot through his heart, and his massive hand twitched.

He stared at Leon again, expecting the same rush of anger- until he rolled over in his sleep. Dan's anger was halted for a second, as he saw the expression of faded pain that crossed Leon's face. He could see the way he hung on to both of them, Brandy as a show of love and him as an expression of both fear and respect. Dan's expression softened, and he started to rethink himself here.

Perhaps he was wrong about Leon, and Brandy was right. He had done nothing but try and help the entire time he had known both of them. He had no idea who Chad even was, or had been. There seemed to be no trace of the pure evil inside of him at all.

And yet, Dan still could not bring himself to quite trust him all the way. Even though he had not done anything wrong, that was no guarantee that he would not in the future. Even though he did not consciously know Chad, he was still, in fact, his son. The genes still filled him- and then, Dan realized that that was what he hated most of all about him.

He had said it before, but only now did it sink in all the way. Leon was Brandy's son, not his. She could no longer have children due to the things that had been done to her. The only child she would ever have, would ever give birth to, was not Dan's but Chad's. He still had a phantasmal grip on her, from far beyond the grave. And every time he looked at Leon, he could swear he heard the faint echoes of ghostly laughter, mocking his failure to protect.

The corners of Dan's mouth twisted down in a vicious snarl, and he raised his hand. He took a deep breath, star crackling around his open palm. He wouldn't have to kill him. He could just teach him a little lesson, to not remind Brandy or him of what had happened. Or he could have fallen off in the woods. Dan growled. Yes, Leon had fallen off his shoulder in the woods. No, he didn't know where he went.

"Yo!", came the shout of an Archer Queen behind him, and Dan startled. He shot his hand down without hitting anything, the blast ending up striking the ground in a cloud of dust. He spun around so fast Brandy and Leon nearly fell off, but he made sure to catch them both with an outstretched hand. There he saw Rachel, arms crossed and one eyebrow raised. "Hey."

"Hello.", said Dan, and took a more relaxed stance. "Good afternoon."

He gently blew on his shoulder, and Brandy blinked her eyes open from the wind. "It's time to wake up guys. Or morning."

"Wha…", Brandy muttered, and stretched wide. She gave Leon a few quick taps on the shoulder, until he woke up as well. He looked around in confusion, then remembered where and who he was.

"So.", said Rachel with a friendly smile. "You must be our Clan Castle Troops. Took you long enough to arrive."

Song: Welcome to the World

"Um-", said Dan, about to explain that they were in fact not, when he felt Brandy slide down from his shoulder. She rubbed her eyes as she hit the ground, and gave a wide yawn.

"Awww!", Rachel said, and reached down. She grabbed Brandy by the arm, prompting a surprised yelp, and looked across her. "This one's a cutie."

"Hey.", said Dan, and drew himself up a few feet higher. "I'd appreciate it if you let go of my wife."

His words were quiet and calm, yet the anger in his voice was obvious. He had had far too much crap go on for just a few days, and he was getting closer to erupting. "Now."

"Oh.", said Rachel, and took a step back. "I'm- I'm sorry. I didn't know. I was just… inspecting the Troops."

"Yes…", said Dan, a spark of Star flashing from his cheek. "I think she's been _inspected _quite enough already."

Brandy looked up at both Rachel and Dan in confusion, her eyes wide. She tugged at her tunic, trying to get it into the right position. She blinked a few times, trying to clear the sleep from her tired eyes. "Dan?", she mumbled, still kind of sleepy. "Where are we?"

Dan looked away from Rachel, and down at Brandy. He saw her standing in the sunlight, a little confused and still tired, and his heart swelled. She looked cute, he thought. A cute little miracle, and his wife. His chest tightened, as he thought of what she was probably going through right now. The way he hated Leon based off of his memories of Chad was hurting her- he knew that. A single tear threatened to form in the very edge of Dan's eye, almost dripping down. Then he forced the tear back into his eye, grit his teeth, and knew what he had to do.

He suddenly dropped to one knee, to the surprise of Brandy, Rachel, and Leon. With trembling eyes, he put his hand on Brandy's shoulder. She looked up at him in confusion, still fairly sleepy.

"Brandy.", he said. "Listen to me."

"Okay…", she said, not knowing what had gone through Dan's head in the last few seconds. To her, he had just been standing there, then he had dropped to his knees.

"I want you to know that I love you.", he said, staring straight into her eyes. "And I'm sorry for the way I might have been acting these last few days."

"What… do you mean?", Brandy asked. "Dan, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry for treating Leon so badly.", he said, and slammed one fist to the ground. It broke underneath him, sending several cracks. "And I'm sorry if I've done anything wrong."

Brandy, too, was suddenly overcome with emotion. She wrapped her arms around Dan's, burying her face in his muscle. "Oh, Dan…"

They stood there for a few seconds, just feeling each other's presence. Brandy let herself fall into Dan's hand, still a little tired. Dan wrapped his entire hand around her, and gently lifted her up onto his shoulder again. "There you go, Brandy."

Rachel had been leaning back against the air, arms folded, watching the scene with mild interest. She watched as Dan stood there, gently stroking Brandy's back with one finger. Then she brought herself to a full upright position, clapped her hands, several Troops scattered around the village all standing up to listen. "Alright, everyone!"

Then she realized what she had said, and put down her hands. "Sorry, not everyone. Just these three."

The Troops that had stood up blinked, looked around, and then sat back down and resumed whatever they had been doing. Several Archers continued a game of jenga, a Golem fell back asleep, and two Bowlers kept on practice rolling at a nearby stump.

"Yes.", she said, and tapped the side of her crown. "Sorry about that, got to keep order. Anyway, where would you three all like to sleep?"

"Sleep?", asked Dan. "But- it's the middle of the afternoon. If that."

"Yes, well.", said Rachel, with a flip of her hair. "It never hurts to take precautions, right?"

"I guess.", said Dan, and looked down towards Leon. He extended a hand, trying to be friendly. "Hey, kiddo. Where do you want to sleep?"

"Uh…", said Leon, and looked around. He didn't know how a Clash Village worked at all, so all the buildings he saw were totally unknown. This was the first time he had ever been in one. He shrugged, and looked for Brandy- but she was still asleep on Dan's shoulder.

"The… big one?", he ventured, pointing towards the level 11 Town Hall.

"Alright, that's one Town Hall bed.", Rachel said, taking a small notepad out of her sleeve and jotting something down. She pointed towards Dan, who was still watching Brandy sleep. "Hot guy and cute girl. What about you two?"

"Excuse me?", Dan asked, but Brandy suddenly perked up. She flipped back her hood, brushed the hair out of her eyes, and blinked. "What?"

Rachel rolled her eyes, and sighed. "Oh, fine. Big guy and his little girl. Where are you sleeping?"

"Well, in the Clan Castle I guess.", said Dan. He had known that Leon had wanted to sleep in the Town Hall, but declined to mention it to Brandy. Even though he really was trying, he still could not quite bring himself to accept him completely. "As always."

"Alright, two for Clan Castle.", said Rachel, writing it down, then stuck the notepad back into her sleeve. She clapped her hands again, in a different note. A Villager almost instantly appeared by her side, taking a quick bow.

"Yes, your majesty?", she asked, holding up a mirror for some reason. "What can I help you with?"

"Show these three around.", said Rachel, grabbing the mirror and holding it up to her face. "Also, find Trey and Derein for me. I'm sure they've gotten off to somewhere, but I'm not sure where."

"I'll get on it right away, your majesty.", said the Villager with another bow. "I shall show them around first, and find Trey and Derien second."

"Yes.", said Rachel, scratching at her face to rid herself of some dried blood from a previous battle, staring deep into the mirror. "Do that."

"Okay, you two.", said the Villager, and stuck out her hand. Her hand was tiny compared to Dan's and too far away from Brandy's, but she seemed intent on shaking them anyway.

"My name's Helen, and I'll be your guide this afternoon. Now follow me to the Clan Castle, and we shall-"

"Why?", asked Dan. "We've been in Villages before. And we're just staying in the Clan Castle for the night. Not much point in giving us the full tour."

Helen bowed, and wisely winked. "Maybe so. But what's the highest level village you've ever visited?"

"10.", said Dan, with a nod from Brandy. "That's pretty high, I'd like to think."

"Yes, 10 is a respectable number.", said Helen. "But ours is a village of Town Hall 11. I think there are more surprises than you'd think."

"Hm.", said Dan, and leaned down. He gently shook her hand with a single finger, almost lifting her up off the ground as he did so. "Okay, fine. Show us around."

Helen smiled, twirled around on her feet, and pointed towards the direction of the Town Hall. "Alright you three, follow me!"

"Three?", Dan asked, and looked down. There stood Leon below him, giving a small, nervous wave. "Oh."

"Three.", said Leon, nervously twisting his lollipop around in his mouth and rocking back and forth on his heels. "I wanna see the village."

"It's okay, Dan.", whispered Brandy, anticipating what Dan had been about to say. "He can come with us. He's fine."

"I know he's fine.", said Dan, the hair on the back of his neck slightly bristling. "I didn't say anything to the contrary, in fact."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Well, good."

She looked forward, the tension of the conversation still hanging in the air. Dan took a step forward, Leon dodging between his legs, Helen brightly oblivious to the smoldering. She pointed to the far corner of the village, towards where a huge building brightly shone.

"That's our Eagle Artillery.", she said. "Normally we would have it in the center of the village, for better defensive value, but it's being upgraded at the moment. I believe that Dave's working on it at the moment- say hi, Dave!"

The Builder on the Eagle Artillery looked up at the faraway mention of his name, waved, and then immediately got back to work. The Hyper Cannon Fuse Array of the structure was acting a bit funky, and it was imperative that he got it to work.

Helen turned her attention towards the Town Hall in the center, glimmering white and shining gold. "And that, as you may have guessed, is our level 11 Town Hall! We upgraded it about 3 months ago."

Dan took another large step, and felt something on the back of his boot. He looked down to see Leon accidentally stumble past him, having stepped on the back of his shoe. "Sorrydad!"

Dan took a deep breath, Star flashing around him as a side effect. "Don't push your luck kid. I said I would try."

Leon winced, and stepped back. "I'm sorry.", he said quietly, staring up at Dan. "It won't happen again."

"Hmph.", said Dan, and strode further along the path through the village, overtaking even the surprised Helen. "It better not."

"Dan-", Brandy said, from atop his shoulder, but Dan just flared up even more.

"What?", he snapped, and Brandy shrunk back. "You're gonna tell me to be nice to him, just because he's your son? And yes, I say yours, because he is not mine. He may say he is, you may say he is, but I know he's not. He is the son of the person that we both hate the most out of anyone living or dead, and nothing will ever change that fact."

Brandy stared at him in shock, never expecting such words to come from him. He had always been such a paragon of purity, a gentle giant. He had never been one to snap like this, or to harshly speak to anyone. And yet now here he was, snarling at Brandy like she was an opponent.

"D...Dan…", Brandy whispered, her eyes beginning to tremble. She stared at him in shock, betrayal and a slight bit of fear written across her face. "Why did- why would you-"

She felt the tears start to fall, and her entire body heaved as she sobbed. "Dan…"

Helen put up a hand to stop the tour group, disregarding the fact that she and the family group were the only ones in it. "Hold on, everyone, we've got something wrong."

Dan's face instantly softened, as he only then realized what he had done. He saw Brandy crying on his shoulder, Leon's shocked face, and various troops that had been milling around staring at them in a mixture of shock, horror, and mild curiosity. "Brandy…"

He gently reached one finger towards her, and she tried weakly to slap it away. "Don't touch me.", she mumbled. "I don't want you to."

There was a spark of slate blue between them, as sudden as a flash of thunder. Dan's hand went limp on his own shoulder, and his eyes widened as if he had been stabbed- which, in fact, he had been. But it had not been by any physical blade. The edge of Brandy's words had cut him far deeper than the blade of any knife.

Leon stared at them both, in shock. What had just been spoken were some of the most venom-edged words he had ever heard. Not only were the words themselves born of anger, but the tone of voice used to speak them was practically black acid.

"Oh.", said Dan, his voice so low it could barely even be heard. "I see."

He just stood there, watching Brandy sob into his shoulder, not knowing what to say or do. The entire village seemed to be watching their breakdown, in total silence. Finally, after a few seconds, Brandy looked up, sniffed, and slid off of Dan's shoulder and onto the ground, continuing to cry all the while.

She walked over to Leon, leaned against him, and closed her eyes. Leon looked around, unsure what to do, and decided to just gently pat her on the head.

"Hey.", said Dan, finally getting his voice back. He lifted one fist over his head, as it crackled with bright golden light. "You better let her go."

Leon looked up at him, then at his mother that had apparently fallen asleep on his side. A bright spark of bravery sparkled through him, and he stared up at Dan with his full eyes. "No."

Dan blinked, and leaned over. "I could kill you. Right now."

"I know you could.", said Leon, and hugged Brandy a little tighter.

Dan's face stiffened, and he reached out to grab Brandy from Leon. But Leon grabbed her first, moving her to his other side. She still wasn't out of Dan's reach, but it was the action that counted. Dan narrowed his eyes. "Since when did you-"

"If I said it didn't have anything to do with me holding my mom in my arms, I'd be lying.", said Leon, staring upwards with confidence. "It does."

He looked to a nearby Healer floating around at random, and gave a sharp whistle. "Here.", he said. "Flying lady."

The Healer turned around, and Leon gestured to Brandy, now totally asleep. "She needs to go sleep in the Clan Castle. Go and take her there."

"Alright.", said the Healer melodically, and gently plucked Brandy off the ground. She slowly flew off in the direction of the Clan Castle, leaving the audience and Dan totally stunned by Leon's insane display.

Dan had no idea what to say. He just kept on staring at Leon, as the Healer and Brandy vanished out of sight. The events of the last few minutes kept on replaying in his head on a fast forward loop, everything flashing in front of his mind's eye. Leon stepping on his foot, Brandy saying something, him lashing out, her falling to the ground as if hurt-

Then Dan gasped, as he realized what he had done. In his anger at Leon's origin, he had made a terrible mistake. His words had hurt her. He had hurt Brandy.

"Wait…", he whispered, the ground underneath his feet cracking from his pain. "Wait!"

He held out his hand, and started walking towards the last place he had seen the Healer fly. "Brandy! I'm sorry! Come back!"

But even as he looked around, the Healer was nowhere to be found. She had most likely already gone towards the Clan Castle, and Dan hadn't yet reached the part of the tour where that was shown to him. He collapsed to his knees in shock, and clenched his fist unconsciously.

"You.", he rumbled, and gestured towards a random Barbarian. The Barbarian took a fearful step back, and pointed to himself. "Yes, you."

Then Dan stood up, the enraged glare in his eyes pouring over the Barbarian like a purple waterfall. "Take me to the Clan Castle. Now."

The Barbarian stammered in fear, trying to think of what to say. He had only seen the conversation's last few sentences- he had no real context, nor any idea what to do.

"Actually!", came a booming voice from behind him, and Dan slowly turned around. There, walking into the Village, were a drunk Barbarian King and a red-faced Grand Warden. "We're going to need your help with something."

"What?", Dan snarled, and turned away from the Barbarian, who yelped in panic and scrambled away. "What do _you _want me to do?"

"We need you to help us defend the Village, bro.", said the Barbarian King, scratching his stomach and yawning somewhat. "There's this thing outside the walls."

"What thing?", Dan asked, and yawned a little as well. "Why do you need my help? I was in the middle of something."  
"Well, I don't know what it is.", said the Grand Warden. "I've never seen anything like it. And yes, I know that I'm a Grand Warden and all- but I truly do not know what we are up against."

"What?", Dan asked, suddenly realizing what this meant. His gaze lightened up, and his snarl dropped to nothing. "Is it another one of those weird things?"

"What weird things?", asked the Barbarian King. "Although yeah, I guess it's a weird thing."

Dan brushed himself off, and took a deep breath. He extended his hand, which the Barbarian King loosely shook. "We've been getting attacked by strange Troops for a while now. It's safe to assume that this thing is here for us."

"Huh.", said the Barbarian King, moving his entire body with the word. Then he shrugged, turned around, and started walking for the far side of the village. "Well, follow me."

Dan walked after him, as did the Grand Warden. None of them bothered to look behind them- if they had, they would have noticed another one following them, leaving bare footprints upon the soft ground.

Brandy felt her eyes open, softly fluttering as she was laid down upon a soft bed. She started to look around, the fuzzy details of the room all falling into place. There was a pair of large red beds beside her, neither of them occupied. The walls were well done, in rich mahogany. And over her was a Healer, smiling brightly as she lay Brandy in her bed.

"Wha…", she mumbled, and tried to get up. "Who are you?"

But the Healer just laid a hand across her forehead, gently pushing her into the sheets. "I'm Emma. And you need to sleep."

"Huh…", Brandy mumbled, and felt her arms move underneath the covers automatically. "Do I?"

"Yes.", said Emma, and grabbed Brandy's head. She lifted her up, sliding a soft pillow underneath. "You were very upset and you fainted. Rest is heavily recommended."

"Mmmm, okay.", said Brandy, and let her eyes fall shut. "If you insist…"

Then she was asleep, the magic of the Healer having done its job. Emma smiled, and floated away, humming a soft tune to herself that had no name. "Goodnight."

She turned out the light and left Brandy in her bed, lightly snoring.

"Okay, so that's what we got.", said the Barbarian King, holding up his binoculars to his chin. "That weird pink dude, over there."

Dan almost brought the binoculars up to the King's eyes, but decided to just take them for himself. He looked through them and saw something very strange bouncing about in the woods.

It looked to be about 5 or 6 feet tall, but it was hard to tell from such a distance. It was a bright purple and pink, the garish colors distributed seemingly at random. It spun and bounced on a tall stalk, two long floppy tendrils hanging down from either side of its head. It was difficult to see its face, but it seemed to be wearing extremely heavy makeup.

Dan put the binoculars down, and passed them to the Grand Warden. He frowned, and tried to make sense of what he was seeing.

"It certainly doesn't look like anything I've ever seen.", said all three of them at once. "But we should figure out some way to properly attack it."

Then they looked at each other, and simultaneously gave each other a three way high five in a gesture that would be impossible to fully explain. "Ayy!"

Then they switched again from bro mode to scout mode, and the Grand Warden raised his staff. "I'm gonna attack it. Just to see what happens."

"Woah, are you sure-", said the Barbarian King, a half second before and after the Grand Warden shot a small blast of energy at the thing, glancing off of its right side and into the trees. It stopped bouncing long enough for them to see its face- and they could now see it rather clearly. What Dan had thought was too much white makeup was instead a row of vicious, sharpened teeth.

Song: Fat Buu

As they watched, the top of the thing's head flipped open. A megaphone slowly rose out, and crackled to life. "I am Jester Bot 1.0. I will kill you!"

Then the head flipped back to completeness, and the Jesterbot spread its arms open wide. It shrieked as it leaned, then rushed forward with the speed of a Hog.

"Woah!", shouted Dan, and stood up. He took a deep breath, aimed, and began to speak. "By-"

"Hey.", came a voice from his side, seemingly out of nowhere. "What is that thing?"

The Barbarian King and the Grand Warden both looked at each other, then at the place where the voice had originated from. There seemed to be nobody there. So they just blinked, shrugged, chalked it up to going insane, and turned back to face the approaching monster.

"Kid?", Dan whispered, breaking his concentration. "What are you doing here?"

"Hey, I just thought that I would be needed.", said Leon with a shrug. "Am I?"

Dan took another look at the Jesterbot coming closer, now noticing that it had a wheel on the end of its stalk. He rolled his eyes, and gestured to Leon. "I guess we could almost use you. Now come on, let's shoot that thing."

"Yes!", said Leon, and spun his hand around in a circle. There appeared Hunter Killer in his hand, shining and silver as ever. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"What are you shooting it with?", Dan asked, not seeing Leon draw anything. "Your blades?"

"No.", said Leon. "My Stand."

"Your what-", asked Dan, then suddenly threw up his arm. For out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Jesterbot arrive.

"Kyeaaaaaahhh!", it shouted, not attacking them. Instead, as it bounced up and over a log, it launched its long arms toward the ground, sending up a spray of dirt and loose rocks as it collided.

"Shoot it!", Dan shouted, and raised his hand to fire. "Shoot it!"  
But it was too late, as the ground began to shift. The dirt wriggled and formed itself into a formation, thousands of small playing cards flying from the Jesterbot's sleeves. By the time Leon was pulling the trigger, the playing cards had already assembled themselves- into a tall and rickety, 9 story house of cards that wrapped around them both.

"What?", Dan spat, the sheer speed with which the thing had been constructed astonishing. "What the- what even is this?"

"I don't know.", said Leon, and started to pull the trigger again. "But I bet it can be destroyed."

"Wait, you idiot!", shouted Dan, and threw his hand in front of Leon's gun. "It can probably reflect damage. Or it's indestructible. Or something. We can't just go attacking until we find out its weakness, we have to do that first."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever.", said Leon. "Let's just shoot it."

"No!", Dan yelled in frustration, but Leon didn't care. He just ducked to the ground, aimed his blaster upwards, and pulled down on the trigger as hard as he could.

Hunter Killer roared as it shot barrage after barrage of high-powered bullets right into the wall, tearing through it like a sharpened sword through tissue paper. The thin, weak material blew apart under the onslaught, sending clouds of dust throughout the entire room that Dan and Leon were in. When the rubble finally settled after a few seconds, there was a hole that took up almost the entire room, revealing dozens of more rooms beyond. And through the holes in each of those rooms, dozens more could still yet be seen.

"Shoot.", said Leon, and set down the gun. "Were there that many rooms before?"

"No.", said Dan, leaning forward to look. "There weren't… I think."

"Huh…", Leon said, and brought his gun back up. "Well, let's make sure there are a lot less."

"Wait.", said Dan, the tone in his voice almost forcing Leon to put Hunter Killer back down. "I wanna check something. Just blast one room."

"Why should I listen to you? You just hate me.", Leon thought of asking, but decided against it. The confines of the room were very tight, and Dan seemed on edge. It would not be very wise to anger him any further. "Okay…", he said instead, and raised his Stand.

A single bullet shot out from the barrel, shooting straight towards the nearest door. It shot a hole straight through, revealing for half a second the light of the outside.

"There.", said Dan, pointing. Most of his anger was gone, having been replaced with the calm analytical face of specialized combat. He had been trained for situations like this during his time with Juno and Fallon. "Look at that."

"What?", Leon asked, staring at the hole. "It's just-"

Then he saw it, and took a step back.

The view through the hole had gone from outside to another room in the boxy structure. Dan's suspicions were confirmed, and he took a deep breath as he realized that fact.

"Kid.", he said, and continued to breathe in. "I'm going to do something explosive, and I need you to take cover in any way you can."  
"What?", Leon asked in panic, searching around for something to hide behind. "Why?"

"If you shoot a room, it just grows another one.", said Dan, golden light flickering around him. "There's no way for you to escape just by blasting."

Indeed, he was right- viewed from the outside, the structure had grown much larger. The Troops inside the village stared in both awe and confusion at the surreal building that had suddenly appeared.  
"I'm here.", said Rachel, running towards the thing with her bow drawn. "What's- oh. What is that?"

"There.", said the Grand Warden, and pointed towards where the Jesterbot stood. "That."

Sensing the gesture, the Jesterbot turned its entire head around. It did not move its neck.

"You call yourself King.", it said towards the Barbarian King, who looked up in shock. "But I ask you…", it said as it laughed, "What is a King… without a Jester?"

The Barbarian King gasped, and stood up. Some ancient memory bounced around in the back of his mind, but it was not quite anything he could really get a grip on. He even dropped his turkey leg and sandwich in terror. "What did you say?"

But the Jesterbot just laughed, and turned its attention back towards the tower. It sensed something moving around inside of it- something metal, fast, and very very deadly. It smiled, and magically grabbed hold.

"Well then, how are we supposed to beat it?", asked Leon. "Just wait it out and see if it collapses?"

"No.", said Dan. "I'm going to blow up every bit of it at once."

"What?", Leon asked, and stumbled back. "How are you gonna-"

Dan didn't hear his last word. Somehow, for whatever reason, time seemed to slow down. All he could see behind Leon was the wall bursting open, and a stray Hunter Killer bullet headed right for the small of his back.

Dan had a few thoughts. One one hand, he didn't actually have to save Leon. He could just let him die, and not have to live with him anymore. On the other, he had been valuable so far, even if Dan was loath to admit it. But the reason he decided on, the reason why he did save him, the reason why he reached out a single finger behind Leon's back and blocked the bullet with a clang, was because Brandy loved him. And he refused to let anything that Brandy loved die.

Leon yelped in surprise, as he was suddenly pushed to one side. He saw Dan quickly look away,and resume charging up his attack.

"Thank you!", he said, and waved his hand. "You know, for that."

"Oh, just wait.", said Dan, and took another deep breath. The entire tower shook with the might, and Dan's entire body began to glow. The Jesterbot, outside, feeling the blows to his tower, started to roll back and forth on its singular wheel.

"This…. Is…", Dan grunted, trying to contain the vast amount of strength flowing through him.  
Then he bellowed, and let loose all the Star in his body at once. "Superdirectional overdrive!"

A blast of pure force rocketed out from him in all directions, searing the air with their heat and plunging deep into the side walls. Several more started to grow, but they were too slow to survive the onslaught of pure power. More and more of the walls fell, even as the massive blast that made them began to slow down. Finally, and to the shock of everyone there, the entire Block Castle exploded, sending Dan and Leon tumbling to the ground and the Jesterbot reeling back into the grass.

"You…", the Jesterbot creaked, slowly pushing itself to its feet. The Heroes of the village watched, as the monstrosity rose. The skin had melted off, leaving only whirring servos and spurting Elixiroil. "You're a Star master. Aren't you."

"That's right.", said Dan, not thinking of what he was saying. "Now die."

He raised his hand, even as the Jesterbot snarled and threw itself forward. A beam of light erupted from Dan's hands, slamming right into the mechanical beast with a crash of pure heat and sound. There was a bright flash as the Jesterbot was incinerated- then it disappeared, leaving absolutely nothing behind but an overbearing sense of unease.

"Well.", said Rachel, who has been just about to shoot. "That certainly was… something."

"Yeah.", said Dan, angrily stomping back towards the direction of the Village walls. "It was. You know what else is something? Sleep. I'm gonna go get some right now."

Expecting it, he turned around and jutted a finger at Leon. "And don't you dare follow me. You said you were gonna sleep in the Town Hall, _not _the Clan Castle. You got that, you little brat?"

"Yes…", Leon said quietly, and looked down at his feet. "I do, sir."

"Good.", said Dan, and kept on walking. His massive shoulder unceremoniously shoved the Barbarian King out of the way, with the Grand Warden only narrowly dodging. "See that you do."

Leon watched Dan stomp off, and tried not to cry. He thought he had helped in the battle. He really did. But even so, Dan refused to accept him, solely because of the actions of a father he had never known. It was all Leon had in him to not just pull out his Stand, place it next to his head, and-

"Hey, kiddo.", said Rachel, and Leon jumped as the Archer Queen took a knee next to him. She put one giant hand on his shoulder, and winked. "You're not doing too hot, are you?"  
"No.", said Leon, and sighed. "My dad hates me. And my mom just lets him."

"Awww…", said Rachel, and stood back up. She patted her waist in a follow me gesture, indicating towards her Pad. "Don't worry, kid. You can stay with me."

"Really?", Leon asked, his eyes widening. "You mean that-"  
"Yes.", said Rachel, and gave a cheery laugh. "I love helping people."

So she started a slow walk towards her Pad, Leon running to keep up with her.

On the far outskirts of the forest, something stirred. On the far outskirts of the woods, a small band of people made their way through the trees, silent as a bed of moss and far more deadly. They were tall and short, small and huge- their abilities were strong and diverse, a very good mix. They headed towards the village with dark intent, ready to catch what their master wanted, and kill if needs be. Actually, not kill if needs be- more like kill all they could, and leave what they had to alive. They passed a massive swath of annihilated land as the sun began to reach the top of the mountains, their shadows growing long. One of them sensed what had happened there, and stopped for a moment to mourn their fallen brother. But with a quick tug on the neck from their leader, he was again swept back up into the tide of the crusaders, bent towards an evil goal.

Song: Tusk

Brandy lay in her bed, trying to make sense of what was going on. She saw herself in a vast cavern, full of strange, multi-dimensional objects. One was a massive, blinking machine, full of strange lights and boards. One was a gargantuan roadmap, a canyon portrayed on it that was far deeper than the paper was thick. One was a purple and pink cap, a single silver bell at the end of it still softly ringing. One was a river, somehow suspended in the air. A green scale ran through it, only at the beginning and yet speeding through until the very end.

And the final object, right at the corner of the room, was a tall, simple grave. Brandy leaned closer- and saw, to her utter horror, the sharp, tear stained engraving of a mask.

Brandy pulled back, not quite believing what she saw. It appeared to be the grave of a Bandit, as much as that prospect disturbed her. But this was not a simple grave that appeared when a troop died. No, this was a prepared one. As if whoever this Bandit that had died was, she had been an important individual. But who could that be?

Brandy leaned closer in morbid curiosity, trying to make out the name it read on the surface. It kept changing, switching from a name that began with a B to a J, then a VR. But then, after a few seconds, it finally settled- and Brandy's heart all but dropped out her pounding chest.

Y O U, it read, a pointing finger trembling, trying to break free of the rock. Brandy screamed, and tried to exit the vision, but it would not close, no matter how many times she tried.

"YOU!", the grave suddenly roared, and the hand broke free. It shot towards Brandy at a speed too fast for her to escape, wrapping around her hand and-

"Hey, honey.", came the comforting voice of Dan, sending a golden shock line down her vision. The image stuttered and broke, Brandy blinking open her eyes as she did so. "Wha-"

"You were having a nightmare.", Dan said, who Brandy could now see was kneeling on the floor next to her, gently cradling her head in his hand. "I thought I should wake you."

"Oh.". said Brandy, letting her head fall back into Dan's hand. "Yes. Thank you."

Dan sighed, and looked down. "Thanks Brandy."

Brandy noticed how little his words corresponded to his delivery, and took about .3 seconds to realize something was wrong. "Dan? You okay?"

"No.", said Dan, and stood up. He plucked Brandy off the bed, putting her on his shoulder. "I'm not okay. I think you know why."  
"Leon?", asked Brandy, and Dan grimly nodded. Brandy frowned, and stretched out her arms around Dan's neck. "Oh, it's okay honey."

"It's not.", said Dan, and his face tightened. "It's not okay. You hear me? Not. Okay."  
"Why?", Brandy asked, again reaching out her arms to hug him. "What's not okay about him?"

Dan sighed again, and sat down on the side of the large bed, far larger than Brandy's was. "I wouldn't expect you to get it. Just forget about it."

"No.", said Brandy, and squeezed Dan's shoulders. "I need to know. He's my son."

"Exactly.", said Dan, the expression on his face becoming angrier and angrier. "He's your son. Not mine. I know I've said that already, but it's true."

"And I know I've said this before, but that doesn't matter.", said Brandy, trying to plead with him. "His biological father is dead. You're his father now."

"And that's what I'm saying.", said Dan, his arm muscles tightening. "That- well…"

He stood up, brushing the bottom of the ceiling. Then he scowled and threw a punch, breaking the wood and sending dust raining down below. "Listen. I don't like Leon. I'm allowed to not like someone, but I feel like you're not letting me."

"But _why _don't you like him?", Brandy asked, starting to get a little hot headed. "So what if he's technically his kid, he doesn't remember him at all! They have literally never met!"

"So?", Dan said forcefully, standing up. "Look, I'm tired of all this arguing. Can we just move on?"

"No.", said Brandy. "Not as long as you still think Leon, my own son, is evil."

"I don't think he's evil.", said Dan, crossing his arms. "Wow. Way to misrepresent my statement like that."

"Dan, wha-", Brandy began, then stopped. She wasn't used to Dan being like this before. He was always so nice. But something about Leon was clearly twisting his spirits.

"I know that I've said this before, too.", said Dan. "But I cannot look at Leon and picture you. The only thing I can picture is him. Besides, I expected my first kid to be both of ours- not just yours."

"Yes.", said Brandy. "I expected that too. But even if it didn't work out, we can pretend it did-"

"Oh.", said Dan, and threw up his hands. "So that's the way it works, huh? We're just gonna _ignore _the past, are we? Gonna pretend like it never happened, huh?"

"No!", Brandy snapped, frustrated at Dan's seemingly irrational hatred. "That's not what I meant, and you know it."

"Do I?", Dan said, crossing his arms. "Because at this point, I'm not really sure what I know about you anymore."

"What?", Brandy gasped, reeling back. She put both hands on the sides of her head, trying to fend off the tears she could feel rising. "Dan, what are you talking about? What are you doing?"

But despite her efforts to soften Dan's hardened heart, he kept on pushing. "Why are you defending him so much? What has he ever done for you?"

"I-", Brandy asked, but Dan wasn't done. He leaned in close to her face, the anger in his eyes clearly visible. "Nothing. The first meeting you had with him was him spying on you taking a bath. If that doesn't prove he isn't like his father, I don't think anything does."

"Dan…", Brandy murmured, and then finally did break down. Tears flowed from her clenched eyes, taking deep breaths of muted air. "Why are you treating me like this?"

"You?", Dan asked. "No. I am not. Everything I don't like in this situation is purely Leon. It's just him."

"And he came from me!", shouted Brandy, red faced. "If you hate him, that means you hate part of me!"  
"No!", bellowed Dan, almost shaking the walls of the Clan Castle. "Stop blaming this on me! This is all his fault!"

"All he's done since meeting us is tried to make us happy!", Brandy yelled back. "He's trying to be a good son for you, and you won't accept it! Just- you have a son!"

She flopped back down onto the bed, and closed her eyes. "Admit it."

"Admit it?", Dan asked. "I can't admit things that aren't true."

Brandy just continued to stare, not even sure what to say. Nothing she did was working at all. A deep feeling welled up from somewhere inside her, and she thought she might once again start crying. "Dan…"

"I'm going to get some sleep, Brandy. In my bed.", said Dan, and rolled onto his bed. "You can use your small one. _Down there."_

If, for the next few seconds, if someone were to listen extremely carefully, they could actually hear the sound of Brandy's heart breaking. She took in a quiet gasp, tried not to cry, sat down on the edge of the bed, tried not to cry, rolled over, tried not to cry, and cried a lot. Her head swam with dozens of new emotions every second, not able to process what was even happening.

Dan closed his eyes, sending a little bit of Star right at the middle of Brandy's neck. For although he disagreed with her heavily, the last thing he wanted was for her to suffer. It struck a certain point right in the muscle, and her breathing slowed down almost instantly. She tried to say one last word- but before she could, her eyes shut, and she began to sleep.

Dan watched for a moment, then turned back to his own sleep attempt. He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and concentrated on something else- and within mere seconds, he was asleep too. And so it was that for the first time since they had gotten married, Dan and Brandy slept in separate beds.

At Rachel's pad, she had already gone to bed. She lay totally asleep, deep in the slumber of a hero, nothing able to wake her till morning save perhaps a natural disaster. Next to her, on a wooden slab with a thick woolen blanket, lay Leon. He was totally awake, unable to achieve any relaxation at all. His eyes were wide open, blood shot. His hand twitched, the edges of his sleeves switching between Hunter Killer and a spinner blade. He aimlessly tracked the movement of a single butterly against the sky, as the light of the day began to vanish from the sky, leaving the world in reds and blues.

He could hear the argument coming from the Clan Castle, with his inherited hearing. Although he could not make out the exact words, he could hear the tone- and that was the important part of it.

He could hear the way they yelled at each other. The way they screamed. And it was, as he for some reason felt the need to remind himself, all over him. If he hadn't appeared, they would still both be happy. But now he had somehow gotten himself dragged into all this, and now he was hated. Oh well. He could just live at the village from now on. Wave goodbye to his parents, as they left for the next leg of their journey.

But then, he realized that wasn't the thing that needed to be done. The problem was that he was alive. The problem was that he always managed to get his business in places it didn't belong. It was part of what had gotten him exiled before, and what was getting him hated now.

So Leon sighed deeply, as he realized that he knew what he had to do. With a heavy heart, he summoned up Hunter Killer one last time. He gulped as he drew the barrel to the side of his head, and took one last look at the stars overhead.

"Well, goodbye Mom.", he said, to nobody. Come to think of it, that was a bit strange. How literally everybody else had settled in for the night. Even the Villagers and Builders were sleeping in their huts. But, he thought, such things didn't matter when you were dead. "It's been a real pleasure knowing you."

Then he placed his finger on the trigger, took a deep breath, and-

Song: Silver Twist

Brandy slammed her locker shut, before taking all the books out in a lightning fast motion. She tucked them under her arm- _Bandit Training 101, Arena Combat, _and _The art of the Steal. _

Turning around, she faced out into the hallway- only to bump into her best friend, Brenda. They were both in schooling to become Bandits, but Brenda was a full year ahead of Brandy. As such, she had gotten her hair dyed white and received her green cloak. Brandy still only had her tunic, as she was on her first year. Once they graduated their third year, however, they would finally be allowed to wear a mask.

"Hey, Brenda.", said Brandy, looking her up and down for a brief moment before going in for a deep hug. They patted each other on the back, then broke off. "How you doing?"

"I'm doing well.", said Brenda, giving the straps of her backpack a little tug. "How about you?"

Brandy sighed, and pulled out her class schedule. "Well, I've got a lot of homework today. I have a paper due in Mr. Antnamon's class on combat, and…"

"And?", Brenda asked, raising an eyebrow and tapping her foot. "What is it?"

"I didn't do it…", Brandy said slowly, staring down at the floor. "Like, at all."

"Oh, girl!", Brenda said, grabbing Brandy by the shoulders. She grabbed Brandy's chin and lifted it upwards, staring right into her face. "You didn't do it?"

"No.", said Brandy. "I was distracted last night."

"Distracted?", asked Brenda. "By what?"

"By…", Brandy said, a sly smile creeping up her face, pointing to a poster on the far side of the wall. It depicted a Mega Knight holding a football and the school's colors, his helmet by his side and his caring smile shining bright. "Dan for class president", it read in bright blue font. "Him."

"What-", Brenda asked, then leaned back. "Brandy, you little thirster! Don't tell me you have your sights set on Dan!"

"Oh, but I do…", Brandy breathed, and put her hands on her cheeks. Her face got a little redder, and she sighed. "What am I even supposed to do? He's just so hot…"

"I know, but he's so hard to get.", said Brenda, and shook her head. "I think you should set your sights on someone else… my thief."

Brandy gasped, and almost slapped Brenda across the face. But she just withdrew, and covered her mouth with her hand. "Wha- Brenda! You can't say that yet!"

"Oh, yes I can.", said Brenda with a sly smile, and withdrew a shiny piece of paper from her back pocket. "I got the T word pass from Ms. Juno this morning at practice."

"At track practice?", Brandy asked, as Brenda was on the school's track team, and Brenda nodded. "Luckyyyyy. Can I see?"

Brenda nodded again, and Brenda gently handed her the pass. Brandy snatched it in her fingers and inspected it carefully, looking over the glittering note with even shinier eyes.

"Can I use this-", she began, before a massive hand slammed into her locker right next to her, causing her to jump right into Brenda's arms.

"Well, lookie here.", said an Elite Barbarian, leering right into Brenda's face. "We got ourselves a couple of cutie pies- don't we, Rick?"

"Yes…", said Rick, slamming his hand on the other side. Brandy flinched, but Brenda didn't even blink. "Yes we do, Chad."

"Oh.", said Brenda, the disgust in her voice almost visible like black muck. "Hello, _Chad."_

"My, who's this little snack right here?", Chad crooned, staring right into Brandy's scared face. "I don't belive I've seen her around before. Is she your new girlfriend, Brrrrenda?"  
"No.", said Brenda, and slowly tensed the muscles in her upper arm. "Meg's sick today. That's why she's not _with _me."

"Oh?", Chad asked, rolling his eyes back in his head. "Well. We might just have to go pay her a visit."

"Woah-", Brenda began, and shot her arm forward, but Chad clamped a huge hand over her mouth. Brandy screamed, and tried to jet away, but Rick slammed one arm over her chest, locking her in place against the locker. Chad leaned forward in Brenda's face, even as her hand began to glow. "I just said I was gonna pay her a visit. What makes you think I would want that skinny little toothpick of a girl? Huh?"

Then he gasped, as he felt a sharp shock of pain right in his stomach. He let go of Brenda's face and staggered back, taking a deep wet gasp. Brenda's Dash infused strike, unprofessional as it was, had broken the skin and left a bleeding circle.

"You little-", Chad growled, and grabbed his sword from his backpack. Although it was an unsharpened practice sword, it was still heavy and could deal a lot of damage. "Bi-"

Brenda slapped Chad with a strike across the face that was almost too fast to see. "Chad, you've always been a jerk, but this is going too far. I'm going to Principal Seth to have you arrested for assault."

"What?", Chad said nervously, and backed up. "What have I done? I'm the one with the bleeding wound. I'm gonna get you arrested. Besides, our witnesses are even- and I think Rick will be available to report a lot better than that little trembling ball of fun."

But even as Chad chuckled, Brandy's hand was holding a small device. It captured Chad's every word and movement, recording his crimes. She had taken up the device after he had threatened her a few weeks ago, in the back hallway.

"Hey.", said Rick, taking a look towards where Brandy held the device. "What has she got there? Some sort of camera like apparatus?"

Chad tilted his head, and smiled an eerie grin. "Why, yes it is.", he chuckled, and held out his hand. "Come on, girl. Give it here. We can't have you recording us."

"No.", said Brandy, even though she was almost shaking from fear. "Frick you."

"Oh…", said Chad, and started to lean in more. "You will be."

With a flash of fear, both Brenda and Brandy realized what he had meant. Brenda's muscles tensed, and she drew back on one foot. Brandy's face went white, and she tried to get her Dash ready for the fight. Chad just smiled, drew back his hand, and then shot it right at Brandy's torso. 

There was a resounding smack of metal against bone that exploded down the entire hallway, and Chad suddenly crumpled to the floor. His skull had been slightly cracked- with a hit hard enough to put down, but not hard enough to kill. And above him, with helpful fury, was Dan.

"Hey.", he rumbled, motioning to his teammate, a Pekka, to take care of Rick. "What do you think you're doing, preying on some innocent girls like that."

Brandy stared in awe, as the Pekka grabbed Rick by the collar, shouted "But. Ter. Fly.", and tossed him away. She stared as Dan kicked the unconscious form of Chad to one side, reaching out a hand for both of them. "Sorry girls…", he said with a flip of his blonde hair. "Are you alright?"

"Yes….", Brandy sighed wistfully, staring into Dan's eyes. "We're fine…."

"Ah.", said Dan, and nodded. "Good. I was worried about that."

He looked down at the Elite Barbarians, both of them laying against the wall in a pathetic pose. "And don't worry about them. We'll get them reported before they wake up."

For Brandy, Dan's kind smile was almost enough to hurt. She was still in Brenda's arms from her scared jump, but she reached out to grab Dan's hand. "Okay…"

"Brenda.", said Dan, only now noticing who it was he was talking to. "How are your play tryouts coming?"

"For Phantom?", asked Brenda, and grinned. "I got Christine."

She winked, and Dan smiled. "Oh, that's awesome! I knew you could do it. And…"

He looked down at Brandy, and she gulped. "I don't believe we've met before. Tell me, what's your name?"

"Woah…", Brandy whispered, then shook her head to compose herself. "Brandy. I'm Brandy. Nice to meet you, Dan."

"You know my name?", asked Dan, and folded his arms. "But I haven't introduced myself yet."

Brandy stared at him, the visual feast being taken in by her eyes unable to provide any thoughts for her mouth. "Uhh…", she said in desperation. "Yes. I saw the future."

"Oh, it's fine.", he said, waving it off. "You've seen my posters, everyone knows me. Silly girl."

At those words, all the hairs stood up on Brandy's body. Her cheeks went red, and she slowly slid out of Brenda's grasp and lay upon the floor.

"Oh.", said Dan, looking at her. "Is she okay?"

"Yeah.", said Brenda, grabbing Brandy again and holding her on her shoulders. "She's just a little nervous, is all. Finally getting to meet you."

"Ah.", said Dan, observing how Brandy's eyes sparkled as she looked at him. "I see. Well, there's a game tonight if you two wanna come. I think I can get you in for free."

"No, no, we're good.", said Brenda with a wave, then both of them realized the second part of what Dan had said. "Wait, for free?", Brandy yelped. "Okay then! Count us in!" 

"Alrighty.", said Dan, turning away. He gave a wave over his shoulder, the Pekka that he had been traveling with carrying both Chad and Rick around her waist. "Bye then. See you around…",

He took one last look, and winked. "Brandy."

If one were to listen very carefully, they could hear the sound of Brandy's heart exploding as dozens of emotions reached it at once. She lay there dumbfounded in Brenda's arms ,her subconscious scratching unique patterns into her skin.

"Uh, Brandy?", Brenda said, looking down at Brandy's waist. "I think you just-"

Brandy's face went red, and she covered her mouth with her hand. Sliding down to the floor again, she guessed that such a reaction was at least somewhat natural. "Yes.", she squeaked. "I did."

"Well, I suppose you can't help yourself.", said Brenda with a sigh. "I think he's hot too."

"Yes….", said Brandy, staring straight ahead in shock and awe. "He is…."

Song: Only a Chilling Elegy

"Good, good!", came the voice of Mortis, as all his minions gathered behind him in a bush. "It appears as though everyone in that entire tiny city is asleep. Even the couple."

He gestured towards Tara, who took a small bow. "Excellent work, Tara. That mind magic of yours can certainly be formidable. With any luck, the boy will never wake up and the girl will only wake up for us. This is the perfect plan."

He gestured to Gene, who gently laughed as his lamp rotated around his head. "Now. Gene. You are to keep lookout for anyone that might be following us. Everyone- come with me."

"What are we gonna do?", asked Sandy, a twinge of fear sneaking into his voice.

"More like who are we gonna do.", scoffed a Rosa, but it was quiet, and nobody heard her.

"That is simple, boy.", said Mortis, and licked his lips in anticipation. "We're going to collect Leon and his mother for the master, and then kill everyone else as they sleep."

"Oh.", said Sandy, and blinked. "Sleep, eh? That sounds nice-"

"No!", shouted Mortis, and Sandy jerked himself awake. "Do not dare sleep! This is the moment! Our plans for the last week are all finally coming together!"  
"Oh…", said Sandy, and scratched his head. "Are they?"

"Silence!", Mortis screamed, the sound disturbing the trees overhead, bats and nighttime birds flying in all directions.

Leon had been merely seconds away from pulling the trigger, when he heard an all too familiar noise come from a tree across the village. His heart nearly stopped- he had heard the angry yell of that particular Mortis many times. It brought back memories.

Immediately Leon stumbled back, Hunter Killer vanishing back into mist. "What?"

He looked into the trees, his heart beating faster in panic. Mortis couldn't be here. He couldn't be alive. Leon had killed him. He had shot him full of so many rounds it had thrown Leon into the dirt with the recoil. He had seen him die- and yet, here he was all the same.

"I-", he said, then dropped down low, close to the ground. "I've got to get closer. I need to find out what they're planning."

He slunk along the low dirt and grass, a spinner blade in one hand and Hunter Killer poking out the jacket sleeve of another. He swept his vision down and low, keeping an eye out for any suspicious movement. His breathing was short and tense, trying not to attract any attention.

He saw a flash of steel in the alleyway of walls in front of him, and ducked behind a flowerbush. He only had one opportunity to turn invisible, and he wanted to save it.

He took another look- the flash of steel had been nothing but a Bomb, laying on the grass. Leon breathed a sigh of relief, turned around, and-

There, in front of him, stood a Rosa, cracking her knuckles manically. "Hey, guys!", she shouted, and turned her head. "I found him!"

Leon swore under his breath, and turned the other way to run. Even if he could defeat the Rosa, it would leave him heavily injured. But there, blocking his way, were Gene and Rico.

"Woah, woah-", Leon started, and tried to jump back, but he felt Rosa's muscular hand grab him around the waist. He tried to scream, but another hand clamped around the mouth took care of that. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

Leon tried to scream still, the sound barely making it through Rosa's thick hand. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the Bibi and El Primo Dan and Brandy had defeated earlier stride up from the left, and take a pose. His eyes darted around, trying to take in as much information as possible- until Rosa moved her hand upwards, and blocked off his vision.

Finally, Mortis himself stalked into the circle of Brawlers. He held up a hand, with one upwards facing thumb. "Rosa.", he said. "Let him go."

Rosa scoffed, and threw Leon into the center of the circle. His face plowed roughly against the ground, and he cut his cheek on a sharp rock. He almost instantly scrambled to his feet, and prepared a spinner blade in each hand. But taking a look around, he knew he was outmatched. Even if he took out one of the squisher ones, all of them combined could kill him in an instant. He was trapped.

"Hey.", said Bibi, and popped her gum. "Put those blades down."

Leon gulped, and withdrew the blades into his sleeves. He slowly put up his hands, and his face turned pale red. Bibi grinned, and spun around her bat. "Good boy."

"Now.", said Mortis, and strode up to Leon. Leon braced himself for an attack- but instead of hitting him with his shovel, Mortis merely put a hand on Leon's shoulder. "Come with me."

"Wh… what?", Leon asked, and blinked. "What do you mean, come with you-"

"I said, come with me.", said Mortis, and tightened his grip. "We have much to discuss."

"We do?", asked Leon, then suddenly felt himself being dragged by Mortis's surprisingly strong arms. That was the thing about old men, they always had oddly powerful grips.

"Oh. We do.", said Leon again, trying to keep talking, until Mortis slammed him roughly down onto a rock. He coughed, and tried to right himself. Mortis sat down next to him, looming over him with ferocious intent.

"Leon.", said Mortis, with a smile as fake as it was wide. "I have something that I want to talk to you about."

Leon had no idea what to do in this situation. Here he was, face to face with an enemy that had been attempting to kill him almost nonstop for the past few days- and now that he had finally caught up to him, was sitting down for a friendly chat. It made him so confused that all he could do was utter that expression so commonly heard in such situations- "Um. Okay."

"Well, not me.", said Mortis, and chuckled. He stood up, and Leon noticed with alarm the sudden bulge in his stomach. "My _master _wishes to speak."

"Wait, what-", Leon asked, then Mortis's eyes vanished.

The worrisome bulge in his stomach traveled upwards, gaining size and speed as it went. It went from a golfball in his stomach, to a tennis ball in his chest, to a bowling ball in his throat, the look on his face becoming more and more agonized as it went. Finally, to the utter horror of Leon and the mild discomfort of everyone else, the ball exploded into the form of a thousand tiny Bats, flittering and flying every which way. The chorus of Bats screamed, flew into the sky- then came back downwards again, concentrating near the ground, almost in the form of some sort of vague shape.

Leon watched in confusion, as a column of bats hovered right near the ground. They seemed almost to form the shape of a foot, then the beginnings of a leg. Then as the same thing started to happen just a few feet to the right, he realized that _is_ what they were making.

The swarm of Bats formed into the shape of two huge thighs, then a waist wearing only a kilt and a belt. The pair of legs stepped over the now unconscious body of Mortis, towards Leon, ruminating with pure evil energy. The Bats turned into a torso, the muscles bulging and huge, yet nothing but a torn hole where the heart should have been. Finally, as the last of the Bats flew down from the sky, they assembled themselves into a head. The leering face stared out from beneath the horned helmet, as the Bats all burst into nothing, revealing a being made of pure shadow. It took a long, frighteningly calm step forward, and Leon flinched.

"Hello…", it breathed, the voice rich, baritone, and absolutely evil. "Son."

Song: Un'altra Persona

"Wha…", Leon asked, his mind reeling in shock. "S- son?"  
"Yes.", said the evil figure, and smiled. "I'm your father, Leon. Your real father, not that dull witted behemoth who hates you. I am the one who planted the seed that gave rise to you."

"Oh…", Leon said, and his breathing grew short. "I mean. Um. This is a lot to take in-"

"Yes, yes, I know.", said the figure, and put his hand on his chest. He gave a short bow, and held up his hand. "However, I believe some introductions are needed. Firstly- my name is Chad. I am- or, was, rather, I am so much more now than I ever could have dreamed- an Elite Barbarian."

"You…", Leon said, and took a fearful step back. "My mom mentioned you. She hated you."

He raised his hand, a spinner blade nocking into the slot. Rosa stepped forward to block the blow, but a single gesture from Chad sent her back. Leon snarled, and stared straight forward.  
"What did you do to her?", Leon growled. Chad chuckled, and pushed his hands towards Leon.

"Nothing too bad.", said Chad, and laughed. "She's fine. Don't worry about her."

"What did you _do _to her?", Leon shouted, and jabbed his hand forwards. "Tell me!"

"Well, if she didn't tell you, then it doesn't matter.", Chad barked, and Leon suddenly felt an overwhelming pressure to sit down. "Besides, that was the best night of her life."

"But-", Leon began, but a massive blast of mental force from Chad almost forced his mouth shut. Chad began strutting in front of him, stroking his chin, his low breathing causing his gaping chest wound to move in and out.

"Now, I'm sure you're wondering how I got this way.", said Chad, and chuckled. "Well, you see-"

"Not really, no.", said Leon. "I really don't care about why you're here."

Chad scowled, and clenched his fist. "Well, too bad. You're getting it anyway. You see…"

He began pacing again, and brought up his hand. Images slowly appeared from his palm, growing into nearly life sizes visios of smoke that acted out his every word.

"You see, I had been living with my brother Rick for a long while. But then, due to rather _unfortunate _circumstances involving your mother, we were both tragically killed."

He waited for Leon's response, but he kept his face straight. Chad inwardly scowled, and continued with his story. "But, due to your mother's naivety, she kept our hearts in jars in her room. This is what allowed our souls to cling on to life here, instead of being able to cross over into the next world. Of course, I highly doubt-"

Then he stopped, realizing he couldn't reveal his evil nature to Leon. He wanted to win him over first. "I mean, there were some things we had to do first. Or, as I should say, I…"

He lifted up his arm, revealing a nightmare tattoo of a screaming Elite Barbarian, being sucked into a black hole. "My brother was absorbed into me, granting me enough strength to escape the limbo and enter back into this reality. It was a simple matter finding my minions, finding your mother, and then teaming up with Mr. R himself. Even that is only a simple matter, until I grow strong enough to defeat him. Once I learned I had a son, I set out to find you before anything else. And now…"

He took a stride forward, and dropped to one knee. He put a hand on Leon's shoulder, and tried his best at a genuine smile. It didn't work very well, however. "I finally found my boy."

"But-", Leon began, stopped, then resumed again once he realized Chad wasn't going to shut him up. "I don't even know you! You're my dad, but- who else are you?"  
"Ah, I appear you want the wishes.", said Chad, and brought up his hand. "Well, I would be glad to lend a portion of my own power to my very own son. What an experience that would be."

"What-", Leon sputtered, and took a step back. "I never said that!"

Chad shrugged, and raised his hands. "Maybe not. But here, this, is an example of my power."

"Wait- said Leon, until Chad opened his full arms. He had a veritable toolkit of strange, magical shapes floating around, and too many swords to properly count. "Behold."

He took a float over to Leon, who no longer shrank back at much. Chad took a simple look at Leon's shoulder- there, engraved upon it, was a bronze 3.

"Oh, my.", sad Chad, and laughed. "You're only level 3…I can fix that for you."

"What-", Leon asked, trying still to make sense of the situation. He just squeaked out "Wait, what-"

Chad slammed his hands down on Leon's shoulder, lightning bolts of rich purple flashing from one to the other. Leon's eyes rolled back in his head as he felt the bizarre feeling of being flash upgraded rush through him. "What?"

Then, as soon as it had happened, it was done. Chad took his hands off of Leon's shoulder, and crossed his arms. "There. That is good, yes?"

"Oh my…", Leon muttered, standing up. "I'm… level 9. I could get starpowers."

Something about the way that Chad had grabbed him left some sort of impression. He stared at his arms in disbelief, going from weak to strong in a matter of seconds.

"Yes, starpowers…", crooned Chad, and leaned down. "Which one would you like? Smoke Trails, or Invisiheal."

"Uuuhh…", asked Leon. "Invisiheal?"

"Alright.", said Chad, and reached into his back pocket. He withdrew two small squares, throwing them to Leon. Leon caught both of them with no trouble, feeling them get absorbed into his skin. "There you go, child."

Then he spread his arms open wide, and delivered the final blow. "All this power- it excites you, does it not? I know exactly where you can get such power…"

Leon stared him down for a second, noticing out of the corner of his eye most of the enemy brawlers were either leaning bored against a wall or on their phone. "Where?"

"Why, lord Grrshknn, of course!", boomed Chad. "He is the true conductor to power."

He stared Leon down, and opened his arms. "Come son. Join me- and together, we will save this world. Together, we can save it from the evil being of Rakastamos."

"Will… Mom be okay?", asked Leon, slowly twisting around the rock he sat on. "That's what I'm worried about."

Chad just threw back his head, and gave a rich, hearty laugh. "Of course, son. She will be kept in pristine condition- I shall see to it. After all, she has to be healthy to provide me with all those children…"

"Children?", Leon asked in shock. "You mean-"  
"Oh, yes I do.", said Chad. "I am going to give you all the brothers and sisters you want. I'll give you whatever girl you wish to possess- you can create grandchildren, all citizens of our soon to be glorious empire. All you have to do…"

"What?", asked Leon, rising from his rock and moving closer to Chad. "What do I have to do?"

"Just shake my hand.", said Chad, extending his shadowy arm. "Take the deal."

"Well.", said Leon, and took a deep sigh. "That is a very nice deal you have there. Very nice indeed. I'm gonna be honest- most of that doesn't sound too bad."

"Yes, yes…", said Chad, starting to growl. "So take my hand, son. Seal the deal."  
"Oh, but that's just the thing.", said Leon, folding his arms behind his back and looking at Chad through his side eye. "There is just one little detail preventing me from doing so."

"Oh.", said Chad, and chuckled. "Well by all means, tell me what it is. I can alter the contract as you wish-"

But Leon didn't care about any of that. Instead, he just took a deep breath out, rolled his sucker around in his mouth, and stared right up at Chad. His face took on a strange hue and value, all sound but his voice seeming to disappear. "I refuse."

Song: Lotte Feroce

A shock seemed to shoot through the entire area. Chad jerked his head back in surprise, as did most of the Brawlers around the circle. Leon's intense gaze radiated like a flame in a circle all around, forcing back and nearly sizzling the edges of Chad's skin.

"What?", Chad snapped, and snarled. "How- how could you refuse? That is the perfect deal!"  
"Because.", said Leon. "No matter what lies you throw at me, I know you did something awful to my mother. And whoever does something like that, well…"

He flicked a spinner blade out of his sleeve, and raised his hand to shoot as his eyes flashed. "Doesn't deserve to live."

"Woah, son, let's talk about this…", Chad said, his hands going for the sword on his belt. "You don't need to resist this. I can-"

"Don't call me that. You're not my father.", said Leon, as he pointed towards the clan castle where Dan was still asleep. "He is."

"You…", Chad rumbled, and started to grow in size. "Don't think you can tell me what's what, boy! I planted the seed inside your mother that would become you! All he did was-"

A thick, ragged cough suddenly came from behind Chad, and he turned around. There he saw the No-Hat Mortis slowly getting back up, leaning on his shovel for support. His eyes were filled with bloodshot veins, and foam seemed to drip from the corners of his mouth.

"Master…", he coughed. "Allow me to handle this."  
"Hmm.", said Chad, and slightly moved to the side. "Alright, Mortis."

"You…", Mortis snarled, taking a step forwards towards Leon. "You have been nothing but a thorn in my side since the day you arrived. Every time you've gotten underfoot, every time you spoiled my plans, everytime you made me a fool! No more, brat! Today, you pay! Once I kill you, your family will be next!"

"Wait, what-", said Leon only for Mortis to make a signal to a nearby bush, and his last ally emerge. Mortis fumed with insane energy, staring only at Leon, until he threw his hand down and shouted the command. "Villasteel! Shoot out his throat!"

Villasteel breathed in, nocked an arrow, and fired. It wasn't a white arrow- it was just a regular arrow. But as it spiraled through the air, picking up speed as it went, slicing in a whistle, he still knew it would be enough for Leon. And correct he was, as the arrow slid deeply into his neck and out through the other side. A huge burst of blood erupted from the area of impact, Leon gasping for breath and falling to the ground. He spat as he hit the dirt, another huge blossom of blood coming right from him. He lay there for a few seconds, trying to say something, but the only thing that came through was blood.

"Hmph.", said Villasteel, and stood up. "I thought you had hired me for something more interesting than a single target."

"No.", said Chad, and turned around. He scoffed, a little upset at the loss, but it was fine. Brandy had been more of a target anyway, and she was still in the clan castle. Chad smiled as he remembered that the only person who could have possibly alerted anyone was now dead on the ground. Everything and anything could be a target-

"Hey!", came a voice from behind, and all the Brawlers turned around in total shock. There stood Leon, his eyes blazing with pure fury, Stand in hand, arrow still sticking right through his shredded neck. "You think a little thing like that… would be enough to stop me?"

Song: Instant Kill Battle

"What?", Mortis gasped, fumbling for his weapon. "How- how are you still alive? That was an arrow from a Forgotten directly through your weak point!'  
"Yeah?", Leon sneered, and spun around his hand. Hunter Killer appeared with a flourish, and he aimed it right at the group."Well guess what. Frick Forgotten, frick weak points, and frick you!"

"You're the ones who are going to die.", said Leon with nothing but calm. "Me and my parents are going to get out of here, and continue on our quest. And that is final."

He growled, and started to pull the trigger.

Chad, knowing full well what was coming, ducked down across the ground. His body of pure darkness flattened instantly against the grass- but not everyone else was so lucky.

"Vola vola vola vola vola vola vola-", Leon said, as Hunter Killer shot its rounds. They tore through Tara and headed for Rosa almost before anyone cold blink- that was one down. Rosa screamed, and activated her super, but the bullets began to crack it almost instantly.

"Volavolavolavolavolavola-", Leon ruttered, and the bullets finally shredded Rosa's super. A fair amount of them sliced right into her skin, and Rosa screamed in agony. A few seconds later, the bullet storm continued onwards, leaving no trace of the Rosa at all.

"VOLAVOLAVOLAVOLAVOLAVOLA-", shouted Leon, and Hunter Killer's spray only increased. An immense horde of bullets shot through the air, slamming into and ripping apart Rico and Gene. Gene simply turned into a puff of smoke, and Rico's head was torn off and thrown to one side. Mortis attempted to run, but he was far too slow.

"_VOLAVOLAVOLAVOLAVOLA-" _screamed Leon, and aimed Hunter Killer at Mortis. Mortis shrieked, and tried to dash away, but even his speed was no match for current Leon.

Mortis was actually lifted up into the air by the force of Leon's bullets, each one tearing a new hole in his body. "VOLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

He screamed in immense pain- then was silenced, as he finally exploded with one final volley into a burst of red liquid upon the broken ground. Leon took his lollipop out of his mouth, tossed it into the air, and turned around, catching it even as he didn't look. He smirked, finally having gotten his revenge. "Volare Via."

For a second, they just stood there. Leon and Chad, technically father to refusing son.

"I see how it is, Leon.", said Chad. "You would rather kill everything offered to you than just take it. You're worthless."

"Oh really?", Leon asked, and once again aimed his gun. He smirked, and pulled the trigger. "Tell that to Hunter Killer."

But even as the storm of bullets tore through him, Chad was totally unaffected. He just looked down and shrugged, then began to laugh maniacally.

"You are a fool, boy.", he spat with utter mocking laughter. "Not only do you refuse the offer of a lifetime, but you fire upon me even though it shall do nothing. I am now a being of pure shadow. My only weakness is-"

Then he stopped, and laughed to himself. He took a step in Leon's direction, already running forward. "I'm not gonna tell you! Prepare to die!"

But Leon had already figured out the nature of Chad's weakness. And so he took a small break from firing, even as Chad approached. He just took another deep breath, loaded up his sleeves, and fired another pair of spinner blades. They soared high over him, turned around, came rushing back and sliced the top neatly off of a pair of white cottonwood trees- revealing the final rays of the beautiful setting sun.

As soon as one of the rays even brushed Chad's skin, he screamed. The pain resonated through him like nothing he had ever known, almost like fire being lit on fire. He instantly stopped going after Leon and collapsed on the ground, writhing and screaming louder than it was thought possible for a ghost to do.

"How…", he gasped, as cracks began to appear in his sides. "How did you figure it out? How did you guess?"

His darting eyes saw the shadow of a nearby rock, and he crawled for that- but Leon just picked it up and moved it out of the way. Chad howled in agony, and his skin began to dissolve.

"This... ", he spat, as his body began to fall apart in massive chunks. "This cannot be!"  
He grabbed the flakes out of the air with his fingers, or at least tried to- they too crumbled to dust upon touch. "I was… supposed to live forever! Not die like this!"

"Well, I'm sorry, _Dad.", _said Leon, mustering all the sarcasm he possibly could. He leaned over Chad, writhing on the ground like a spastic worm, and grinned. "It looks like…"

Then he folded his arms, and turned away from the carnage. "You couldn't handle the strength… of either sun."

"NOOOOOOOO!", Chad screamed, as the sun finally hit his heart. Bits of him swirled away into the air, his tortured form becoming more and more faded, until it finally disappeared, the rightfully terrified scream echoing away into the night.

Leon looked past the tiny cloud of smoke and patch of burned grass where Chad had fallen, to the terrified survivors. Bibi clung to El Primo, her eyes wide with fear. Sandy had been jolted into a state of full wakefulness, brought upon by the threat of impending death. They just stared at him, not knowing if he would shoot them to bits- or, for some odd reason, spare them.

Leon continued to look at them, wondering the same thing. Sandy didn't look like he had wanted to be here in the first place. He shook with terror- similar to the way that Leon himself had done.

He saw Bibi, her eyes streaked with tears, holding on to the unconscious body of El Primo. He bled from his neck slightly, one of the bullets having grazed him. But he would heal.

Finally, Leon made a decision. He sighed to himself, brought up Hunter Killer-

And shot a single blast directly upwards into the sky, the sharp crack echoing over the already destroyed quiet. But rather than running away, the Brawlers just stared at him, unsure of what to do.

"Run!", he screamed, and Sandy jumped. "Fricking run!"

Bibi, without a word, hefted El Primo up over her shoulder. She started to run, reaching out an arm for Sandy- but he had already taken off. Bibi looked back at Leon, mouthed a silent, teary "Thank you-", and ran out of sight, passing through a small gap in the walls.

Leon closed his eyes, savoring his victory- then fell to the ground, clutching his neck. "Ow ow ow ow ow-"

He looked up, trying to see if there were any Healers nearby. They could help. But after a quick search, it was revealed that they were not. He looked around for a doctor- but he still didn't really know the village. The tour earlier that day had been interrupted in a rather distracting manner. "Shooooot…."

Leon forced himself to his feet, trying to think of what to do, when an idea suddenly found itself in his mind. He laughed out loud, then winced because it hurt to laugh. Or to do anything, with a giant hole in his neck.

"Spell….", he said, trying to find the spell factory. Perhaps they had Heals set out for anyone that needed them, just cooling down on the windowsill. Or even better- a healing turret. Yes, that would be the best thing to find. Leon used these thoughts to reassure himself as he crawled along the ground on his hands and feet, just slamming his head into the door when he finally did come across the Spell Factory.

It took a few times, but eventually someone answered. That someone was an old, tired looking Wizard, bent over his cup of coffee and speaking into his own ear horn. "Eh? What can I-"

Then he saw the way that Leon was bleeding, and almost jumped. "Oh. Oh my goodness. Stay right there, young one, I will-"

"Oh, just give me one of those heal spells.", said Leon forcefully, shoving past the old wizard and grabbin a Heal right off the line. "Or not, I guess I'll just have to take one."

Ignoring the Wizard's shouts of protest, Leon took a deep, refreshing swig, then slammed the rest of the bottle directly onto his neck wound. He took a deep, satisfied sigh as it healed, the pain disappearing- and then he did black out, right onto the Spell Factory visitor's couch. 

"Miss Brandy.", said the tall, imposing figure of Mr. Antnamon, as he strode his way down the desk of his classroom. "Since you always manage to get your homework done every class, would you mind showing it to us this time as an example?"

"Uh…", Brandy said, trying to keep the color from draining out of her face. "Actually, uh… see. I kind of can't do that. Sir."

"Why not?", asked Mr. Antnamon, putting his fingers gently on Brandy's desk. "You did it, didn't you?"

"Yes.", said Brandy. "But then someone stole it. Cause I did it, and then it was in my bag, and then it wasn't. That is the only thing that could have happened."

"I see…", said Mr. Antnamon, seeing the sweat on Brandy's face. He could tell she was lying, even if she was good at it. "And who, pray tell, stole it from you?"

"Bailey.", said Brandy, pointing towards the section of the room where Bailey sat. "I'm pretty sure it was her."

Bailey spat out her coffee as soon as she heard Brandy say it, and stood up out of her chair. She pointed an accusatory finger at Brandy, fuming out of anger. "Ex_cuse_ me, frick?"

Kurizas behind her tried to motion for her to sit down, but she was having none of it. "You think you can just say that I stole your homework, and have him believe you?"  
"Perhaps.", said Mr. Antnamon, and stood up to his full height. "Why should I not?"

"Because I only steal good things!", Bailey shouted, and Brandy gasped. "Why would I ever steal her homework? It's probably gonna fail anyway!"

"Why, you little-", Brandy shouted, standing up. "You think you can just-"

The two Bandits yelled at each other, and jumped straight out of their seats. They Dashed towards each other, the curtain of wind blowing back hair and papers. They had almost collided in the center of the room, when Mr. Antnamon's arms shot out faster than light and grabbed both of them by the cloak, bringing them to a sudden halt.

"Sit down, Bailey.", said Mr. Antnamon, and stretched out his arm to her seat. He unceremoniously dumped her in and activated the seat's restraint- this was far from the first time he had had to restrain her like that. But for Brandy, he did something different.

"Brandy.", he said, holding her up to his face. "I need to tell you something. Dan, you too. Come up here."

Brandy sort of struggled a bit, but she was being held about 15 feet off of the ground. There was no way to reach. So she just crossed her arms and pouted, hanging by her hood.

"Oh.", said Dan from the far back, and slowly rose to his feet. He made his way gradually through the vast maze of desks, bumping into anything larger than a Goblin, which was everything there, and eventually stepped foot in front of Mr. Antnamon. "Yes, sir?"

Mr. Antnamon put Brandy on Dan's shoulders, much to the amusement of the rest of the massive class. There were giggles and gasps, not to mention Dan's reddened face and Brandy's wide eyes. But Mr. Antnamon was not trying to spark anything- he knew full well they were beyond that. He just looked at both of them at once, and spoke.

"You two.", he said, and flicked his fingers. "It's time to wake up."

"Wait, what-", Brandy began, then noticed something. The edges of the room were beginning to blur, and soften like a painted paper left out in the rain. The sounds of the class slowed down and simultaneously sped up, bleeding together like water and milk.

"What the heckkkk-", Dan shouted, his words trailing off into a gigantic, staticy blare as everything closed in on around them. Brandy screamed and Dan held on to her, as they tumbled head over heels through blackness into an infinite pit- then suddenly found themselves laying in beds, the sheets tumbled up and the blankets thrown off onto the floor.

"D…", Brandy mumbled, rubbing her head and sitting up. "What… what just happened?"

She waited a few seconds for an answer, but Dan remained motionless. "Dan?"

She crawled onto his upper body, nuzzling her head against his chin. "Dan? You awake?"

Dan suddenly sat up, almost throwing Brandy off of him. His face was perfectly level, no emotion whatsoever. He gently swayed as he sat there, as if pushed along by the breeze.

"Are… you okay-", Brandy began, but Dan just talked as though he didn't hear her.

"What the frick…", he muttered to himself. "Was _that?"_

"Did you have a weird dream too?", asked Brandy. "Like we were-"

"Yes.", said Dan, his fingers slightly twitching, Star sparking off of them in bits and pieces. "I did. That was not something I particularly enjoyed."

"I don't know.", said Brandy, sitting up, facing forwards, and putting her chin in her hands. "That was kind of fun. Except for the part where-, well, no, that was kind of fun too. Because you came and saaaved me…."

She put a tentative hand on Dan's leg, hoping he wasn't as mad as he had been last night. Thankfully, as he moved his leg a little bit closer, it seemed as though he wasn't.

"Yeah.", he said, and shivered, the force rocking the bed. "But like… we weren't together. I was dating some Valkyrie."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and blinked. "Yeah, that does sound bad."

She leaned over and hugged Dan's leg, burying her face in his muscle. "Don't you worry, Dan. I'll never do that."

Dan put one finger on her back, stroking her as well as he was able. "And neither will I."

They just lay there for a moment, feeling each other's contact. But after a few seconds, the quiet in the room grew to a fever pitch, and Dan cleared his throat. He removed his finger from Brandy's back, and she looked up in mild curiosity.

"Hey, why did you stop?", she asked, craning her neck to see. Her hood was about to fall down, but she reached over and pulled it back up. "I was just enjoying it."

"Cause it's about time to go.", said Dan, and grabbed her around the waist. She flipped in his grip and landed on his shoulder with a twist of her entire body, running her finger along his arm as she went. She was making an effort to be extra affectionate this morning, trying to stop him from the anger he was having the night before at any cost. She hated to see him like that.

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Where are we going?"  
"Breakfast.", said Dan, and started walking towards the door of the Clan Castle. "That's where."

"Ooooh.", Brandy said, and scratched Dan's neck. "That sounds fun. I bet there's gonna be pancakes. I like pancakes."

"Probably.", said Dan, and put one hand on the door. "Those seem to be pretty standard fare.", he said as he swung it open, and stopped in his tracks at what he saw.

The ground in front of the Barracks within view was torn almost to pieces, long scars running across the grass. Smoke still rose from a medium size circle among the blasts, the grass withered and dead around it, if not actually vaporized within. A single blade grew in the exact middle, but it seemed, in some unplaceable way, to be evil. A tree was smashed to bits nearby, branches hanging off the stalk in crazy patterns. One of the nearby wall segments seemed to be missing. Not that it had been destroyed, or that it wasn't there- it was most definitely Missing.

"What the…", both Brandy and Dan said together, surveying the damage. "What happened?"

Rachel the Archer Queen ran by, clutching her bow to her side and her crown to her head. "Where did the kid go?", she shouted, trying to get the attention of everyone within her reach. "Has anyone seen the kid?"

"The kid-", Brandy muttered, then it clicked in her mind. The bullet marks on the ground? Leon's Stand. The obvious signs of a struggle? Same answer. And him missing…

Brandy felt her face freeze up. That was not a good sign. "Leon?"

"Right!", said Rachel, and looked over at them. "Leon was his name. Yeah, I can't find him anywhere."

"No.", said Brandy, her arms tensing up. "Oh no, no, nonononono."

She again looked over to the scene of the right, hoping and praying that what she thought was not what had actually happened. But she saw some of the footprints leave the right and head off towards the trees, and almost screamed.

"Hi Mom.", came a voice next to her on Dan's other shoulder, as Brandy began crying.

"Leon…", she choked out, thinking that someone had taken him during the night. "No...-"

Then her ears registered what she had heard, and she spun around in shock. "Leon?"

Leon and Brandy stared at each other some more, until Brandy gently tapped Dan on the shoulder, in a signal letting him know that she wanted to get down. Dan let them both down onto the ground- and before even a full second passed, Brandy grabbed Leon in a hug. She lifted him off the ground, spun him around, and squeezed him so hard he struggled to breathe.

"Woah-", he coughed, as his face turned red. "Mom-"

"Oh!", Brandy shouted, and let go. Leon stumbled forward, leaning on Brandy's shoulder. "Sorry about that, Leon. I just… thought I lost you. For a moment there."

"Nope.", said Leon, and sucked in a breath. "Just almost knocked me out there though."

"Sorry…", Brandy said, and winced. "You okay?"

"Yes,", said Leon, and stood up. "Just had to catch myself there for a bit."

"Good.", said Brandy, hugging him again, gentler this time. "I'm glad you're okay."

"So uh…", said Dan, and leaned down. "Do you know what caused all that destruction out there?  
Leon thought for a moment, rolling his lollipop around in his mouth, until he leaned back and struck a pose. "Well, of course I know.", he said. "That was me."

"You did that?", Brandy asked. "How? I mean like- what happened?"

Leon scratched his head, and remembered. "Well, all the Brawlers that had been following me finally caught up.", he said. "And they surrounded me, and started beating me up."

"Oh…", Brandy said, bringing her hands to her nose. Dan leaned in, feeling a little sorry for him for some reason that he couldn't quite place. "Then what happened?"

"Well, then Mortis started talking to me about something. Something about a Dragon.", said Leon, and Dan and Brandy exchanged surprised glances.  
"And then Mortis summoned his master or someone- he was like this horned shadow demon. Said his name was Chad."

Brandy's breath caught in her throat, and her face turned as white as her hair. Her hands automatically grabbed at Dan's skin, digging in as tightly as she could. Dan's muscles tightened, and his face grew dark at the mention of Chad's name. A low rumble escaped his throat, and a bolt of star flashed out from him and smote the grass.

"Yeah so uh…", Leon said quickly, a little surprised at his parent's reactions. "He said that I should come and join him, and that he would give me all the brothers and sisters that… I… wanted…"

"Oh?", Dan said, looming tremendous over Leon. He had stopped talking because of Dan's intimidating presence, and even now he trembled. "And then what did you do?"

"Well uh…", said Leon, and winced. "I killed him."

Dan instantly leaned back, and blinked in surprise. "Oh. You- you did?"

"Yep.", said Leon, and nodded. "Hunter Killer wasn't working, so I let the rays of the setting sun fall on him, and that seemed to do the trick. Now, he's dead."  
Brandy stared at Leon, and felt her eyes start to water. She gently reached out to him, and put her hand on his shoulder. "Leon…", she said quietly. "I don't know how to explain this."

But Dan just stood there quietly, lost in his thoughts. He considered just how badly he had been treating Leon these past few days. How now that he thought about it, he didn't deserve it all that much. And especially that Chad himself had talked to him, given him an offer- and yet Leon had killed him, without even a second thought. And as Brandy hugged him, Leon stared upwards at Dan. Finally, his stoic face cracked into a smile. He brought up one hand, and Leon cowered. Brandy's feet instinctively jumped back, taking the rest of her with them.

"That's my BOY!", Dan roared, and swung his hand downwards for a slap on Leon's back. Of course, his force put into the slap was very strong, much more than the strength Leon had in his legs. This, naturally, caused Leon to fly over the Barracks and into the trees past the walls of the village with a yell of both joy and panic.

"Oh, shoot!", Dan shouted, as he heard the crashing sounds of Leon falling to the ground. "I'm sorry! That was on me!"

The crashings sounds continued, as Leon fell to the ground. He lay there dazed, as the leaves knocked free from his fall gently fell onto his face. "Thanks, Dad. That really helps."

"Hey, no problem…", said Dan, and let out a deep breath. "Son."

Brandy looked up at Dan in shock. His words as he had slapped Leon out of the village only then hit her mind, at the same time she heard the words he had just spoken.

"D...Dan?", she asked. "Dan, honey? Did you just-"

"Yes.", said Dan, and put one massive hand on her shoulder. "I did."

Brandy said nothing- she didn't need to. She just leaned her head into Dan's hand, pushing up against him. She closed her eyes and purred, feeling the love that had been in question.

"I was wrong, Brandy.", said Dan. "About him. He is a good kid."

"Oh… oh.", said Brandy. "You… really mean it?"

"Yes, I do.", said Dan. "I was blinded by anger. But now that he killed Chad… I can see where I made my mistake."

"No, no.", said Brandy. "I made a mistake. I shouldn't have-"  
"What mistake?", asked Dan. "What mistake did you make?"

Brandy thought for a moment, then sighed. "I shouldn't have been so fragile. I let myself break when you yelled at me."

"No, no.", said Dan, and hugged her a little tighter. "That wasn't a mistake. Don't worry."

"Yes it was, though.", Brandy whined. "We both made a mistake, now let's stop fighting."

"Fighting?", asked Dan. "No, we're not fighting. More like-"

Brandy suddenly Dashed out of his hand, up his arm, and landed a quick kiss on his cheek. He didn't even have time to respond before she slid back down again, and once again took her spot below his hand.

"Flirting?", asked Brandy. "We can do that, my mountain."

As she leaned into him, Dan realized what she had said. "My… mountain?", he asked. "Is that a new name for me, my star?"

"Ooooh…", said Brandy, and grinned. "Only if that's a new name for me."

"It is.", said Dan. "It totally is."

"Well then.", said Brandy, and looked up. Her face smooshed into Dan's hand. "You know, this kinda makes me want to go mountain climbing."

"Hoho.", said Dan, and sent the tiniest shock he could through Brandy's ear. "Then I want to explore the stars."

"Oh, you can conquer the stars.", Brandy purred, her face glowing. "Just as long as I get to be trapped by the mountains…"

"You can.", said Dan, as his hand started to wrap around Brandy's torso. "As long as I-"

"Yo.", said Leon, and they both stopped in their romantic tracks. "I'm right here."

"Oh.", said Dan, and his face turned a tiny bit redder. "Yeah uh, sorry about that kiddo. Me and Brandy were just uh…"

"Talking about how much we love each other.", he said, at the same time that Brandy said "Telling each other what we're gonna do back in the beds." They looked at each other, and smiled.

"Yeah.", said Leon, and scratched the back of his head. "So basically, um… the Heroes all want to talk to you about something. I don't know what it is, but they made it sound super important."

"Ah.", said Brandy. "Anything in particular?"

"No.", said Leon. "Just they wanted to talk to you. And no, they didn't say why."

"Well.", said Dan. "What do they want to talk to us about?"

Leon stared at them in total disbelief, and blinked a few times. "Did you not just hear what I-"

Brandy giggled into her hand, and Dan laughed. "Oh, don't worry kiddo.", he said. "We were just messing with you."

"Oh.", said Leon, his face a little redder than usual. "I see. Still though. Heroes."

"Yes, we should.", said Dan. He grabbed Brandy gently around the waist and lifted her up onto his shoulder- but instead of dropping there, Brandy chose to fall onto and wrap around his head.

"Where are they right now?", asked Brandy. "The Heroes."

"They're all in the Town Hall.", said Leon, jerking a thumb back towards where it was.

"Good to know.", said Dan, and grinned. "Thanks for the help, son."

Then they set off, towards the glowing ivory structure.

"I should have been awake.", said Rachel, tapping her fingers impatiently on the wooden desk of the mahogany meeting room. "Those things attacked the village, and I wasn't awake to defend it."

"Oh, come on, Rachel.", said the Barbarian King, idly tossing a small boulder up and into the air, only for him to catch it every time. It was a boring game, but one he enjoyed. "You worry too much. We all survived."

"Yes, but what about next time?", asked Rachel, the tapping evolving to scratching. "What if something like that happens again, and this time Leon's not here? I'm an Archer Queen- I should always be awake and ready for everything."

"No.", said the Grand Warden, and Rachel turned to look. "We all know that offer falls to me."

"Yeah, come on down from it.", the Barbarian King scoffed, holding up a giant sandwich. "What do you ever do, you level 4 looking bugger?"

"Level 4?", asked the Grand Warden indignantly, and held up his staff. "I am, in fact, level 5!"

"Whaaat?", asked the Barbarian King in disbelief. "No. Since when?"

"Since yesterday, you idiot.", said the Grand Warden, and massaged his forehead. He was capable of speaking every known language- save that, for perhaps, the language of stupidity. "I was upgraded to level 5 yesterday."

"Oh.", said the Barbarian King, and brought up his hand in a heartbeat. "Well then, never mind me then."

"Okay, when are they getting here?", asked Rachel, and slammed her hands down onto the table. "I could have sworn I specifically asked Leon to-"

Then the door burst open with a bang, and all three Heroes turned to look. There stood Dan, a tiny bit of Star still emanating from his fingertips, and Brandy, riding on his head.

"Hey.", said Dan, and stepped into the room. "I think we're supposed to be here."

"Oh.", said Rachel, and sat up straight. "Yes, you were. We all wanted to talk to you."

"Okay.", said Dan, and pulled over a chair. Being Hero-sized, it was just right for him. "What did you want to talk to us about?"

"Well.", said Rachel, and knitted her fingers together. "I want you to tell me everything you know…"

Her eyes narrowed, and she stared down the table at them. "About Rakastamos."

"Well uh…", said Brandy, and winced. "That might be hard. Because to be honest…"

She gestured a few times with her hands, none of them meaning anything, before just giving up and shrugging. "We don't really know _anything_ about him."

"What?", Rachel asked in shock. "But Leon told me that you had been on his trail for days now! That you were going on a great quest to stop his plan from taking over the world!"

"Yeah…", said Brandy, and scratched the back of her head. She jumped down onto the table and walked around, prompting a silent _aww _from both Dan and Rachel. "That's all we know about him too."

"Well, and that we know he lives in the Clashcrush mountains.", said Dan. "And that we need to find the Dragonlord of this continent to help us save the world before we fight him."

"Okay…", said Rachel, gesturing for the Grand Warden to write notes. It took a few seconds, but he jumped to a proper sit and began writing stuff down in his massive book. "What else?"

"Nothing.", said Dan. "That's all we know."  
"I see.", said Rachel. "Well, thanks for the info I guess. It'll be useful."

She stood up and stretched, popping her back. "I mean, if you guys need to continue on your quest, then-"  
"Wait!", came the shout of Leon, and the door slammed open on the other side of the room.

5 minutes earlier, Leon had been walking around on the grass where he had finished off Mortis and Chad. The grass where Chad had gone down still sparked and smoldered, the blade of grass wearing a tiny red crown. The entire area was still ripped and torn- all the Builders were too busy with various projects to help clean it up. Leon sort of just poked around, looking for anything he might have missed.

He saw Bibi's faded footsteps in the dirt- they would have faded all the way by now, if she hadn't been also carrying El Primo at the time. It was amazing really, the way she did it. She was quite a strong girl, even if she had been easily swayed. Leon closed his eyes, wondering what she was doing at that moment. He hoped she was okay. Even though she had been working for Mortis, and by extension Chad, he knew she didn't really mean it. In fact, maybe, once the quest was over, he could maybe find her again, and-

"Hey.", came a metallic voice, clanging as Leon's foot kicked it. Leon looked down in shock, to see Rico's severed head still staring up at him. "Do. Not. Kick. Me."

"Woah!", Leon yelled, and jumped back. Rico's head came with him, rolling up Leon's knee even as he tried to get away. "Where the frick did you come from?"

"I. Am. Rico.", said Rico. "My. Body. Has. Vanished. Where. Is. My. Body?"

"Your body?", asked Leon in disgust, kicking his shoe clean. "How am I supposed to know-"

Then a thought occurred to him. It was a bit of an evil thought, or at least a mischievous one. But as a grin came over Leon's face, he knew it was the right one.

"Come on, bro.", he said, as he lifted Rico's head up unto his own shoulders, and started to walk off. "I think you can help me here."

Back in the present, Leon slammed the head of Rico down on the table. He took a deep breath, and wiped the sweat from his face. Rico looked around in a blind panic, trying to make sense of how and who he was and what he was doing there. "Behold!", Leon shouted, and leaned back. "We may not have any information about Rakastamos. But I believe I know someone who does."

"That thing?", asked Rachel, leaning forward to see. "What even is that? It looks like a head."

"It's a Rico.", said Leon, and flicked the side of Rico's head. "I know just how to crack that information out of him."

"How?", asked Brandy, but her words went unnoticed by Leon's ears. He just stared at Rico with an insane grin on his face, ready for the torture to begin.

Everyone else waited for a bit, not sure where Leon was going with this at all. Brandy's first impression was that he wanted to try torture, but she wasn't sure how well that would work on a robot. And something like solitary confinement wouldn't affect him either.

"So, how?", asked Brandy. "What are we gonna do to this poor soul that would make him talk?"

"Oh, I'll do something." said Leon, and rubbed his hands together in excitement. "Just you wait."

Everyone waited for a few seconds, staring at Leon, waiting for him to say something. But he just kept on rubbing his hands together, putting all the final details together in his mind.

"So… are you gonna tell us?", asked Rachel, flicking at the table with her finger. "Cause-"

"Yes!", shouted Leon, and gestured to Dan and Brandy. "Mom, _Dad, _I'm going to need your help."

"Okay, but…", Brandy asked. "What is it? What are we helping with?"

Leon laughed, and spun Rico's head around on his hand, much to his mechanical protesting. "Well. It's a bit of a routine I've been working on."

If that was meant to give an answer, it didn't work. Everyone just kept on staring, unable to guess whatever bizarre thoughts Leon was thinking. "What?", Rico asked.

Finally, Leon sighed, and stood up straight. "Okay.", he said, and set Rico's head down. "I'll just show you. Watch this."

Song: Ancientry

Far away, in the Clashcrush Mountains, at the base of the forest, things were stirring. Some of them were large things, some of them were not. Some of them hovered, and some of them prowled about on powerful feet. Some of them boiled over with weaponry, while others were almost as smooth as a Goblin's bald head. But all of them had one thing in common- they all were the loyal servants of Rakastamos.

"Have you got the TV working?", asked a deep, baritone voice, and the girl next to him flinched.

"Not yet.", came a cheery reply, as a blue cloaked, huddled figure messed with a bunch of wires. "But I'm about to- ah!"

He held aloft a sparking spark plug, and smiled. "There we are! Now to just-"

The TV in front of him sparkled to life, and the shadowed figure of Rakastamos slowly became visible upon it. He coughed, and made a subtle movement. "Is this on?"

"Yes, my lord.", said the one who had got it working, and bowed. "It is."

"Ah, good.", said Rakastamos, and sat back. He slashed the wall of rock he was next to, and breathed in and out before continuing. "Now I can speak to you all directly."

"Yes, my lord.", said the one in blue. "We would be eager to hear your wisdom."

"Well.", said Rakastamos. "I don't have any at the moment- but I do have a plan."

"Yeah?", asked someone in the audience, jabbing his spear into the air. "What's the plan?"

Rakastamos thought for a moment, then blinked. The youth's spear suddenly heated to burning temperatures, and he dropped it with a howl- the price to pay for his brashness.

"There is a pair of Troops.", Rakastamos said. "They have gone up against several of our own with results that…"

He slowly closed his eyes, to prevent his army from seeing the wetness within them. "I would rather not have happened."

"Oh.", said someone in the audience. "Does he mean that-"

"The Raptor, the Kraken, the Zombie, Vulgalia, Bonoome, Ugof, Villasteel, the Serpent, the Hydra, and one of the Jester's robots.", said Rakastamos, with a heavy heart. "They have all been killed."

A shocked silence fell over the crowd. Those names were familiar to them- they had practically been family. To hear them announced as dead came as quite a shock to all.

"Oh…", said one particulary large and slow individual. "So that's why I haven't seen Bonoome around for a while."

"Where are they?", shouted one angry Forgotten. "We have to get them back!"

"Oh, I sent someone after them.", said Rakastamos angrily. "An ambush mission when they were totally asleep and thought they were safe- It was the perfect plan. Only for his own son to appear, and screw everything up!"

"My lord…", came a timid voice of an exotic Wizard in the front row. "The plan?"

"Oh, the plan.", said Rakastamos, and relaxed. Then his emotions grew again, as he realized he did not actually possess one. "Um…"

His mind raced, until he finally found something to grab upon. He surged forward, causing his airborne camera to fall backwards. He stabbed one finger into the air and shouted- something. All his army was watching, and yet they heard no word.

"Sir?", asked a small, creeping Forgotten. "Your sound is out. I think the-"

Rakastamos scowled, and fiddled with the buttons on his drone. But it was a rather small drone, compared to his legendary size. "You've almost got it sir, just gotta-"  
Then Rakastamos snarled in frustration- his claws were too large and long to properly manipulate the drone. There appeared a crack in the screen, then the signal went dead on the army's side. Rakastamos, it appeared, had accidentally destroyed the camera drone.

"Oh.", said a Forgotten, and frowned. "What are we gonna do now-"

Then they heard a colossal boom, far away up the mountain. All heads turned to look, to see a huge cloud of smoke erupt out of the entrance. And what came next was an order unlike they had ever seen.

"KILL THEM!", came the roar from atop the mountain, a tongue of flame coming with it. The sound swept down the mountainside, through the various tunnels and false layers, through the forest, and right into the army of Forgotten.

They all looked at each other, looked up, looked at each other again, and silently reached an agreement. Almost as if one, all the Forgotten there took off into the woods, and vanished within moments- except for one, who just stood there in shock. But after a few seconds, she too left the area, leaving it silent as a grave and the TV still sputtering.

"Okay.", said Leon, and clapped his hands together. "See, and the final step is like this."

Leon put his hands on his hips, spun around, and ended with his hip pointed outwards. "Yeah."

Brandy did the same, as close as she was able. Dan did the dance as well, casting shadows over everyone nearby.

"I see.", said Brandy, and returned to a neutral position. "So you're saying this is the dance we need to do?"

"Yes.", said Leon. "I am. This is the right one."

"And somehow dancing to this…", said Dan in disbelief. "Will get that Rico to tell us everything we need."

"Yes!", shouted Leon. "This is what's gonna help. Just trust me on this one, okay?"

Brandy sighed. "Okay, Leon. I trust you."

Leon looked to Dan, who just rolled his eyes. "I trust you, son."

_Now, anyway, _he almost said out of the corner of his mouth, but decided not to.

"Right.", said Leon, and dug the Rico head out of his pocket. "You ready, buddy? Because apparently we all are."

"Go. Die.", said the Rico, his eyes red.

Leon had been trying to train his parents in The Dance, as he called it, for nearly an hour now. They had moved from the Hero meeting room in the Town Hall to outside, where it was sunny, warm and most importantly open. Leon just laughed, and patted Rico's head. "Sure, buddy. Sure."

He moved his hand towards some things he had gotten ready, including a magnifying glass, some rope, and a piece of paper. "Alright, we've got everything, help string it all up?"

"Dan.", said Brandy. "Could you-"

"I certainly could.", said Dan, and took a massive step forward. "It all looks very important."

"Yes.", said Leon, and gestured appreciatively, as he wound a rope around Rico's head. "This is all very important. Yes, very important indeed."

"And that's why I'm doing it.", said Dan, and raised his hand. Several dozen feet of the rope stood straight up, hoisting Rico straight up into the air. "For my son."

"Thanks, Dad.", said Leon, and gave Rico's head one last pat to make sure everything was in order. He tilted the magnifying glass into Rico's lense, sat back, and reached for a nearby stereo. "It's better with music."

He clicked the button, and a strange sound began to fill the morning air.

Song: Canzoni Preferite

The beat of the song was strange, almost salsa-like. But it was too fast for such a type, yet too slow for anything else. The lyrics were strange, barely able to make out. But that did not stop Leon from shifting back and forth on the grass, snapping his fingers to the rhythm.

"Leon?", Brandy asked, and tilted her head. "What are you doing?"

"I'm getting him to talk!", Leon said, and drew his head back. He let his hood fall, and scraped his feet against the soft grass. Rico's eye started to grow uncomfortable from the heat, his pupil shifting back and forth. "That's what."

"But… you're just by yourself.", said Dan. "I mean sure you're doing the dance, but do you really need to be alone?"  
Leon spun slowly around on one foot, and stared at Dan as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Yes, I need to start alone. Did I really not tell you this?"

"No…", said Brandy, and shook her head. "Not really.",

And yet, even as she observed Leon's movements, something started to click in her mind. The way he slunk back and forth, the way he moved his arms, the way he gyrated his hips- something about it seemed maddingly familiar. Brandy continued to stare- and then in a flash of inspiration, she remembered. "Rascals!"

"What?", asked Dan, as Leon continued the dance. He slowly brought his arms up against his sides and then spun around, rolling his lollipop around in his mouth. "Where?"

"No.", said Brandy, and shook her head. "I'm saying that the dance he's doing- doesn't it remind you of the one that Double and Trouble and Doug did? At that party, the night before-"

She leaned onto his leg, and looked up into his eyes. "You proposed to me?"

"Why, yes, I do.", said Dan, and gave her the tiniest shock he could. She quite enjoyed the little ones. "Those movements are indeed very similar…"

Brandy stood up, watching Leon continue the dance. He snapped his fingers twice as he glided against the ground, then slapped his hands against his knees and chicken walked forwards.

"Let's join him.", she said. "I don't think it'll be that effective, him dancing up there all alone."

Dan rolled his shoulders, popping the joints, and slowly stood up. He rolled his eyes, and put his hand to his forehead as he looked at Leon. "I suppose it couldn't hurt."

Leon jumped backwards, turning his head upwards to look at the sky. He took a step back, rolling his arms all the way around in their sockets- and almost bumped right into Brandy, who had come up from behind him. "Woah!"

"Sorry, sorry.", said Brandy, and stumbled a bit to catch up. She stepped in front of him, and tried to take up her position. "I'm gonna dance with you- is that okay?"

Leon thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Sure. It's time for two- although it's actually best with three."

"See, that's what I was thinking.", Brandy said. "See, I originally saw this dance from this type of troops called Rascals-"

Then the stereo was abruptly turned up, by a Goblin that had turned out to watch the show. Brandy's words were lost, and the two resumed the dance.

Leon stuck his foot out as far as it could go, his bare feet scratching up the dirt. He leaned low and gave Rico a sly wink, as the heat of the sun was focused through the magnifying glass and directly into Rico's pupil. Brandy gave a quick twirl, her skirt and her cloak lifting up from the resulting breeze. Rico just screamed, but it could hardly be heard over the pounding music.

The Goblin on the sidelines began to move his head to the music, as totally uncoordinated as it was. Another Goblin moved to join him, turning up the music even louder as he did so.

Brandy rolled her arms around in their sockets, and slapped her hands on her thighs. She spun in a tight circle, meeting Leon on the return in a tight, clean, high-five.

Rico's eye started to become unfocused, the heat beginning to deal structural damage to his internal wiring. He screamed louder, begging to be let go- but there was no one that could hear.

Brandy crouched for a bit as Leon shifted his weight, and sprung into the air, turning herself over a half dozen times. She landed on the grass in a wide display, one eye closed and one hand turning her over in a swift twist. Leon made a small gesture towards her, and she lined back up with him. She had been getting a little off of the choreography.

Leon and Brandy's movements were now perfectly in sync, as they twisted around on their ankles. They threw their hands down low to the ground, then leaned back and drew their arms across their torsos. They looked to the left, then looked to the right, wiggled their elbows, and looked up into the light. Then they saw the two Goblins near the stereo- that had grown into a massive crowd. There stood all three of the Heroes, enraptured with the dance they were doing. There was a great variety of troops, all clapping with the song and laughing. Their cheers only grew louder, as Dan finally stepped into the circle of the torture dance.

All three of them moved together, their dancing almost as one. Rico's vision began to blur out of control, the colors of the scene before him turning into a surreal oilscape of greens and blues. He could see the dancers before him- yet, curiously, he also seemed somehow able to see his own head. He could see it suspended by the ropes, the magnifying glass forcing the sun into his melting eye. All the while he screamed, but to absolutely no avail.

Brandy, without even thinking about it, moved her hand upwards, and caught Dan's passing palm. She swung herself over his wrist, as he grabbed her with his other hand. He passed her over his head, bluegreen passing over silver and gold, and then landed without a hitch on the other side of him, much to the cheers of the crowd.

Leon crossed his arms in front of him soulfully, as if trying to pull apart a huge chunk of taffy. He looked up towards the sky, and flipped his lollipop around in his mouth. "Rerorerorerorerorero."

Brandy spun around, looked towards Rico, and rotated her finger around her ear. She stuck out her tongue, the crowd going wild as the music reached a jazzy, funky climax.

Leon pulled off one last pose, stretching his arms up towards the sky, as the music finally cut out. He folded his arms, stuck out on one leg, and loomed over Rico's head.

"Well?", he asked, a nearly sadistic smile crossing his face. "Are you ready to tell us now?"

He leaned in, and Rico screamed. "About this Rakastamos?"

"Yes!", Rico shouted, and tried to roll off the table onto the ground in order to kill himself. "I. Am. Ready. To. Talk."

"Good.", said Leon, and grabbed him. He set Rico up on the edge of the table, and removed the magnifying glass, causing Rico to let out a gasp of relief. "Now. Tell us eeeverything you know."

"I. Know. Little.", Rico said, trying and failing to get his vision back. "But. I. Do. Know. Some."

"Yeah, yeah, spit it out.", said Leon, flicking a spinner blade out of his jacket sleeve. "Or do we have to keep dancing?"

"No!", shouted Rico, and closed his destroyed eye. "I. Will. Tell."

He collected himself for a bit, then spilled everything he knew. "My. Master. Was. Mortis. His. Master. Was. Chad. And. Chad's. Master. Was. Dragonlord. Rakastamos."

Song: Dark Rebirth

"What?", Brandy shrieked, and jumped off of the ground. She landed all the way on Dan's shoulder, rubbing at her ears, in shock at what he had just said. "What did he say?"

"Dragonlord… Rakastamos?", Dan asked, taking a step back. "No… no way…"

"What?", asked Leon, turning away from Rico to look at his parents. "What is it? What's going on?"

"No…", Brandy mumbled, her face turning white. "No…"

"That means…", Dan said. "That means that…"

"This Rakastamos that we've been pursuing, and the Dragonlord of this continent…", Brandy said with dread, and looked right into Dan's eyes as they spoke together. "Are one and the same."

Absolute silence covered the entire area for a few seconds, as everyone with knowledge sufficient enough to digest this information properly did exactly that. The only people who knew enough to do that were Dan, Brandy, and the Grand Warden. All three of them slapped their hands to their faces, and screamed. "Oh noooooo!"

"What?", Leon asked, as did Rachel. The Barbarian King was a little distracted by a Bowler's spinning boulder. "What is it? What does that mean?"

"We have to face off against a Dragonlord.", said Brandy quickly, her voice higher than usual. "I don't think we can do this. We can't do this."

"No, no, don't panic.", said Dan, holding Brandy in his arms. "It'll just be harder, is all.",

"Too hard.", said Brandy. "There's no way. No way at all we can beat him."

"That. Is. Correct.", said Rico, and all heads turned to look at him. "You. Will. Never. Beat. Rakastamos."

His eye reopened, to reveal a ghastly sight. His melted eye had solidified, to reveal a warped and twisted glass plate, with broken flickering color coming from within. "Everything. You. Have. Faced. Or. Will. Face. On. This. Journey. Will. Be. Nothing. Compared. To. Him. As. If. They. Were. Merely. Scraps. And. Pieces. Upon. The. Wind."

"Oh, will he?", asked Leon, and grabbed Rico's face. His expression was deadly serious- Leon was no longer messing around. "Well then. Tell us his weaknesses. Tell us how to defeat him. Tell us his schedule."

"Schedule?", asked Rico, and slightly beeped. "Very. Well."

"Wait, really?", asked Leon. "Hold on, I just meant that as a joke-"

"From. 6. To. 8.", said Rico, apparently going off of deep memory. "He. Reads. From. 8. To. 12. He. Studies. The. Past. From. 12. To. 1. He. Has. Lunch. From. 1. To. 4. He. Speaks. With. His. Forgotten. From. 4. To. 6. He. Takes. Care. Of. The. Baby. Dragons. From. 6. To. 8. He. Goes. Out. And. Fetches. Blood. Elixir. For. Himself. From. 8. To. 6. He. Sleeps."

"I see…", said Leon, and looked over his shoulder. "Hey Mom! Dad! Was that useful for you?"

"What?", Brandy asked, trying not to faint.

"Tell them.", said Leon, and flicked Rico on the forehead. "Again."

Rico trembled, and told them again, with the exact same schedule and details that he told Leon. Leon gave him a pat on the head, and set him down. "Good bot."

"So… that means he's out during a few hours of the day.", said Dan, the very roots of a plan beginning to form in his mind. "That seems important."

"And you said something about Blood Elixir…", sad Brandy. "What is that? Tell us."

"What's Blood Elixir?", asked Leon with interest, for he did not know himself. "Tell us."

"Blood. Elixir.", said Rico, and sighed. He wasn't supposed to be telling things like this- but what did he have to lose? He was already a blind head, couldn't get much worse than that. "It. Is. Rakastamos's. Ultimate. Plan."

"Okay, and?", Leon asked, jabbing Rico's cheek with his finger. "What does that mean? Tell us."

"When. He. Has. Enough.", Rico said, almost trembling with anticipation. "He. Shall. Drink. It. All. And. He. Shall. Become. Powerful. Enough. To. Destroy. All. Nondragon. Life. On. The. Entire. Planet."

"Oh.", said Leon, and took a step back. "That sounds-"

"And. You. Can. Do. Nothing. To. Stop. It.", said Rico, finally with an advantage. "Rakastamos. Is. Invincible. Rakastamos. Cannot. Die."

"Oh, I bet he can.", rumbled Dan, as he approached Rico's bench. "And you're gonna tell us exactly how."

"No.", said Rico. "I. Will. Not."

"Yes.", said Dan, and brought up his hand behind him. It filled with a blazing charge of golden energy, hot enough to reflect off of Rico's metal skin from nearly 15 feet away. "You will."

"Yes.", said Rico. "I. Will. Rakastamos. Has…"

He trailed off, not wanting to say whatever came next. "Has. Has."

"Has a weakness?", Brandy asked, speaking up at last. "What is it?"

"Yes.", said Rico, and continued. "Rakastamos. Has. A. Weakness."

He once again stopped talking, not wanting to give away information still. Dan stared at him with raw intensity, and again brought up his hand, but this time near Rico's face. His metal skin started to heat up, the edges beginning to turn red. "And?", hissed Dan. "What is it?"

"Rakastamos's. Weakness.", Rico said, and widened his blinded eye. "Is-"  
Just then, Rico saw something in front of him, in his mind's eye. He appeared to be suspended over a massive cavern, seeing Rakastamos deep within.

"What are you doing?", Rakastamos asked, and popped his massive jaw.

"What. Am. I. Doing?", asked Rico, not wanting to admit it.

"Telling people my weakness?", Rakastamos growled, putting his arms against the floor in order to better push off.

"Am. I?", Rico asked, feeling himself heat up. He knew that the wrong answer here would cost him his life, so he had to tread carefully.

"Are you?", Rakastamos shouted, and lunged. Rico didn't even have time to respond- he wasn't even sure of what he was going to have said- before Rakastamos's jaws slammed shut, and everything went dark.

"The Dr-", Rico's physical head got as far as, before there was a bright flash from within. Leon jumped back, and Dan held up a protecting arm, as a sudden yellow fire consumed Rico's head within a second. He didn't even have time to scream, leaving only a splotched red puddle and a pile of ash behind. Just as he had been about to reveal the secret, Rakastamos had stepped in.

"Oh.", said Brandy, and sneezed as some of the ash hit her nose. "That happened."

"Well, at least it was helpful.", Dan grumbled. "We know now that we're facing off against a Dragonlord. And that if we don't stop him, he's gonna destroy the entire population of the world. And also he has a weakness- something beginning with D and R."

"Yes….", said Brandy, and shook her hand against Dan's arm. "We know more now. Even if some of that stuff is a little terrifying."

"And also I guess that the things that have been attacking us for days are called Forgotten, then.", said Dan. "That's a good name for them, I suppose."

"Right…", said Brandy, and looked up. "Alright. Somehow, I don't think the old plan is gonna work anymore. We need a new one."

"What would you suggest?", Dan asked. "I thought the old one wasn't that bad."

"Well...", said Brandy, and slid down from his hands onto the ground. She broke off a branch from a nearby bush and began to draw in the dirt. "I guess. But I really do wanna make a new plan."

Song: Yuuki Rendan

"Let's start with the basics.", Brandy said, drawing a figure of a huge dragon in the dirt, then marking X's over the eyes. "We kill Rakastamos. If we don't do that, everyone dies."

"Right.", said Dan. "That is the priority. And how, exactly, are we doing that?"

"Well, Juno said he lives in the Clashcrush mountains.", said Brandy, drawing a rendition of a mountain range underneath Rakastamos. "So, of course, we go there. He shouldn't be too hard to find. He's probably a big Dragon, very well known."

"And once we find him… then what?", asked Leon. "You can't just expect us to go in there with weapons firing and bring him down just like that."

"Well, of course not.", said Brandy, and rolled her eyes. "That's why we train on the way."

She looked up at Dan, trying to explain her point. "We've both gotten stronger on this journey so far- a lot stronger. So if we keep on battling enemies like this, just imagine how strong we'll be when we finally meet Rakastamos."

"I'm not sure that's really the best idea, honey.", said Dan, and gave her a single pat on the head. "We can't take too much time. If we don't get to Rakastamos in time...well…"

"You're right.", Brandy said. "It was a stupid plan. Let's get rid of it."

"What?", Dan asked. "No. I didn't mean it like that. I just thought we should modify it a bit. That's all."

"Okay, fine.", Brandy said, and yawned. "Modifications it is. What do you think should be changed?"

"Well, we can't go around the entire continent trying to run into as many enemies as possible.", said Dan. "Our course should, ideally, be a straight line. For the best results."

"Okay, okay, straight as possible line.", said Brandy, writing that down in the dirt. "Towards the Clashcrush mountains… hey, anyone got a map?"

She stuck out her arm, and felt some random Builder from the assembled crowd toss her a map. She grinned, and unfolded it. "Thanks."

She stared at the map intently, trying to figure out where they were. There were a number of assorted landmarks, none of which she was used to. They ranged from immense canyons she had never heard of, to huge mountains and rivers she had no idea existed. "Uuuuh…"

She rolled the map up again, and turned her attention towards Dan. "Yeah, let's worry about that one later, shall we? Dan, what else?"

"We still do need to find your parents.", Dan said. "That's one of the reasons we came out here for."

"Right…", Brandy said, and wrote in _find parents _right under _Kill Rakastamos. _"Let's add that to the list. What else?"

"Well…", said Dan, and leaned in close. "It is still, technically speaking, our second honeymoon. So after we get all of that done…"

Brandy giggled, and closed her eyes. "We can get other stuff done. I'm stuff, you're other."  
"Who's st-", Dan began, then realized that Brandy had already answered his question. He smiled, and moved his hand towards her. "Yes. You're right."

"But back to the plan.", Brandy said, trying again to unroll the map. "That is also important."

"Right…", Dan said, peering at the map with intent. "But this map is so confusing. I don't know any of these landmarks or locations or anything."

"I know.", said Brandy. "What we need is like, a guide or something."

She looked up. "Okay, why do I feel like I'm in a commercial for a-"

A horn blew at the very edge of the village. It was not the loudest of horns, or the most obvious. It came nowhere near to the sheer volume of a Battle Horn- but it was, still, very noticable. Rachel looked up, rolled her eyes, and groaned.

"About _time _the Clan Castle troops got here!", she yelled. "It's been over a day!"

A caravan of carts emerged from the treeline, several assorted troops riding within them. Brandy could see a Barbarian and a Goblin in the first cart, an Archer and a Wizard in the second, and a Pekka in the third. They were packed in tight, more than this level of Clan Castle was supposed to fit.

The caravan slowly rolled into the village, drawn by a pair of exhausted Skeletons. It crawled to a halt in front of Rachel, and both Skeletons collapsed to their knees, then a pile of bones.

"Nice to finally see you.", said Rachel, reaching out a hand. "It looks like you all were a little late in arriving, weren't you?"

"Wait, what?", asked the Archer in confusion. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean what's going on?", asked Rachel. "Aren't you-"

She trailed off, as the confused faces of both the Archer and the Barbarian were all she needed. Rachel grabbed her forehead and leaned back in frustration, yelling at the sky. "We sent in that request yesterday morning and they still haven't come! What the frick?"

"Uh, miss…", said the Wizard timidly, and held up a finger. "We _are_ your requested troops."

Seeing Rachel's confused face, he quickly hurried to explain further. "But these two- the Archer and the Barbarian- are not. We found them in the woods. They say they're on… um…"

"Federal holiday.", said the Barbarian. "You see, we're actually federal troops. From across the ocean. We don't live here."

"Huh.", said Rachel, and jerked a thumb back at Dan and Brandy. "That's pretty much what they said."

"Who?", the Barbarian asked, taking a look at where Rachel was pointing. He saw them, nodded, realized what he was looking at, and his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"What-", he spat, and the Archer leaned to look at the same thing. "Is that- are those-"

"A Bandit and a Mega Knight…", the Archer said breathlessly. "Amazing…"

"I didn't know we would find some out here.", said the Barbarian. "What a coincidence."

"Yeah, yeah, okay.", said Rachel, and turned again towards Dan and Brandy. She cupped her hands to her mouth, and shouted. "Hey! You guys needed guides, right?"

"Yeah.", said Brandy back. They hadn't heard any of that conversation. "Why?"

"Well, I think I just found some.", said Rachel, and pointed to the Archer and the Barbarian, expressions of shock and confusion written across their faces. "Right here."

"Wait, no-", said the Barbarian, only for the Archer to give him a slap across the face.

"This is our only way out of here!", she whispered. "We could either go with this, or be stuck here in this village and be forced to fight."

The edges of the Barbarian's mouth pulled down automatically, and he rubbed his cheek with his hand. "Okay, okay." He shrugged. "I guess that makes sense."

"Right.", said the Archer, and pointed towards Dan and Brandy. "And it looks like we might be able to get to go with them."

"But we're not guides though.", said the Barbarian. "We can't-"

"No, but we're good enough with guide like things that we can fake it.", said the Archer.

"Yes…", said the Barbarian. "I suppose you are right."

"Hey.", said Brandy, who had suddenly appeared behind them. They both jumped, and fearfully turned around. Brandy gave a little wave, and smiled. "Are you our guides then?"

"Um…", said the Barbarian, and stood straight up. He gave a little salute, and cleared his throat. Engrossed in conversation as they were, none of them noticed that the general crowd had left the area, leaving them alone. "Yes! My name is Trevor, and my specialty is knowledge. I am familiar with all the basic plants and animals of the area. I can be most helpful."

From behind Trevor, the Archer spoke up. "And my name is Annabelle. I may not be that strong, but my eyes are unmatched. Right now, I can see what a butterfly is doing on the other side of the village."

Her eyes focused on a small blue and yellow butterfly on the far edge that Trevor would have identified as a Summer's Small, had he seen it as well. "It's taking a nap. Now it's washing its face. Now it just flew away."

"Niiiice.", said Brandy, and stuck out her hand. "Well, me and my husband just found out we have mere days to save the world from an insane Dragonlord bent on destroying it. We're going to need help. Wanna come?"

"Ummmm…", said Trevor, and shrugged. "It wouldn't be my first choice, but I suppose we really have no option."

"Heh.", Brandy chuckled as she bent down, and flipped back onto Dan's shoulder. "Well, we have our guides and our plan. Let's-"

But her words were cut off, as the bushes rustled ahead.

"Hold on.", said Dan, and held out an arm. "What's that?"

The bush rustled again, and Dan started to take a deep breath. Trevor's hand went to his sword, and Annabelle's to her bow. Brandy began to charge up some Dash in her left hand and feet, getting ready for anything that might emerge. "Probably nothing good."

The group stared for a few more seconds, waiting for something to come out of the bush. The bush moved again, and Dan's hand lit up with a bright burst of energy.

"Get ready.", he said to Annabelle and Trevor. "I think we're about to be attacked by something."

"Attacked?", came the voice of Leon, who stepped up from behind Dan. He flicked a spinner blade into each hand. "By another… what did he call them… Forgotten?"

"Oh, is that the word we're using now?", Dan asked. "I think it fits. Forgotten."

Then the bush rustled again, and something jumped out. Dan shouted, and brought up his hand to fire- only to stop, when he realized the thing that had jumped out was merely a small rabbit. Yet oddly enough, as Brandy looked at the rabbit, she just could not get the bizarre image of a crying child out of her head.

"Ah.", he said, and let his hand down. "Well, now I just feel a little silly."

"That's cause you are.", said Brandy, and let her hand relax with a sharp jolt of pain as the unspent Dash was absorbed into her. "You can be silly when you want to be."

"I guess.", said Dan, and turned back around towards Annabelle and Trevor. "So. You guys are in our group now, I guess."

Trevor looked at himself, and looked at Annabelle. His teeth clacked together involuntarily, and he gulped. "Yup. I guess."

"Alright so…", said Brandy, and once again grabbed hold of the map. "We're going to the rough center of the continent, finding a Dragonlord, killing him before he takes over and/or destroys the world, and probably battling all sorts of never before seen Troops along the way. You wanna come?"

"We don't have much choice.", said Annabelle, and fiddled with the ends of her bowstring. "Like I said before."

"Also, this is my son.", said Dan, and gave Leon a friendly pat on the back. He was thrown forward a bit, but managed to stagger to a stop right before he hit Trevor. "He will be coming with us, for obvious reasons. He can turn invisible and shoot stuff from his sleeves."

"I see.", said Annabelle. "That sounds…um… impressive. And if you don't mind me asking, what uh… _is _your son?"

"My name is Leon.", said Leon, flicking his lollipop around in his mouth. "I am a Legendary Brawler. Excuse me if you didn't recognize my appearance."

Annabelle's face reddened, the sheer salt in Leon's voice not lost on her. She tucked her hair behind her ear, and sniffed. "Oh. I… I didn't mean it like that, I promise."

"Frickin better.", said Leon quietly, and Brandy jumped down from Dan's shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Annabelle quietly mumbled something, which was too quiet for Brandy to hear. She was about to ask what it was, when she heard Dan clear his throat behind her.

"So.", he said, and held aloft a map. He pointed to the gigantic mountain range in the center, and looked down. "This is our first target. Do you think you could-"

Then, he stopped. For looming over Trevor and Annabelle's heads, he saw a massive, drooling, eyeless head on a stalk, two toothy jaws connected by stone.

Song: Nella Cerneria

"Woah!", he shouted, and took a deep breath. He fired off a quick blast towards the head before he even had time to think, acting out of sheer habit. "Look out!", he yelled.

But to his utter shock, his Star cannon just continued straight through the head like he hadn't even fired it. It reared up, and opened its mouth wider to devour the two- yet both Trevor and Annabelle were acting as though they didn't see it. Dan shouted, and waved his hand through where the head was. Yet even that had no effect- at least for a second. Then the head was knocked backwards, and shook itself in phantom pain.

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, propelling herself off of his shoulder and skidding along the grass. She pointed upwards, at something in the sky. "Look out!"

Dan looked behind and upwards for a half second so as to not take his attention off of the toothed head- and saw absolutely nothing. To his sight, the sky was totally clear.

But to Brandy's, it wasn't. A colossal floating human head hovered in the sky, borne aloft on seemingly nothing but the clouds. Its stone expression was fixed, unmoving except for a scowl of anger. "Shoot it! Shoot it, or something!"

"Shoot what?", Dan asked, pointing one finger at the thing over Trevor and Annabelle, and the other roughly at the sky. "What am I supposed to be shooting at?"

"Shoot that!", Leon yelled, as the thing in his vision became clear. It was a massive green tentacle, reaching out of the woods and floating towards the village. "Shoot that!"

"What's going on?", Brandy screamed in confusion, trying to take in everything at once. "Why aren't you shooting?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to be shooting at!", Dan snarled, and raised his hands. "I'm seeing something, but you guys act like you're seeing something else!"

"What are you seeing?", Brandy yelled, dodging narrowly to avoid what looked to be a massive laser blast. "I'm seeing a head!"

"I'm seeing a-", Dan growled, then noticed something. The toothy tendril he had seen at first had been hovering over Trevor and Annabelle for a while now, and it still hadn't attacked. It would have had plenty of opportunities to do so, and yet it had not. Dan took a few seconds to think- and then, all of a sudden, it clicked into place.

"Guys!", Dan said, and let go of his Star. He grabbed Trevor, Annabelle, Brandy, and Leon from where they stood and threw them onto his shoulders, leaning forwards. "They're all illusions!"

"What?", asked Leon. "How can you be sure?"

"There's nothing that lives in this area that can create illusions!", said Trevor, and put a hand to his face. "Pretty sure at least."

"We're about to find out what can!", shouted Dan, and breathed in. "We all seem to be seeing different things, Leon. And they haven't attacked us yet. That can only mean one thing-"

He finished breathing in, and attacked- but instead of releasing it as Star like normal, he chose instead to fire a massive gust of wind. "They're all fake!"

The blast of concentrated air swept along the ground, pushing over the grass and bending back the trees. A small bush, the exact one that the rabbit had emerged from, rustled violently, something within seemingly struggling to hold on to the branches.

"In there!", Annabelle yelled, and drew her bow. "I see something! It looks like- like-"

Dan increased the force of his breath with a massive burst, and whatever was in the bush screamed. The bush blew off the ground entirely and flew into the air, as something shot out backwards from where it had been. Brandy saw what it was, and gasped.

"A kid?", she asked in disbelief, and blinked. The figure that was now rolling along on the grass, clearly in pain, seemed to be a young girl. She had long, blonde, dirty hair, reaching halfway down her back. Her clothes were simple, and torn in some places. And as she jutted out an elbow and slowly scraped to a stop, she gave a gasp of clearly audible agony.

"Shoot it! Shoot it!", shouted Trevor, and drew his sword. He seemed not to have seen who their target was, and rushed towards the bush with a fervent anger. "Annabelle, shoot!"

"No!", Brandy yelled, and stuck out her arm. Trevor's face banged directly against it, and he went down hard against the ground. He lay there for a few seconds, staring up at the sky, not quite yet ready to get up.

"Look at her.", Brandy said, and pointed. "She doesn't seem like a- a Forgotten."

Dan had been about to fire, when he took a look too. His brows shifted, as he stared directly at the girl. He slowly put his hand down, and the light of the Star within faded to nothing.

"Maybe not, but…", he said, and motioned to Leon to keep ready. Leon actually had no idea what the gesture meant, but he summoned up Hunter Killer just to be safe. Dan took a huge step forward, and loomed over the small girl. "From what we've seen, they can look like anything."

He raised his hand again, and took a deep breath. "We can't be too careful."

The girl looked up, and into Dan's glowing hand. Sheer, real terror filled her eyes, and she brought up her hands in front of her face as if to protect herself. "No…", she choked out, her face turning white from sheer fear. "Please… don't hurt me…"

Brandy looked at her more closely, and gasped. In her eyes, she could see the same look she had known herself to have many times before. She was no Forgotten- she was just a scared child, alone, afraid, and acting in self defense.

Then Dan fired, blasting a hole in the ground that sent up cracks in the surrounding area. Once the light subsided, the girl was gone. Dan turned around- to see Brandy's shocked face.

"Dan-", she choked out. "What did you just-"

"She was clearly a Forgotten.", Dan said. "And I just took her out-"

But before their impending argument could actually come to pass, Dan felt something directly to the right of him. He jerked his head back, only narrowly avoiding a broadsword that had come out of completely nowhere. He took a step back and spat on the ground, swiveling his head in the direction of the threat. "Who the-"

To his mild surprise, there stood the girl, in the branches of a tree. She looked slightly dirtier, and a little winded, but very much alive. She yelled something in some different language, and raised her hand to once again throw.

"I got her!", Annabelle yelled, and drew her bow. She nocked an arrow into the bowstring, and aimed. "I got her-"

Then she stopped, blinked, and let go out of her bow when she noticed that she seemed to have grabbed a writhing green eel. She shrieked and let it fall, jumping away. "Never mind!"

"She's mine!" shouted Trevor, and charged forward. "She can't trick me!"

He swiveled his head for any sign of her, ready to attack. He spun around and searched the treeline, failing to find the girl. The reason for this was most likely because part of his vision had been blocked off, leaving him unable to see anything else but the trees.

"Guys, stop!", Brandy yelled, jumping forward. She landed on the ground in front of where the girl had vanished into the trees, and stood. "Stop attacking her."

"Why?", Leon asked, sweeping his Stand around. "She attacked us!"

"I said, stop.", said Brandy, with a stern eye. "Just hold on."

"Oh.", said Leon, and took a step back. He slowly let Hunter Killer demanifest, and his arm fall. "Ooookay then."

Brandy took a step towards the treeline, and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Hello?", she asked, her heart beating quickly. She was acting entirely on a hunch here. She didn't know why- only that she should do it.

"I'm not going to hurt you!", she said, and took another step. "I just want to talk!"

From within the treeline, the girl stared. She wasn't sure if she should trust this strange adult. She seemed to be like all the other ones who had hurt her, the ones that she had just barely managed to get away from.

"See?", Brandy said, and took a deep breath. She spread out her arms and did something that no one there expected- she closed her eyes, bent her legs, and sat down on the ground.

"I won't hurt you.", she said, as she folded her arms on her knee. "I can't."

"Brandy, what are you doing?", Dan hissed, wanting to charge forward- but Brandy's attitude and mental link telling him that he shouldn't. "Don't sit down!"

_Watch, _was Brandy's only reply. _I have an idea._

Leon started to take a step forward, but a quick gesture from Dan sent him back again. And as the group watched, they saw the girl appear as if from thin air right next to the thin treeline.

She stepped forward, getting closer to Brandy, with the utmost caution. She looked up into Brandy's still, silent face, trembling fear written upon her own.

"It's okay.", said Brandy, and the girl almost jumped back. But something about Brandy seemed familiar somehow- familiar enough for her to press on. "You can trust me."

The girl took a deep breath, and placed her hand upon Brandy's knee. "H… hi.", she said timidly. Brandy smiled outwardly- but inwardly, she braced herself. For where the girl had placed her hand on her knee, Brandy felt no touch or pressure.

"Got you!", the girl shouted, and the image on Brandy's knee abruptly vanished. The real girl suddenly appeared, brandishing a knife and leaping directly at Brandy's head. But she was young and inexperienced, and her attack was huge and sloppy. As such, it took less than a second for Brandy's hand to Dash right at her, snake through her arms, and tap hard enough on her forehead to both push her backwards and knock her out cold.

Brandy stood up, grabbed the girl around her midsection, and started to walk back towards the village. Dan and Leon jumped to her side almost instantly, crowding around her and staring at her in utter confusion. Trevor and Annabelle hurried to catch up, but they were markedly slower.

"Brandy, what are you doing?", asked Dan. "That was a clever trick, but you just beat her. Now finish her off and let's go."

"No.", said Brandy. "I told her I wouldn't hurt her, and I didn't. Much."

"Wait, why are you doing this?", asked Leon. "It just seems weird how suddenly you're caring for her. Did she not literally just try to kill us?"

"No.", said Brandy, and stopped walking. She gently set the girl down on a rock, and slipped a hand behind her head. "She was acting in self defense. I find that quite interesting."

"What are you talking abou-", Leon asked, but a quick tap on the back from Dan shut him up.

"She's like this for a reason, son.", said Dan. "When Brandy focuses on something, she tends to really focus."

"Huh.", said Leon, as Brandy put one hand on the girl's forehead and gently pushed. "Well, you do know her."

"Hey.", said Brandy, as the girl's eyes fluttered open. "You alright?"

"What…", the girl said, as she looked around. "What just happened? Where am I? What's going on?"

"My name is Brandy.", said Brandy, and lifted the girl to her feet. "I think we got off on the wrong foot back there. You don't look evil. You just attacked us, but I hardly think it would be right to blame it on you. Would you mind telling us why?"

"Um…", said the girl. "I'm Bubble. I attacked you because you were scary and I thought you might hurt me. A lot."

"Oh.", said Brandy. "Nice to meet you, Bubble. Why would you think that?"

"Because everything tries to hurt me out here.", said Bubble, and folded her arms to her legs and chest. "Even the animals."

Dan and Leon watched in wonder, as Brandy seemed to engage the strange girl in conversation and calm. They looked at each other, shrugged, and then went back to watching.

"Oh, that doesn't sound fun.", said Brandy, her voice soft, almost lyrical. "But you're safe now."

"Please?", Bubble asked, and she started to shake. Her eyes grew wet with tears, and she buried her head in her knees. "Please don't hurt me…"

"What?", Brandy asked, and gently touched Bubble's cheek. "Of course we're not gonna hurt you."

"Oh…", Bubble said, and dried her tears on her skirt. She looked up into Brandy's eyes, and relaxed a bit.

"Who are you people, anyway?", asked Bubble, her voice full of suspicion, and yet adoration.

"Well.", said Brandy. "We're the people who are going to save the world."

"Woahhh…", said Bubble, her eyes sparkling. Oddly enough, all of the fear she had had just a few moments ago seemed to have vanished. "I wanna come!"

"Oh.", said Brandy. She thought for a moment, shrugged, and then stood up. "Well, sure."

"Yay!", Bubble said, and wrapped her arms around Brandy's waist. "Thank you, Brandy!"

"Um, yes…", said Brandy, and gestured towards Dan. _This is happening, _she thought.

_Well… yes, _Dan thought back. _I suppose it is._

"Okay.", he said out loud, and stood up. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened there, but he knew that it had ended well. He cleared his throat, and pointed towards the horizon.

"Everyone…", he said, and posed. "We're off!"

"Wait!", came the voice of Rachel, running to the group as fast as she could. "Are you guys leaving?"

"We were about to.", said Dan, and came back down. "Why, is something wrong."

"No, nothing's wrong.", said Rachel, and reached into her bag. "I just wanted to give you a few things, is all."

She had scarcely gone a few more seconds rummaging when she saw Bubble peeking out at her from the edges of Brandy's skirt. "Oh, who's that?", she asked. "I didn't see her around before."

"Oh, this is Bubble.", said Brandy, and patted Bubble's head. "I just found her. She attacked us, but she didn't mean it."

"You're sure she's not a Forgotten though?", asked Dan. "That just happened really suddenly."

"I could check again.", said Brandy, and leaned down. "Bubble, tell us who you're with."

Bubble stared for a second, not sure what exactly Brandy was asking. "...you guys…"

"Not Rakastamoz?", asked Brandy, and Bubble tilted her head. Brandy had purposefully gotten the name wrong. If Bubble then called him Rakastamos, they would know she was working for him. But if she got the name wrong in the same way, it would mean her likely innocence.

Bubble scrunched up her face. "Who's that? Rakastamoz? Sounds like a Goblin."

"I see.", said Brandy. "Bubble, where did you come from?"

"Over there.", said Bubble, and pointed to a mountain. At the very top, there was a very thin column of smoke that only Annabelle could sort of maybe see. "That way."

"Before that.", said Brandy. "Before you walked here."

"Oh.", said Bubble, and nodded. "I don't remember."

"You don't remember?", Brandy asked. "Hm. What about… before that? Where were you born?"

"I don't know.", said Bubble. "I don't remember anything."

"I see…", said Brandy, and stroked her chin. "Well-"

"Hey, could you do the questioning on the Balloon?", asked Rachel, who was still standing behind them, impatiently tapping her boot. "Cause I have some stuff to give you guys before you go. To help on your quest."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and looked up. "Sure."

Then she waited for a few seconds, and heard what else Rachel had said. "Wait, did you say Balloon?"

"Yep.", Rachel said, and pointed towards the Village. "I chartered a Balloon to take you to the village of one of our clanmates, Mr. Chairman, near the Clashcrush mountains. Figured you'd need it- there's a lot of stuff in the way. Canyons, rivers, ancient haunted forests- that kind of stuff."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and bowed. "Well, thank you Rachel. I am very obliged."

"Don't mention it.", said Rachel, and clapped her hands. "Handarchers! Gifts."

At once, a half dozen Archers rushed out from behind her, each holding various objects. They ranged from potions to gems to very large vials, all very large and clearly heavy.

"I picked several things out to help you on your journey." said Rachel with pride. "It's the least we can do, for helping our village with the things that attacked."

_They probably wouldn't even have come if it wasn't for us, _thought Leon, but he decided not to say it. Rachel had been nothing but kind to him, and he would have hated to ruin such a thought. "Thank you for your kindness, queen.", is what he said instead.

"Here…", said one of the Archers, at a nod from her queen, and brought up the Potion. "This is a Power Potion. Such a mixture will grant immense strength if imbibed."

"But don't drink the whole thing.", said Rachel with a wag of her finger. "We use Power Potions to power up entire armies at a time. If you drink the whole thing at once, it will probably kill you. So just a few drops or less, you understand?"

"Yes.", said Brandy with a nod, and gave the potion to Dan, who tucked it into his pocket. "I do."

"And here's 80 Gems.", said another Archer, holding up a large barrel overflowing with Gems. "In case you wanna buy something, at any store you might run into."

"Thank you, but-", Dan started to say, when he saw the way Brandy stared at the Gems. He rolled his eyes, and changed his mind. "Actually, yes. We would like some."

Brandy grinned, and grabbed the barrel of Gems. She tossed it up to Dan, who placed it gently in his other pocket. "That'll be fun…"

"And here is another gift.", said another Archer, holding up a vial. "This is a Poison spell, for if you ever need it. I'm not sure you will, but just in case."

"Oh, that will come in handy.", said Brandy, and tucked it into her pocket. "We run into monsters plenty."

"And here is one more thing.", said a fourth Archer, the last two struggling to help her carry a large bottle full of a dark reddish-brown liquid. "This special compound is what is known as the Dragon Poison. It is what we believe is the only thing that could permanently kill Dragonlord Rakastamos."

Brandy's eyes practically bugged out of her head, and she did a double take. She pointed at the vial, her fingers trembling. "Tha- that stuff? _That _could kill him forever?"

"Yes.", said Rachel. "That is what she just said."

"So we better keep this safe.", said Dan, and gently plucked it from the arms of the Archer trio. He delicately and precisely tucked it into his back pocket, and gave it a little pat. "There we go."

"Yes.", said Rachel, and clapped her hands. "Now, you had best be off."

Song: Killer

"Right…", said Dan, and leaned back. He put his hands on his back and stretched, making sure not to pop the vial. Even though it was made to kill Dragons, it would still most likely affect him.

He grimaced, noting how his armor was cracked in many places. He would have to get a new set at the next place they stopped it. Did they carry Mega Knight armor, all the way out here in a different continent? He frowned. Probably not. "We should get going."

"Oh, are we leaving?", asked Brandy, and looked around. She made a mental check to see if everyone was there- Dan, herself, Leon, Bubble, Annabelle, and Trevor. Dan was right next to her, she was at herself, Leon was leaning against a stump with his lollipop, Bubble was next to him, looking up in admiration, and Annabelle and Trevor were next to each other, looking slightly scared but not allowing themselves to touch. She sighed in relief. That was all her children-

She blinked, and shook her head. "Wait, what?"

"Come on.", said Dan, and grabbed her around the waist. She squeaked, and found herself suddenly sitting upon Dan's shoulder. "Yes, we are."

"Oh, we're going?", asked Leon. He put one hand to his forehead, and stared at the Balloon, several Skeletons struggling to keep it tethered in the stiff wind. He fiddled with a spinner blade a bit, still nervous at what might await them on their journey. "I didn't know we were going already."

"Well, we are.", said Dan with a hint of annoyance, and reached out to grab Leon. "Now come on, son, off we go into the Balloon."

"Wow, I get to come with you guys?", asked Bubble. "Did I do-"

Dan sighed, not wanting to repeat the process with everyone there. Instead he just took a deep breath, steeled himself, flexed his muscles, and his arms shot out like a storm of yellow lightning. The entire group felt themselves get grabbed by Dan's gigantic, muscular hands, and thrown into the basket of the Balloon. All except Brandy- she was already on Dan's shoulder.

"Okay, we are off!", Dan said, and jumped into the Balloon himself. He landed lightly on his feet despite his massive size, making sure to not crush the bottom of the Balloon. "We are leaving, going away, starting on the next leg of the journey, etc, etc. Now let us go."

The Skeleton ground crew all saluted, and untied the ropes as one. One of them forgot his arm was still attached to a Balloon and watched as it lifted off, his eyes drooping from sadness.

The Balloon soared upwards into the sky, borne aloft by the excellent winds. It took a few seconds for everyone to get settled in, with everyone crawling all over each other and trying to sit in the smallish basket, but eventually everybody was settled in.

"So.", said Brandy as she looked over the side. The weather was excellent for flying, the sky clear except for a few assorted clouds. A few birds passed by, small white and blue ones. "Bubble… what are you?"

"Hey look, a flock of navywings.", Dan said, looking at the birds, then turned back in towards the basket. "What is she?"

"I told you.", said Bubble, and folded her arms. "I'm Bubble."

"Yes, but what _are _you?", asked Brandy. "You don't look like any Troop I've ever seen."

"Troop…?", asked Bubble, with a curious tilt of her head. "What's a… Troop?"  
"Okay, I'm guessing she's not one.", Brandy said. "Leon, is she a Brawler?"

Leon took a look, stroking his chin. "No, I don't think so. At least, not that I know of."

Bubble stared at them, and threw up her arms. Her cheeks grew red from childlike fury, and her teeth seemed to grow sharp, from some cast illusion. "I told you! I'm just Bubble!"

"Hm.", said Brandy. "Well, you've got to be something. You can't just be-"

"No.", said Dan, and took a closer look. "I… think she might actually be."

"Be what?", asked Brandy, and Bubble shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"It's complicated to explain.", said Dan, reaching over and giving Brandy a scratch on the cheek. She leaned into it, and closed her eyes in pleasure. "But I'll tell you what I mean once we land."

"Oh, okay, fine", said Brandy. "We'll have more time to talk on the ground anyway."

She cast another look over the side, and almost jumped. The Balloon had been traveling at high speed, and they were now thousands of feet above the ground. An immense canyon spread out far below, and Brandy shivered at the sight.

"Dang, we're pretty high up.", she whispered, and then turned back around to the basket. She looked at everyone seated, and gave a wild smile. "Does anyone want to play a game?"

"A…", Trevor asked. "A game?"

"Yeah.", said Brandy. "To pass the time. You know, like 20 questions, or rock paper scissors, or- I know! Does anyone have a deck on them? We could play go fi-"

Then she stopped talking, and tilted her head. A faint whistling noise reached her ears, seeming to come from down below. A faint alarm bell tickled at the back of her mind, but it was nothing too loud. "Does anyone else hear something?"

Dan stopped to listen, but his hearing wasn't quite precise enough to hear the whistling, now growing louder and louder. "Not really, no. Why?"

But Leon, as he listened, was able to pick up on the sound as well. "Yeah, it sounds almost like-"

His eyes widened in shock, as he realized just what it sounded like- it reminded him all too much of the sound of a Brock's rocket. "Shoot."

He leaned forward, and grabbed for Brandy's hand. "Mom, look out!"

"What-", Brandy asked, when a huge explosion rocked the side of the Balloon that, somehow, she alone was on. Time seemed to slow down as the sides of the tough wicker basket bent inwards, pushing against Brandy's back, and throwing her backwards. She let out a scream of panic as she realized what was about to happen, seeing the immense void of empty space open up far below her. Dan stretched out a hand to try and grab her, and Brandy attempted to flip back in- but it was too late as the impact of the airborne missile threw Brandy out of the basket of the Balloon, about to fall 3000 feet.

:


	17. Chapter 16

"Losing altitude!", Annabelle screamed, as the Balloon began to fall from the sky. She stumbled and fell to the floor, hitting her face on the hard wood. "We're going down fast!"

Dan looked out over the side of the Balloon, in utter horror. He could see Brandy falling far faster than the Balloon was, even now barely even able to be seen anymore. "Brandy!"

Leon looked out over the side as well, just barely able to keep himself from going invisible with all the panic. He screamed as loud as he could. "Mom!"

Bubble just stood there, in a sort of blind panic, not sure what to do. She started to scream as well, but it wasn't any words. The only thing that came out of her mouth was a high, wavering screech, composed of pure panic.

Trevor looked back and forth, trying to figure out what to do. His eyes settled on something lying against the side of the basket- and then lit up once he realized what it was. He grabbed it with a swift motion and tossed it to Dan- a very long, weighted at the end, rope.

"Dan!", he shouted, and Dan caught it one hand. Before Trevor even said "Toss this down!", Dan had already thrown one end over the edge, keeping the baseline wound tightly around his finger.

Song: Throwing

Brandy fell through the clouds at insane speed, feeling the intense wind whip through her hair and clothing. Her eyes strained against the impending force to stay open, trying to see the Balloon up above even as it slowly but surely faded into nothing. It was falling as well- if it hadn't been going the same direction as Brandy, it would have already vanished from her sight entirely.

As Brandy fell, she could feel the weightlessness hit her entire body at once. She twisted and spun around in midair, all the sights and colors blurring together into a single, dizzying, sickening mess. She tried to scream, to yell, to get some word out to anyone in the Ballon above, or perhaps even the ground below. But her words and her breath were stolen from her by the pressure and speed of the wind blasting around her, and they reached no one.

_Shoot…, _she thought. _This isn't good. I need to figure out something to do fast._

On her next rotation around in the air, she chanced a look at the ground. She almost immediately wished she had not done so, as she was then able to see just how close it was getting. Taking in the distance and doing a few quick calculations in her head, Brandy could see that she only had perhaps a few minutes before she made impact with the ground. 1 at the very minimum, but 6 at the most. She could have gotten a better estimate, had the spinning and the burning eyes and sheer, mind numbing panic not been influencing her decisions. But despite the distance, she still had to act- that she knew for certain.

Then, far over her, she saw a glint of metal. She strained her eyes even more, trying to see what it was- until it came closer, at a speed it could have only achieved if it was thrown. She could hear a faint shouting sound from up above, that sounded almost like Dan. And if she forced her eyes to look as hard as she possibly could, she could see that the thing he had thrown appeared to be some sort of anchor, tied on what was most definitely a rope.

Brandy almost yelled in relief, but instead chose to start grabbing for it.

Her hands flew upwards, but she was still falling at a steadily increasing speed. The rope streaked towards her, the anchor shining with the light of the morning sun. She could sense instinctively that she wasn't going to make it- the rate of her falling was too fast for the anchor to catch up with her. Her mind raced, trying to think of a way to get out of the situation- and then she remembered something she could do. With a shout of triumph, she reached back, grabbed her cloak, and spread it open wide. A burst of wind hit the back of it, dramatically slowing down her fall, and allowing the anchor to come within reach of her. She let go of her cloak with one hand, reached out with it, and grabbed on to the anchor's metal side.

Dan gasped in relief, as he saw Brandy grab the anchor far down below, just barely beyond the point where she would vanish from his vision. Leon had managed to get the Balloon stabilized from the attack with his help, and Trevor was ready to at least try and help him pull the anchor back in. "Whew.", he said. "That was close, but we did it-"

But, of course, saying such words is well known to have a jynx effect. And of course, as soon as he said them, another blast from the Air Defense came flying upwards from the ground. Dan shouted in panic, and Brandy screamed, as the airborne rocket cleaved directly through the rope holding up the anchor and Brandy, sending a spray of sparks through the air and Brandy falling, once again, towards the ground.

"Dang it!", she yelled, her words trailing in the air, as she flipped and tumbled through the broken air. She could see the Balloon far up overhead, right before a cloud crossed in front, obscuring it from her vision. "Dang itttt!"

She looked down- she could see the ground getting closer and closer. Her face turned white, as she saw the jagged rocks and tan sand of the canyon below. If she landed on them, it would mean almost certain death. She may have gotten stronger on the journey, but not strong enough to survive a fall like that.

But even as she saw the canyon floor approach her, an idea came into her head. It may not have been a particularly good idea, or even a really half-good one. But it was an idea, and it was all she had. So she bunched up her fist, tensed her leg, took a deep breath, and began to charge up her Dash, right where it would most count.

Another blast from the Air Defense sliced right by her, and she almost lost her concentration. But she had been able to jerk herself aside a half second before it would have hit her, using the twisting winds and shifting currents to her advantage. Then she blinked in confusion, as she realized something. How would she have known to dodge, when she had no idea that the blast had even been coming in the first place? The question gave her temporary pause, only broken by the realization that the ground was, indeed, still coming closer. Brandy grit her teeth, pulled herself into a tighter curl, and braced herself for impact. Try as she might, she was going to hit the ground.

"Did we just lose her?", shouted Trevor, gripping the sides of the Balloon. "I don't see her anymore!"

"No!", Annabelle said, straining her eyes to see. "I can still see her! A little bit."

"Where is she?", Dan yelled, almost blasting out the eardrums of everybody on the Balloon. "Is she still in the air? The ground? Where is she?"

"She's still in the air.", said Annabelle, pointing down and squinting her eyes from the wind. "But she won't be for long- I think she's gonna hit the ground in just about 30 seconds or so."

Dan started to say something, but he was interrupted by Leon's shout. He turned to see what was going on- and saw Leon frantically pointing at the high slope of a grassy mountain.

"So are we!", he yelled, and grabbed Bubble from where she stood in the middle of the Balloon's basket, still screaming to herself. He threw himself and Bubble against the side of the basket, plugging her ears and putting a hand over her eyes. "Only I think we have less time!"

"Brace yourselves!", Dan shouted, grabbing Trevor and Annabelle and tossing them to Leon. His eyes watered with tears, but he couldn't focus on that right now. "We're about to make impact!"

Dan didn't even wait for Trevor and Annabelle to right themselves before grabbing on to the sides of the Balloon, digging in with all his limbs to provide a solid shield, and lighting up his arms and legs blue. He shot a burst of Rotation right into the Balloon's basket, sending it spinning around at steadily increasing speed. With any luck, it would decrease the shock caused by the impact with the cliff, and allow them all to recover faster.

"Get ready!", he shouted, and closed his eyes. "We're about to-"

And then, with a powerful thud, crash, scrape, and sound of tearing wood and shredding grass, the damaged Balloon crashed into the side of the high mountain. It skidded across the top, heading straight for the edge- but Dan was already on it. He slammed his hand into the dirt, digging his fingers straight into the rock itself. With a painful screech, the Balloon ground to a halt, unceremoniously dipping the basket over and sending them all spilling out.

"Brandy!", Dan yelled, picking up Annabelle and rushing to the side of the cliff. He held her outwards, and she looked down. "Annabelle, where is she? Do you see her?"

Annabelle looked down, her eyes straining to pick up any sign of Brandy. But even though her sight was strong, Brandy remained elusive. "No. Give me a few drops of that Power Potion."

"The Power…", Dan said, then looked up. "Oh! Right! The Power Potion!"

He let go of Annabelle with one hand, and dug into his pocket. He looked up, and snarled. "Brandy had it!"

"No!", shouted Bubble, and held it aloft. "I have it, here!"

"Good!", Dan yelled, and held out his hand. "Toss it here!"

Bubble tossed the Power Potion towards Dan's direction, and he grabbed it with one mighty hand. He held it out for Annabelle, who dipped her finger in a single drop on the end. She licked it off, and her eyes began to glow with a brilliant blue. She looked down again, and pointed.

"There!", she shouted, with hopeful words. "I see her! There!"

Brandy continued to fall, somehow picking up even more speed. Her eyes watered from the wind, and she felt herself grow light headed. If she kept falling like she was doing, she would certainly faint.

_This…,_ she thought, her heart feeling like it was going to pound out of her chest, _is not good. _

She looked down again, and saw the canyon getting closer and closer. If she looked hard, she could see the river in the middle come into view, even seeing some assorted animals walking around amid the bushes and trees. She paled. "Not good at all."

She estimated that she couldn't have more than a thousand feet left before she made impact with the ground. If she didn't figure out something to do before then, she would be killed.

Twisting around, she tried to grab at her cloak- but the wind was too strong, and too harsh. She couldn't get a grip on it like she could before. She scrabbled at her cloak in desperation, trying beyond effort for a grab. It didn't matter that she couldn't latch on to it- she needed to. And she was going to keep on trying. But then her arm suddenly gave out, and her cloak got away from her again, soaring up above her and out of her reach. Her face reddened in frustration, and she almost screamed. But, fortunately, Brandy was able to stay at least slightly calm. She looked down again, and saw that the distance between her and death was now only about 500 feet.

Her mind raced, desperately attempting to find some way out of the situation. She couldn't parachute, there was nothing around to grab onto, nothing to stop her fall besides what was possibly very shallow water. Maybe if she moved herself as far to the right as she could- or, no, the left- no, the right-

Brandy scowled. It was impossible to tell which way the river actually was, with all the twisting and turning and falling she was doing. Brandy grit her teeth, seeing the ground approach- and then, like a miracle, she got an idea.

Brandy laughed, as it took hold in her mind. It had been so simple- why did she not think of it before? She had done this kind of stuff already- not in this exact situation, to be sure, but it was the basic principle that counted. So Brandy bent one leg, got in the right angle, gathered up as much Dash in her lower body as possible, took a deep breath, and prepared.

200 feet until impact. That is what she could see and calculate with lightning speed, as she looked down. She needed precise timing on this one, otherwise it would not work.

100 feet. This was it. It was now or never, then or not, jump or death. Brandy tensed, closed her eyes, opened them again, and-

She pushed off of the open air at an exact 90 degree angle, with such a staggering amount of force it created a shockwave that blew in all directions. A flat disk of pure energy spread vertically 30 feet above the ground, blowing back trees and slicing through the rock at the canyon's edge. The force of the falling had somehow been mitigated by the move, and Brandy went flying towards the canyon's edge with merely the impact of a swift 30 foot fall rather than a 3000 foot one. It hurt when she smacked against the hard rock, stayed there for a second, and then slowly slid off onto the ground, but it hadn't hurt enough to really cause damage. And that, of course, was the important part.

Brandy lay there for a second, just taking time to breathe. The pain rolled through her like an ocean wave, going up from her feet to her scalp, then going back down again. She let out a little cough, a spattering of blood falling onto the sand with it. As her vision ever so slowly unblurred, she saw her arm, still flickering a faint blue. She gasped in relief as she realized that she must have unconsciously activated her Dash shield, right as she had kicked. It hadn't lasted long in her panicking, exhausted state, but it was probably what had saved her from getting knocked out or maybe even killed upon impact with the solid granite wall.

"O...okay.", said Brandy, and tried to push herself to her feet. But her muscles had been almost destroyed by the colossal kick she had used to save herself with, and she could no longer stand. She instead just collapsed to the ground, causing a wince of pain.

"Dang it, dang it, dang it.", Brandy mumbled to herself, and sat down where she stood. She began to fish in her back pocket, searching for a Heal spell she had brought for the journey.

After frantically digging for a few seconds, she found the Heal, a few sticks of random, old gum, and a few dozen gold. She frantically destroyed the lid on the Heal, dumped it into her mouth, and drank almost the entire thing in just one gulp. She dragged her sleeve across her mouth and sighed deeply, the pain in her legs all but now gone.

"Okay, that's good.", said Brandy, and sighed in relief. She moved her ankles around, and felt her thighs. "I was kind of worried that I might have to go without them."

She looked up, and put her hand to her forehead. "I just hope everyone else is alright. It was kind of hard to see when I was falling."

Then, as Brandy gradually saw where she was, a black feeling of panic began to set in. She saw the rough sandstone walls, towering high above her. She saw the sharp angles of the walls, threatening to close in and crush her. All the shadows and textures of the area around her settled into her brain- reminding her of one terrifying fact- she was in a canyon.

Brandy felt her hands grab her face, not even controlling their actions. She backed up, her feet carrying her against the wall. What happened the last time she was in a canyon came flooding back into her mind all at once, and she heard a loud scream. It took a moment for her to realize that the scream was, in fact, her very own voice.

Far up above, Annabelle strained to see Brandy. She looked down, just barely able to see her as a dot on the surface of the ground. "I see her.", she said. "But-"

"But what?", Dan asked, his face turning red. "What is it? Is she alright?"

"She's…", said Annabelle, and waited. Then she saw the dot slightly move, and let out a breath. "Moving.", she finished, and Dan's face softened. "I can see her moving around down there… I think she just leaned against one of the walls."

"Well, that's good-", said Dan, then stopped. His mind clicked into gear, as he began to make the exact same realization that Brandy was making, far down below. "Oh no."

"What?", asked Leon, who took an extremely careful look over the edge. The thought came into his head to leap, but he ignored it. "What's wrong? Mom's safe, right?"

"She's in a canyon.", said Dan, and backed up. "Alone. Most likely injured."

"Okay.", said Leon. "Yes, that's bad. I can see-"

"No.", said Dan. "I'm not worried because of that. Well, I am. But-"

He stood up straight, and stared at the far horizon. "Brandy is petrified of both being alone and canyons. And now…"

He looked down, and his face turned a little bluer. "She's going through both."

Song: Danger Draws Near

"No…", Brandy mumbled, trying to push herself further into the sandstone wall. She grabbed tighter and tighter at her face, her knuckles and cheeks turning white from pressure. "No, nononono. This isn't happening again. This can't be happening again. This isn't happening again...because…"

She stopped for half a second, and looked out from between her fingers. "There's… no one… around."

The thought gave her some comfort, as it fully sank into her mind. She slowly stood up, and brushed herself off, still keeping a close eye out for anything that might appear. She had seen animals as she had dropped into the canyon, but they had most likely scattered when she had hit the ground. There was nothing around, save for the assorted plants of the area. A few tall trees, and a whole lot of bushes. There may have been things in them, but Brandy wasn't sure.

"Okay.", she said to herself, and began to pace. "The first thing to do...is…"

She looked up, and tried to figure out where everyone else was. She had not seen the Balloon crash, so she assumed that they all were still in the air. "Wait. I need to wait for them, and then they can come and get me. Yeah."

She stood there for a few seconds, pondering this plan, then went back into thought again. "No. No, that is a bad idea. I need to start walking. They'll find me easier that way."

Then she spun around on her heel, and looked into the river. A fish jumped, it's sparkling blue and gold scales caught perfectly in the midmorning sun. "No, they're not coming to get me anytime soon. The thing that was shooting at us probably took down the Balloon."

Before she had time to wonder where this thought had come from, a pure rush of fear overtook her entire body at the mere idea of everyone else being dead.

"Woah.", she said, and stumbled back. "I can't be thinking about that. I can't afford to be."

Her hand grabbed on to a branch, and she gripped it tight. The thin wood broke off in her hand, and she nervously held it in front of her. It felt reassuring to be holding some sort of weapon again, even if she didn't really need it all that much anymore.

"Hey!", she shouted down the canyon, figuring that if she was to run into something, it might as well be right then, and not later on, when she was unprepared. "Who's out there?"

She waited a few seconds, the sound echoing down the narrow canyon tunnel, but nothing came. The sound of her voice faded to silence, and nothing emerged.

"Hello?", she called again, louder this time. "Anyone around? I broke my leg, and now I can't get up! It would be great if someone were to come and help me, before something got me, because now I'm all helpless!"

This was, of course, a clever ploy. Such words might draw out more predators, allowing Brandy to fight them on relatively open ground instead of close quarters such as the bushes. But, to her mild surprise, nothing came out to attack her.

"Okay then, I guess not.", she said, and shrugged. "I can just-"

She only had time to take a single step, when she felt the sand start to shift under her feet.

Song: Burning Colosseum

Brandy grimaced, and jumped backwards, flipping over and skidding across the ground. It was fortunate that she did so, for a hole opened up right where she had been, revealing a massive crack in the ground. A deep rumble came from within, and Brandy held her stick in a downwards knife position, ready to strike and stab at a moment's notice.

"Foolish, insolent, heathen mortal!", came an incredibly deep voice from within, and scabbed golden arms began to stab at the entrance to the pit. "You dare disturb the long, quiet slumber of…"

The arms heaved and pulled as one, pushing up a colossal golden abomination. It seemed to be made of a single metal slab, with rust and sand falling off of it in equal amounts. A dozen or so long, spindly arms stuck outwards from its sides, grabbing at the edges of the pit and scraping at the sand. Two cold yellow eyes stared outwards from the topmost part of the shape, an evil light seeming to come from deep within. The entire appearance was topped off by a huge swarm of beetles that followed it out of the pit, clacking and clicking their jaws.

The ancient beast leaned forward, slamming its appendages onto the sand with a spray of dirt. A gaping, dripping wound of a mouth mysteriously opened, and spat cursed words.

"The Pharaoh?"

"Oh, shoot.", Brandy whispered to herself, taking in any information about this new threat she could see. The beetles seemed to be completely under his command, their movements orchestrated by a spinning leftish hand. The joints on his limbs seemed fragile- perhaps she could begin by going after and breaking those. The rest of the Pharaoh's body appeared very strong, from his solid metal construction to his bulging arms. There were no legs underneath, only his hands keeping him aloft. The pit seemed to have nothing in it, but perhaps Brandy could push him back in. "We-_ I_, got another one."

She winced, as she realized that for the first time, she was going to be facing off against a Forgotten completely alone. She took a breath, steeled herself, and assumed a defensive stance. "Come on, pharaoh.", she said, and gestured with her hand. "Let's go."

"You dare address me so?", the Pharaoh bellowed, indignant. He reared up, all his hands skittering behind him. "You shall address me as Tekahatan! No, Lord Tekahatan!"

"How about I address you as…", Brandy began, then winked. "Mate?"

"M- mate?", Tekahatan roared, and his eyes somehow widened. "You would dare speak to me with an _informal term of endearment?"_

"Oh, you're right.", said Brandy, and pretended to think. "Tekahatan? More like- Tekafatan!"

Tekahatan gasped again, and Brandy laughed- but underneath her mocking actions was a strategy. The longer she kept him talking, the more time she had to figure out a weak point. And, she thought as she began to build up her Dash… _The more time I have to attack._

"I've heard enough, wench.", Tekahatan growled, and raised one arm. The end of it fell off to reveal a sharpened, gleaming blade, dripping with a thick black liquid. "Pray to whatever god you worship, for you are about to meet them firsthand!"

"I already did.", said Brandy, remembering for a second the time she had met God. "It was wonderful. We talked, drank tea, shared secrets of the universe."

She crouched low, and her heels began to spark. "That sort of thing."

Then she sprung, swinging her stick around with the speed of helicopter blades. The Pharaoh barely had time to draw back, before Brandy's weapon collided head on with his face.

Of course, seeing as it was just a regular stick, and not the specialized, hardened superwood of the Arenas, it stood no chance against Tekahatan's metal sarcophagus. It cracked in half almost instantly, the initial shock behind the blow doing very little harm to the point of impact.

"Your attempts are truly foolish!", Tekahatan shouted, bringing up one arm to grab her. "Did you ever think that-"

But then Brandy grabbed the side of his sarcophagus, spun around, and jammed one foot directly into his eye. The Pharaoh stopped his boasts, started his screaming, and almost fell to the ground. One hand went to his eye, and two more went straight for Brandy.

Brandy ducked and rolled, spinning her way out of the Pharaoh's damaged vision. She slid down the side of his body, making sure to slash a mark in some symbol on the way. She wasn't sure if it was important, but she was counting on the off chance that it was.

The two hands impaled the sand next to her, throwing up two large plumes. She could still hear Tekahatan yelling in pain- until he suddenly stopped. An alarm bell flickered at the back of her brain, and she spun around to face him. There he stood, his eye undamaged and his mouth grinning. Brandy's own mouth went dry, as she realized what he might be about to do.

"You fool!", he shouted triumphantly, and brought up all his arms in front of her. "You think such a feeble strike could hurt me? I, Tekahatan the Pharaoh?"

"I was counting on it.", said Brandy, making sure to keep an eye on each and every one of his tentacles. "Because-"

Then she yelped, as another arm that had been hidden in the sand suddenly grabbed her by the back. It wrapped around her waist, and yanked her upwards into the waiting face of the Pharaoh before she could make any attempt to escape.

"It would be wise not to try and count on anything else.", said Tekahatan. "Look where it got you- in front of me, about to die. Just like the weak little mortal you are."

But even as he spoke, Brandy started to vibrate in his grasp. A low noise escaped her throat, and a bright blue light began to rise from her skin. The Pharaoh took a cautious look at her, not sure what he was to do now.

"What are you doing?", he asked, but Brandy didn't answer. "Stop that!", he said louder, but Brandy continued whatever it was. "I said stop it!", he bellowed. "Stop that at once-"

Then Brandy's Dash Eruption exploded, a burst of pure energy spilling out in all directions at once, right in Tekahatan's arm. He screamed, as he felt the limb explode into a dozen pieces, the charred armor and twisted flesh flying away.

Brandy landed on the ground at an angle, wiping her mouth free of the black liquid that the Pharaoh had spilt. Upon a slight accidental taste, she realized that it was pure Dark Elixir.

That was strange- even Dark Elixir troops didn't usually burst into it upon death. Perhaps he was such an evil soul that the rules were different for him. Or maybe, it was not Dark Elixir at all. Perhaps, it was something else. Some strange substance, that she should definitely not have licked. She spat any trace of it by her side, concentrated some Dash in her left fist, and took another stance. If she could use her Swipe right through his head, it would be over.

"Why, you're better than I thought!", she saw the Pharaoh exclaim, as the dust cleared away. He took a creaking turn towards her, shaking out his remaining limbs. "But that doesn't mean that my Beetles can't make short work of you!"

He gestured downwards in a decisive swipe, and the immense hordes of beetles turned as one to face Brandy. "All Beetles! Charge and feed!"

Brandy grimaced, as the huge swarm of insects all rushed her at once. She tried to think of what to do- but it was hard to concentrate with the noise of rushing feet and chattering mouthparts.

So she just kept on flipping backwards, towards the river, Tekahatan laughing maniacally at her plight.

"Run, little mortal!", he shouted, and spun around his limbs. "Just try and run away from my Beetles… for as long as you dare!"

Brandy Dashed backwards through a bush, but the Beetles continued their pursuit. They scoured the bush to bare sticks in a second, not even slowing down. Brandy grimaced, and looked backwards. The wall was coming up soon, just past the river.

"You may be fast, but you're not faster than them!", Tekahatan shouted, almost buzzing with anticipation. He could feel whatever his Beetles felt- including the satisfaction of a kill. "There's nowhere to escape, nowhere to run, nowhere to-"

His last words of the sentence were cut off, as he watched Brandy jump across the river. The Beetles, single minded in their pursuit, tried to rush over the water, failed, and were carried away downstream by the swift currents, vanishing around a bend.

Tekahatan stared at the spot where his swarm had fallen, in total shock. One arm twitched a bit, and his eyes shook. His mouth dropped, dried up a bit, and took on a bit of a more normal appearance. He stared at Brandy, who just looked down at the river, looked back up, and shrugged. Then she tapped her leg with her foot, an insultive gesture.

"You…", Tekahatan fumed, and began to rise up as high as he could lift himself. "You think this is funny, mortal?"

Brandy shrugged again, and began picking out the best spot on the hillside to make a path upwards, in case she needed to climb. "Honestly? Yes. Yes I do."

"Well then…", Tekahatan growled, and raised his arms. They began a sinister spin in their sockets, and a low whine began to build. "How funny do you find this?"

The wind generated by the Pharaoh's spinning arms began to pick up in speed and scope, blowing the sand around him. It started at first in only minute amounts, but soon became larger and stronger as the wind picked up. As Brandy watched in growing concern, the particles of sand became rushes, and the rushes became blasts- and then with one enormous grunt of effort from Tekahatan, the sand and the wind combined in order to form a gigantic-

"Sandstorm!", the Pharaoh bellowed, sheer triumph in his voice. As Brandy watched, she could see the way the various symbols around the edge of his sarcophagus lit up in a sequence, slowly approaching the center of his collar. It seemed that one or two were lighting up every few seconds, but there were still dozens more to go. "This is my ultimate strategy. The wind generated by the movement of my arms produces a shredding wind, which picks up sand as it goes! Your mortal body will be torn to bits upon mere contact!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know.", said Brandy, looking with renewed vigor for a way out. "It's your ultimate technique or whatever, blah blah blah. Can I go now?"

"Wha-", Tekahatan said, then growled. He pushed forward on his two upright legs, the destroying spiral of wind and sand lurching forward with him. "Of course you can go!"

"Wait, really-", Brandy began, then she realized what it was that he actually meant.

"Go to death!", yelled Tekahatan, and jumped directly at Brandy. She yelped and Dashed to the right, narrowly dodging as the sandstorm collided directly with the spot that she had just barely been. The cone dug deep into the rock, scraping away entire feet of it at a time, until it had eaten away a hole as large as Brandy was.

"Now do you see it?", Tekahatan boasted, and clenched his teeth in triumph. He couldn't clench his fist, so he had just decided to do the second best thing. "The true strength of my sandstorm? Even the stone is fragile before it!"

He stood there for a second, before he realized that Brandy was not going to respond. The reason for this, of course, is that Brandy had leapt out of harm's way, and was currently running as fast as she could down the canyon, already beginning to go out of Tekahatan's sight.

"Come back here, little mortal!", he roared, his mouth again beginning to drip with dark fluids. "Don't you dare think that you've escaped!"

Brandy ran down the canyon as fast as she could, attempting to fight off memories. This all looked the same. Her enemy was saying almost the same things. She could feel the concentration slipping out of her, threatening to send her mind back to the past.

"Dang it…", she mumbled, simultaneously massaging her forehead while trying to look behind herself to see the Pharaoh's location. She slammed her face right into her elbow while attempting to do so, and she deeply scowled. "I can't get distracted like this. I have to-"

She yelped, as she realized she had stopped moving for a second. That second was all that Tekahaten needed in order to take a swipe at her, missing by mere microseconds. She leapt backwards and flipped around a tree, skidding behind herself deep into the sand.

"It's over, fool!", Tekahatan shouted, spreading his arms open wide. The sandstorm widened with him, then began to shrink as he closed in. Brandy turned to run again- but she only now saw that she had forced herself into a dead end. Behind her was the Pharaoh, his destructive sandstorm still going, and in front of her was thousands of tons of solid rock. She was trapped.

"You've had your fun-", said Tekahatan, and lowered his arms with intent to kill. "Now perish!"

He lunged forward, about to finish Brandy off, when Brandy realized something. The glowing status of the symbols had finally reached the middle of his collar, where Brandy had slashed out a symbol. Perhaps if the charge hit the center of it, where there was now little more than a sparkling, sparking mess, something could happen.

And then, as the charge finally reached it, something did. As soon as the magic that was seemingly controlling the sandstorm hit the shattered part of the symbols, Tekahatan howled in immense pain. He watched silently, in total shock, as the sandstorm he had summoned slowly dissolved, into a mere gust of wind and a few columns of loose sand. As he fell forward, he only hit the stone wall where Brandy had been moments earlier with his face, the rest of him carried behind and crunching up behind. And as he did so, the blue light that had powered the sandstorm carried up his entire body, splitting his sarcophagus apart at the seams. Brandy, who had taken the prime opportunity to duck and slide underneath him, watched in a mix of horror and fascination as the bulky metal frame of the Pharoah's sarchophogus splitting open to reveal a very old, badly dressed, very thin man that landed on the ground amongst the wreckage of the metal suit with a satisfying thump. He made no noise, other than an uncomfortable-sounding groan of pain.

"You…", he spat, and shakily attempted to rise. But his arms gave out from under him, and he once again collapsed to the ground. He spat out a ragged cough, a spatter of blood coming with it. His ribs dragged along the ground as he tried to crawl towards Brandy, his paper thin skin beginning to tear. "You actually broke my sarcophagus…"

"Oh, that was just something on you?", Brandy asked, and took a step forward. She slowly brought up her hand in front of her face for the final strike, filling it with pure Dash energy. "And here I was, thinking it was part of your body."

"No, no.", said Tekahatan, and coughed again. He carefully positioned a single finger into place, aiming it directly at Brandy's head. "I suppose that you could call it my coffin."

Brandy took a few more steps towards the Pharaoh, the sparkle in her hand growing. "A coffin. Aren't those usually used for dead kings? Although…"

She reached him, and placed one foot on his hand so he couldn't slip away. She placed her hand over his neck, and brought her hand upwards to finish him off. "You'll be dead soon."

"No…", said Tekahatan, and his finger started to glow. "Just you."

Brandy's eyes widened, and she yanked her head to the side a microsecond before he fired a thin red laser. It pierced directly through the middle of her ear and continued onwards, drilling a deep hole into the rocky cliff behind.

"Oh, you little-", Brandy yelped, and slashed as hard as she could. There was a miniature sonic boom from the impact point, as the Pharaoh's neck was annihilated by her Dash swipe. His head toppled from empty space and rolled across the ground, coming to a rest by Brandy's feet. It took a few seconds for his head to dissolve, then his skull, then the rest of his body fell into a pile of purple muck so dark the casual observer would mistake it for black. Only his headdress had been left behind, the burnished metal dented and ripped. A single beetle ran by, up the cliff.

Brandy, meanwhile, was on the ground, one knee brought up near her face, holding her ear with both hands, trying to stop the bleeding. Her ears were one of the most sensitive zones on her body, and having one of them be shot by a laser felt far worse than it would have for a non-Bandit. She couldn't stop small tears from flowing and her face heating up, as she squeezed them in order to try and apply pressure. She looked around for anything that she could use as a bandage, but the only thing she could see was her own tunic.

Brandy looked around- there was no one. The canyon was quiet now, with the Pharaoh's defeat. So Brandy grabbed the edge of her tunic, grimaced, and ripped a small portion off. It wasn't much, barely enough to cover her ear, but she hated to do it all the same. A quick wind around later, and her ear puncture had been covered, the bleeding stopped. It still hurt.

"Okay, now let's see where we are.", she said to herself, and looked up. She could see that the sun was still not at the apex of noon, the morning still having lots of time left. "And, more importantly, where they are."

She strained her eyes to try and see where they were, but she still could not see them. This, of course, was because they were currently trying to get down the side of a cliff far above, facing away from her, but she didn't know that. All she knew was that for the near future, it appeared she would have to keep on handling things all on her own.

"Or not.", she said, and decided to keep walking. She kept a careful eye out for anything ahead as she walked down the trail, her vision swiveling from one side of the canyon to the other. She thought she could perhaps rest a bit before running into what inevitable monster awaited her next- but of course, no such thing happened. What did happen was that she suddenly felt a thick vine wrap around her foot, and attempt to hoist her into the air.

"Oh, are you serious?", she shouted, and Dashed backwards out of it's grip. The action left burn marks on the plant's side, and it retreated with a loud screech. Brandy spun around, trying to see what else was coming- and saw a dozen more tendrils just like it, all in position to grab her.

"Shoot…", she mumbled, and felt her breathing go shallow. She had been in a situation like this before, she remembered from the back of her mind. It hadn't been very fun.

Song: Overdrive

"I'll allow you to give up.", said a smooth voice, from somewhere in the bushes. Brandy took a quick look without taking her eyes off of the vines, and saw a strange figure. She appeared to be a Witch, but her hood had been replaced with a hood of plants. Her eyes were cream yellow, her skin the color of grass. She sat on a throne of vines, and dozens of pods and tendrils floated around her. A pair of open pitcher plants sat by her, and she took a tall drink from one. "And no harm will come to you."

"Yeah, uh…", Brandy said, and took another look. The tendrils seemed to be shrinking back, retreating into the ground. "Who are you?"

The figure smiled, and folded her arms on her lap. "Why, my name is Emmara. I'm known as the Plant Witch. And you look like someone fun to talk to."

"You want to…", Brandy said, not taking her eye off of the tendrils still. "Talk to me?"

Emmara shrugged, and frowned, her eyes looking in different directions. "Yes. It gets ever so dreary out here, with just me and my plants all day. No one to talk to. Now, don't get me wrong- they are my babies. But they just don't make good conversation partners at all…"

"I see.", said Brandy, trying to keep the conversation going. She could use the same strategy that she did last time, with the Pharaoh. That had worked well. "So you just want someone to talk to, is that it? Because you're lonely out here?"

Emmara frowned, and looked down her nose at Brandy, in what almost seemed like disgust. "Well, yes. That is exactly what I just said. Were you not paying attention?"

"No, I was.", said Brandy, feeling the sparks of Dash start to build up within her entire body. She just needed a little more time, and then she could have enough energy to bring the Plant Witch down in one shot. "I was just making sure you were paying attention."

"Hm.", said Emmara, and slowly brought up her hand. One thumb was brought upwards, and she made a gesture with her free hand. "I did say I wanted to talk to you but…"

She shrugged, and made a clicking noise with her tongue. "You haven't been as fun to talk to as I had expected. So at this point-"

She switched her thumb from facing upwards to downwards, and the toothy tendrils that had seemed to retreat into the ground suddenly sprang back upwards. Several of the ones around her lunged forward, about to move in for the kill.

Brandy grunted, and flipped back. She instantly struck one arm out to the side, an attacking tendril disappearing in a flash of blue and silver light. She could hear a startled cry from the Plant Witch, but she chose of course to ignore it. Such things could wait for later.

Another tendril tried to attack Brandy from behind, but a sudden elbow from behind slashed a deep gash in its side. It screamed in a gutteral screech, and fell to the ground dead. Brandy wiped a spray of green liquid from her cheek, grit her teeth, and continued to fight.

Emmara let out an indignant cry, as she saw Brandy transform another one of her vines into a pile of green muck and goop with a single blow, splattering it across both of the canyon's walls.

Another large, toothy plant maw rose into the sky and dove directly at Brandy, but she had seen it coming. She dived out of the way, and the front of the jaws impacted directly on the ground with a sickening thump. It shook itself, bleeding and bruised from the impact, and looked up- only to see Brandy plant her foot directly through its head, coming out on the other side.

But even as she did so, it took a few seconds for her to yank her foot out of the rapidly melting head. Already, she could see the heads that she had destroyed dissolving from green muck to purple Elixir, and from there melting into the ground. And as she yanked, she wasn't prepared for another vine to come up from behind her, grab her around the legs, and hoist her high into the air.

She yelped as she found herself suddenly rising, feeling her legs get locked together by the powerful grip of the vine. The Plant Witch gave a yell of triumph, as she looked upwards.

"Ha!", she shouted. "I caught you! Now what are you gonna do? You gonna cry?"

Brandy looked down at her in mild confusion. "No- what? Why would I do that?"

"Cry, cry-", the Plant Witch said, and gestured to her pitcher plants. One of them grew in size, and maneuvered itself directly under where Brandy was. Its top opened up, to reveal a spitting, bubbling liquid. It had somehow switched from "Drink Mode" to "Kill Mode" without Brandy noticing. That was annoying. "When you're about to die!"

She cackled, and snapped her fingers. A thick material suddenly spat out from the vine that was holding Brandy, covering her legs and arms in a green semi-solid that dried almost instantly. She instinctively strained against it- but the stubborn material refused to break. Brandy paled, as she realized her usual strategy of Dashing away midair wasn't going to work this time. And as the vine let her go, falling straight for the pitcher plant, she realized she had absolutely no idea how she was going to get out of this one alive.

Song: Figlia

But as she fell, for whatever reason, time seemed to slow down. Her senses suddenly kicked into overdrive, and she became acutely aware of everything around her. She could see a single fly float by, almost seeming to be suspended in thin air. And as she saw herself fall, into the acid of the pitcher plant, coated in hard resin, she realized that she knew exactly what to do.

"Dorra!", she yelled at the top of her lungs, and felt a strange power well up from somewhere deep inside of her. Cracks began to appear in the resin coating her, and she grinned. This new power felt not like her regular blue energy, not even the purple of Rage. It felt… silver.

With one more burst of pure strength, the resin coating snapped. It flew in all directions, cutting through the vine that had held her and splashing into the pitcher plant, tipping it over and onto the ground. Time's sudden slowness then reversed, and she found herself falling once again in normal speed. With a mighty roar that seemed larger than herself, Brandy hit the ground in a mighty blow that blew the dirt into the air, and all over the shocked throne of the Plant Witch.

"What?", she shouted, holding up her hands. A dozen more tendrils rose over her, their snapping jaws and drooling mouths ready to attack. "What was that?"

She stared at Brandy in utter shock, just barely able to see the faint lines of energy that came off of her body, surrounding her in droves. "What are you?"

"What am I?", Brandy asked, and rolled her arm in it's socket. "Well, I'm a Bandit. But I'm more than that."

She took a step forward, and felt the sudden power flow through her veins like hot magma. She cracked her knuckles, and blew her bangs out of her face. "I'm a fighter. And a mother. And someone who is starting to get royally pissed off at this whole business with you forgotten, and all the interruptions we keep on having, and all you Forgotten!"

Her face turned angry, and she leapt forward, her fist outstretched. "Now go away!"

Emmara grimaced, and let her throne fall. She collapsed into the ground, sliding all the way into the dirt as Brandy passed overhead in a rush of energy. Brandy skidded to a stop as she slid on the other end of her rush, looking around for where the Plant Witch could have gone. But there was now suddenly nothing, but a patch of deeply stirred dirt where she had been mere moments before.

"I didn't really finish what I had planned on saying before, you know.", came her voice, echoing from the very ground. Brandy looked down and stomped as hard as she could, but it had little effect on wherever the Plant Witch was now. "About me wanting to talk to you and all."

"Oh, yeah?", Brandy asked, slowly bringing up her fist. A burst of Dash energy ,and it became a sheer destructive force. "What about it?"

"See, I said it would be more fun to talk to you but….", came Emmara's voice, and the ground began to shake. Brandy jumped back, but a ring of breaking dirt came in all directions around her. Several dozens of tentacles burst forth from the ground, one slowly rising to reveal Emmara, back on her throne. She spread her palms, and laughed. "It'd be more fun to eat you."

On another silent command, the tentacles rushed downwards and forwards, single minded in their quest and devotion to get Brandy. But Brandy just drew back her fist, and it lit up blue with a glorious light. Her eyes narrowed, and she tensed her muscles.

"Dorra!", she yelled, launching a Dash-infused punch as hard as she could right against the side of one of the tendrils. It exploded in a mixture of tough skin and chlorophyll, splattering all over Brandy. But she did not care- there were other problems that had to be attended to.

Emmara shrieked as she felt the tendrils die off- each one was telepathically linked to her- she could feel all the pain they were feeling, and the other way around. It was helpful at some times, but for now, it was practically a cursed ability.

"DOraoraoraoraora!", Brandy yelled, and drove her fists deep into another tendril. Its jaw snapped in half, and It screamed in pain as it was driven back. Then Brandy took a moment, concentrated ,and shouted, as loud and as long as she had ever done so.

The remaining plants rushing at her still remained, but they now seemed weak compared to what it was that Brandy had already been through. Another lightning-fast strike from the elbow, and the head fell like a crushed rock. It smacked against the ground, and lay perfectly still.

"Hmm, it's just like the Hydra." said Brandy and grit her teeth. "That's annoying."

Emmara yelled in anger as she saw the carefully built, expertly crafted head of her plant disappear like a wiped eraser mark. She looked around for anything she could use- when something caught her eye, from across the small hiking path. She leaned over, grabbed the rock, and got ready to fight.

As the heads fell upon her, they started twisting. One wound around another as they dissolved into one gigantic super head, its quintuple lines of plant-based teeth devouring something with a bizarre fury. As the head came closer, Brandy sensed that it was time to jump- and jump she did. She carried herself a full 13 feet off the ground, turning around in midair and landing on the other side with a twist. The superhead, meanwhile, smashed into the hard riverbank with a tremendous thud, almost knocking Brandy off her feet. It looked up, shook itself, and spat out a chunk of dirt, Brandy not noticing until late how it was looking directly behind her. Brandy looked up, and saw two things. One was a strange looking moose, walking around in a daze-induced stupor. The other was all the other heads rushing down at her simultaneously, attempting to cover all possible means of escape. Brandy shouted, and sprung to her feet. She bounced off of the cactus below, then the side of the behemoth, then landed perfectly on top of one of the heads. She stood there for a moment, then planted her foot as hard as it could go straight through the jaw, plunging out straight below. The head groaned in pain, and fell forward as Brandy leaped out of it and into a nearby tree.

"Stop!", Emmara suddenly yelled, and Brandy turned to look in shock. So did, for some reason, many of the heads. And they all saw Emmara standing there, tears running down her face, one hand outstretched. "Please… don't hurt them."

Brandy let her hand fall, and stared at Emmara with suspicion. "Why not? You tried to kill me with them."

Emmara took a step forward, as if wanting peace. "I know but- they're my babies. Like I said. And it breaks my heart to see you hurt them."

Brandy was a little taken aback by that, but she had to admit that she understood. She sighed, looked up, decided not to stick out her hand, and instead gave a polite nod. "I see."

She stared the Plant Witch down, still making sure not to take her eyes off of her. She was still an enemy, no matter how sympathetic she might have seemed. "But only if you stop attacking me. Then, and only then, will we have a deal."

"Yes, yes, anything.", said Emmara with a bow, and slowly retreated. She almost stumbled over one of her vines, before it picked her up and hastily put her in the chair. "I understand."

"Good.", said Brandy, and turned around. She made sure to cast one last look at Emmara, full of such power and threats of vengeance it would put a roaring fire to shame. "And if you don't…"

She curled her arm, and a spat of blue fire flickered around her bicep. "I'll kill you."

Emmara stared for a second, before taking another bow and walking backwards. "Yes. I will not bother you from here on out. Thank you for not destroying my children."

"It seems a bit weird to call them that but…", Brandy said, and turned around. She started walking, towards the cliffs. There seemed to be a long chain of stairs that would take her out of the canyon, and towards where hopefully the rest of the group was waiting. It had only been a few minutes since she had been separated from them, but it felt longer. "You do you, I guess."

She kept on hearing the sounds of the Plant Witch grow fainter and fainter behind her, as she hopped up the slopes. A faint thought kept ringing in the back of her mind, but she only devoted some part of her brain to getting ahold of it, and the rest to watching where she was going.

Perhaps she should not have done so, but Brandy stopped in her tracks, looked up, and took the time to admire the sheer beauty of the area. The canyon was huge, nearly a thousand feet deep into the ground. The river at the very bottom, the river that still held the Pharaoh's bug swarm somewhere- or at least Brandy thought, they could have died with him- was a sparkling crystal blue. Brandy thought it looked like her eyes. Or Dan's, they too were bright azure.

The plants surrounding the path on which she walked were quite beautiful, now that she got to see them. The leaves were the color of bright Gems, the flowers shining like pure Gold.

Brandy looked down at herself, seeing how her heavily standardized uniform contrasted so sharply with the utter wilds in which she now found herself. If she took a moment to just stare at it, she could almost forget that she was…

She blinked. Where had she been going with that? Forget that she was… what? In the Continent of the Clans? Where then would she be? That was a normal place to be- it was the largest continent. But yet, something itched at her brain, the thought of a "normal" place- if that even made any sense. All the continents and areas of the world were "normal", in their own ways. But a thought kept coming into her head, one of a world without standardization, one without Troops or Brawlers or anything else- of just people.

She shook her head, trying to clear the thought. It didn't make any sense, and the sheer idea of it gave her a headache. What were "normal people" anyway? She was a normal person- well, no. She was a Bandit. A legendary. And an exceptional Bandit at that. But others were normal- Barbarians were normal. Archers were normal. She thought of a Villager- what was more normal than that? But even as she fought to clear her head of such thoughts, they still persisted.

Song: I'm in Control

Brandy coughed to try and reset her attention, and looked up. The sky was still overhead, in the middle of the morning position. It had only been not even half an hour since they had set out from the Village. She tried to think of that fact, something homeful to hold on to.

The birds wheeling overhead gave her another distraction. She looked up, and saw them, the little green and blue puffballs screaming to each other about nothing in particular. She smiled, the delightful patterns upon their feathers clearly visible. One of them landed on a nest on the side of a rock, still squawking up a storm, and threw a stick as hard as it could. It flew past the other birds and hit the rock on the other side of the canyon, sticking deep in and hanging there.

She saw a trio of Minions fly by, take a glance at the birds and behind Brandy, and then continue flying, upwards towards the cliff. That too gave her rest- there were Minions out here. That was familiar, something to hold on to. "What were they looking at?", she wondered. "Behind me…"

Brandy started to turn around- then something popped into her head. That was what the alarm bell sensation had been ringing about. When Emmara had said that Brandy was killing her vines, that was true. But only then did Brandy realize that all Witches could raise the same batch of spawned Troops, them never truly dying, always able to come back.

And it was that thought that inspired Brandy to spin around, one arm raised, barely blocking the surprise blow of the Plant Witch.

"Why, I'm quite surprised.", the Plant Witch growled, and stared directly into Brandy's eyes. "You somehow figured out how to anticipate my attack."

"Oh, it was easy.", Brandy grunted, and pushed back. "I just smelled you coming."

Emmara snarled, and pushed harder. Brandy was pushed back a bit, further towards the edge of the cliff. She could see that Emmara had dozens upon dozens of plants helping her push- Brandy couldn't hope to outmuscle them all. Not unless she was able to summon up the Rage that had helped her defeat the mighty Serpent with a single blow.

"You smelled me, eh?", Emmara spat, and directed the plants to push even more. "I guess that _death_ is quite the distinctive aroma!"

"Oh, shut up!", Brandy yelled, thinking quickly. She could not hope to stop all the plants from pushing her into the water down below if she just pushed back linearly. But perhaps, if she could use their strength against them- then something might happen.

Emmara pushed harder, and Brandy strained as hard as she could. Emmara's eyes lit up at Brandy's struggling, and she laughed. "Go ahead, squirm! Tell me when you start getting tire-"

Then she stopped, as Brandy executed her plan. She shouted, shifted her weight, spun around to one side, and let go of the plant she was pushing on. Suddenly free of all resistance, Emmara and the plants flew forward, over the cliff, screaming as they did so. They scrambled for purchase upon the rocky soil, but it crumbled under their weight. Brandy watched as they fell towards the canyon floor- until a vine suddenly wrapped around her ankle, and pulled her to fall as well.

They both fell through the air for a few brief moments, both of them screaming at each other. Emmara out of indignancy and anger, Brandy out of just rage. But once the two of them hit the bottom, their shouts were silenced by the immense splash. The weight of the plants was immense, and it created a blast of water that spread all the way to the canyon's walls.

Brandy stood up, and snarled. She took an offensive stance, prepared to kill the Plant Witch. Not only because she was an enemy, but because she had made Brandy think that she could be trusted. She didn't even wait for Emmara to rise before charging forward, Dashing at once and skimming along the surface of the river.

Emmara tried to rise to her feet, but it was slow and hard going with the veritable forest of vines wrapped around her body. She saw Brandy coming towards her, and tried to block the impact- but Brandy, to her surprise, simply tapped lightly on Emmara's head, and flew onto the riverbank.

For Brandy had seen what was coming, from the other end. Emmara had landed in the wrong place to see, and so she had no way to know that the wave of the Pharoah's bugs, still hungry and ready to attack anything, was bearing down on her.

Emmara finally hoisted herself to her feet, mere moments before the hungry horde hit her dead-on. She took a deep breath, looked downriver, and screamed. She motioned to her plants to create a shield, and they as one spewed forth a pile of hard resin that covered Emmara, just as the beetle swarm hit her dead on. They carried the resin cocoon deep downstream in mere seconds, vanishing around a corner and out of sight, carrying the formidable Plant Witch to an uncertain doom.

Brandy heaved a sigh of relief, and turned towards the cliff. She could actually climb it now, with the Plant Witch finally being dead. Hopefully she was the last enemy Brandy would encounter on her way out. If any more popped up, Brandy would be more than annoyed.

Placing one foot on the path, Brandy started the long walk up the canyonside. She could see the red rock underneath her feet, almost as red as the clothes worn by Red troops. Brandy chuckled to herself a bit, reflecting on how that whole idea seemed kind of alien out here.

Then she stopped, as she remembered what it was that she had to do. She was still separated from the group, regardless of her two recent victories. And the best course of action to take right now would be to get as high as possible, so they would be able to spot her easier.

Pressing her foot against the rock, Brandy shot upwards with her Dash, alighting on a higher switchback along the trail. The rock crumbled underneath her feet, falling down to the canyon below. Brandy sucked in a breath and took a few hurried steps, getting away from the edge and onto solid ground. She looked up, trying to judge how long it would be before she reached the top. It was a bit hard to see that high, but she managed to get a number, dizzying as it was.

"Looks like there are…", she said to herself, and frowned. "About 380."

She steeled herself, crouched, and prepared to jump upwards. "Well, come on legs.", she said. "We better start now."

Song: Imminence

Brandy jumped again onto the next switchback, not noticing where she had stepped. Her foot crushed a hollow in the sand upon impact, disturbing the rest of a very large black scorpion.

Brandy barely even saw it coming, flying towards her face with lightning speed, before she struck with her palm and hit the scorpion dead on, splattering it into bits and sending the pieces flying. But the tail kept on going, slashing across her skin and opening up a nasty cut.

Brandy hissed, and shot her hand into her tunic. She quickly bunched up the fabric around her cut hand, and doubled over onto the ground. She sat up and took a quick peek at the cut, and winced as she saw the size of it. "Aw, shoot. That was dumb."

She looked around for anything that would help with the bleeding, perhaps a plant. But there was nothing, only a few random weeds and the ever present grass. Brandy took another look at the cut, hoping it wouldn't get infected- then something popped into her mind. She thought about it for a moment, then almost laughed as she realized it.

"Oh, right.", she said to herself, and fished into her pocket with her non-cut hand. "I still do have that travel-size Heal."

She found the bottle, which was now about half full. Popping the lid open with her teeth and pouring it onto the wound, the pain subsided almost instantly. Brandy watched in relief as the cut slowly grew smaller and smaller, becoming a thin scar just before fading. Or it would have, had the small bottle not run out just before finishing the healing all the way. Now the wound was no longer open or bleeding, but there was a thin white scar on top of her hand. Brandy really hoped there was no venom that had been left inside- you needed a special kind of heal for that.

Brandy stood up, crouched, and continued the jump without words. There was no one to talk to, out in this distant canyon. That thought gave her the motivation to continue, knowing that once she reached the top, she would be able to be reunited with her family that much quicker.

Bouncing from one switchback to another, she was gradually able to settle into a sort of rhythm.

It was really just a matter of jump, move forward, hop a little, jump again, move forward, and then keep on jumping, making adjustments as needed. And as her body settled into the rhythm, Brandy once again took a moment to admire the lush, beautiful landscape that surrounded her.

On the other side of the canyon, she could see deer passing by. They appeared to be very large, but that could have just been the way she was seeing them. Then again, they could actually be very large deer- the way things worked out here seemed to be a little odd compared to what Brandy was used to. And once a vulture flew over Brandy's head, all the way across the canyon, and landed on one the deer's horns, it became very clear that they were, in fact, Giant deer. Brandy whistled in awe, and kept on bouncing. "That's cool."

Up ahead, on her own side of the canyon, Brandy saw a family of what appeared to be mountain goats. She had no idea what kind they were- Dan usually knew stuff like that. He had been getting quite into animals and wildlife lately, in addition to his usual hobbies of comforting, eating, training, and making less than desirable things disappear. The thought of Dan once again gave Brandy a boost of focus, and she kept on climbing the way she could, bouncing from one layer of the vast canyon to another.

She quickly passed the group of mountain goats, leaving them far below as she sprang in mere seconds from one spot to the next. Upon closer inspection, she could see that they were actually Blue's mountain goat, a bit rare type of goat that only appeared on mountains where something big had happened. Brandy chose not to give that much thought, and so continued her journey upwards.

Within just a few minutes, Brandy could see the top of the canyon at last come into view. She rolled her eyes at how annoyingly long it had taken, and put all the energy she had into one final push. As she soured upwards, rocketing through the air and blowing away dust, she saw an incredibly surprised bird scream at her pass. Brandy realized that she did not know what type of bird that actually was- she would have to ask Dan once she found him. She could ask him a lot of wilderness questions, like what were the birds she had seen earlier, or what she could have put on her cut, or what-

Brandy realized that the edge to the canyon's cliff had suddenly appeared right in front of her. She lashed out with an arm and grabbed the side of the cliff, making sure not to break it and her grip off. With a grunt of slight effort, she swung herself up and over the side, in a crouch, ready for anything. Except, perhaps, what she saw in front of her.

Song: Kid Buu

Standing in front of Brandy, about 20 feet back from the edge of the cliff, stood what looked like some bizarre form of robot. It stood at a hunched angle, leering directly at Brandy with soulless, mechanical eyes and an upturned, dagger-toothed mouth. Its two arms ended in sharp blades that it swung back and forth, seemingly at random. A pair of legs at its very bottom both ended in thin wheels, the robotic beast sliding back and forth. 8 rubbery hoses swung and shook around its back, a faint windy current coming from within the half on the right and a faint windy push from the half on the left. Spikes grew from within each pair of tubes, glistening from both Elixir and blood. As if to top off the look, the head of the robot was adorned with a jester's cap, the bells softly swaying in the wind.

"What…", Brandy asked, and tensed. She instantly jumped to one side as soon as she could, expecting this new enemy to dodge- but instead, it just stood there. It seemed only content to watch her, as odd as that was. "What are you?"

The strange being looked at her for a few seconds. Then it took a stock of rubber balls out of its seemingly endless pockets, messed with them a few times, threw back its head, and began to laugh. This was no ordinary laughter- no, this was the laughter of a truly insane individual.

"What am I?", he asked, and let the rubber balls fall. They fell onto his outstretched hand, every single one, and he laughed to himself. "Why, I am the Jester Bot 2.0! Much cheaper than the original, but also much more dangerous."

He threw back his head and laughed, most likely waiting for somebody to join in. But no one did, and he stood there for a second in anger.

"That was funny.", he spat at Brandy. "You… are supposed… to laugh!"

"Was it?", Brandy asked, as she looked across the Jesterbot's body for any weak points. There was a spot in the middle of its chest that seemed rather thin, perhaps she could punch through that. She shivered slightly as she noticed that the insignia that he bore there resembled the same thing she had seen in the forest, before she had run into Leon- the shape of a Dragon's head. Then she realized with a start that it could only be one thing- the insignia of Rakastamos.

_What does he mean by 2.0?, _she thought. _Was there another one before this? Did everyone else run into it, and I missed it? Was I asleep or something? Darn._

"I don't think it was funny.", she said. "Cause, you know- that's the thing about jokes."

She shrugged, and winced, seeing the Jesterbot grow slightly angrier. "They need a punchline."

The Jesterbot rolled back on its two wheeled legs and spat out a few drops of oil, apparently unable to believe what he was hearing. "Excuse me?", it screeched, and its glass eyes turned a deep shade of red. "Doth you dare mock my humor?"

"You know what?", Brandy asked, and shifted her weight from one foot to the other. "Yes. I'm totally mocking you. Now come on, let's fight."

The Jesterbot, with a horrible cracking sound, stood up to its full height. The metal in its midsection creaked and popped as it rearranged itself, apparently designed to look as grotesque as possible. It rumbled as it did so, the mechanisms on its two slicing hands beginning to warm up. "Fight? There is no fight. You will die."

"Okay, okay, whatever.", Brandy said, noticing how close she was still to the edge of the cliff. "Let's just get started now- shall we?"

She flipped forward, high over the Jesterbot's head, and skidded along the grass. Coming to a stop, she drew out her hand, and began to charge it with Dash. Her plan was simple- a clean, fast blow directly through the middle of the robot. Even if it was mechanical, such a strike would make it difficult for it to survive. Even wires and data chips were vulnerable to being broken.

The Jesterbot 2.0 beeped and whirred, its stomach opening up to reveal a bucket of multicolored balls. Each one seemed slightly different, from large red ones to small blue ones and everything in between. Brandy could guess that the colors and size each meant something different- blue was probably ice, red was most likely fire, and yellow could be little else but electricity. The culture in which she lived tended to be shaped around such things as that.

"This one is funny, so prepare for a laugh!", the Jesterbot said, and reached into the bucket with the hoses on its back. It grabbed one or two balls in each grabber, and held them aloft. It began to spin its slicing hands around and around, picking up speed as it went. "The joke is:"

Then the Jesterbot rushed forward, and threw all the balls it had. "You're dead!"

Its face lit up as the barrage streaked towards Brandy at high speed, the balls twisting and whirling in the air in order to make them harder to dodge. But Brandy had prepared for such a thing, and was able to twist and whirl her own body just enough to slip through the attack, the balls carrying on and exploding on the ground behind her.

But to her surprise, they did not react like she had expected. The red ones burst open into a capsule of foam, that looked hard enough to contain anything weaker than a Barbarian within for a very long while. The blue one exploded into a puddle of sticky liquid that melted into the grass, covering it with a thin layer of most likely entrapping goo. And the yellow one simply exploded, blowing the top off of the cliff and sending it tumbling down into the canyon floor below, with a crash that sounded like thunder. Brandy stared in astonishment, at what seemed like some violation of the natural order of things happening right in front of her.

"What the…", she murmured, then ducked and rolled. She came up right behind a large rock, and tried to think. _Okay, so… he throws stuff. And it's not the type of stuff you would expect at all. This guy seems dangerous. I need a plan that can take him down. And now…_

Another shot suddenly arced over her head behind the rock, and she realized that it was time to stop thinking. A small white ball had been rolled in front of her- and it was anyone's guess to what this one actually did. Rather than stick around, however, Brandy just jumped into the air, right into the path of an orange ball. She yelped and jerked her head out of the way, just barely managing to avoid any contact with it. She landed back on the rock, brushed her hair out of her face, and snarled at the Jesterbot. "You think you're clever?"

"I am clever.", said the Jesterbot, and looked up. "Observe- my famous webbing bomb!"

"The what?", Brandy spat, and realized that the white ball below her had not yet exploded. She hissed and threw herself out of the way, just as the white ball blew into a giant net. The radius was large enough that it almost entrapped her within- almost. But Brandy was just barely too far away, and the white net now stood without victims.

"No, you're still not clever.", Brandy said, and stood up. She clenched her fist a golden white, and filled it with a burst of Dash. "And you'll pay for your lack of wit with your life."

"With my life…", said the Jesterbot, and chuckled. "Oh, that one is funny! For I am but a robot- I have no life!"

"Ha.", said Brandy, as she realized what the Jesterbot had said. "That you don't."

Then she charged forward as fast as she could, touching lightly on the ground with her Dash only once every 15 feet or so. The Jesterbot realized what it was that she was doing, and panicked a tiny bit. Its programming somehow faltered, as it saw Brandy boring down on it at high speed. So it did the first thing that came to its mind- raised its metallic buzzsaw hands into the air. They spun with anger, seemingly about to tear stone into dust and enemies into Elixir. But it had forgotten something vitaly important- and that was to keep throwing rocks. It would be enough to weaken his opponent before moving in for the kill- or, at least, it would have been. But the Jesterbot's lack of personal security didn't help in this situation, and neither did the impressive display of blades that he was putting on. Brandy kept on jumping through the attacks, noticing each and every ball as it flew past, noting their colors, sizes and shapes for future reference, and kept on going for the Jesterbot's exposed stomach. It looked like the perfect spot to stab, in order for a quick kill.

The Jester looked down and seemed to notice this, and its eyes visibly widened. Its two hands flew to its still open stomach, in an attempt to armor itself- but by that point, it was too late.

Brandy tore through the air, knocking aside a direct energy beam that had been meant for her. She punched through a few balls, not bothering to check what they were. They didn't matter, not when she was this close to finishing off the target. The Jesterbot yelled, and the cloth parts of his cap began to lift up. He threw faster, and with more intensity, Brandy continuing to weave her way through the mist, dodging every shot, until-

Her fist punched all the way through the Jesterbot's midsection, coming out the other side in an explosion of sparks and wires. It emitted a high pitched screech as it felt the most important part of its body get destroyed, and oil spat from its mouth like blood. Its arms stopped moving around, and the tubes on its back stopped flailing. They detached a second later, flopping onto the ground and writhing like beached fish. Brandy looked up, huffing from the exertion, into the Jesterbot's shocked eyes. The bright, flashing red and yellow began to fade into a dull grey, the light going out within them. Finally, all the movement of the Jesterbot simply locked up. It slid slowly off of Brandy's arms, off the side of the cliff, and fell, into the canyon below.

Brandy stood there for a moment, huffing and puffing, then brushed the hair off of her forehead.

"Well.", she said. "I guess that wasn't so hard, now was it?"

She turned to leave, looking forward down the long valley for where everyone else might have been. She still wasn't sure where exactly that was- the Balloon could have been a lot of places by now. Perhaps, she thought, they had gone down somewhere. Maybe they were already-

She shook herself, knowing that she couldn't think of such a thought. They were alive. If a fall from over 3000 feet into a canyon didn't kill her, then what would a crash in a Balloon do to them? Nothing, that was what. Brandy kept on repeating that to herself as she ran off towards the closest hill she saw, not knowing that the hoses of the Jesterbot were still, slowly, but surely, following her as she ran.

Far up on one of the hills, up in the Oldrange ridge, a party of 5 walked along, making sure not to waste any time. They couldn't afford to, not when Brandy was still down there somewhere. They stuck together as a team, and could not dare to lose a single one if they were to survive.

"Dan.", said Annabelle, sweeping her high-powered gaze back and forth. "What do we do if you we don't find her?"

She looked up at Dan, his heavy gaze looking as far as he could. His eye faltered a little bit at such words, and he clenched his arm muscles unconsciously. "We will.", he said simply.

"Yeah, but what if we don't?", she asked again. "I'm just asking-"

"And I said…", said Dan, and breathed out. A flash of Star burnt the grass underneath him, in a wide circle that stretched for almost 10 feet. "We will. So accept that."

"Okay, jeesh.", Annabelle said, and scooted off to one side. She bumped Trevor in the arm on accident, and he jumped back as if he had been shocked, his face a little more flushed. "I get it."

Leon took a look behind him, and noticed a pair of Minions flying overhead. Now, such a sight would have been rather normal for any Troop- but it was strange for him. He had never seen a Minion before- to him, they seemed like what they were. Flying, reptilian, beasts.

"What the heck is that?", he asked, and pointed at the Minion. Dan looked up, and narrowed his eyes at it. The thought of the sight managed to take his mind off of his worry, at the very least for a little bit. He actually felt a little better, as the sight of a Minion reminded him of home.

"Why, that's a Minion, my boy.", he said, and nodded. "A pair of them, in fact."

"Uh-huh…", said Leon, and looked up again. He rolled his lollipop around in his mouth a little, suddenly just a touch nervous. "And those are Minions too?"

"Correct.", said Dan, and moved his hand to pick Bubble up from the ground. She had been either just about to walk to the edge, jump on a frog, or traverse a puddle with a stick. Perhaps all three. He slung her onto his other shoulder, and nodded. "Minions."

"And all of those as well.", said Leon, pointing upwards at the vast cloud of Minions that had now gathered overhead. This time, it was not a question.

Dan looked up, and threw his arms out over the group. There was, for whatever reason, an absolutely immense Minion horde- no, _cloud _that had gathered over them. The sky had almost turned dark with their sheer strength, casting a shadow that the sun could hardly penetrate. Further examining of the situation would reveal that this had actually been accomplished through clever placement and the spreading of wings, but the effect was undeniable. To everyone in the group, it now looked as though they had been surrounded by a truly invincible Minion cloud. Dan whispered under his breath. "Oh, crap."

"Uh… Dad?", asked Leon, and slowly slipped a spinner blade into each hand. He felt the presence of Hunter Killer, deep within his mind, asking if it was okay if it came out. Leon nodded, and felt the gunstand slide forwards into his hand, out of his sleeve. "What do we do?"

"Are they gonna attack us?", Bubble asked, massaging her hands together as if getting something ready. "I don't want to be attacked!"

"Yeah…", said Dan, and popped his neck. He looked up at the Minions, roosting on every available spot there was, and flying in midair where there were not. "That's kinda unavoidable at this point. But just hold on there. We'll be out in a little bit."

"Wait, what's going on?", asked Trevor, and Annabelle looked up at the sky. "Oh.", he said.

"Hey, you can shoot air, right?", asked Dan, crouching down low next to Leon.

"Yeah.", said Leon, and flipped up Hunter Killer into the air. Even though he knew Dan could not see it, it was really the thought that mattered.

"Because.", said Dan, and looked up again. The massive cloud of Minions had begun to shift, now organizing their power towards the core of the structure. "I think we're about to need it."

Song: Solid State Scouter

Leon nodded, and aimed his Stand upwards. "Understood, Dad. Let's get ready. Bubble? Ann?"

Annabelle and Bubble both looked up. Annabelle had taken out her bow, and Bubble's hands glowed with shimmering light. Leon nodded, and gave a thumbs up. "Let's go."

The Minion cloud hovered over the group, waiting for their leader to make a decision. The massive, armored, Mega Minion at the center watched those down below, waiting to find out some more information before he proceeded further. He stared at Dan, almost daring him to make a move.

"Wait.", said Trevor. "How are we sure they're gonna attack us? They could just be passing through. I'm pretty sure that Minions are common in this area."

"There's a difference between common and whatever this is, Trevor.", said Annabelle, and drew back her bow. She knocked an arrow, ready to release. It wouldn't do much against such a vast swarm, but she could at least make an attempt. "This isn't normal behavior for any troop."

Trevor thought for a moment, then drew his sword. He couldn't reach the Minions, but he could perhaps attempt to block their shots. "Yeah, you're right. Let's fight."

Upon hearing those words, the Mega Minion's eyes lit up, and grew. He now knew there was no going back. He screeched, and clicked his claws together like knives. And upon such a signal, the entire Minion cloud began to move downwards, blocking out the sun like a rainstorm of claws and wings.

"Shoot!", Dan roared, and took a deep breath. He released the one he was already holding with his other lung, shooting a long beam of Star that pierced through a large column of Minions, turning them into purple mist in a second. "Shoot everything you've all got!"

Leon screamed, and held Hunter Killer up to the sky. He pulled down on the trigger so hard his finger turned white, and a huge cone of jagged metal and solid bullets erupted like a gale. Dozens of Minions were torn apart by the massive amount of projectiles, but it hardly even made a dent in the storm. Thousands of others kept coming, totally unburdened with their comrades' deaths. As they should have been- they were Wild Troops. They would just reform somewhere nearby, ready to once again rejoin their group. And that is why they attacked without fear, kept on diving through Leon's metal barrage and Dan's shining beam, filled with the single-minded desire to kill for their master.

"Bubble!", Dan shouted, leaning back as he shot a trio of blasts. They streaked through the air like missiles, detonating on the surface of the cloud like a clod of dirt against a Castle. Dozens of Minions exploded into Elixir, but they were swiftly replaced by the sheer bulk of the swarm.

"You can create illusions, right?"

"Yes.", said Bubble, and concentrated. She didn't need to be told what to do here- she already somehow, instinctively, knew. "Watch this!"

She pushed a strange amount of energy into the ground, and screamed in pain. Such a large use of her power took a lot out of her, but it would hopefully all be worth it.

A few seconds later, the image of a Dragon suddenly rose over the cliff. It was well over 70 feet in length, and most likely 80 tons in weight. The scales shone reddish gold, and its eyes glowed with an unnatural fury. Dan knew it wasn't real- Bubble had very clearly summoned it. And yet, it seemed like it was a physical Dragon. Dan also knew that if it was good enough to potentially fool him, then it was good enough to fool the Minions.

Bubble gave a weak thumbs up, and the Dragon moved upwards. It roared at the cloud of Minions, and they were momentarily given pause. The Mega Minion flew towards the top of the cloud, unsure of what to do with the sudden arrival of a Dragon.

"Great job, kid!", shouted Dan, and began to suck in a very deep breath. "How long do you think you can hold them off?"

"Not…", Bubble groaned, and the blue lights in her hands began to falter. "Not very long!"

"That's okay.", said Dan, as blinding gold began to grow in his. "Then we just have to take them out before then."

"Wait!", said Trevor and Annabelle, together. Dan turned around, trying to keep his concentration from breaking. One eye twitched, almost as much as his hands. "What?"

"Don't kill all of them!", said Trevor, wincing uncontrollably. "This many Minions has to be essential for this area of the environment. Destroying the entire group would mean disaster."

"Yeah, and it'll take too long besides.", said Annabelle. "We have to just take out the leader. If there's anything that I've learned, it's that."

"Take out the leader…", Dan said, and looked up towards the cloud. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Bubble, still desperately attempting to keep the Dragon sustained. Leon was still shooting like mad, waving his hands back and forth, and the cloud was still coming closer. Dan looked as hard as he could,attempting to search for some sort of leader, but there was no one that he could see. "Right…"

He looked down at Leon, and picked him up by the shoulders. Before Leon could say anything else, he turned him around and stared him right in the eyes.

"Leon.", he said, and lit up his other hand with fire so hot it was nearly white. "How are you with heights, being thrown, and killing the boss?"

"Wait, what-", Leon began, but he was pretty sure that he already knew what was about to happen. So he mentally prepared himself, clutched Hunter Killer closer to his chest, and waited. It wasn't long before he felt the fingers of Dan close around him, and curl his entire body up into a fist. Leon tried to think, to prepare, but he knew such things were useless. Instead ,he just breathed. In, out. Blowing onto hot soup, then actually drinking it. Such things were useful- until he felt the arm he was being held in shift, being held aloft in a straight angle all the way to the cloud above. Then the weightlessness started, as he was flung into the air so fast his eyes were pushed back into his head. He struggled not to drop anything on him. He did have a lot of things-

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Then he looked up and realized where he was, and cursed underneath his breath. He had broken through the bottom of the Minion cloud, and was now skidding along the tops of them inside of his Star armor that Dan had constructed. He could see nothing but tumbling wings and heaving bodies all around him, as far as his eyes could see. Dozens of the Minions attempted to tear at him, but the armor absorbed their blows, leaving only tiny marks.

"Where is it…", he said to himself, looking around for the boss. He didn't know what he was looking for, only what Dan had said to him. And that was _killing the boss. _

Leon shouted, and fired off Hunter Killer in random directions. The jagged metal and bullets cut through dozens upon dozens of the Minions as they shot through, but it still did nothing to reduce the sheer, overwhelming size of the swarm. And as he shot further in from his momentum, the cloud started to tighten in on him, swirling closer and closer to his bubble. The light from outside had been cut off by the tightness of the Minions- it was almost like he was inside of a thunderstorm, or at sea in the midst of a hurricane. He could barely see in the darkness, and the overwhelming din drowned out any noise he might have attempted to make.

But despite all that, he knew that he had a mission to complete. Kill the leader, and the cloud might disperse. So he looked up, squinted one eye, and-

There. There it was. He could see it. The leader sat high between a pillar of Minions coming down from both the top and the bottom of the cloud, seeming to be shouting orders from behind his thick armor. Leon snarled, and aimed Hunter Killer right at the new target.

"I can't… hold it!", shouted Bubble with exhaustion, and collapsed to the ground. Her eyes closed and her limbs went limp, just barely caught by Annabelle a half second before she hit the ground. The illusion of the mighty gold Dragon that had been keeping the Minions at bay suddenly halted, stuttered, and vanished, leaving an open path in the sky all the way to the group below. It took a while for the Minions to realize what had happened, as they didn't want to admit that they had been so scared of a mere trick. But after a bit, they as one turned downwards, claws and teeth extended to attack.

"Shoot, shoot, shoot, shoot.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. He prepared to throw a shield around all four of them, to block the assault. He could not directly attack the swarm, for Leon was still in there somewhere. He refused to take the risk of hitting him too. "Shoooot! Leon!"

The Minions dived, and Dan grimaced. He threw his hand over the group, and a bright golden dome appeared above them. Almost fifty Minions slammed themselves against it, the bright heat and sizzling light turning them to elixir in a second. But more were still coming, and Dan's barrier could not likely block them all.

"Come on…", he snarled, and pushed harder against the Minion onslaught. "Leon, what are you doing in there?"

At that very moment, Leon was sliding and bouncing as hard as he could towards what might have served as a throne for the Mega Minion. He slowly held out his hand holding Hunter Killer, trying to get closer for what absolutely had to be a perfect shot. If he were to miss this, he would be tossed out of the cloud, and out the other side. There were no other options.

"Come on…", he muttered, and held his arm out straight. He slowly inched his finger towards Hunter Killer's trigger, aiming as close as he possibly could. He was almost surfing along the Minions now, and his eyes lit up with anger. "Come on…"

Then he sensed something right in front of him, and yanked his hand backwards. He yelped in surprise, as the spot of air where his hand had been was suddenly filled with a solid metal pole. He shivered a bit, and realized that he was going right past the Mega Minion.

With a start, Leon snatched Hunter Killer out of the air once again, inside of his other hand. He placed one hand on the wing of a nearby Minion, yanking it out of its course and sending it spinning through the bottom of the cloud below. But not before Leon had jumped from it onto a different pile, aimed his Stand, and fired, placing a shred of spiked metal and bullets directly into the Mega Minion's head.

Far down below, Dan's shield had began to crack from the sheer force of all the Minions that besieged it. Hundreds more still came down from the darkened cloud above, gathering around the group like they were their next meal. And then, just as it seemed that they were all about to jump in and attack- something odd happened. Every single one of the Minions suddenly stopped moving, just hovering there and listening to the cries emitting from the nearby cloud.

_Our leader is dead, _they said, rather simply. _His replacement is coming soon. _

At once, a great wave of mourning spread throughout the entire cloud like wildfire. Almost before sound could have reached the back of the group, they were telling each other about what had just happened. Minionic gasps were heard, and several of them took off in random directions. Minion societies didn't last long at all, and this one was apparently no exception.

The Minions that had been attacking the group stopped, looked at each other, shrugged, and flew off. It seemed that they were about to join their comrades.

As Dan watched, he could see the rapidly disintegrating Minion swarm break apart, and head in thousands of different directions. And falling out of the disappearing mass was Leon, unable to stop himself from doing so.

"Catch him!", shouted Dan, gesturing frantically to anyone within reach. "Catch Leon!"

But as he scanned the faces of everyone in the group, it seemed as though if no one knew exactly what to do. All Trevor and Annabelle seemed to be able to do was provide information. Bubble had collapsed in Annabelle's arms, so she was out. Leon was falling, and Brandy was still missing- so Dan realized that it had to be him, and him alone.

So he ran towards the site where Leon was going to come down, his feet pounding the ground with every step. He brought up one arm and delivered a solid elbow to some random Minion that came up behind him splattering it into Elixir.

Finally, Dan reached the spot where it looked like Leon was going to come down. He reached out his arms, over a long cliff, the wind rushing through his body- and caught him. Dan grunted as Leon slammed back into his arms, pitching him forward a tiny bit as he rocked back and forth. Dan sighed in relief, and took a sit down. He just sat there a moment, sucking in his breath, as Leon slid out of his grip. He landed roughly on the ground, looked up- and saw something that almost gave him a heart attack. "Mom?"

Dan stopped moving. His head slowly turned around to look behind, and he gasped as well. There stood Brandy, having just come up from the ridge below. She was breathing heavily, and blood trickled down from one side of her face. Mud, dirt, and the blood of plants were smeared across her skin and face, and her hair was messed up. Her skirt had a chunk missing out of it, having been torn off to bind one of her wounds. And yet, as Dan fixed his gaze totally on her, all he could think about was how she could not possibly look more beautiful.

"B...Brandy.", he said, and stood up. He took one step towards her, then another, and then another, speeding up each time. He almost broke out into a run, but there wasn't quite enough space for him to accelerate that high on the tiny grassy hilltop. He slowed down when he reached her, and wrapped his arms around her in a gigantic hug.

Brandy felt herself get swept off the ground, clenched tightly in Dan's arms. She allowed herself to become fully enveloped, burying her face in his skin. She relaxed a bit, for the first time since that morning, finally reunited with him. It had in fact been only about half an hour since they had fallen out of the Balloon, but that had been plenty long enough for her.

"Dan…", she mumbled, not wanting to take herself out of his grip. "Where were you guys? What happened? I just crashed, and then I waited for you, but you didn't come, and I had to fight this weird guy, and then this weird Witch, and then another weird guy-"

"Woah, don't worry.", said Dan, and squeezed a tiny bit harder. "You're alright now. We didn't know where you went down either, but somehow, we knew that you were alright."

Annabelle and Trevor looked at each other- they had no idea if she had been alive. It was only Dan that had been repeating that to himself. But they were glad, even if it meant that Dan wouldn't destroy them for failing at their job.

Dan finally loosened the hug, and looked at Brandy's messy state. She looked up into his eyes, leaning on his gigantic arm, her eyes sparkling with love. Dan smiled, and gently stroked her hair. "Okay. Now let's get you cleaned up, my thief. Can't go back on the road again with you looking like that."

"Where are we going now?", Brandy asked, scratching at her shoulder. "The Balloon was just destroyed, so we can't very well go to the mountain that way."

"The Clashcrush River!", Trevor shouted, and held up one finger. Everyone turned to look at him, and he quickly fumbled for a map. It took him longer than he wanted it to, so Annabelle decided it was the best time for her to say what she had to say.

"It's a gigantic river that flows directly from the Clashcrush Mountains.", she said, trying to explain. "Specifically, the peak in which Rakastamos currently resides. If we follow the river, we can get to the mountain. It does go through several other features, but we'll get there when we get there."

"Features…", Brandy asked. "Like what? What do you mean, features?"

"Oh, you know, rivers.", said Trevor, finally yanking the map out of his satchel bag. "Canyons. Valleys. Acid swamps. Dark passageways through miles of solid rock, from which few return alive. That sort of thing. So just your regular stuff, really- I'm sure it's nothing to worry about."

"I see.", said Dan, and stood up. He grabbed a nearby tree, pulling off one of the giant leaves. He retrieved the Rune of Elixir from within one of his pockets, poured some onto the leaf, and handed it to Brandy. "There you go, honey. Wash yourself off with that."

As Brandy scrubbed her muddied face with the wet leaf, Dan turned to address the group.

"Alright everyone, this is gonna be kinda tough.", he said, then thought. "Or not. Actually, it's not gonna be tough at all. This is just gonna be a little trip, through weird things and weird places and weird monsters and- oh, what am I saying? This trip has already begun. We're in the weird things and stuff."

He turned around again, leaving confused expressions on the faces of Bubble and Leon, and gestured with his arm over his shoulder. "Now come on, we're leaking daylight. Let's go."

So the group of 6 walked off towards the Clashcrush River, towards a huge wood, and a lurking mountain in between. They did not know what they would find in there. But they knew there would certainly be something. There always was.

Song: Ancientry

In the very same final destination of their journey, a very certain peak in the Clashcrush Mountains, 3000 feet above the surface of the world, dark fire smoldered in pure hatred.

Rakastamos sat in his private quarters of the truly immense cavern, glowering to himself, full of such absolute anger it radiated off of him as real heat. The rocks touching his skin softened from the temperature, molding and shifting to the shape of his body. Cracks of red ran around his skin, as if dripping with both blood and flame. He slowly scratched at the sides of the walls around him, drawing patterns that were lost to any kind of memory.

Although the Messenger waited outside the entrance to his lair, he was too afraid to speak. He knew firsthand how destructive his master could become when angry. He personally had never been on the receiving end of such power, and he certainly did not want to find out what it was like. So he just continued to wait, trying to see when Rakastamos would calm down, trying to see when would be a good time. But even as he just kept on waiting, Rakastaos's fires of anger seemed to only grow. Deep within himself, the Messenger knew that the more he put this off, the more it would hurt when he finally broke the news. So he took a deep breath, steeled himself, and took a single step towards the entrance to the vast room.

"Yes, I know.", said Rakastamos, before the Messenger had even come into full view. "I know the operation failed, and I know we lost two more Forgotten, so you don't need to tell me. I don't want to hear such painful news, particularly such news that I already knew."

"Oh, um…", said the Messenger, and both lightened up, and began to sweat. "That's not the news that I was bringing."

"Hm?", Rakastamos murmured, and brought up his head to look closer. "Well then, what is it?"

"You have visitors, sire.", said the Messenger, and stood up. "And I wouldn't worry about getting ready for this one."

He bowed and backed away at high speed, turning into a tunnel on the far side of the wall. "They're here."

Rakastamos looked forwards, straining his vision to see. Through the clouds of smoke and dust constantly in his cavern, he could just barely make out a few shapes in the distance. The smoke and dust were coming from the hasty construction of a new Blood Elixir Station, after the old one had been destroyed. But it was slow going- even with all of his Builders working on it at once, it would still take over two days to complete. And when he was attempting to get just the right amount, two days was far too long to wait. He scowled at the thought, his eyes narrowing.

_This is getting to be a real pain…,_he thought, and huffed a small puff of fire out of his nose. Small for him, of course- the puff was about 15 feet high. _I thought this would be easier. Get all the Blood Elixir, drink it, and cleanse the world. Easy as that. But all this crap just has to happen, doesn't it? Nothing ever goes simple for me. _

The Troops slowly entering the cave, of course, knew none of Rakastamos's thoughts. All they saw was a huge pair of blood red eyes, staring at them through the mist. They only saw him snarl- they thought in aggression, not annoyance. When the jets of flame erupted from his nose, they thought it was an action of combat, not one of frustration. And so the leader, a Barbarian King named Pheram, knew there was only one thing to do. He drew his sword and charged into the cave, yelling death cries passed down from a thousand generations.

Song: Lotte Feroce

"Pheram, wait!", shouted someone else in the group, a Bandit named Jessie. She ran her hands down her face in frustration and groaned, then took off after him. "At least wait for us!"

"No, forget waiting!", yelled a Lumberjack named Sven. "We gotta strike hard, and we gotta strike fast! That is the only way!"

He took off after Pheram, swinging his axe around in frantic circles. He overtook even Jessie, and soon drew neck and neck with Pheram. The rest of the group- a Witch named Tayla, an Iris Tara, and even a Heavy from the Boom Beaches named Joe ran after the three, but at a much slower pace. And as they all ran to beat death into the cave, they could see the immense figure of Rakastamos slowly begin to move towards them.

"Ah, more mortals.", said Rakastamos, beginning to pick up the pace a bit. His footsteps broke the rock below him, causing cracks that snapped all the way to the approaching group, throwing them off of their balance. "I see you've all come to throw away your worthless lives."

Pherem had gotten closer and closer with his intense speed, and could hear his words the clearest. But Rakastamos was so immense that his voice spread throughout the entire cavern, shaking the walls and rattling the bones of the Troops that were rushing at him. Pherem raised his sword, and increased his speed. "Never!", he shouted. "We will bring you down!"

"Oh, do you know how many people say that?", Rakastamos groaned, and swung his head around in annoyance and frustration. "Every single group that comes in here always has to be saying something about how they'll bring me down, or how they're going to defeat me and bring justice to the world, or some such other thing. It tires me out, you know that? All these meaningless, repeated, rhetorical heroic speeches- it just ends up getting me angry!"

He swept out randomly with a gigantic claw, and Pherem slid expertly underneath it. He slashed out with his sword and hit Rakastamo's toe head on, but the mighty Dragonlord hardly even seemed to feel it. He just stared at the group, noticing something odd.

"That's strange…", said Rakastamos, and thought. "You don't have a single real source of firepower within your entire group. The last group had three Super Pekkas, if I remember correctly, and then the group before that had an Archer Queen. But you seem to have nothing…"

He raised a gigantic claw, even as the minigun bullets from the Heavy began to shoot forth, bouncing off his side like rain upon a glacier. "No. No, let me guess. The Barbarian King is supposed to be your champion-"

But then, to Rakastamos's utter shock, he heard another voice from the cave's entrance, and what came in answered his question entirely.

"I am their champion!", shouted a large golden Dragon, as he entered the cave. "I will be the one to bring you down, Rakastamos!"

For a moment, Rakastamos just stared. He stared in absolute, unwavering shock at what had just entered his cave, and for what reason that he had just done so. For Rakastamos had fully expected more mortals to try and defeat him, more humans. He had never even before thought to think that one of the attackers taking him on would be another Dragon.

Rakastamos's hands shook with fury at the sight, and a raging fire began to build from somewhere deep inside of his throat. The human Troops down below all stopped, knowing that something bad was about to happen- something awful indeed. But either the Gold Dragon did not care or he did not know, for he continued to soar straight at Rakastamos as if nothing was wrong. He did not see the piercing hatred in Rakastamos's eyes, nor the bulging throat that was a dead giveaway for a tremendous bust of flame.

Jessie noticed the signal, and her eyes widened in fear. She quickly Dashed to the right and grabbed Sven by the neck, bringing them both down behind a large rock. "Get down!", she yelled, just as Rakastamos unleashed a vast torrent of flame, with enough heat and force to melt any known material.

The main blast of the flame shot overhead, sweeping along the ground in a gigantic pillar of pure destruction. Jessie pulled her hood closer over her face, and tried to withstand the immense amount of heat radiating from 50 feet above her. Sven broke out in an intense sweat, his skin turning red just from the power of Rakastamos's attack. Neither of them dared to look up, in fear of what would await them.

Finally, after almost 20 seconds of the attack, the stream of fire cut off. Rakastamos sat back on his haunches, having thoroughly roasted everything within sight down to scarred rock, and evaporated Elixir. That is, save three things. Two of them were still hiding, crouched behind a rock, so he did not notice them at first. But the third lay out in the open, his golden scales smoldering and smoking, his mouth hanging open in agony. The titanic Golden Dragon had survived the attack, albeit barely. Several spots on his body were bleeding, and one arm seemed to be melting. But as he took a step forward, it looked as though he was still in capable shape. "You…", he muttered, some part of his mouth not working. "You really think such an attack could bring me down? Me, the great archon of draconic justice, Telekas?"

Rakastamos growled, and tensed his back leg to strike. "Draconic?"

With a strike so fast it could hardly be seen, Rakastamos lashed out. His foot hit Telekas right in the side, slashing open a huge gash in his scales and sending him backwards. Telekas hardly even had time to cry out before Rakastamos slammed his other foot onto his shoulder, pinning him down to the ground. "You dare to call yourself draconic, worm?"

He drew back his foot, and kicked Telekas in the gut, slashing open yet another gaping wound. Telekas roared in agony, yet Rakastamos did not care in the slightest. He just kept kicking, not even attempting to kill, only wishing to inflict as much pain as possible upon his target.

"You would attack I, the savior of Dragonkind!", Rakastamos shouted, pure anger tainting his words. "You are no better than the worthless, pathetic, human scum that infest this land!"

Blow after blow rained down on Telekas, beating his torso into an annihilated pulp. Hot red blood spurt out from the wounds like rain, but Rakastamos didn't hold back at all.

"You don't deserve to be called a Dragon, you trash!", Rakastamos screamed, and grabbed Telekas by the neck, piercing through his skin with his claws. "You don't deserve to even exist!"

Rakastamos gave one particularly mighty blow, and sent Telekas flying across the cave, his barely held together body impacting the side of the cave with a loud crash. He had no time to rest before Rakastamos was once again upon him, raising his hand and opening his mouth for the final blow. "You're nothing but trash! Worthless, disgusting, non-draconic trash!"

Telekas looked up shakily, and managed to find the strength for one last burst of flame. Opening his mouth and aiming, he let it fly- only for it to burst harmlessly upon Rakastamos's skin. Telekas grimaced to himself- this didn't look good. The thought remained in his head for a few more moments, until Rakastamos grabbed him by the neck, lifted it up, and bit his head clean off.

Rakastamos stood there for a few seconds, basking in the glory of a powerful kill. He let the body fall, as it turned into a huge flood of Elixir midfall, splashing across the floor of the cave and into every nook and cranny. He turned around, trying to get the awful taste out of his mouth of having killed another Dragon- but it wasn't really a Dragon. No, not to him. To him, it was some obscene mockery of one. No real Dragon would ever go against him. No true Dragon would ever dare to attack the savior of the entire world, let alone the Dragon race. And no real, true Dragon would ever stoop so low as to take upon a human title. He was sure of that.

And yet, some thought from when he was very young swirled in his head. It was of a time when he had somehow put up with humans and other mortals- perhaps, even liked them.

The thought gave him a disgusting shiver down his spine, and he shook his head to clear it. He was about to head back into the cave to get someone to clean the mess up, perhaps convert it into Blood Elixir- but he stopped, when he heard tiny, panicked shouting come from somewhere far below him. He slowly turned one eye around, and saw something that interested him. "Oh?"

There, on the ground below, trying to find their ways through the Elixir flood, were Jessie and Sven. They had survived the fire, survived Rakastamos's brutal beatdown of Telekas, and were now attempting to escape alive. But as they saw Rakastamos slowly turn around and stare at them, the weight of aeons upon his brow, they thought that their plan might not work out after all.

"My, my…", said Rakastamos as he reached out a hand, and picked both of them up. He brought them up to his face and grinned widely, ignoring their attempts to wriggle free or escape. "Now what have we have here?"

Jessie stopped struggling and stayed perfectly still, knowing that it might enhance their chances of escape. Sven, on the other hand, struggled wildly, attempting to escape Rakastamos's grasp. But it was a futile effort- the amount of sheer power that Rakastamos squeezed with was far more than even ten thousand Lumberjacks could summon up. They were trapped.

"It seems you two were attempting to escape… am I right?", asked Rakastamos, and stared at the two as if expecting an answer. But Jessie kept on staying still, and Sven kept on pointlessly pushing. Rakastamos frowned, and spoke a little louder. "It seems you two were attempting to make an escape. Am I right?", he asked again, and this time Jessie perked up as if she had understood.

"Yes…", Jessie said, not knowing the point of delaying it any longer. "We were going to just sneak out of the cave and escape."  
"Yes, yes, I could see that.", said Rakastamos, and began walking towards the back. "And I bet now that you're going to assume I want to kill you, or cook with you, or whatever it is that people think of when they think that. But I want to say… don't worry. I'm not going to do any of those things."

"You're… not?", asked Jessie, a faint twinge of hope starting to creep into her mind. She looked around and realized that something was off. It was, upon further and outside inspection, the huge orange glow that came from a small hatch, down at the far end of another room.

"Wha… what is that?", she asked nervously, and Rakastaos chuckled to himself. He arrived at the edge of the hatch, opening it with but a simple mental gesture. He looked around, and shivered with delight, knowing full well what fates awaited every Troop tossed in there.

"I told you I wasn't going to hurt you.", Rakastamos said, and held his staff aloft. The ground shifted underneath his feet, and the mysterious hole in the floor suddenly opened up. Jessie shivered as she could hear the sounds emerge- sounds of nightmares and of blood, sounds of awfulness and wars. IT was almost too much to bear- and then, to Jessie's horror, Rakastamos grinned. "He is."

Rakastamos let go, sending the both tumbling into the pit, to whatever fate awaited them.

Song: Fat Buu

Jessie and Sven both fell into the pit, having absolutely no idea what would await them, only that it could not possibly be anything good. The screaming and the blood red walls of the tunnel that they flew down at top speed only reinforced this fact, the sheer aura of dread concentrated to the point where one could almost reach out and touch it. And touch it they did, as they continued their plummet- or that could have just been the numerous spiderwebs that they suddenly fell through. But either way, after about 30 straight seconds of falling, they finally hit the ground. But it was not rock, as they had expected- rather, it felt almost spongey. Soft, like foam. But they had not seen such things before, and so they were quite confused, having suddenly found themselves in an almost entirely alien environment. They looked around- there was an absolutely immense, grey tunnel leading away from the spot they were trapped in.

To the right and left were absolutely immense statues, of a strange deformed being wearing a striped and belled top hat. He spun around on his pedestal, until Jessie jerked a thumb at the nearby hallway.

"Sven.", she said, and started moving towards the pedestal. "I see a light up ahead. Maybe if were to follow it, we could-"

But her hopes were dashed, as she felt the ground quake underneath her feet. She looked down, saw nothing, looked up, and gasped in absolute terror.

"Sven….", she said, and slowly got the Lumberjacks' attention, who was trying not to have a panic attack at that moment, I need you to very slowly-"

But she never got the chance. For with a titanic bellow, The face of The Jester himself finally rounded into view.

As the Jester appeared, the cave responded. Lights lit up on the sides, spinning and blinking like that of a funhouse. A line of mirrors suddenly appeared, jumping up and down on miniature human hands. A spotlight swung randomly throughout, on a million watt bulb. Jessie screamed, the sight of the abomination filling her vision. He was not human- no, he was far from it. The only thing that even seemed remotely normal about him was his face, a tiny ivory mask on a long, thin neck. The top hat spun on top of his head, the points tipped with silver bells. It was rather colorful, brightly glowing red, green, and yellow. But anything resembling normality ended there- the rest of his colossal body could have been plucked straight from a nightmare.

Huge pink legs extended down from a thick, fleshy tube of a body, the feet mixing with the dirt and dripping evil green liquid. Dozens upon dozens of short, spindly arms hung down from his concave chest, twitching and tingling as he went along. His diabolical neck shot upwards into the upper regions of the cave like a towering tree trunk, ribbed and scarred from no doubt some awful ritual. Two gigantic main arms shot out from the middle of his torso, huge claws and sucking tendrils adorning his hands like a twisted army knife. And to top it all off, the maniacal music that seemed to be playing from an implanted box on the top of his back sounded like a circus act gone horribly, horribly wrong.

As soon as he saw the two, his eyes lit up, extending past the regions of his face and stretching all the way into insanity. His mouth cracked open, revealing dozens of rows of sharp teeth and a three-forked tongue. "Welcome, mortals!", he shouted, the sound like claws on porcelain chalk. "You're going to be the first in line!"

Sven and Jessie stood there for a moment, not sure what to do. Sven thought maybe he should attack, but the Jester loomed so formidable over him he couldn't bring his body to do so. Jessie would have run away, if the entrancing presence of the Jester allowed her the action.

They just watched the Jester waiting, the ground warping under his feet, before Jessie realized that he actually wanted them to respond. She cleared her throat, and tried to calm herself down.

"For… what?", she squeaked out. "What are we first in line for?"

The Jester laughed, and spread out his two main arms. The miniature arms writhed happily, their tiny voices all crying out. "Why, my world-famous Circus of Chaos, of course! Such a sight would cause envy for any! But only if you tell me your favorite joke…"

"JOke?", Jessie asked, her voice cracking from fear. "Why would-"

Then she stopped, and realized what she had to do. "Oh. My favorite joke. Of course."

She took a step back, her mind racing to find something to say. "Umm…"

"I'm waiting, girlie.", said the Jester, his voice a little lower. He drew back his hand, the myriad of blades within it ready to strike. "Tell me."

"Right!", Jessie shouted, then cleared her throat. "Why did the Goblin stub his toe?"

"Hmm…", said the Jester, and his hat spun. He flicked the wall, and shrugged. "Why did the Goblin stub his toe?"

"Because he's a Goblin.", said Jessie with an exaggerated smile, trying to bluff her way through the odd situation. "That's what they do."

The Jester looked at her for a second, and Jessie gulped. Had her joke not worked? What was wrong with it? Was it the timing? The presentation? Was it not just a funny joke-

Then the Jester threw his head, and burst out laughing. He put one hand on the wall to steady himself, the stone dripping down upon his touch. He wiped his eye, and grinned.

"That was a funny joke, girlie.", he said. "What's your name?"

"Jessie.", she said. "My name is-"

"Okay, great.", said the Jester, suddenly disinterested. He looked away from her, and looked back down towards Sven. "What's your favorite joke, boyo?"

Song: Super Buu

Sven looked up in confusion, trying and failing to make sense of the situation. He had always been simple. "...joke?"

"Yes, a joke.", said the Jester, clearly annoyed. He snapped his fingers, and leaned in even more. "The laugh track, the hoo-haa, the one that always gets em. Come on, give me the funny!"

"Uh…", said Sven, and stood up. "Okay. What do you call a Goblin Giant with no Spear Goblins?"

"What?", the Jester asked, confused. He hadn't had time to explore or research the world since waking up, so he had no idea what the Lumberjack was talking about. "What's a Goblin Giant-"

"A Giant!", shouted the Lumberjack, and spread his arms. He had thought it was rather funny. But as he turned his head, he saw the terrified face of Jessie, shaking her head and silently mouthing the word _No. _Sven's face dropped, and he looked back up at the Jester.

The Jester stared down, his blank face twisting into anger. "That's not funny…"

Then he threw his hand down, the sucking tentacles on his fingers deploying for action.

"That's not funny at all!"

One of the tentacles grabbed on to Sven's chest, emanating a sickly green light. He yelled, and tried to pull away, but the grip was too strong. "You're both going to the Circus!", the Jester shouted, and his face split with a shivering crack. "The girl will be the guest, and you're going to be an exhibit. Isn't that fun?"

"Sven!", Jessie screamed, and the tentacle lit up. Sven's entire body began to split into pieces, his muscle and bone separating off into neat, even spheres that floated upon the air. His skin flew off of him and was cut into ribbons, dancing upon the air and the infernal tune that still echoed throughout the cave. His head was taken off the rest of him and bounced up onto the Jester's body, his screams still coming from it- despite what was being done, he was still very much alive. Sven's head was carried up onto the Jester's back and bounced into a bucket, his fate unknown.

Once the processing was finished, the parts of Sven were loaded up into a basket that hung from the Jester's side. He turned back towards Jessie, who was quaking in fear.

"Now come along, girlie.", he said, and both sides of his face snapped back to happy. "My circus awaits, and you are my privileged guest."

He saw how she still stared- at the spot where Sven had fallen, how the tentacles still hung in the air, at just what a nightmare the Jester was. He noticed these things, concentrated, and began to shrink down. His nest of arms contracted into his body, and his neck shrunk to be more of an appropriate size. His main arms shifted and warped into human limbs, and his body turned from that of an insect to that of a man. His legs straightened up, the fleshy pink going to a long pair of striped and purple pants. Within mere seconds, he had gone from eldritch abomination to what seemed to be a regular Troop, albeit a strange one.

"I said, come along.", he said, offering a hand. Jessie didn't want to take it, but she saw no other choice. She took his hand, closing her eyes in fear and disgust.

"Good, good.", said the Jester, and crouched. "Now away we go!"

The Jester shot off into the tunnel from whence he had come, Jessie screaming as she was taken with him. The blinking lights on the cave walls shut off, and the music slowly faded away, leaving only silence in the cursed halls.

Song: Peaceful Journey

The sun was high in the sky, signaling to the world that it had become almost noon. The light flickered through the tree tops of a very certain part of the woods, with very tall trees and very thick shadows. But that was not the reason why this part of the woods was special- everywhere for miles was like that. This part of the woods was special because of those that walked within, particularly in that hour, on that very day.

"And then there was this weird robot guy.", said Brandy, sitting on Dan's shoulder, explaining what had happened to her in the canyon to Bubble, Leon, Annabelle, and Trevor. "He said he was the Jesterbot or something. And he shot stuff at me, but it wasn't too hard to dodge. And then I turned him into a doughnut as soon as I got close. I don't think we'll be seeing him again."

"A… donut?", asked Leon. "What do you mean, you turned him into a doughnut?"

"I mean that I punched a hole in his torso.", Brandy said with a shrug. "And doughnuts have holes through their middle, so…"

"I get it.", said Trevor, with a raise of his hand, and took a bite of his energy bar. He rolled over on his back, almost falling off Dan's shoulder, but catching himself just in time. "I think it's funny."

"See?", Brandy and Annabelle said simultaneously, and pointed towards him. "He gets it."

"And then what happened?", asked Bubble excitedly, scooting herself together on crossed legs. "What happened after you beat the jester- the robot?"

"Well, I hopped out of the canyon, took off running, crossed a plain, and saw a gigantic cloud of Minions in the air. I figured- I guess correctly- that anything like that had to be after you guys. So I just followed it, and then I saw you, and now here we are."

"Woah…", said Bubble, her tiny eyes glowing bright with wonder. "And where are we now?"

"We're in the woods.", said Dan, and stepped over a huge rock. He accidentally clipped it with his other foot on the second step, and crashed right through it. "On our way to Clashcrush mountain…"

"Where we'll kill Rakastamos and bring peace to the world.", said Leon, laying on his back, joining in with Dan. "Like we told you the other 14 times you asked."

"Oh.", said Bubble, and was quiet for a moment. Then she giggled, and swayed back and forth a bit. "I guess I just need to be told lots of times!"

"Yes…", Dan muttered, and brushed a tree branch out of the way. But he had hardly let go of it before it swung back and hit him in the face, directly in the forehead. It wasn't enough to scratch his skin, but Dan was still bothered. With a growl, the offending branch disappeared in a burst of electricity, and they kept on walking.

Leon felt his stomach suddenly clench, and he took a deep breath. But the breath struggled to enter his mouth, and he could now feel just how thirsty he was. "Hey Mom?", he asked, and Brandy looked up. "I'm actually super thirsty right now. Could we get something to drink?"

"Well, I don't know about getting something.", said Brandy, and sighed. "But we do have something right now."

She pat Dan on the neck, and he twitched. "Dan? The Elixir Rune?"

"It's in my back pocket.", said Dan. "The pocket on my back."

Brandy nodded, and reached into the pocket on his back armor. She carefully withdrew the Rune of Elixir, and swung back up onto his shoulders. "Here you go.", she said to Leon, and dropped it into his hand. "You can drink as much as you want."

Leon looked at it a little strangely, and shook it a bit. He pressed down on the side experimentally, and a few drops fell out. He blinked and repositioned it over his mouth, pressing down harder. A stream fell out, and he started to drink it down- then his head snapped back, and he spat it out. "What the-", he said, again staring at the Rune. "Why does it taste so weird?"

"What?", Brandy asked, grabbing it back. "Is there something wrong with it?"

She drank a few drops of her own, and thought. "No.", she said. "It's perfectly fine."

"No it isn't.", said Leon, and stared in disbelief. "It's purple. And it tastes all weird."

"Wha-", Brandy said, and put her hands on her hips. "Of course it's purple. It's Elixir."

"Elixir's not purple.", said Leon, then thought for a bit. "At least, not where I'm from."

"What color is it in Brawl Land?", asked Brandy, for the name of Brawltopia did not enter her mind at the moment. "If it's not purple."

"Well, there are two types.", said Leon. "There's blue Elixir, which we drink, and red Elixir, which we burst into when we die. I guess that this must be a combination of those two types."

"Yeah…", said Brandy, thinking about colors. "Blue and red do make purple. I guess that's why-"

She stopped, as the realization hit her. Red and blue made purple, the color of life. Red and blue, as in the different colors of Kings. Her mind raced- perhaps that is why the gods chose to make those two colors what they were in the grand scheme of things. Red and Blue, eternal opposites- yet when combined, they made the color of the most essential ingredient for life in the entire world. Her mind spun with the realization, and she suddenly found herself laying in a haphazard position, almost falling off of Dan's shoulder.

"Woah!", shouted Trevor, and grabbed her by the arm. He pulled her back up, and Bubble supported her. "What just happened there? Why did you almost fall off?"

"Um…", said Brandy, and the world spun back into view. She rubbed her head, and let out a tiny laugh. "I don't really know… I guess I just lost track of myself."

She righted herself, leaning against Dan's neck as she did so. She put her hands behind her head, then reconsidered and moved them both to her lap. Her mind began to think of other things- how the clouds moved overhead. What caused them to move? She had always assumed it was wind, but it also seemed as though wind would blow them apart as well as forward. Perhaps she would have to look that up in the library when they got home-

Home. Brandy suddenly felt a pane of homesickness, and her stomach dropped. So much had been going on in the last few days- Leon, the quest, meeting all these new people, fighting every single monster, warrior, or other Forgotten Rakastamos had thrown at them- that she had just about forgotten what was happening at home. Her eyes snapped open, and she sat up.

"What do you think is happening at home?", she asked Dan. "It's been a bit."

Dan thought, still not taking his eyes off the road. "I don't know.", he said. "I guess that we might have to wait till we get back to check… because I'm not seeing any way to contact them now."

"Yeah, I hope we can-", Brandy began, before Bubble suddenly piped up.

"I'm thirsty too…", she whined, and put her hands together. "Can I have a drink?"

"Sure.", said Brandy, and gestured to Leon. Leon stopped his slow, forced drinking of the Elixir- he didn't like it all that much. He would much prefer blue Elixir, or even some milk- and handed it over to Brandy. She handed it to Bubble, who took it in confusion. "There you go. Drink up."

"What is this?", Bubble asked, turning it around and upside down. She put it down on the shoulder, yawned, and looked up. "Can I just have a glass of water?"

Everyone in the group stopped what they were doing, slowly turned heads, and stared.

"What?", asked Annabelle after a few agonizingly painful seconds. "You want to drink what?"

"Water…", said Bubble, and shrunk back a bit from the pressure of everyone staring at her in disbelief. "I said I want a glass of water."

"Water's… not… something you drink.", said Dan slowly, wondering what in the world Bubble could possibly be talking about. "Water is… something you bathe in. Or wash something with, or swim in. Fish and stuff live in there. You don't drink it."

"But- yes you do.", said Bubble, very clearly confused. "I drink water. And now I'm thirsty, and I want some."

"But we don't have water!", said an exasperated and even more confused Brandy. "No one just has water with them, carrying it around."

"Wait, wait, wait.", said Annabelle, staring at Bubble with a suspicious pair of high powered eyes. Bubble squirmed uncomfortably under her gaze, and looked up at Brandy for support. "All Troops drink Elixir. But if you drink water…"

She looked deeper into Bubble's eyes, the corners of her own crinking downwards. A harsh line of tension appeared between them, almost visible in the morning air. "Then what are you? What are you not telling us, _Bubble?_"

"Woah.", said Brandy, putting a hand between them. Annabelle backed off, and Bubble shrank into Brandy's arms. "Let's not get all accusatory. I'm sure there's a logical explanation for why Bubble... drinks water."

She looked down at Bubble, and gave her a little pat on the arm. "Bubble, why is it that you drink water?"

"I just drink water, okay?", Bubble said, with a little huff, blowing her bangs off of her forehead. "Water tastes good, and it refreshes me, and that's what I always thought that everyone else drunk until I met you guys. Okay?"

She waved her hand, and an illusion of a plastic water bottle appeared in the air, much to everybody else's confusion. They had never seen such a thing before. All the Elixir bottles they were used to were metal, or glass, or sometimes even stone or wood- but never plastic. Plastic was not a common sight anywhere in Royale or even Brawltopia. But judging from the nonchalant summons of the illlusion, Bubble was clearly quite used to them existing.

"See, I just twist it open.", she said, opening up the lid of the phantom bottle. She grabbed it by the base and held it over her mouth, tipping it to pour in. "And then I drink the water. Easy as that."

"I see…", said Brandy slowly, everybody still a bit weirded out. She nodded, and put her hand slowly onto Bubble's shoulder. "Well, I hope we can get water soon."

"Wait.", said Leon, tilting his head. He slowly looked up and rolled over, a single spinner blade flicking into his sleeve out of pure instinct. "I think I can hear something up ahead."

He stared ahead into the woods, and Dan knew that he should stop walking for a bit. He too looked ahead, trying to get his ears to listen. They were nowhere near as good as Leon's or Brandy's, but he still strained them to hear what Leon was searching for. "What?"

"I hear something.", Leon said, and the spinner blade slowly retracted itself back into his sleeve. He pulled his hood up slightly, allowing his normally hidden eyes to take in the sight. "And it sounds like… a river!"

"A river?", Bubble asked excitedly, bouncing up and down on her knees. "Oh boy! A river! With water! I can finally get something to drink!"

"Sure, kiddo.", said Dan, and started to bend down. His gigantic muscles bent, as he dropped to his knees upon the ground. Everyone climbed off of his shoulders and back, landing on the grass with various reactions. Brandy slid down off of his shoulder and hit the ground on her feet, putting both hands on her back and bending backwards in a deep stretch. Leon landed on one foot, letting himself stand before putting the other one down. He rolled his lollipop around in his mouth, put his hands in his pockets, and looked around for something to lean on. He was still a bit tired from being flung up into the sky still just a short while ago. Bubble started running for the river almost as soon as she hit the ground- sooner, in fact. She tripped over her own feet and landed flat on her face, but kept on going regardless, instantly bouncing upright and taking off. Annabelle and Trevor dropped down together simultaneously, accidentally falling on top of each other, apologizing profusely, and scrambling to their feet. They stood apart from each other, both of them each feeling about the same things, but not knowing that the other did.

"Hey, kiddo, wait!", shouted Dan, seeing Bubble streak off. He rose to his feet within seconds, and slowly went after her, making sure not to step on anything that he might not have wanted to step on. "You can't just go off by yourself like that! Wait!"

He pounded off towards Bubble, leaving the rest of the group behind. Brandy took another deep stretch, trying to expel the tightness from her body- then she looked up, and a shiver ran down her spine. There was something odd about the sky. It was… it was…

"What's up with the sky?", asked Annabell, standing next to her and looking up as well. "It looks weird. The moon's a lot bigger. And everything else just looks kind of… purple."

"Wait, is it October?", asked Brandy, her eyes widening in shock. "Already?"  
"It seems like it.", said Leon, scratching his head. He had taken up a spot on a tree trunk, gently rolling his lollipop stick around in his mouth and chipping at something in his hands with a spinner blade. "Moon, sky, odd sense of constant foreboding floating at the edge of everyone's brain. Yep, seems like October to me."

"No, I'm pretty sure that sense of uneasiness comes from what we're doing.", said Brandy. "Venturing to the dead center of the continent in order to defeat one of the oldest and most powerful beings ever to exist. Yeah, just a little thing like that."

"And it's also October.", said Trevor, having pulled up his schedule. He took another look, adjusted his suddenly appeared reading glasses, and tapped the paper his schedule was printed on. "See, right there. It says that today marks the start."

"Well, how about that.", said Brandy, looking up at the strange, sinister moon. "Happy October, guys."

"Yep.", said Annabelle, trying to decide who she should scoot closer to. She had been standing next to Brandy, but Trevor seemed like he wanted to be closer to her. And yet, something deep inside of her head wanted her to go and stand next to Leon…

Bubble jumped into the water with a splash, the slow moving river disturbed by the impact. A thin layer of pond scum that had been laying upon it vanished instantly, flying up past her face and towards Dan's. He took a shallow breath and exhaled it, both within half a second, a burst of Star flashing out from him and turning the pouncing scum to ash. Bubble noticed none of that of course, feeling only the wonderful sensation of the cold water upon her tender skin.

"This looks like good water.", she said, and grabbed some in her hands. She brought it up to her mouth, took an excited sip, and her face immediately twisted up. She spat out the water to one side, and stared at her hands in disbelief.

"Oh! Yuck!", she shouted, and dropped the water back into the river. Her little face twisted up in disgust, and she stuck out her tongue as she gagged. She stared into the water in shock, hardly believing the apparently disgusting taste. "What's wrong with this?"

Dan leaned over her in confusion, and a little protection. "What?", he asked. "What's wrong with the water? Is it not supposed to taste like that?"

"No!", Bubble said, then folded her arms, spun around, and pouted. "It was yucky. And it had worms in it."

"Worms?", asked Dan, taking another look into the water. It was still, and clear. "I didn't see any worms in it. Are you sure you meant worms? Or did you just mean that it was water, and that water is not supposed to be drunken."

"But it is!", Bubble said, putting out her arms as an expression of confused frustration. "Water is good to drink. That's what everybody always said."

"Woah, everybody?", asked Dan, now suddenly curious. He looked at Bubble with a scrutinizing gaze, once again finding himself wondering just who and what she was. "Who's everybody?"

"Um…", said Bubble, and stared off into space. She didn't appear to have any recognition in her eyes, but Dan could not be sure. Who was she, this Bubble- creating illusions, seemingly not knowing who she was besides her name, not even where she came from? Who was she, that violated all the natural laws of the world by drinking something like water? Dan stared and thought, for he did not know.

"I don't know.", Bubble finally said with a shrug, and resumed staring at the water. "I just remember that's what everyone always said at home."

"Well, okay.", said Dan, and held out his hand. "Want me to get you some water? I can make it all clean- I think."

Bubble's eyes lit up, and she stared at his giant hand in wonder. It was large enough for her to lay down in it, and still have room left over for someone else. "What? I wanna see…"

She grabbed his fingers and bounced up and down, her water troubles apparently forgotten. "Show me show me show me show me show me-"

"I will.", said Dan, and dipped his hand into the water. "Just hold on."

Bubble slid off and jumped back on to the bank, as Dan closed his hand again. A good amount of water was held within, far more than Bubble could or would drink. He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then released it as steam through visible puffs out of his nose. When he opened his hand a crack, Bubble could see the water shining within, all the impurities having been burned away.

"Woah…", Bubble said, barely over a shocked whisper. She looked up at Dan and gave a slow bow, with a barely audible "Thank you." Then she dunked her head in the water and took a few huge, greedy gulps, Dan having to pull her out from her sheer enthusiasm.

"So…", said Annabelle, choosing to step a bit closer to Leon. She looked up at him and squinted her eyes a bit, one finger tapping the side of her dress. "Your name's Leon, right?"

"Yeah.", said Leon, not quite sure that he liked where he thought this was going. "Like I said. I'm Leon. Legendary Brawler… and all that…"

"Ooh, legendary.", Annabelle said, flashing Leon a huge smile. She looked down and noticed that Leon was sitting on a fallen oaken log, so she turned around and sat right next to him. "I like the sound of that. Say, where are you from? I didn't know they had legendaries in foreign places- I thought they were just a Royale thing."

"Uhh… Nope.", said Leon, and looked up right at Brandy. "They- we, exist in Brawltopia too."

He immediately caught Brandy's eye, and they stared right into each other. Leon thought.

_Mom mom mom why is she flirting with me what did I do what _do_ I do oh gosh oh frick oh no-_

_Woah, woah, calm down, _Brandy thought, waving her hands to try and calm him down. She looked around the small clearing they had stopped in, trying to figure out what to do. Dan and Bubble were still down by the river getting Bubble's water, and they now appeared to be… splashing each other? Okay, that was good. At least they weren't in trouble. She could get Dan if she needed. She looked to her right- Trevor was staring aghast at Annabelle's flirting with a panicking Leon. Brandy winced- it looked like he was taking it hard. To her left, a largish animal watched them through the trees. And to her front, there was Annabelle, who was now attempting to move onto Leon's lap.

_OKay, don't move, _she thought again. _Just tell her that you don't like what she's doing, and that you want her to move away. _

"Brawltopia?", Annabelle asked, and put a hand on Leon's thigh. Leon took in a sharp breath, and the tail on back of his jacket stiffened into the shape of a square. "Where's that?"  
"Umm…", said Leon, and looked up at Brandy one more time. She gave him a Look, one that she had mastered over the years. It, combined with her status, gave Leon a shock of bravery that felt like high voltage electricity. He cleared his throat, and looked down at Annabelle.

"It's over there.", he said, pointing to directly behind Annabelle. "Juuuuuust past stop it, and right next to get off of me."

Annabelle stopped moving for a second, and looked down at where her hands were on Leon's body. A barely audible squeak came out of her, and she jumped back in mortal embarrassment.

"OhmygoshI'msosorry!", she said all at once, and backed away from Leon, going until she hit Trevor. But she hardly even noticed as she fell, nor as Trevor stopped her from hitting the ground. "I didn't know you didn't want it and I didn't know that-"

She stopped talking, knowing that it wouldn't help the situation. Instead she just walked further away, all the way to the edge of the clearing where Dan and Bubble were, and stared into the river.

"Shoot.", said Leon, watching her go. _I didn't mean to make her be like that, _was what he thought, but "I don't think that went too well for anybody." was what came out of his mouth.

"Yeah.", said Trevor, clearly down. His mustache looked even droopier than normal- never a good sign for the health of a Barbarian. It would be like a dimmer glow of the eyes for Witches and Wizards, or a powdery mask for a Bandit. "Especially for me."

"Woah, woah, what's wrong?", Brandy said, and Trevor felt an arm around his shoulder. "What's going on, Trevor?"

He was pulled down to a sitting position by Brandy, and he went halfway limp as he realized that that is what was going to be happening for a bit. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Well…", said Trevor, and gestured towards where Annabelle was. "Annabelle's been my friend for a long time- almost as long as I can remember. Coworker, too. I always thought that when the time came, we'd become a lot more than that. And all of a sudden, she just starts making advances towards Leon over here- hey, no offense."

"None taken.", said Leon, with a flick of his tongue and a roll of his lollipop. "I didn't want it."

"Yeah, see, but that's the problem.", said Trevor. "I did. I didn't expect her to just… leave me."

"Oh.", said Brandy, suddenly feeling down. She didn't know exactly why- she hardly even knew Trevor. They had just met that morning, and this was their first real conversation. But then the answer came to her- Brandy felt sad because someone around her felt sad. That was just how it had always worked, as long as she could remember. Sadness was radioactive to her, making her feel the sorrow of anybody nearby.

"Um.", she said again, trying to think of some way to alleviate the problem. Her brain spun and worked, attempting to come up with something- then she had it. She took a deep breath, put her hand on Trevor's shoulder, and stared right into his eyes.

"Go and talk to her.", she said, seriousness dripping off of her voice. "Right now."

"What?", asked Trevor, shrinking back a bit out of nervousness. "You mean right now?"

"I did not stutter.", Brandy said, and pointed towards Annabelle, who was still staring into the water next to where Dan and Bubble were standing, staring into the woods. "Look, she feels lonely. Go and talk to her. You both need to speak to each other right now before something bad happens."

"Okay.", said Trevor with a gulp, and stood up. He straightened his kilt, jammed his sword into his belt, and strode off towards Annabelle with a sense of half confidence, half fear.

Brandy watched him go, and noticed that Leon had folded his hood over his eyes. She grabbed him and held him tight, waking him up at first, but then he allowed himself to fall back asleep.

"Hello!", said Trevor, as he came up behind Annabelle. "Annabelle. You look upset. Is everything okay?"

Annabelle sniffed loudly, and turned around. Her eyes were streaked with purple mascara, and her hair looked slightly disheveled. She stared at Trevor in a mix of both confusion and sadness. "Wait, what?"  
"I asked you if you were okay.", said Trevor, preparing for a short bow. "And I was wondering if"

Then he suddenly felt himself get grabbed by the back and yanked to both the side and the dirt. He saw Annabelle get yanked that way too, with Bubble coming along as well. He heard the warning a second after he had already hit the ground- "Guys look out!". He looked up and rubbed his head in total confusion, wondering what would have caused Dan to react that way- and that is when he saw it. A long, tapered white spear sticking out of a nearby tree, right were both he and Annabelle's heads had been not even a moment earlier.

"Uhh… Daddy?", asked Bubble, slowly turning her head from the sight to look at Dan. "Is that bad-"

"Yes, yes, it's very bad.", Dan said in an instant, holding out his hand. He grabbed and flipped Bubble over his shoulder, landing on the behind of his head with a surprised squeal. Within a second, he had grabbed both Trevor and Annabelle and flung them up onto his shoulders.

"It means we're about to get attacked."

"Oh.", said Trevor, and thought for a moment. Then he realized what Dan had said and leaned down to look him directly into his eyes. "Okay, what?"

"There's been an attack almost constantly, it feels like.", said Dan. "This is an epic quest to save the world- of course they aren't just gonna leave us alone."

"What's attacking us this time?", asked Brandy from across the clearing, cupping her hands around her mouth. "Is it something bad?"  
"I certainly hope not.", said Dan, leaning along the grass as he quickly approached Brandy. She didn't need to wait to be told what to do- instead, she just hopped up onto his back, Leon jumping up after her. And scarcely had the two done so than another spear came whizzing out of the woods, striking the spot they had just been with pinpoint, if late, accuracy.

"Oh, shoot.", said Dan, looking at the spear. It looked large- easily large enough to impale all the way through anybody but him. It was at least 3 times the size of the ones that Spear Goblins typically used, maybe even more. But most importantly, the ends of it were highly serrated, dripped with a highly potent looking venom- and bore the mark of a Dragon's head.

"Oh, shoot!", he said again, and jumped off from the ground. He used his powerful jump that he had as a Mega Knight to clear the trees, looking over them in an attempt to find whatever was attacking them. But a quick, second long search yielded nothing, the trees around the only sight. So once he landed on the ground again, flattening an entire circle of trees and bushes with his reentry, he took off running as fast as he could towards a very high hill, far off in the distance.

"Leon!", he shouted, and took a deep breath. He tried to use as much of it as possible in order to surround himself with a burning shield of Star, but quite a bit of his breath was being used in order to run. So when the shield appeared, it was flickering and shivering, lashing out at nearby trees with the instability of its aura. Leon poked his head up, trying not to open his eyes against the rush of wind caused by Dan's speed. "I need you to shoot back at it! Whenever a spear comes towards us, shoot right where it came from- and a little to the left!"

"What about the spear?", Leon asked, and maneuvered himself to turn around on Dan's shoulders. "Won't it hit us?"

"No!", shouted Dan, and jumped over a huge rock, skidding right through a small river on the other side. "Brandy, that is where you come in. Once you see a spear, throw up a Dash shield in front of it!"

"Okay!", Brandy yelled, and saluted. Then she looked behind nervously, and squinted her eyes. "I'm not quite sure how many times I'll be able to do it, though."

"It's fine!", Dan roared, and kept on pushing through. "You other three- keep an eye out for anything that I might have missed! Now let's run!"

Song: High Voltage

Behind Dan, something even faster ran through the woods. A figure, hunched over, his mount slinking through the tree-cast shadows like blood through water. It jumped over rocks and fallen logs without even breaking stride, its four strong legs carrying it at speeds approaching 80 or even 90 miles per hour. Its huge jaws dripped foaming saliva down onto the ground, and its beady red eyes shone with a bloodthirsty vengeance. Matted grey fur hung down from its muscular hide, a tail covered with spines lashing out behind it as it ran.

Its rider was hardly more civilized- a tall, wiry youth covered with tattoos all across his skin. A tall shock of bright red hair was pulled back in a mohawk, a ring of piercings adorning his jaw.

He carried a spear in one hand, the other holding on to the leather reigns of his lupine mount. He had already thrown 3- two at Dan and Brandy's party, and the other at a squirrel that had been bothering him. But like all thrown or shot weapons, they came back.

He was Dalli the Wolf Rider, one of Rakastamos's swiftest and most dangerous cavalry. He was odd among Forgotten, for he had not been imprisoned alongside his master. Rather, he was one of the new ones, the ones that the gods had left behind more recently. And his partner, Fearri, was as well.

He was known as the Gunner, appearing to be a strange cross between a Knight and a Musketeer. His two pistols, similar to a Colt's, hung down by his side. He clenched his hat as the Wolf ran, not wanting it to fly away. He bit down on the knife in between his teeth, and managed to spit out some words.

"Dalli!", he said, and Dalli turned one ear to listen. "Can we catch up to them?"

Dalli laughed, and if Fearri listened carefully, he could swear he heard the Wolf laugh along with him. He waved his hand, and spat off to one side. "Aw, don't worry about it bro! We're gonna catch up to them in no time. How fast can that guy go? Not faster than Sasha, that's for sure."

"Right…", said Fearri, looking down at the snarling beast they rode. "Sasha. Anyway, could you get her to hold a bit more still? I'm going to need a clean shot when he catches up to them."

Dalli just rolled his eyes, as Sasha flipped over a rock, swished in between a copse of trees, and slithered underneath a massive bush. "Bruh. Sasha's already more agile than a Goblin soaked in butter. She can get you a level shot. Just hold on."

"If you say so.", said Fearri, and grabbed his seat a little tighter. He put one hand to his brow and looked into the woods, trying to get any glimpse of movement. "I hope that-"

"Hey, fire a warning shot, will you?", asked Dalli, the corners of his mouth curling down in a snarl as Sasha just barely avoided a huge tree. "I wanna make the blighters afraid."

"Umm… I'm afraid that won't be possible.", said Fearii, giving his guns a shake. "You see, although these can unload a lot of damage at once, they do take a while to load and reload. So really, using them for a warning shot would mean-"

"Oh, okay, fine.", said Dalli with a frown, and raised his spear. "I'll do it, I guess."

Right before firing, he remembered what Rakastamos had said to them before deploying the team of three they were in. "And we should watch out for the kid, too. I heard he shoots stuff."

Then he leaned back a bit, and threw his spear, it flying forward at incredible speeds, headed directly for its mark.

Leon saw a flash of metal in the trees, and he startled out of habit. But once he saw the spear flying towards him, he immediately knew what to do. With one hand he threw a storm of spinner blades past the spear and towards whatever had hit it, and the other drew out Hunter Killer from within him. A single press of the trigger was all it took to send another storm of bullets and twisted metal right at the spearhead, intending to shatter it into bits.

But although the shot was aimed well, it was still a large spray of shots fired at what was from that angle a very small target. Only a single bullet made contact, merely bouncing off of the thick metal spearhead. And as Leon's missed shots continued onwards into the woods, the spear still came, undisturbed by the attack.

"Oh, crap-", Leon began, then suddenly saw the spear stop directly in front of him. He blinked, and saw that the reason for this was because Brandy had thrown out her hand in front of him, creating a shield that shattered the weakened spearhead.

"Leon.", said Brandy, her voice stern. "Dan gave us both orders. I think you should try and follow them."

"Oh.", said Leon, and scratched the back of his head. His cheeks turned a little red, slightly embarrassed at his failure. "Sorry Mom."

Had Brandy been feeling any less serious, she would have taken a minute to pat him on the back and/or head, and to tell him that it was alright. But they were in the middle of a running battle, and thus a simple "It's alright.", and a nod would have to suffice.

"Can you see them, Annabelle?", asked Dan, sweeping his arms to clear aside massive amounts of treeline that was blocking their way. "Get a visual!"  
"Okay…", said Annabelle, gripping on to Dan's hard arms as tight as she could. She leaned and stared off into the woods, gasping as she saw the glint of steel, and a vicious pair of blood red eyes. "Yes!", she yelled, and ducked on instinct. "I do see them!"

"Where?", Dan asked, and took a deep breath, preparing himself to fight. "Where did you see them?"

"Just back there!", shouted Annabelle, pointing to where she had seen them. "I saw them back there. It looks like there are two people- at least, that's the number of eyes I counted. Four."

"Oh, so there's a pair of them.", said Trevor, slightly frustrated at his apparent uselessness. "That's wonderful. It's just what we needed-"

"No.", said Annabelle, and drew back her bow. She loaded an arrow into the slot, and prepared to fight. "A mount, and a rider."

"A rider?", asked Trevor, attempting to see ahead. "Of what? What's he riding?"

"Umm…", said Annabelle, and stared into the shadows as hard as she could. But with the constant bouncing of Dan's jarring motion and the shadow figure's own speed, it was impossible to tell, even for her sight. "I don't know. Yet."

With that, she let loose her arrow. But it was even harder to aim than it was to see, and the shot went wild, flying off into the woods and striking against a random tree. Annabelle bit her lip, and hastily reloaded. "Shoot."

"Brandy!", shouted Dan, trying to pick up speed. He channeled all the Star he currently had within him, shooting his legs a boost of speed and jumping over a log. "Are you making shields?"

"Yes!", Brandy yelled back, and threw up her hand in front of herself to demonstrate. "I am!"

"Okay, good!", Dan shouted again, and tried to think of what to do next. "Don't stop!"

If he just kept running like this, there would be a good chance that the forest would run out soon. Once it did, there would be nowhere to go but the huge grassy field he thought he had seen up ahead. And once they were in such an open environment, whatever was chasing them would have to either retreat, or be blown to bits in an open confrontation. Either option was good. But such a thing would take time- time for whatever was chasing them to attack. And its attacks definitely seemed potent, to the point where a single good hit could seriously injure anyone in the group. Dan thought it might actually be more advantageous to switch to direct combat now, and just get it over with. So with a mighty bellow, he swept out one arm and shot a massive burst composed of all the STar he had within him at once. It took a lot out of him and sent him to his knees upon the ground, but the result was worth it. A huge wave of ground broke up in all directions, creating a flood of soil that made a tall ring around them. Everybody on Dan's shoulders almost fell off of them, and they could hear the surprised cries of their pursuers as a mound of dirt suddenly arose in front of them.

"Okay.", said Dan, and took some more breaths to cool down. "I think we lost them for a bit. We can just relax for a bit, hold on."

But even as he sat there, letting his muscles cool, he realized that he had forgotten to account for the specialty physics of the area. And that is why he was a little surprised when the sides of the mound collapsed almost instantly, boosting him and the group to the surface in a wave of dirt. The trees had been pushed aside by the burst of force, leaving them in a small, round clearing about the size of a Barracks.

"Oh.", said Dan, and sighed. He could never just catch a break. "Well then, I guess not."

Hardly even a second had gone by before they could once again hear the thing in the trees, circling the clearing like a shark circling fresh bait. They could see the pairs of eyes in the shadow- two eyes below, and two eyes up top. Although they did not know it, the Gunner was keeping his eyes buried into Dalli's back for now. And above all, they could smell the beast- the wolf Dalli was riding smelled like a bag of rotting meat, left out in the sun and mutated into something else. It was all Brandy could do not to just lean over and throw up.

"Stay up.", said Dan, leaning back in order to protect his group. "Eyes sharp. Don't let it get behind you."

As the thing turned, Dan turned with it. He knew from his training that the number one thing to never do with wild animals was to turn your back on them- and even though this may have not been a wild animal, the same words still rang just as true.

Where he stalked in the treeline, Dalli thought it might have been time to act. With one hand, he yanked sharply on the reigns, prompting Sasha to let out a vicious snarl. It may have seemed like a jerk move, but his bond with her was strong enough to do it, as with any other Rider. With his other hand, he hoisted a spear, took aim, and shot, right into the middle of the clearing and directly at Bubble's face.

"Woah!", shouted Brandy, the second she saw the spear emerge. She instantly went into Dash mode, her senses accelerating and the rest of the world slowing down. She took a look at the spear, performed some lightning calculations in her head, and saw exactly where the spear was going to hit. She grabbed Bubble and set her down a fair distance away from that line, pushing Annabelle out of the way too. And just as she did so, her Dash dropped, the world went back to normal speed, and the spear continued onwards, biting deep into yet another unfortunate tree.

"Fire!", Dan shouted, and Leon raised Hunter Killer from his sleeve. He pulled down on the trigger, and unleashed a hail of gunshot that spread across half the clearing's width, tearing bushes and dirt to bits. Yet even as the bullets made impact, he could hardly feel the damage they had dealt. Which could only mean one thing.

"He left.", said Leon, swinging around his wrist and bringing Hunter Killer back within him. "He's on the run. If we hurry now, we might have a chance to catch up."

"Oh!", shouted Dan, and flexed his arms. He bent down for everyone to jump on again, and immediately straightened up once he did so. "Then let's go!"

Song: I'm in Control

Dalli and Fearri wove in between the dark trees, not allowing themselves to hit even one. With the speed that Sasha was running at, such a collision would most likely prove fatal for all three of them. Fearri had no idea where they all were going- but Dalli had a plan.

"What, may I ask, are we doing?", asked Fearri, one hand on his hat and the other holding on to Dalli's shoulders for dear life. "Are we letting ourselves be chased?"

"No!", snapped Dalli, and looked to his side. He wanted to get some idea of where exactly he was before he began his plan. If he missed this, he wouldn't get a chance again. "Well, we are. For now. But not for long. Once I get my plan ready, we'll be the ones doing the chasing."

"We better.", said Fearri, taking a glance down at his golden guns that hung from his belt. "Otherwise, these boys might shoot before we have a target."

"Wha- these boys?", asked Dalli, tearing his trajectory off to one side sharply to avoid a hanging branch. "Are those what you call your guns?"

"Yes.", said Fearri, a little taken aback. "Don't you have a name for your spear?"

"No.", said Dalli, and shook his head back and forth, hardly even able to believe his ears. "Sasha is the name of my wolf, but I'm not gonna name my spear, man. That's just weird."

Fearri was a little unsure on how to respond to such a statement, so he just sat down, folded his arms, and waited for something to happen. Fortunately for him, he realized before the next bump that folding his arms would mean that he could no longer hang on. He quickly regrabbed Dalli's back and his hat, just as Sasha leapt over a mossy ditch. He gulped, as he realized just how easily he could have been flung off. "I see."

Dan kept on tearing through the forest, not even bothering to find his way between anything. Instead, a strong shockwave of pure force made a half-dome in front of him, pushing down anything that so much as dared to get in front of him. He let out a constant low bellow from the force of his breath, powering the protective stormfront. The group was struggling to hang on, but they were all managing for now- although Trevor was frustrated at his seeming uselessness in the situation. He hung onto Dan's back, randomly swinging his sword every few seconds.

"Come on!", yelled Leon, shooting yet another barrage of high-velocity metal into the woods. His interior Super meter didn't even so much as twitch- no damage had been dealt. "Why can't I hit him! He has to be somewhere!"

"Stop firing.", said Brandy, putting her hand on his gun. "He might be using your fire to keep on telling where we are."

"Really?", asked Leon, more than a hint of sarcasm sneaking in. "Cause I think that Dad stomping through the woods like an avalanche on legs would do a better job of that."

"Well-", Brandy said, and hissed in a breath. She supposed Leon was, technically, correct, but it was perhaps rude of him to say it like that. She would have to talk to him afterwards, once they had killed this current enemy.

"Annabelle!", Trevor shouted out of impatience, twisting his head up to look at her. "See anything yet?"

Annabelle looked forward, straining over Dan's shoulders to try and see the enemy. But she could barely see anything but what looked to be some sort of shape, doing something in the trees. Her eyesight could have detected it clearly, had it not been for the immense, almost unusual darkness that section of the woods held. And the constant jostling did nothing for her focus either. "I can't really see, but-"

In the few seconds that followed, several things happened. One was that Brandy had been so focused on thinking about Leon's response to her, that she had been forgetting to keep up the Dash shields she was supposed to. Another was that Annabelle tried to lean too far forward in order to see her quarry, and thus stood out as a clear target right on Dan's shoulder. The third thing was that a long, sharp spear came flying out of the woods at an incredibly high speed, right towards her, unblocked by Brandy, and impaled all the way through Annabelle's chest like a toothpick in a sandwich.

Annabelle spat out a huge spurt of blood, and was almost thrown off of Dan's shoulder. She lay there totally still on the ground, with absolutely no signs of struggle. Trevor screamed, the suddenness of the kill not yet sunken into his mind. Brandy screamed, absolutely horrified to see her friend cut down like that. Yet, curiously, Bubble did not scream. She merely looked at Annabelle's body, and tilted her hand and head. That in itself was curious- that Annabelle still had a body. Normally, a Troop would dissolve into Elixir once they were killed. And yet…

Dalli pumped his fist, and gave a loud whoop. "Yeah!", he shouted, and gave Fearri a fist bump. "I got one of them!"

The victory cry, of course, gave away his location. And as the real Annabelle, not the sneakily constructed clone that had been made by Bubble, revealed herself on top of Dan's head, she nocked an arrow, aimed, and let it fly.

"Guys!", she said, and whistled. Brandy and Trevor both looked up, and sighed in relief. "I'm okay."

"Good.", said Brandy, and started to gather Dash in her hand once more. Even if Annabelle was okay, she would not make that same mistake again. "Let's make sure that thing isn't."

Dalli's face twisted in shock, and he almost let go of the reigns. "What- but I killed her!", he yelled in frustration, and his expression became a ferocious scowl. "Fine. I'll do it again."

"No!", came a voice inside his head, and Dalli gasped in shock. The voice was one he recognized instantly as none other than Dragonlord Rakastamos. But he knew not to interrupt, as Rakastamos delivered his orders. "Get the girl.", he said, pointing forward at Brandy in Dalli's mind's eye. "The one with the mask."

"On it, sir.", said Dalli, with deadly seriousness. Then he grabbed another spear out of the air, pulled back and to the right on his reigns, and put his plan into action.

"We're running out of forest-", said Fearri, half a second before they all swung hard to the right. Sasha almost turned in a 90 degree angle, banking out of the chase and into the trees, turning back to get behind their pursuers. The force shut his mouth, which he decided not to open again until he saw what came through. This would most likely prove to be a good plan for him, as Dalli charged back towards the group, aiming to cut them off from behind.

"There isn't much forest left!", shouted Brandy, putting out her hand behind her. Blue light swirled within as she charged up a Dash swipe, ready to kill. "What do we do-"

Then she stopped talking, and her vision went to her right. For there, eye to eye with her, was a pair of glowing red eyes, and a pair of yellow ones a bit above that, staring right at her with a ferocity that bordered on animalistic.

She locked vision with them, shoving down the instinctual fear that appeared in her throat. She could see the faint outline of the Wolf Rider through the shadowed trees, his hand pulling on the reigns and the wolf's teeth slavoring with drool. She tightened her gaze, and gave a low, quiet snarl. The effect of it was to show her enemy that she was just as crazy as him, maybe even more- and that she was someone that absolutely nobody wanted to tangle with, especially not him. As if to articulate her point, she rotated her wrist to show a smear of chlorophyll- evidence of her victory over Emmara the Plant Witch.

Dalli snarled back, as did Sasha. He pushed a little bit harder on his reigns, and they took off deeper into the woods, out of Brandy's sight.

"There!", she yelled, pointing to where they had gone. "He's right there!"  
"Shoot!", yelled Dan. He waited for a moment for somebody, preferably Leon, to attack- then realized what he had said. "I meant fire, not that I was frustrated!"

"Oh, sorry.", said Leon, and raised his gun. He began to fire directly where he had seen Brandy point, spreading a storm of bullets across the entire area. But he soon thought better of that, and instead swept his gun around in a wide half circle, strafing the whole treeline with a rain of metal. "I'm shooting now!"

"Good!", said Dan, and raised his own hands to fire. The Wolf Rider appeared to be incredibly agile- Dan could most likely only land his shots if he was tripped, or slowed down somehow. That, or he just got very, very lucky…

Dalli wheeled around in the woods, Fearri trying not to throw up from his spot in the back.  
"Could we stop… moving around?", he asked, noticing that the glow on his guns had become rather intense. "It's… getting to me. I've always had a bit of a fragile constitution for things such as this, I'm afraid…"

"No.", said Dalli, and slapped Sasha on the side. She screeched, and bounced off towards the clearing again. "We're barely even getting started!"

As the team leaped, some dark magic leapt with them. And as they soared through the trees and into the air, leaves streaming from their explosive arrival, the cold blanket of a darkened sky went with them. The air behind them turned to that of night, allowing them to still conceal their appearance and help disguise their locations.

"Hey!", came the voice of Trevor from the back of Dan's shoulder, and he held up something in his hand. It appeared to be soft and white, as she squished it repeatedly between his fingers. "Catch!"

He threw the small item, Dalli instinctevely tried to dodge. But Trevor had anticipated the move, and the strange object stuck onto Sasha's fur. She snarled, and thrashed as she tried to get it off, but the white goo held fast.

"There.", he said, and ducked back down. "I just stuck some tracking gum onto him. It'll tell us where he is at all times."

Then he looked up again, and saw Dasha leap back into the woods, the tracking gum in a pile of torn out fur on the ground. There was a small amount of blood on the fur- but it would turn to Elixir before soon. Trevor scowled. "Oh, come on!"

Dan continued to build up the shot all that while, mentally preparing himself for the massive blast that it would no doubt create. It wouldn't matter how fast he moved, he wouldn't be able to escape this. "Come on…"

And then, Dalli burst forth in full bloom. His face was bent downwards into a scowl, the heavyset words of Rakastamos burning in his mind. "Get the girl."

Brandy's eyes widened, as she realized that he was heading straight for her. Dan was too busy charging and looking around that she realized she had no time to tell him where Dalli was coming from. Leon was facing the other way, as were Trevor and Annabelle. She knew she had no choice but to fend him off herself.

Or, at least, she thought. But to both her and Dalli's surprise, Dan suddenly whipped around, raised his fist, and surrounded it with a shining golden glow, ready to strike.  
"ORA!", he shouted at the top of his sparkling lungs, and drove his fist directly into the ground.

There was a tremendous crack that sounded like the boom of a mountain breaking, and the entire clearing began to tip forward. For unknown to anyone else was the fact that the clearing they had been fighting in was in fact positioned right next to the side of the mountain, a huge outcropping hanging over empty space. And as he shattered the part of the ground that held it there, the entire clearing slowly tipped over, and began to slide down the hill.

"Woah!", shouted Dalli, and shot backwards. He almost would have fallen off of the sliding landmass, had he not shot out his arm and grabbed a nearby tree. Somehow, he managed to swing himself around, and nest himself and his two companions inside of one of the firs.

As the gigantic rocky sled continued down the hill, Dan dug in his feet. He grit his teeth and wrapped his arms around his back, making sure they were all there. There was Bubble, gripping to the fingers on his right hand like her life depended on it- which, of course, it did. There was Leon, still on his shoulder. Trevor and Annabelle were as close to each other as they could be without actually touching each other, on his shoulder blades. And Brandy-

_Shoot, _he thought, still feeling around for her. _Shoot, where's Brandy?_

"Here.", he heard Brandy say from the top of his head, and she gave a little wave as she looked down at him. "Don't worry, I'm here."

"Okay, good.", said Dan, and returned his attention to the sliding hill they were on that was beginning to break. "I still need you."

Dan slammed his fists into the ground, trying to get it to break apart. His group was all present and accounted for, and they were on his body. He knew he could survive it if the slide broke, and then everybody else would be able to as well. But their opponents might not.

"Dalli, I need to shoot!", shouted Fearri, struggling to be heard over the roar of the falling hill. "If I don't fire at something soon, my guns are going to overload, and then we'll both be in trouble!"

"Just wait until you have a clean shot!", Dalli snarled, wrapping his hand tighter around the branch they lay in. "You can shoot at them then!"

"I need to-", Fearri said again, attempting to express the severity of his situation, but a single glance from both Dalli and Sasha put a stop to that plan.

"Hey!", Dan bellowed, and blew a burst of air from his nostrils that flattened the grass. "Whoever's been attacking us, come out and fight, you coward!"

"Yeah!", shouted Bubble, with a burst of sudden ferocity. "How about you fight back!"

In response, something came flying out of the woods. But it was not another insult, nor even Dalli himself. Instead, it was another spear, aimed directly at Bubble's head. It was a powerful, well aimed throw, perfectly adjusted to overcome the falling they were all experiencing. But it was nowhere near powerful enough to overcome Dan's grasp, as he reached out, caught it with two fingers, and threw it back even harder than the force used to deliver it.

The spear went straight through the treeline like a toothpick through wet paper, punching out through the other side in a heartbeat. It kept on going, and vanished into the rocky trail below. Unfortunately, however, all it hit were the trees. Dalli remained unharmed.

"That's not fighting, you idiot!", Dan shouted again, trying to goad his enemy into appearing. "Try something real this time!"

The angle of the falling clearing began to level out, and Dan sensed they were reaching the end of the fall. He tensed himself, and prepared to strike- when he suddenly felt Brandy leap off of his shoulder. He saw her land on the dirt, slightly jumping up and down to stop herself from falling off.

"Brandy?", asked Dan. "What are you-"

"Don't worry.", she said, with a fierce expression on her face. "I got this."

And somehow, Dan knew that she did.

At last, the slab of land stopped falling. It slid along the bottom of the canyon with a loud, painful screech, eventually coming to a stop just up against another copse of trees. But even though the ride had finished, the passengers were nowhere near ready to get off.

Dalli finally emerged from the woods once more, holding a spear aloft. He did not come out in any dramatic fashion- no, he came out running. Sasha tore off across the ground as fast as she could, and Dalli took aim directly at Brandy. Everyone watched, as they were too slow or not going to interfere with what followed.

Brandy raised her hand, which was still filled with a Dash aura, ready to cleave the Wolf Rider in two. But Dalli had other plans, even as she yelled and swiped her hands downwards, through the spot where he was going to be in a second.

They both flashed past each other, both attacks far too fast for most eyes to see. A few seconds later, Brandy spat out a huge burst of blood. A triplet of tears opened up in the back of her tunic, and she was thrown forward, right into Dan's arms.

"Yes!", Dalli shouted, and pumped his fists into the air. "I did it!"

Sasha's attack had managed to cut several gashes open in Brandy's back. She howled, even as Brandy screamed. "I took the girl down, my lord- just like you asked!"

Then he realized something. He realized it as he looked at his hands, trying to make gestures of his victory. Then he screamed, as the horror of what had just been done to him sunk in.

"My- my hands!", he screamed, and stared at his empty, bloodless stumps. "What happened to my hands?"

"Ha...ha...ha…", came the dazed voice of Brandy, who was now being picked up by Dan, who was concentrating energy to fire. She held up her shaking hands, which now contained the detached and bleeding stumps of Dalli's. "I got… I got… I got your hands!"

Dalli's eyes widened, as he saw a tree coming at him at high speeds. His initial thoughts were to try and protect himself, but he saw that there was no way he could block the blow, not with his hands missing. So he just tried to dodge-

And was unsuccessful. The branch sliced right into his neck, taking his head off at the shoulders. He sprayed into Elixir all across the clearing, Sasha giving a low roar of anguish as her rider was cut down.

"Dang it!", shouted Dan, and let down his hands. There was still a great deal of energy within them, and he did not want it to go to waste. But, of course, one should always be wary of what they wish for.

Brandy's eyes widened in shock, as she saw Fearri suddenly jump from Sasha's back. He pulled out his two guns in midair, took aim right at Dan, and closed one eye.

"Dan!", she shouted, trying to jump in front of the blow. "Look out!"  
"Wait, what-", said Dan- and then Fearri at last pulled the trigger on his guns, filling the clearing with the sound of clinking metal and explosions coming from every direction at once.

A blast of pure, concentrated gunfire erupted from Fearri's twin guns like the blast of a volcano. The full, cumulative strength of the guns tore through the air, hit Dan's torso armor, and continued straight through. Almost all of the bullets that Fearri had fired shot through Dan's armor and ended up going through even his skin, and some of his muscles. A lucky few even made it all the way through his muscles, the magically enhanced super bullets going all the way to his lungs.

Dan coughed up a spurt of blood, and his entire body suddenly tensed. His face twisted into one of pain, as he felt his lungs get impaled by the storm of bullets. He almost fell forward onto his knees, but he managed to keep himself upright. It hurt like nothing he had quite felt before, his wound. It was enough to make him angry. Very, very, angry…

Fearri landed on the other side of a small stone arch, and thought to himself. He had managed to damage the big one quite a lot. And now, once he gave his guns time to regenerate their shots, perhaps he could-

"Hey!", he heard Dan bellow, and Fearri nearly dropped his guns. He looked up in a panic, only to see an enraged Dan, towering high above him. There was hardly even time to aim, before Dan took hold of his head, took hold of his feet, pulled hard on both of them, and then flung the pieces in opposite directions. They both turned into Elixir about a second later, or about 500 feet away from where he had thrown it, spattering the group with well deserved purple rain. For Brandy and Dan, at that point, spilling Elixir all over themselves was no longer something done at parties. No, this time- it meant yet another successful kll.

"There.", Dan breathed, hatred staining his voice. "That's over with."

Everyone stood there for a moment, staring at the carnage that spread across the entire clearing. Dalli and his wolf had been splattered across the tree, Bubble observing the purple puddle with a mild curiosity. The line of Elixir that had been Fearri was still slowly settling onto the ground, bits of it still in the air. And a line of blood dripped from Dan, the hole in his torso torn open from the Gunner's maximum-powered blasts.

"Dan…", Brandy murmured, Dashing to his side. She hopped up on to his shoulder and put her hands on the wound, causing Dan to grimace a little bit. But he bore it, as she looked him over and around, becoming increasingly worried as she did so. The hole had gone straight through his cracked armor like paper, and punctured right into his lungs. It hadn't hit any vitals other than that- his condition would most likely not grow any worse. He was, however, still badly hurt.

"This isn't good.", said Brandy, turning around to face the rest of the group. Her face was etched with worry, and a little bit of panic. Stray bits of Dash energy flickered off of her, as she was unable to contain it. "Does anyone have any Heal on them?"

"Uhh…", said Trevor and Annabelle in unison, as they both searched through their pockets. Both Bubble and Leon knew full well they had none, so they didn't even bother.

"I have some.", said Annabelle, and lifted up a standard-sized bottle. "It's just one use, but-"

"Okay, great.", said Brandy, having Dashed down, taken the bottle, and Dashed back up within a second. She poured it directly onto the wound, rubbing the base of Dan's neck as she did so.

The Heal washed over the puncture, slowly beginning to knit it closed. Blood stopped flowing, and torn muscle was set back into place. But, unfortunately, there was not nearly enough to heal the damage up fully. Dan was very large, and the bottle was made for regular size troops. All it did was reduce the hole to half its size, and cease the flow of blood. But there was still a hole in his body, and Brandy could hear the way Dan's damaged lung rippled with every breath.

"That was our last bottle of Heal, by the way.", said Annabelle, with a bite of her lip. "We'll have to be more careful from here on out."

"Ah, shoot.", said Dan, and slowly got up. He let Brandy clamber up onto his shoulder, and tried an experimental deep breath in. But as he tried to turn the air into Star, all he could manage from one working lung was a weakened line of golden light.

"And I can't really use Star.", he said, with a sigh. "So that's something else."

Brandy threw herself against Dan's head, trying to calm herself down. "That's bad."

"Yeah, but it's nothing we can't handle.", said Dan, rubbing her with his head. "Right?"

"No, I mean that it's really, really bad.", said Brandy, grabbing at his beard. "If you can't use Star, there goes your main weapon. And you're by far the strongest member of our team. And that means that-"

"Rotation.", said Dan, flicking his finger into the air. "I still have Rotation. Not to mention-"

He flexed his arms, the muscles swelling and shifting from underneath his torn armor. "I still have these! And Leon's got his weapons, and you've got yours, and Bubble has her illusions, and Trevor and Annabelle have theirs. So don't worry, honey. I may not be able to use Star at the moment, but believe me. We are far from defenseless."

"Yeah.", said Brandy, taking this information in. It did calm her down- even if she didn't always want to admit it, her emotions were somewhat easily swayed. "I see that we-"

Then, they all heard the sound of a rolling vehicle up ahead, on wooden wheels. Brandy paused mid sentence, to see what was coming up the trail.

It appeared to be a small wooden cart, wheeling an entire Air Defense on top of it. It was attended by a minimum crew of 4 Goblins. They seemed almost not to even notice the group at first, so tired were they from their constant walking.

But as Dan and Brandy looked at them, they saw some rather interesting things. One was the mark on both the Goblins and the Air Defense itself, that of the head of a menacing horned Dragon. The other was the design of the Air Defense, the rockets seeming the perfect ammunition to take down a Balloon. They put two and two together, and grinned.

Song: Stardust Crusaders

"Well, looks like we found them, honey.", said Dan, and cracked his knuckles. "What do you wanna do about it?"

"Hmm…", said Brandy, remembering just how painful that impact with the Air Defense's rockets had been for her. "How about we revoke their life privileges? Just as a special treat…"

"Sounds good to me.", said Dan, and began to spin around one finger. Light blue energy started to crackle around it, in odd geometric shapes that were everything from a nonagon to a perfect square. "And let's do it in a very certain way…"

"What's that?", Brandy asked, almost thinking what Dan was thinking. "I wanna hear."

Their dialogue was playful, almost rhetorical in its manner. But their combined anger towards the Goblins that had taken down their Balloon was immense, and this was the best way to take it out. And as they talked, the Goblins had already stopped, and were currently cowering before the two in terror. They spoke things in desperate Gobbish and very broken Common, but they were, of course, totally ignored.

"Charge yourself up.", said Dan, slowly moving one Rotation-infused finger. "Let's get you spinning."

"Yes, sir.", said Brandy, giving a playful salute. She concentrated, and filled herself with Dash energy, glowing a bright blue and slight silver. Once Dan's finger touched her, she began to suddenly spin around at high speed, becoming a shining cyclone that immediately took off towards the Goblins like a loose Tornado.

The Goblins all screamed, and tried to dive out of the way of the whirling dervish that was Brandy. But her speed was far too much, and the air swirled around her, sucking the Goblins into her path of attack. Her arms, covered in Dash and augmented by Rotation, tore the head off of one of the Goblins, sending his body flying into the woods before splattering into a purple puddle. Another one of her limbs, most likely an arm, slashed the leg off of a second Goblin, and he screamed before meeting the same fate as the first. Finally, a spinning burst of energy shot outwards from her, and sliced the rest in half. They didn't even have time to put their pain into words before they too dissolved, splattering the base of the air defense with thin Elixir.

Brandy dropped out of her cyclone, spinning around a few times from the momentum. She almost fell onto the ground, choosing instead to collapse onto the side of the Air Defense. She looked up, almost threw up, and closed her eyes.

"Woah. Uh.", she said, trying to keep herself on her feet. "That was super fun, but let's not ever do that again. Okay honey?"

Dan smiled, and gently reached over. He put a finger on Brandy's back, gently rubbing to help keep the nausea down. "Okay. I won't spin you again."

Brandy breathed out her gratitude, and her torso spasmed. She wrapped her arms around Dan's hand, trying to keep from throwing up. "Sorry, I just gotta-"

Dan nodded, understanding. He winced a little bit, as Brandy turned her head to one side, Dashed out of his grip and into a bush, and threw up. He thought that even though she was vomiting, she still looked rather cute.

Song: Wind in the Wilderness

After about ten seconds, Brandy stood up, wiped her mouth on a broad umbrella leaf, and turned back to the group. "Alright.", she said, stumbling on her feet a bit. "Where are we going?"

"We're going to…", said Trevor, holding aloft his map. He looked at it, squinted, turned it at a 90 degree angle, then nodded. "To the Great Clashcrush River. Northwest of here."

Brandy started to say something, but Dan cut her off without realizing it. "Hold on.", he said as he took a closer look at the Air Defense. "I wanna take a closer look at this thing. See if there's anything we can use it for."

He strode around the Air Defense, scanning it with intense eyes. It was a fairly standard model- level 8, black and orange stripes on the rockets, attached to the wheeled platform via thick rope. The only modifications that had been added to it was the large Mark of Rakastamos on the front, and several instances of Goblin Graffiti on the sides. But other than that, it was normal.

Dan frowned, and grabbed hold of one of the rockets. With a sharp yank, he broke it off, and ran his gaze alongside it. "Hmm… this could be useful."

He saw out of the corner of his eye Annabelle staring at it, and slowly held it down to her. "What do you think, Annabelle? Do you think you could use it?"

It was Annabelle's turn to stare at it, taking in the bizarre Goblin markings that adorned its side. She tried to imagine herself wielding such a strange weapon in battle- far different from her regular bow and arrow. Perhaps she could ride it, raining fire from above as she soared over the combat. Or perhaps- perhaps she could wear one on her shoulder like a launcher, spreading huge splash at targets. The impact could knock her back, she thought. But she could use that to her advantage- she could perhaps dodge targets. She could even sort of picture it now, as she ran into battle, supporting everybody else with her brand new weapon. But she would have to be called something else. She could evolve from Annabelle the Archer, and become-

"No.", she said, and shook her head. "I just realized that it's not my standard ammunition. Once I fire that, it's gone."

"Oh.", said Dan, and slung it into his pocket. "I suppose you're right… but we should still take them. Just in case."

"Dad.", said Leon, suddenly appearing in front of him. "Why are we taking those."

"Because they'd be useful.", said Dan. "A single hit from one of those almost destroyed the Ballon that we were in. That's a lot of damage if we run into a wild Dragon or something."

"Yeah…", said Leon, and took a cautious look at the rocket. "And we'll be reminded that it took us down every time we see it. We'll be reminded that we almost lost Mom."

Dan blinked, only now realizing this for some reason. He took another look at the rockets, now seeming a whole lot heavier in his hands. His face grew dark, as he whispered.

"Shoot, kid.", he muttered under his breath. He tossed the rocket aside, and it rolled underneath a rock, coming to rest out of sight. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"Woah, don't be-", said Leon, when Bubble suddenly interjected herself and her maniac energy into the conversation. "What?", she screamed, clambering up onto Dan's arm. "Wild Dragons? Out there? For real?"

"Yep. Real wild Dragons.", said Dan, and Leon backed up towards Brandy, locking arms with her. He looked up into the sky, and began to roll his lollipop around in his mouth.

"Dragons are real?", asked Bubble, her mouth dropping open in wild-eyed wonder. "I didn't know that."

Dan gave her a look. It wasn't a stern look, nor a strange one. It wasn't really one that could be described by most normal means- it was merely his version of the infamous The Look. Most Troops developed some form of it later in their life, especially when they had become parents.

"Yes.", he said, flatly. "Our entire quest here is to go defeat a Dragon. Did you not-"

"Quest?", asked Bubble, her eyes lighting up. She jumped up onto Dan's shoulder, apparently trying to imitate Brandy. She stuck her arm out, and yelled. "We're on a quest!"

"Yes…", said Dan, and smiled. "We are."

He didn't need to say anything. His leadership over the group at that point had gotten to the point where he just needed to start walking, and everyone else would follow him. And that's exactly what they did- the whole group started to follow them, out of the woods, and into the clearing. A tall mountain waited up ahead, and the other side was their destination- the legendary and mighty Clashcrush River.

"Trevor.", said Brandy, still in locked arms of comfort with Leon. "You're the animal expert, right?"

"Uhh… yes.", said Trevor, straightening up and trying his best to look confident. "I am."

"Great.", said Brandy, and pointed towards the mountain. "What do you think we'll see over there?"

"Uh..", said Trevor, and scratched his head. He tried to remember his education, where he and his group of federal troops had learned about what lived in the area that he now found himself in. But they had been a while ago, in a weird class, and he had mostly put his energy into partying during that time instead of studying. "Let me think."  
Then, all of a sudden, he remembered. But he held his tongue, as he thought about it some more. His memory seemed to be failing him- those didn't really exist. Did they? And yet, he remembered it all the same. Remembered hearing about just what lived there.  
"Squid- I mean, butterflies.", he blurted out, almost falling over the first word out of nervousness. "Deer. Eagles. Bears, most likely. And… Great Apes."

"Great apes?", asked Brandy. "What are those?"

Trevor swallowed, out of nervousness. All the tales he had heard of Great Apes were those of horror- how they killed without reason, how their sheer physical might equaled that of Golems and Pekkas. How even the fabled Yetis of the high mountains avoided conflict with them. He felt a bit of fear touch his heart, and he shivered even in the noonday sun. "Big things. Things that aren't very nice. Let us hope we do not run into them."

"Hm.", said Brandy, and once again looked straight ahead. It was a long way towards their target, and she did not want to get distracted. "Okay."

And so they continued their journey, all the way towards fate.

Song: Propaganda

About an hour or so after that, there was a valley not far away from where their group was. It was about 15 miles in fact, or as the Balloon flies. They were separated by a particularly ferocious range of mountains, a river, and of course, several dozen villages. But it was not what it took to get to that valley that was important- no, it was what was within it. In the far corner of the small valley was an ancient building, built into the ground, so deeply structured within it that it had practically become a geological structure itself. But deeper still were the knowledge and secrets contained within, dusty scrolls that dated far, far back, almost farther than even history itself. The writings within contained everything from the very beginning of history to battle records from only a week ago, stored at the very front and top. No one knew who built such a place- only that it had been mostly lost to time. Lost, that is, except for a very select few. One of those select few was riding there now, on a mechanical horse of his own making. And his name was Askari.

Along the grassy plains he rode, the pistons and gears of his robotic steed pumping at maximum strength. By the calculations running around in his wired brain, he was reaching speeds of up to 130 miles per hour. _Not good enough, _he thought to himself, and gently adjusted a lever on the horse's side. _I need to go faster._

Once the lever was pressed, a small burst of magical pressure was unleashed into the horse's system, and it began to speed up. The legs on the contraption went faster and faster, blowing along the grass at insane speed, until Askari's internal speedometer read 185 miles per hour.

"Good.", he said, his voice undercut with a distinctly mechanical edge. "That'll do it."

He smiled to himself, as he felt his handiwork boost him forward. He had built the horse himself, once he realized that he needed to travel. And now that work was paying off. The science of the Ivory Tower, after all, was indeed the World's Finest.

He looked up ahead, and tapped the side of his head. His eyes zoomed in where he was looking, and his vision increased a hundred fold from the multiple lenses and layers within them. His target at last came into view- an unassuming, grassy hill that seemed of no importance. But he knew different, for this was the fabled entrance to the mighty Vault of Knowledge. There he would find the secret on how to reinvent his ancestor's greatest weapon, and the knowledge on how to truly bring Rakastamos down for good. But it was a rather deep vault- it would most likely take a great degree of searching. He knew it would take most of the day, so he had left his assistant in charge of the Silver Tower while he was away. _Isaac will do a good job, _he thought, and slowly dialed back the speed on his horse. He didn't want to destroy the vault's entrance by running into it. _He's a good Prince. _

As he squeezed his heels on the horse's sides, bringing it skidding to a stop along the grass, Askari dialed back his eyes. He detached himself from his horse and jumped down onto the grass, one hand automatically rifling through his pocket for the Key to the Vault. His horse, now not in use, sat down on the grass, folded itself up into a cube, and went to sleep. Askari could summon it again when he needed it, at a moment's notice. As Askari strode towards the Vault, he finally found the Key. His hand twisted in its socket, as he brought it up, ready to use it- when he suddenly stopped. Because there, in his way, was a monster.

It stood about 6 or so feet tall, a few inches taller than Askari. It was a rather simple design, although it was most likely deceptive. Two blank arms stuck out from either side, along with two stocky legs. A thin mouth ran along its head, underneath two lightbulbs of eyes. It was entirely metal, save for one thing- a multicolored Jester's cap, perched on top of its head.

"Ask..ari..", it rasped, its toxic breathing coated with malice and reeking of hate. "You...die…"

Song: Evil Buu

"Oh?", asked Askari, tucking the key back into his pocket. A highly detailed lens popped down in front of his eye, projecting a thin ray of light all over the robot. It took in as much information as it possibly could, retreated back into Askari's head, and delivered the information directly to his brain. "And just what is supposed to make me do that?"

"I am…", said the robot, and took a single, stuttering lurch forward. "I was… designed to kill you. I will not… fail…"

Askari took one look at the robot, and its total lack of either weapons or defenses. "Really? I doubt you could kill even a Goblin, with that pathetic structure of yours. And somehow, in your wildest dreams, you think you could have managed to best me."

"Ha...ha…", said the robot, and scratched at its head. "You're… funny. My master would… like you. It's a pity I have to...kill you…"

"It's not a pity, really.", said Askari, and finished reading the information his probe had given him. This was known as a Jesterbot- specifically, the third version. It seemed to have no weapons, at least from visual cues. But Askari of all people knew that appearances could be deceiving- his certainly was. As he finished his taunt, his hands began to turn into weapons, and he narrowed his eyes in ferocity. "Because you won't kill me."  
"Oh… really?", asked the Jesterbot, and smiled. "How I am now… that is… the joke. But… but this is…"

He stood up, suddenly at his full height of 6 feet. His torso unscrewed, propelling him to even greater heights. Askari watched in surprise as the Jesterbot's upper body spun around on a massive screw, revealing stacks upon stacks of guns that had been hidden. Each one of its hands split open to reveal more, each barrel on the end of a long, tentacle-like appendage. Two holes opened up on either side of both of its feet, and a long gun stuck out from both of them, swiveling around to point at Askari. A cannon shot out of the top of its head, aimed straight forward, and began to gather energy. Finally, two long limbs jutted out from both sides of its spine, the ends covered in sharp blades ,and began to spin like a chainsaw.

"Is the punchline!", shouted the Jesterbot 3.0, the rasping in his voice suddenly gone. "Death!"

Askari smiled, and took a deep breath. His own torso opened up to reveal an entire menu of guns and blasters, each of them a different color, each of them a different effect. His hands spun around, his fingers extending to form into ammo clips. He clenched his palms, as the long, spotted barrels of machine guns extended out of his wrists. Each of his shoulders split open, a multi-loaded rocket launcher extending from both of them. The lenses on his eyes turned red, their laser vision now fully online. And as a finishing touch, the jet soles on his feet activated, sending him into the air for a short second before he fell back down onto the ground. "Well, you were right about one thing.", he said, and grinned. There was a loud ratcheting sound as all of his weapons were filled with ammo, and he struck a triumphant pose. "You are a joke!"

The two gun-laden living weapons stared at each other, both ready to unleash their immense firepower at a moment's notice. But the Jesterbot hesitated to fire. It knew that Askari easily possessed the power to kill it, but was not quite sure if it had enough strength to truly take down Askari. It had a multitude, perhaps even an overkill of weapons, but the truly insane grin on Askari's face told him there was no way he didn't have a surprise up his sleeves. One that would most likely explode.

"Attack, you idiot!", the Jesterbot heard within his head, and he startled at the unmistakable voice of his master. "This is essential to the master's plan! We have to kill Askari!"  
"Right-", the Jesterbot began, then somehow sensed a shock of fear running down its robotic spine. For Askari had already begun to fire.

A hail of bullets shot out from Askari's main guns, almost knocking him back from the sheer force of the blasts. Hundreds of spent bullet casings dropped from his hands and chest, as the air between him and the Jesterbot thickened with sharp bits of metal. They had almost hit their target, when the Jesterbot 3.0 retaliated with a few dozen guns of his own.

Another overload of volleys erupted from all his blasters, colliding somehow in midair with Askari's. For every bullet that one of them fired, there was another coming up to meet it. Even though they both shot hundreds of bullets every second, the pure destructive force met in the middle of the space between them, like two opposing winds. There soon became three piles of spent bullets- one in front of Askari, one to the side of the Jesterbot, and one in the middle, all three of them growing larger by the second. The sound was almost that of a rock tumbler on Rage, or a thousand gears all turning at once. Smoke rose from both of them like wildfire, mixing up above in the air, above where their relentless, ceaseless gunfire met.

"It appears… we are equal.", breathed out the Jesterbot, making his voice louder so he could be heard over the deafening thunder of their weapons. "My master built me to be your equal, and this is proof of that."

"You?", asked Askari, and laughed. "My equal. That is ridiculous. How could anyone be the equal of…"

He moved his hands slightly, and his ribs shot outwards from his body to reveal another pair of guns. He grinned manically, and the guns began to fire. "The world's greatest?"

The added firepower mixed with Askari's current flow of bullets, and the Jesterbot was forced back. It let out an alarmed beep, as its system's automatic sensors let it helpfully know that it was about to be overwhelmed. Its vision started to turn red, as bullets leaked through the stalemate, puncturing into its metal skin. Askari continued to laugh, as smoke rose from the Jesterbot's body.

"The world's greatest?", asked the Jesterbot, and let its secondary procedures take place. A burst of processing power erupted from deep within it, and its guns shifted into second gear. More bullets came spraying out, enough to match Askari's hidden guns. "Is that what you fancy yourself? But can the world's greatest… do this?"

A small sensor popped out of Askari's head, and let a bright red floodlight fall over his body. It lingered there for a few seconds before popping back in, reading his body, his abilities, and how he worked. But once it did eventually retreat back into him, the Jesterbot smiled.

"No.", said the Jesterbot, and the process took full effect. An exact copy of all of Askari's weapons, even the ones he had been hiding, appeared somewhere on the Jesterbot's body. He sprouted two additional arms, each with three blazing barrels. His chest widened and heightened, the complex elemental guns taking shape. From the top of his head to the soles of his feet, the Jesterbot was now bristling with twice as much weaponry as he had before. He lowered all his guns, and took aim. "I didn't think so."

"You're right.", Askari said, and flipped back a single small gun on the top of his wrist. "I can't do that- but I can do something better."

"What?", the Jesterbot asked. But before he could do anything else, he was suddenly enveloped with a bright blue light, all across his body, that froze him in place and stopped him from doing or moving anything. He tried to scream, but he could not do even that. And as the magisciencal field pushed down on him, he could feel somehow… temporal.

"There you go.", said Askari, and let his wrist fall. The weapons he had revealed slowly retreated back into him, as he watched the Jesterbot begin to fade away from reality. "See where that takes you. My guess? About sometime tomorrow. Have fun."

He didn't even look at the Jesterbot as he left, as it spun around, turned completely blue, and vanished into thin air. He kept on walking towards the Vault of Knowledge- that is, until he remembered the side effect of his Temporal Gun. He let his right hand fall open into a machine gun, turned around, and immediately opened fire on the injured figure that came stumbling out. The Jesterbot 4.0 barely even had time to shout in pain before its mysterious body was ripped into shreds by Askari's bullet rain, having not been made for such an opponent. Askari looked at it as it fell, broke open into parts, then dissolved into strange Elixir.

"Hmph.", he said, as he kept on walking towards the Vault. "I should probably warn somebody about that. Looks like it came tomorrow."

Song: Approach

Once Askari reached the door, he slithered his hand into his pocket once again. A single finger extracted the key, and he spun his hand around on his wrist to bring it up and around to the lock. With a single fast motion, the key was inserted and turned, and the age-old door ever so slowly creaked open. Hundreds of years of moss and dirt fell off and crumbled into dust, the 15 foot thick doors just barely being pushed open by Askari's mechanical strength.

Not a single source of light illuminated the dark halls, as Askari entered the vault. All was dark, the final torches having been burned apart and the last bioluminescence having gone dim hundreds of years prior. But that was not an obstacle for one such as Askari- he merely swung his hand around, the metal nanobots within it transforming into a flashlight within moments. He pointed the barrel directly at the part of the room where the darkness was thickest, formed his other hand into a ready and loaded gun, and pulled the trigger.

The beam of light fell across the floor, and landed on- nothing. Nothing, really, just some small mice, bugs, and a Hog that seemed totally lost and utterly confused. But after a few seconds of staring at Askari in primitive befuddlement, long after its companions had left, it turned around and ran, vanishing into the dark.

"Light switch…", Askari muttered, flicking his hands along the wall, his arms extending to great lengths. "Come on, I knew there was a light switch around her somewhere… where is it?"

After a few more seconds of searching, he finally found the light switch. His face lit up in triumph as he flicked it, then fell again as it too failed to turn on. He scowled and turned away from the wall, merely buffing up his flashlight another 100 or so lumens. "Never mind."

Askari ran his finger along the length of the bookshelves, carefully searching for a special book. He couldn't quite remember the name of the volume, but he would most likely remember it when he saw it- at least, he hoped. It was an extraordinarily ancient book, having been penned, reportedly, by the great Wizard Askari the 5th. In it were all the secrets of the world's hidden places and hidden things, from what Ice Golems did in their spare times to what was the key to defeating Rakastamos. His search grew more and more frantic, as his repeated ventures into the bookshelves continued to turn up no new results. "Come on… where is it?"

He flung a few dozen or so books in one direction, and grabbed another dozen or so with his hands. "It's got to be here somewhere. Come on, come on, come on-"

Then his seeking nail caught on something, and he startled. But after lifting up his hand and revealing just what had cut him, he realized that he had just struck exactly what kind of Gold that he had been looking for. His eyes and hands lit up in excitement, and he laughed softly to himself. "Excellent…"

He put down the book on a nearby reading table, with a loud crack. The book itself was probably somewhere around 6 feet across, most likely a few hundred pounds. He saw the cover, and laughed- it held two things. One was a picture of a massive red and gold dragon, coiled up in the art of the second dimension. The other was the words below that- "Rakastamos."

"A guide.", it said in shorter, smaller, weaker letters below that, but Askari did not care. This was the book that he remembered.

"Yes…", he said, and started to skim through the pages. "This is what I needed."

The book almost glowed, with pages as thick and malleable as solid gold. In fact, as Rakastamos looked closer, he could see that they were in fact gold- written upon with ink of pure silver and melted ruby. He reconsidered his previous estimate, and realized that the book had to weigh, at the very least, thousands of pounds. Most likely around 6.

He turned the page, and drank in the words in front of him. The book seemed to begin with the early bits of Rakastamos's life- how he was the second eldest born, how he was the physically largest, how he may have been the most powerful at one time. And especially, above all, how he longed to have that power back. According to the beyond ancient text, there was a time where he very nearly approached the incalculable might of even perhaps the Primal Dragon himself. But when he had been about to impart his vision of a Dragon-only society on the world, he was struck down by a force that included Askari's very own ancestor.

"Yes, yes, I already know all this.", growled Askari, flipping the pages faster. "Come on book, give me something new."

As he flipped the pages, they spun by in a beautiful golden miasma of thick metal sheets, and the most expensive ink ever used. But one page stuck out from the rest, slapping against Askari's thumb and causing him to stop flipping. Once he took even a single look at the page, he realized why.

"Oh, Il'kka…", he whispered to himself, the name of the one highest god. "Now this is what I was looking for."

Song: Prelude to a Comeback

There, in front of him, dancing across his vision, was a fully body chart of Rakastamos. Every single bit of him, every claw, every scale, every tooth. The picture was done up in beautiful quality- but that was not why he stared in triumph. That was brought upon by the presence of the chart's legend, detailing the location of all of the Dragonlord's weak points.

"Yes… yes…", he said to himself, and quickly tapped his eye. His vision spread across the entire 12 foot page, taking in every detail and committing it all to memory. A missing scale right in the middle of his throat, torn out centuries ago in a sibling spat? Noted. A scar on his left wing, directly where the muscle of his wing and the muscle of his back met? Written.

A bundle of nerves at the base of his tail, where an otherwise annoying attack may prove aggravating? Observed and committed to his flawless mechanical memory.

"This is perfect…", he said, and straightened up. He waited a few seconds for his eye to finish analyzing and copying down the picture in its entirety, before he would send it to his agents elsewhere. "The Vault of Knowledge really was worth the trip."

He almost thought about going back, before his eye finished the subroutine and slowly, slyly, slinked back to stare at the bookshelves. He thought for another moment, then thought about what invaluable knowledge could certainly be gained from staying there and reading…

As quick as a flash, he was once again running in between the bookshelves. He selected a random tome from the dusty shelf, opened it to a random page, and began to read.

"The perfect Skeleton spell…", he muttered, and raised an eyebrow. "Five hours? This book must be quite old. Almost as old as the Arenas, I'd imagine…"

He skimmed across the book to another page, and almost laughed. "Why, I'd almost forgotten that Spells once used Gold to be brewed. That was a dark time indeed."

Still laughing to himself, he put the book back on the shelf. But as he did so, he noticed a rather interesting looking volume, standing open, protected by a glass shield. If Askari looked closely, he thought he could just barely make out text inscribed on the glass.

THE BOOK OF MODERN TRUTHS, it read on the inscription, a mysterious light coming from within the glass display case. _Simply ask it a question, and THE WONDROUS BOOK will answer. _

"Hmmm…", said Askari, standing in front of the display case and scratching his chin with a sharp blade he had made out of his fingernail. "That could be useful indeed."

Just as he thought up a question to ask it, he felt his communicator ringing in his ear. He made a tiny mental gesture and answered it, the voice on the other end sounding absolutely relieved to hear him.

"Askari?", he asked, voice on the verge of panicking. "Where are you? What have you found out?"

"I found the weak points of Rakastamos.", said Askari, tapping furiously on his eye in order to send the messages. That part of it had remained manual, for whatever reason. "I'm sending the image files to you right now. You should get them."

"Right…", said the man on the other end. "And I need some information, sir. What teams are currently heading towards Rakastamos?"

Askari frowned, for he did not know. He had heard that there had been random teams of travelers making their way into the center of the continent in order to battle Rakastamos, but he had not heard of any of them with names. He turned towards the book, now thinking again of what his questions could be. "Hmmm… just a second."

"Certainly.", said the man on the other end, and Askari nodded, despite his conversation partner not being able to see it. He leaned in towards the book, and asked his question.

"How many teams or groups are headed for Rakastamos in an attempt to kill him?"

The pages startled, almost blinked, in a way, then sank back down onto the book. It began to rapidly flip pages, until it fell open to a single page, a small amount of text written on it.

"There are currently 14 known teams of Troops, Brawlers, and etcetera headed that way on that course for that goal.", it said, and began once again, to slowly cycle through broadcasted emotions.

"Okay...,", sad Askari, stroking his chin. "And which one is the closest?"

"The closest is one headed by a Princess named Emily.", said the Book, and began to flip through pages once again. "She and her kill squad are only about 15 miles away."

"Okay, okay...,", said Askari, and pointed at The Book. "And which team has the strongest members?"  
The book thought for a moment, appearing to drop inanimate once again. But after a few seconds, it picked itself up, and once again began to slowly flip its pages.

"That would be a group headed by a Mega Knight named Dan.", said the Book, the walls of the glass beginning to become misty for some reason. "He is with a Bandit, a Barbarian, an Archer, a Leon, and something that I do not recognize."

"What do you mean you don't recognize?", asked Askari. "You're the book of knowledge, how do you not know?"

"I do not know. That is all I will say on the matter", said the Book matter of factly, and continued on with the answer to his previous question. "He appears to be a Star user of quite prodigious strength. And the girl, the Bandit, has a Stand."

In that instant, before the Book had even started speaking, Askari looked up at it in sheer disbelief. But as he thought more about the situation at hand, his disbelief turned to awe.

Then it turned to planning and plotting, as the gears in his head turned. "Stand…"

He slapped his hand on the Desk of the Book, and yelled with all the fury and authority he could possibly muster. "Then tell me."

"Tell you what?", asked the Book, with its strange calmness. "I already-"

"That group!", shouted Askari, gesturing to the hologram of the group. "I need to know."

He stared right into the pages of the Book, a multitude of weaponry popping out of him on sheer instinct. But this was far more than just instinct for him. His eyes looked crazy, as he was on the beginning of a hunt for help. "Where are they now?"

Song: Calm Sightseeing

The mentioned group was in a rather thin field, sandwiched directly between two deep cliffs. They were still a bit tired from their defeat of the Wolf Rider and GUnner, not to mention the Air Defense, but they still were walking along at a rather good clip. Although, really, Dan was the only one doing any walking. The rest were riding on his shoulders and back- Leon, Bubble, and Brandy on his right, with Annabelle and Trevor on his right. His shoulders, although wide, were a little crowded. But it was nothing he could not handle.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, putting one hand to her face and looking up towards the sun. "What time is it?"

Dan looked up, and squinted his eyes. He struggled to make sense of the sun's position- he had never really learned to read the time from the sun. "Umm… I'm not sure honey. Maybe around 2:00?"

"It's 3:00.", said Trevor, taking a quick glance at the angle of the sun to the horizon. "Actually."

"Huh.", said Annabelle, and raised an eyebrow. "How do you figure that one out?"

Trevor took a look at her, and gulped. One of the corners of his mouth pulled down on its own, and his left eye twitched. "Umm… I learned it. That's why I'm a guide in the first place. Remember?"

"Oh, right.", Annabelle said, and reclosed her eyes. She put her hands behind her head, and rested her head on Trevor's legs. "Now I remember."

Brandy, somehow, could sense the stress that was coming off of Trevor's body. Perhaps it was her "mom-sense", perhaps she just had good senses. But whatever it was, she knew that something was wrong for him. And that she could not stand.

"Trevor?", she asked, from across Dan's shoulders. "Is everything okay?"

Trevor stared back at her, trying to communicate something with his eyes. But he and Brandy did not quite know each other well enough yet, and so the message was lost.

"Alright!", said Dan, and straightened up. He shook himself a little bit, and slowly got down on his knees. "My shoulders are getting tired. Everybody off, we're gonna walk for a bit."  
"Already?", asked Brandy, with a little worry. "We've only been walking for about… what, thirty minutes? Usually, you can go for two hours!"  
"Yeah, but I don't usually have a hole in my lung.", said Dan with a grunt. He took another deep breath, and let it out in a ragged exhale. "So now everyone's getting off."

Leon stifled a grin, but said nothing. He slid down off of Dan's back, alighting on the grass with a soft timp. He stood as straight as he could, and stretched, putting his hands all the way down on his thighs as he bent back. His hood fell off of his head, and he let his bright brown hair flow in the wind. But so focused was he on his stretching, that he failed to notice a tiny red spark flow upwards from the grass, scamper up his clothes, and climb, noiselessly, into his ear.

Brandy Dashed off of Dan's back, landing on the ground and walking over to where Trevor and Annabelle had already landed without any hesitation. She gave Trevor a look, and he gave one back. Both of them immediately walked off to the side of the group, where they would be harder to hear. Annabelle watched them as they went, but she ultimately thought very little of it.

Only Bubble did not touch the ground, and Dan put a hand to his shoulder to find out why. He let out a slight breath of relief as he saw that it was not for any bad reason- no, she had merely fallen asleep.

Dan pointed to where he had been heading, and started to slowly head off. "Come on everyone, we're going that way. To the river."

As the group began walking, Brandy leaned in to Trevor's ear. "What's going on?", she asked, matronly worry etching her voice. "You can tell me."

"Nothing's going on.", said Trevor, but he was clearly hiding something. "I'm fine."

"No…", said Brandy, and shook her head. Trevor shook it along with her. "You're not fine. Something's happening. I can tell."  
"Well.", said Trevor, glancing around nervously. His eye jumped, and one corner of his mouth kept on tugging downwards. "What do you think is happening?"

Brandy pointed at his mouth, and Trevor pulled back. "That. That's something."

"Wha-", Trevor spat, and turned around. "That is nothing. Nothing you need to worry about."

"Hmm…", said Brandy, and raised an eyebrow. "Really? Nothing?"

"Yes.", said Trevor, and folded his arms. He bristled, having become very defensive. "It's nothing, you don't need to worry, and that is it."

"I see.", said Brandy, and a slight grin began to work its way up her face. "Well then… what's going on with you and Annabelle?"

Trevor sighed, knowing that there was no way he could deny that one. "Okay… I guess there's something going on there."

Brandy squealed, and her shoulders shed a little bit of Dash energy. "Ooh, tell me. I wanna know allll about it."

Trevor rolled his eyes and leaned in to Brandy's excited face and open ears, as they kept on walking.

Leon lagged a little bit behind the group, taking a bit more time walking than he usually would. It wasn't that he didn't want to spend time with his family, and he guessed now his friends, or perhaps his parent's friends- he just wanted to hang behind for some reason that he could not quite identify. The truth was that it gnawed at him, some phantom, unknown reason, lurking at the back of his mind like an ancient cobweb. He could not put his finger on it.

But whatever. It may have not made sense why he was making that particular choice, but at least it was his to make. And that was what was important to him at the time. He had only been really free for the last few days, and he wanted to relish that freedom as much as he could.

He slowly turned his gaze from side to side, keeping a careful eye out for anything that might attack them. There had been an awful lot of that- he had encountered well over a dozen enemies since he joined the group, and he was sure that his parents had run into a lot more. Dan had already told him about some- how they had run into the mighty Kraken on the way to the continent itself, brought down only by a gigantic bolt of Lightning. How they had fought the legendary Bonoome, who in the end was only truly brought down by an even more legendary figure, Juno the Primal Bandit. And that wasn't even mentioning the-

"Shoot her.", said a voice inside of his head. It rasped with sheer, unmitigated hatred, the anger in its voice almost visible. "Shoot her in the head."

Song: Mushin no Sakebi

"Wha- what?", Leon spat, and stopped walking for a second. "Who the crap said that?"

"Shoot them.", the voice repeated, fuming over with anger. "You're going to take out that gun of yours, and shoot them all in the back of the head. Starting with your mother, and ending with your tiny little sister over there."

Leon's eyes narrowed in anger. He tried to figure out where the voice was coming from, to no avail. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere, all around him and within him at once. It almost sounded as though it was his own voice- and yet, that couldn't be him, could it?

He would never just take his Stand out and shoot everyone, would he? No. And yet-

"Shoot him.", said the voice again, giving subtle tweaks to Leon's nerves. He startled, yet found he could not cry out. The alien presence in his head had taken care of that. "Shoot that thing that calls himself your father right at the base of the skull. He was never around to raise you, he was never around to call you his son- he hated you when he first saw you. Shoot him!"

Leon wanted to stop it. He wanted to yank his head away, dislodge whatever was making him think like this, and continue on as if nothing had ever happened. But his hands and feet would not respond. No part of his entire body would move- except the part that the thing controlling him wanted to. "Shoot!"

Slowly, painfully, Leon moved his hand towards his waist. He knew he didn't need it in order to summon up his Stand, but apparently this strange entity did not.

"Shoot your mother.", the voice hissed, and Leon thought that for just half of a second, he could see it in his mind's eye. A diminutive, glowing, red staticy ball that sat at a control panel of sorts, somewhere inside his brain. "Your mother didn't want you when you were born. She cast you aside to the wind, never thinking you would find your pathetic, miserable, _crawling _way back. You would be glad to put a bullet right through her worthless skull."

Leon's hand pulled out Hunter Killer from wherever Stands were kept, and shakily began to move it upwards, to somewhere straight in front of his vision. The Hypnosis Spirit inside his head licked its metaphysical lips in anticipation, relishing the tears that began to flow from Leon's tortured eyes. "Good, good. This is what you want, isn't it? To finally put those cares to an end. Love is no enabler, merely a setback. An obstacle. All you really want is to be controlled, I know that. It's what you've willed yourself towards so far."

Hunter Killer, grasped so tightly in Leon's hand it almost began to draw blood, slowly and shakily made its way higher. Within mere moments, it would reach the optimum angle for shooting.

"Yes, yes… destroy them all.", the Hypnosis Spirit whispered wetly into Leon's hearing. "Those two hangers on? They're worthless. They don't mean anything. You could rid them as soon as you could breathe."

It laughed a deep laugh, and Leon grit his teeth. He tried as hard as he could to stop his hand from moving, from beginning to press down on the trigger. He tried as hard as he could to shout, to yell, to warn someone of what he was about to do. But he could not. The only thing he could do was watch, even as he willed somebody, any of them, to turn around.

"And then, you'll shoot your sister.", the Hypnosis Spirit said, and shivered with excitement. "She's so innocent, isn't she? So many beautiful, pure thoughts running through her head… too bad the last thing to go through it will be a bullet! Ha!"

Finally, despite his best efforts, Leon's arm reached a 90 degree angle. His hand automatically adjusted to aim Hunter Killer directly at the base of Brandy's neck, right where it would do the most damage. He closed his eyes, unwilling to see what would happen next. "Mom…"

"Oh, I'm sorry.", said the Hypnosis Spirit, and Leon could feel the sensation of a pat on the back. "Killing your loved ones is hard. But don't worry, once the job is done, you'll have a new family. You'll come live with us at the lair of Dragonlord Rakastamos. It's a fun place…"

Leon grit his teeth even tighter, and opened his eyes just a tiny bit. To his immense relief, the Hypnosis Spirit had not ordered for him to fire. "I'm sorry, could you repeat that? I didn't quite get that last part."

The Hypnosis Spirit frowned, and put more of his energy into speaking. "I said, you'll come live with us at the lair of Dragonlord Rakastamos. It's a fun place. It's got a ball pit. You children all love ball pits, don't you-"

Then, and only then, did he notice how he had messed up. For the energy he had put into speaking was no longer being used to restrain Leon's actions. And before the Hypnosis Spirit could react, Leon regained a second's worth of control over his hand, yanked it away from the shooting angle, put it right up against the side of his head, and began to pull down on the trigger.

"Woah, woah, let's talk about this-", said the Hypnosis Spirit. But Leon snarled.

"No."

A shot rang out, startling the silence of the valley. Brandy turned around, and screamed in horror as she saw Leon fall to the ground, Hunter Killer vanishing into mist in his hand. She Dashed over to him in a second, her conversation with Trevor forgotten.

"Holy crap holy crap holy crap holy crap-", she breathed in half a second, grabbing Leon's head and trying to wake him up. His eyes were closed, and smoke still rose from the side of his head. If Brandy had been looking at his ear, she could have seen the Hypnosis Spirit jump out, try to run away, then collapse into Elixir from the force of the Stand's blast.

But she was not looking at his ear- she was looking at his face. A long mark of soot ran up one side, the impact of the shot clearly written upon him. She listened for breathing, and heard none. Tears began to flow from her eyes, as she stared at the apparently lifeless body of Leon.

"Wait…", she thought, then blinked. Bodies weren't lifeless- where did she get that from? If he had actually died, then he would have been turned into Elixir. The thought gave her hope, and she raised her hand high over her head.

"Woah, what's going on?", asked Dan, as his shadow fell over them both. "Is Leon alright-"

Then he saw what had happened. "Oh my goodness, did he just shoot himself?"

"Yes.", said Brandy, trying to keep her breathing calm. She concentrated deeply on her hand, knowing that she only had one chance to get this right. "He's not breathing, and his heart isn't beating either. But somehow, he's still alive."

Dan saw her hand light up with Dash energy, and his eyes widened. "Wait, what are you-"

Brandy took a deep breath, and felt her hand turn intangible. She plunged it deep into Leon's chest, and began to move it around.

"I'm going to try restarting his heart.", she said, and closed her eyes. She needed to get rid of as many unnecessary senses as possible. "Hold him still, just in case he wakes up."

"Right.", said Dan, and gently slid one hand underneath Leon. He put the other over him, taking great care not to get in Brandy's way. He knew that impromptu heart surgery was usually a tricky business.

Brandy felt around inside of Leon's chest, searching for his heart. She couldn't feel the beating, so there was nothing to guide her. But as she put her other hand on her own chest, she slowly felt around to where Leon's was. She grabbed it tight with her intangible hand, and concentrated mightily. It slowly turned physical again, and she could feel the full sensation of holding Leon's heart in her hand. It felt like rubber, covered with thick blood.

"Come on, come on…", she breathed in, and slowly began to manually pump the heart. Her movements were as gentle as she could possibly be, as to not disturb it. "Come on…"

Everyone watched in stunned silence, for all they could see was Brandy sticking her arm into Leon's chest. They could not see the complex and potentially fatal procedures that were taking place- but one thing they all could see is Leon's chest once again begin to rise and fall.

Brandy let out a huge breath, and once again turned her hand intangible. She slowly took it out, and let herself fall down onto the grass. She lay there, listening to Leon breathe, and feeling his heart beat. It had only taken about 20 pumps, the panic in her increasing with each and every one. But at least her sudden doctor's impression had been viable.

Annabelle stood over him, taking careful note of his vital signs. She had not taken very much of medical school, but the 4 months she had been through helped. "He'll live.", she said, and everyone sighed in relief. "But he's going to be out for quite a while. 4, maybe 5 hours. I don't really know though… never been in this situation. It's probably different for Brawlers anyway."

"Yeah, don't they heal up on their own?", asked Trevor. "I've heard they do it pretty fast."

"I've heard that too.", said Dan. "I met a few besides my boy here. I think their names were Carl and Bo."

"Hm.", said Brandy, and slid her hand underneath Leon. A soft groan escaped his lips, as she wiped away the smoke from his hair. The spot where he had shot was slightly burned, but otherwise totally unharmed.

"Makes sense.", she said. "It was his Stand that he shot himself with. It wouldn't harm him."

"Stand?", asked Trevor. "Wait, hold on, what's a Stand?"  
"It's complicated.", said Brandy and Dan at the same time. "But basically, a Stand is the metaphysical manifestation of your spiritual self. A Stand can take many forms- Leon's is a gun. He named it Hunter Killer."

They stopped explaining, and looked at each other. A smile crept up both their faces, and Brandy handed Leon off to Dan.

"You seem awfully nonchalant about your son almost just dying.", said Annabelle, as the group began to walk away again. "What's that all about?"

Brandy shook her head, and gave a low whistle. "I'm just happy he's alive. I always gotta be happy about something."

"Makes sense.", said Annabelle, and was about to say something in return, when she felt Bubble tug at her hand. "What is it?"

"There was this voice in my head that told me Leon was my brother.", she said, and Brandy's face froze. "Is that true?"  
"I mean…", Brandy said, and paused. She looked at Bubble, looked at Leon, looked at Dan, then looked at herself, reflecting on all of them. Then she nodded her head, and gave Bubble a small smile. "Well, yes. Yes it is."

"I can call you Mom then?", asked Bubble, moving up closer to Brandy. She offered up her little hand, and Brandy took it. "Because Leon is my brother and he calls you Mom?"  
Brandy looked up, and thought about this too. After a few seconds, she looked down, with slight tears once again in her eyes .But they were not tears of pain- they were tears of joy.

"Yes.", she said, and squeezed Bubble's hand tighter. "Yes, you can, my little girl."

Askari stared into the vision that the Book had shown him, stroking his chin, deep in thought.

"I see.", he said, all the possible information that could be gleaned from the vision rotating deep inside his complex brain. "That Leon is certainly not normal either- I did not see that thing he appeared to shoot himself with. Perhaps he has a Stand as well."

"My readings confirm your suspicions, User Askari.", the Book said, and somehow seemed to nod. "That Leon does indeed possess a powerful Stand."

"Okay, tell me about it.", said Askari, snapping his fingers impatiently. "I need to know now."

"Well, let's see.", said the Book, going over its readings further. It needed to make sure the information it was about to give was correct- Askari seemed to be forming a plan. And that was something the Book knew he needed to help with. It looked over its words one last time- everything looked good.

"The Stand's name is Hunter Killer, User Askari.", said the Book. "It's an object type, more specifically a gun. He was born with it- inherited by his mother."

"Okay, what about her?", asked Askari, filing all this information away for further use. "What's her Stand? I certainly did not see her using one."

The Book turned a single page, then turned it back. It glowed with a warm golden light, and floated a few inches off of its pedestal as it thought. Finally, it let itself down again, and let out a minute, blue sounding, beep. "I could not find any information on that. She appears not to have used it in any recordings I have made."

"I thought you were the Book of all modern knowledge.", said Askari, and his mood shifted from heated and planning to slightly annoyed. "And yet, you cannot find a single use of a particular Stand, used by someone you are watching even as we speak?"

"That would appear to be so, User Askari.", said the Book, hoping Askari would react better than the last user who had been angry at him. The Book was still dented from it, and there was still Elixir staining the walls.

Askari stared at the book some more, tiny jets of air escaping his nose. The Book slowly began to touch the switch used to activate its emergency security measures, just in case Askari tried something. He may have been important, but the Book held the most knowledge of any single entity that was not a god. It needed to be preserved.

But, fortunately, Askari just sighed. He turned away, and turned his blade back into his right hand. He narrowed his eyes, and looked up towards the ceiling.

"I suppose that information will be sufficient.", he said to himself, and slowly began to re-adopt his confident manner. "Although… they are Royale Troops. Royale Troops most often come from a King."

He turned around again, and pointed in an exaggerated pose. "Computer- I mean, book! I need information on the Kings of those Troops! Tell me their names, their locations, their levels- I need everything."

The Book beeped, happy to provide something it did certainly know. "Of course, User Askari. They both belong to the same King- one Oticat, of clan LosDementosCT. The entire Clan is located near Builder's Workshop, with Oticat being near the center. He is currently level 10."

"Interesting…", said Askari, and his eye began to whir as a subconscious sign of his interest. He threw back his head and began to laugh, the roots of an ever grander plan taking hold in his mind. "I guess that I will have to pay him a visit."

By the time Askari had finished up his conversation with the book, Dan and Brandy's group had reached the very bottom of the ridge they had been going down. A long, grassy plain awaited them, looking very similar to the other many long, grassy plains they had walked through. A range of tallish mountains awaited at the end of them, round trees dotting the entire landscape like seeds on a bun.

Or, at least, that was the way that Brandy thought of it. Her stomach rumbled, and she groaned as she realized just how long it had been since she had last eaten any real amount of food. She thought she might have eaten breakfast at the village, but she wasn't quite sure.

"Dan?", she asked, looking up at him. "I'm starving. I think everyone else is too."

Dan looked at her, then back around to the rest of the group. He was met with about the same reaction- frowns of hunger, and a slight stumble from Bubble. He thought about it, and realized that he, too, was quite famished. So he set his jaw and looked forward, looking for something to eat.

"Hey, what are those?", he heard Annabelle say out of the corner of his hearing, but he wasn't really listening to her. He needed all his attention focused on getting them food. There was a group of trees that seemed to have large fruits on them- perhaps that would do. But really, Dan required meat. He was a very big man, with a tremendous appetite to boot. Using the Star, even if he couldn't use it right now, took a lot out of him. And he certainly needed a lot of food now, even if he had filled up on meat back at the village before they had set out.

"I think those are deer.", he heard Trevor say, and immediately whipped around. He grabbed a rock from the ground, took half a second to aim, and flung it directly at the closest deer he could see. It streaked through the air like a bolt of lightning, his aim perfect, and collided directly with a deer's head, taking it clean off. The lifeless body slumped to the ground- animals such as that were not Troops, and thus did not turn into Elixir upon their deaths.

"A Western Field deer, to be exact.", Trevor continued, rather dryly. "Or, at least, it was."

"There.", said Dan, and started walking over to where the deer had fell. It was about 100 paces from a regular man, but he could make it in far less. "Now we have food."

Brandy hissed in a breath- as hungry as she was, she was going to have immense trouble eating the deer. She was not vegetarian by choice- no, it was because all meat tasted like sand to her. There was nothing she could do about it- it had always been that way, ever since birth.

"Aw, crap.", she said, and began to look around. "Is there anything for me?"

"Maybe we could… find some vegetables?", asked Trevor, and shrugged. "If you don't want to eat that meat. Maybe we can make a nice wilderness salad."

"Oh, I want to eat salad?", asked Brandy, with a slightly aggressive roll of her eyes. "I'm a vegetarian, and all I can eat is salad. Is that what you think, Trevor?"

Trevor's eyes widened, and he backed up, almost tripping over the grass. "Woah, woah, no. I didn't mean it like that, I promise. I just-"  
"Aw, you're fine.", said Brandy, and sat down on a nearby large rock. It seemed to not have been there before, but it must have been if she was sitting down on it. "I'm just a little aggressive cause I haven't eaten lately."

"Oh.", said Trevor. He pursed his lips together, saw Annabelle leaning over Leon- who was still laying totally unconscious on the ground- and tried his hardest not to blink. "Well, okay then."

As Brandy sat there, wondering what she could do in that situation, she felt Bubble tap her knee. She looked down, and saw her holding up a basket full of ripe fruits and fine cheeses, a beaming smile on her face and a slight sway of her body out of shyness.

"Wow, Bubble!", said Brandy, and reached for the basket. "Where did you find these-"

Then she stopped, and her face went neutral as her hand passed directly through the basket's handle. She looked down at Bubble, who she could now see was smiling with an expression of mischief. "Bubble?", she said. "That wasn't real."

"No.", said Bubble, and the image of the basket disappeared. "But I did want to help in any way I could."

Brandy looked at her, the look on her face obviously one of playing a trick. And yet, her words were so sincere that Brandy did not quite know what to think. So she just leaned over and gave Bubble a hug, patting her on the back and putting her head on her shoulder.

"Thank you, Bubble.", she said. "Even if you can't find me any real food, it is the thought that counts."

Bubble had been about to express the fact that it had been a prank, but something about Brandy's reaction told her not to. So she smiled back, and went deeper into the hug.

Their tender moment was suddenly interrupted by the arrival of the headless corpse of a deer landing on the ground right next to them, blood spraying out of its stump neck. Bubble screamed and hid behind Brandy. Brandy jumped up and gathered Dash in her stance, ready for combat.

"There we go.", said Dan, coming up a few seconds after. He clapped his hands and looked around, apparently not noticing the shocked faces of everyone there. Except for Leon. "We're having deer for lunch. Hot and fresh."

"Dan!", Brandy screamed, and looked at the corpse in disgust. "We can't eat that!"

"I know you can't.", said Dan, and sat down with a thud. He reached for the deer, apparently about to rip into it with his bare hands. "But you're the only vegetarian here. Everyone else, dig in."

Brandy rolled her head around on her neck, and stared at Dan in exasperation. "No, it's not because of that! Dan, we are not going to eat raw meat!"

Dan stared at the deer, and stared at the chunk of dripping red meat he had ripped out, already halfway to his mouth. "And why not?"

Brandy didn't even want to argue with him over this. He was clearly not thinking straight- most likely due to his restricted airflow. That and his lack of food over the last several hours. She just shook her head, and stood up. "Trust me, Dan. Just cook the deer."

Dan shrugged, and set the meat down. He took a deep breath, preparing to roast the entire animal at once with a brief flash of Star. "Okay."

He held out his hand, preparing to cook it- then stopped, as nothing came out. He sat there for a few seconds, before remembering that he was currently incapable of using the Star.

"Shoot.", he said, and withdrew his hand. He moved to a different position- this one with his hand on his chin, both on one knee. "How are we going to cook this then?"

Brandy thought about it too, wondering how it was they were going to cook it. There were some sticks around, she supposed, but they were green and thin, not at all suitable for building a fire. The deer was quite large anyway, probably around 300 pounds. Such an amount would be difficult to cook without any equally large source of heat- but Star was not usable right now.

"We could use rocks.", said Trevor, and everyone looked up towards him. "If we hit some rocks together really, _really _hard, that'll start a fire."

Dan got up, and got into a position over the deer. "Why, that's perfect! Anyone got any rocks?"

He saw Bubble hold up a rock larger than she was up to him, and he shook his head. "Any real rocks, Bubble. I need real rocks."

"This is a real rock.", said Bubble, and Dan looked again. The rock had shrunk, to a size that Bubble could reasonably hold. "I just made it look different."

"Okay, that'll work.", said Dan, and took the rock. As soon as he took up and looked away, the rock went back to its larger, true, size. But of course, he did not notice. "Now another."

"Here's one, honey.", said Brandy, tossing over a decent size rock.

"Alright, great.", said Dan, and concentrated on one. He pressed one finger against it, harder and harder, until the rock lit up with a brilliant blue light. It started to spin on his hand, hitting against the other one faster and faster until the sparks began to fly.

A few of the sparks flew onto the pile of dry brush that he had thrown the deer onto, and a lick of flame sprouted up. It continued to burn, faster and faster, higher and higher, until within mere seconds of the ignition, Dan had constructed a roaring flame. Right underneath the deer.

"There we go.", said Dan, and sat down. "That'll be done soon."

"More like done now.", said Trevor. "Look."

Dan looked up, and jumped up a second later. The deer was flaming, several bits of it already falling off and turning into carbon upon the ground. "Oh, shoot. You're right! Sorry!"

He took a deep breath, and then coughed violently as it triggered his wound. But he still had enough breath left in his punctured lung in order to expel a huge gust of wind, hitting the fire dead on and blowing it out within a second. Left behind was the deer, or at least the half-charred remains of it. "There we go.", he said, and grabbed a leg. He tore it off effortlessly, and bit it in half with a single bite. "Lunchtime."

Brandy looked at it in trepidation, dreading the fact that she had to eat it. No one had found anything else for her, so she didn't really have any other options. She hated such a concept, being forced into something like that, but it was just food, in the end. Even if it tasted awful, she could still just hold her nose and choke it down. As she reached for a small scrap of the side, she was surprised to see that everyone else was already chomping away. Trevor had grabbed a bit of the other leg, and was devouring that. Annabelle had taken some off the head, taking small bites. And to her total surprise, even Bubble was ripping and tearing into a rump piece like a vicious, adorable piranha.

Brandy brought her small, fairly unburned bit to her mouth, closed her eyes, and took a bite. The taste of it was hard to describe, but it was more like burned sandpaper than anything else. It hurt her to do so, but she slowly chewed the tough, wild flesh, choked out a painful, agonized swallow, and instantly tried not to gag. She let her tongue hang out of her mouth, wishing she had a brush to scrape it off with. She set aside the rest of the deer meat on the rock, leaned over the side, and tried not to throw up.

As she sat there, looking at the ground, she could see a puddle. And in that puddle, as she looked behind and over herself, she could see a Minion fly overhead. And then another, and then another, and yet another still, and then three or four more. Her curiosity and caution overwhelmed her disgust at the taste of the deer, and she sat up. Looking overhead, she could see that there were indeed many, many Minions in the sky- far too many for her to count.

"Uh, guys?", she asked, a nervous look upon her face. "Is that maybe too many Minions?"

Dan briefly glanced up from eating another section of the deer, wiped the blood and ash from his face, and immediately his face grew serious. "Oh, great. Not this again."

Bubble looked up, and dropped her small hunk of meat. "Mommy? What's going on?"

Brandy was about to say that she didn't quite know, and that she should listen to Dan, when she felt Dan grab her from behind. She and Bubble were both instantly tossed up onto Dan's shoulder, along with Annabelle. Trevor waited a few more seconds to come aboard, which he helpfully used to grab Leon. Once they were all on Dan's back, he instantly jumped for a ditch by the side of the small pathway, leaving the rest of the deer behind.

"Not this again…", he groaned, glancing upwards once again. "Another cloud of Minions. And right when I can't use my Star, either."

Song: Overdrive

About a hundred or so feet away, behind a thick line of trees, there was a tiny clearing, built into the woods. That clearing was currently hiding a ragged-looking, insanely cackling Night Witch- or, at least, she was almost one. But there were some important differences. For one, there was no trademark axe. Instead, she held a strange weapon that was a wicked scimitar on one end, and a spiked chain whip on the other. Her hood hung so low over her face that she could barely even be seen, and her dress was torn into tatters at its ends. For she was not a Night Witch, in truth- no, she was Telavile, the Dusk Witch. Instead of mere Bats, she was capable of summoning entire flocks of Minions at a time, ready and willing to rip and tear into anything that she wanted gone. And as of right then, that thing was the group of Dan and Brandy.

"It appears as though my first plan was not enough.", she said to herself, recalling her first assault. "Even though my cloud of Minions was indeed very large, large enough even to kill them all, I had forgotten that my colleagues had not yet made their moves. But now that Dalli has disabled the girl, Fearri removed the Star from the man, and the Hypnosis Spirit has rendered the boy unable to fight, my target will be easy indeed."

She thought for a moment, and transferred her mind. For a few brief seconds, she was able to see through the eyes of a Minion, staring at the group with gleeful anticipation of a slaughter.

"Yes, it now appears that the only thing able to even fight back among them is the Archer.", she crooned, gently stroking her own head. "And she will do nothing but be overwhelmed, in the face of my mighty numbers."

She raised a shaky hand, and spun around her sinister weapon. The Minions in the distance all obeyed her, and began to swoop around their targets, eager to close in for the kill. "Now fly, my children! Take them apart, and grant me the rank of Chosen for the master!"

"What do we do?", Brandy said in a whisper-shout, crouching underneath Dan's arm. "Leon's still out, Dan can't use Star for another few hours at least, and now Annabelle's the only one of us that can hit air! And I don't think she could take on a whole Minion cloud- not trying to be rude, that's just facts."

"Yeah, you're right.", said Annabelle, shivering with fear of the situation. "Even so, I don't think I could even manage to nock an arrow right now. Look at my hands."

She held up her shaking hands, and Brandy felt a pang of homesickness as she thought of who else had shaky hands when they were nervous. _Meg…, _she thought, then steeled herself.

"Bubble." she said, and pointed down to where she was. Bubble looked back up at her, with nervous eyes, but a willingness to help in whatever way she could. "Do you think you could make an illusion as big as all of us put together?"

"Maybe…", said Bubble, and nervously flexed her fingers. "What is it of?"

"Of us.", said Brandy. "We're going to sneak away while they're busy attacking that. And maybe once we're in the clear, we'll be able to fight back. Leon can't stay asleep forever-"

She thought for a moment, and her face went as pale as her voice went quiet. "Sheesh, I hope."

"You heard her, kid.", said Dan with a low voice, and motioned for the group to get lower. "Start summoning up something good."

Everyone ducked further down into the bushes, as even more patrols of Minions began to fly overhead. They looked all sort of different levels- there were level 1 Minions flying directly next to level 8, and everything in between. Whoever had summoned such a gigantic cloud of Minions clearly didn't care about uniformity.

Bubble tightened up her face, and scrunched further into Dan's leg. "I don't want to.", she said, with a tiny toss of her hair. "Not when Dad's being all yelly."

"You-", Dan snorted, and almost erupted. But his sense got the better of his anger, and he breathed out. "No, you need to. This is important."

Then he opened his eyes all the way they could go, and whipped around to stare at Bubble in astonishment. "Wait, did you just call me Dad-"

"Illusion!", shouted Bubble, ducking her way out of the conversation. She waved her hands around with a mighty effort, and lifelike effigies of the entire group began to appear in the air.

They were not just realistic- they were almost identical. Everything from the grain on Dan's armor to a specific cut on Brandy's arm was copied. Once they landed on the ground next to them, they looked almost exactly like the main group. The only difference was that they were lifeless and inactive, totally unmoving.

"There.", Bubble said, and took an uneasy step forward. Her left eye was drooping, half-closed from the sheer effort the illusion took to create. "One… illusion."

Then both eyes abruptly shut, and she toppled forward into Brandy's arms as she lost consciousness. Brandy looked at her collapse, saw the illusion that she had made suddenly crumble into nothing, and she held back the gargantuan impulse to let out every swear word she knew.

"Shoot!", she hissed instead, and threw Bubble up onto her shoulder. "Bubble's out now. What do we do?"

"I could yell at them.", said Trevor, and fiddled with his sword. "If I were to just run out there, and yell a lot, maybe we could-"

"No.", said Dan, and clenched his fist. "You are not dying. Nobody is, except for whatever sent those Minions."

Song: Fight to Antagonize

Dan knew that the Minions themselves would not die- they were all clearly very wild. But he did want to kill whoever was sending the vast swarm directly at them. Very painfully.

"Dang it…", he breathed, feeling the pain of such an action spiking through his lungs. "If only there was some way to fight back… to just attack…"

As he spoke, he felt a strange feeling build its way up inside of him. Neither him or Brandy knew what it was- only that it caused him to, half a second later, suddenly flare up. His hair spiked up, his muscles swelled, and a destructive green and yellow light appeared around his entire body. But it was only for about half a second, and then it was gone. And somehow, it actually left him feeling weaker than he had felt before he had done it.

And then, he noticed something. His destructive flare-up, small as though it was, had torn a sizable hold right through the bushes that the group had been in. And once the Minions passed by, turned its head, and saw them, it let out a loud screech rivaled only by various types of monkeys.

"Shoot, it spotted us.", said Dan, and stood up higher. He tried to will himself to access Star, but it was to no avail. "Well, I guess it means they all spotted us. Great. Try to hold on."

He took a step, then realized he had no idea what he was doing in such a situation. A gigantic cloud of Minions were about to attack, and he had no way to defend everyone against such an air-borne menace. Anyone else who did was now unconscious. It was not a good situation to be in, at all. Which is why Dan set himself, started to jog, and gave off a low roar.

"Get ready, everybody.", he said. "We're getting out of here- oh."

There, in front of him, were hundreds upon hundreds of Minions. They all turned as one as they saw the group, and prepared to attack.

Actual panic began to surge through Brandy. It was not a feeling that she had felt in a long time, but here it was again. It felt like a red, raw part of the back of her brain being ruthlessly scratched, as she saw the hopelessness of the situation. There was no way they could take out so many Minions, and even less so that she could defend against them. Out of options and desperate, Brandy reached her hand inside of her pocket, hoping beyond hope to find something useful- when her hand brushed what felt like a button.

Brandy's heart stopped. She almost didn't even hear the sound of the dozens of Minions beginning the attack, divebombing the ground and Dan's back. He groaned as they slashed across his back, trying to protect Annabelle and Trevor inside his grip.

"Guys!", she whisper shouted, and held the button aloft. She made sure to press it, before any of the Minions could take off with it. "Look what I found!"

"What-", Dan asked, then his eyes lit up with shock. "Oh. Is that-"

"Haha, it is!", shouted Brandy, and slid it onto her finger. "It's the Ring of Three Wishes!"

She sighed, twisted the middle jewel, and slapped her hand onto the plate. "I tell you, these things come in handy all the time."

She didn't really have much time to articulate her thoughts. The massive enemy cloud of Minions grew closer by the second, and what appeared to be Goblins riding some of them didn't help anything. But she knew what she would do.

"Oh, Ring of Three Wishes…", she said, noticing the tiny sliver of health missing from a few of the Goblins. She shrugged, not really knowing what to say- and then it came to her in a flash of inspiration. "Help!"

Like a magical burst of lightning, absolutely nothing happened. Brandy stared at the Ring again, pushing down on it a few more times, as the Minion storm grew closer. Her heart beat faster from the panic, until she stuffed the Ring in her pocket and turned to Dan.

"Okay, that didn't work.", she said. "What do we do now?"

"Um…", said Dan, and jumped. He took everyone with him, wrapped up in his massive arms. Exploding out of the bush and taking off across the ground, he slammed a few of the Minions with his gigantic body, exploding them into purple mist. Annabelle fired haphazardly into the crowd from Dan's back, picking off a single Minion with every shot. Even though she was totally unable to aim, the sheer amount of them allowed her to hit anyway. "We run!"

"What?", Brandy shouted, and tried to slap Dan on the back. But her angle restricted her, allowing only a few small thumps. "Dan, we can't run away! These are Minions! Wild Minions! They'll outrange us and outrun us!"

"Do you have any better options?", asked Dan, and glanced behind him. He could feel his lung start to heal automatically, even though he was working it like crazy. Perhaps if he just kept running, it would heal all the way, and he would be able to use Star again. Perhaps Leon would wake up, and he could teach the Minions what for with Hunter Killer. Perhaps-

He shook his head. He could feel the Minion cloud grow larger behind him, growing ever closer in their pursuit. Him trying to run away was like trying to keep away from a tsunami in a fishing ship. He could feel they had mere moments left before they were in the Minions' ranges.

But then came something that none of them expected. Bubble, who had been fast asleep on Dan's shoulder just a moment ago, raised her head. She whipped around and glared at the Minions, an intense fire burning in her eyes.

Song: Nella Cerneria

"I won't let you touch them!", she shouted, with a voice that seemed larger than herself. "I just found these people! And now you're trying to kill them?"

Brandy stared at her, in total wonderment. She seemed older now, far older than she was normally. Her hair stood off of her head, her eyes singing with a mysterious blue light. And as Brandy watched the energy fly off of her, she could almost swear that it seemed familiar somehow. "I won't let you!"

With an unearthly cry, Bubble thrust forth her hand. More illusion energy than Brandy had ever seen her release flooded out of her in a magnificent burst, totally filling the air with all sorts of shapes and colors. The Minion cloud reared up and halted, confronted with wave after wave of bizarre imagery. There was a gigantic purple Dragon, letting out a mighty roar that seemed to shake the entire world. There was a huge steel tower, the lights glowing from within seeming to burn anyone who looked too closely. There was a man in green with long red hair, an emerald octopus flowing around him. That one was visible only to Brandy, although nobody there knew it. There were hundreds upon hundreds of ghostly green Minions, scowling and hissing at their physical counterparts. There was a huge multicolored machine, dropping what appeared to be valuable ores all over the ground so fast it scorched the grass. There was a gigantic clock, counting down some mysterious number, while the hands spun around at incredible speed. And in the middle of the entire wall of Illusions was a huge coat of arms, Lions and Dragons intertwined around a purple and silver shield.

"Bubble?", Brandy asked, as Dan sped away. Bubble kept on holding her hand into the air, intent on maintaining the illusion for as long as possible. "That was amazing! How long have you been able to do that?"

Bubble kept on straining, the intense light in her eyes slowly beginning to grow dimmer. "Sorry Mom can't talk now I have to keep the illusion up sorry-"

Brandy's brow raised. Bubble had been calling her Mommy before. But now, with her energy raised like this, and an older appearance assumed, she was referring to her as Mom.

Annabelle nodded, and began nocking a trio of arrows into her bow. "Good job, Bubble. You're putting in some real work there."

For a second, Bubble's eyes once again became visible. She rolled her pupils back at Annabelle, and her face broke into a wide smile. "Am I really?"

Everyone shouted in alarm, and Bubble realized her mistake. She once again applied pressure to the illusion, and it resurged in solidness. It had come dangerously close to breaking.

"Okay, so that's one thing.", said Brandy. "But what do we do after this? That illusion's not gonna hold forever. We need a way to take them out for good, and fast."

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", shouted Dan, looking for another place to hide. The idyllic grassy field they had been walking through was about to run out, only a dark twisted forest coming up ahead. He looked behind them, checking on the Minions- they were beginning to go through the Illusion, some brave ones forging on ahead. "We might be able to lose them in the forest. Get ready to jump!"

"Jump?", Bubble screamed, and immediately regretted it. The light vanished from her eyes, and she fell forward, off of Dan's back. Her hair and age went back to normal, and the Illusion crumpled into nothing. She cried out as she hit the ground- or she would have, if Brandy's arm had not shot out and caught her by the ankle.

"Bubble…", said Brandy, and yanked her back on to Dan's shoulders. She hugged her tight, feelin the young girl go limp from the exhaustion. "That was amazing. Thank you for saving us."

"I… I did?", asked Bubble, and her eyes closed, as she fell further into Brandy's grasp. "Yay…"

"Yes, my girl.", said Brandy, and looked up. There were the Minions, coming up at immense speed. She tried not to let Bubble see. "You did."

Dan shouted in triumph, and took a deep breath. His lungs had finally started to knit back together again, and he could feel a small bit of Star enter him. It wasn't enough to take down the Minions- but it was enough for one thing. He raised his fist, aimed at the ground, and-

"Dan!", he heard Brandy scream in panic, and he turned his head. "What?"

Then he saw too. The place where he had laid Leon to recover was empty. He had fallen off.

"Oh shoot!", he yelled, then turned back to what he was doing. With a mighty "Ora", he plunged his fist downwards, causing an eruption of dirt. It sprayed up behind them, blinding the front row of Minions, and causing many pained shrieks. Once the burst cleared, the ones they had been pursuing were nowhere to be found.

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, simultaneously shrieking and crying. "What happened to Leon?"

"I don't know!", Dan yelled back, holding up his arms to support the makeshift dirt cave he had made. He was in the middle, holding the whole thing up. Brandy was in front of him, at the flap of the entrance. Trevor and Annabelle were in the back, sort of paralyzed from the shock. And Bubble was still in Brandy's arms, having fainted again. "Maybe he fell off! Maybe he woke up, turned invisible, and ran off to go do something!"

"Wait, you think so?", Brandy asked, as this notion came into her head. "That would be good-"

Then she stopped. A faint sound reached her ears from outside the dirt cave. It sounded like the stampeding of horses, and the gunshots of Musketeers. But then, as she listened closer, she could hear their shouts. Not Musketeers- men.

"What is that?", asked Dan, as he heard a single note of a brass tune play. "What's going on out there?"

"Maybe we should check.", said Annabelle, crawling up to the cave's entrance. She put a hand underneath the charred dirt flap, and peeked. She gasped.

"Yes.", said Trevor, recovering from his shock long enough to follow her. "We should."

Dan lifted up the flap fully, and allowed the light of what was happening to pour in. They all looked, and gasped as they beheld the unimaginable sight.

"What- what the-", the Dusk Witch spat, as she saw what was happening to her cloud of Minions. Dozens upon dozens of them were being cut down by the second, even hundreds falling out of the sky. They were all being turned into Elixir, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She was powerless to control them, with all the panic and the flying and the deaths- no, the only thing she could do at this point was to make more. So she raised her staff, and raised her weapon, and began her chant.

"Meial aluda tynam deja un tul…", she moaned, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "Yui sueda jukela fortul-"

Then she stopped, the words dying in her throat. For as the cold metal of a gunbarrel pressed against her cheek, a slow fear began to rise from her. For one thing, she knew she could not strike before the gun shot. For another thing, she could not see who the gun was being wielded by- it hung in the air, as if possessed.

"Hey.", said Leon. "What you doing out here?"

The Dusk Witch thought for a second, then tried to smile. On her weathered, shriveled up face, it was like watching an old prune try to walk. "Serving my master, the one and great, only and true, unknowable in his entirety, Dragonlord Rakastamos? Just like you!"

It was a wild gamble, but it did not even come close to paying off. Leon snarled, and raised his finger. "Yeah, no. Die."

And with that, he pulled right down on Hunter Killer's trigger.

There, in front of the group staring out of the ground, were three entirely curious individuals. They rode on Horses, but they were unlike those of a Prince. They were much larger, stronger. They were brown as well, coated with a thick layer of dust from what seemed to be intense travel. The riders on them, however, were far stranger.

They all wore matching uniforms, gaudy in their patterns but simple in their colorations. Black jackets adorned with white spots hung over frilled white dress shirts, a red cummerbund and belt adding a colorful accent. A darkly colored belt with a golden buckle tied their pants to their shirts, which were the same color and pattern as their jackets. A golden gun holster hung from each of their hips, but they were now empty, as the mysterious strangers were riding around like madmen, shooting their guns into the air as a maniac celebration. Their ebony hats completed the otherworldly ensemble, wider than their shoulders and covered with white symbols- an Eagle for the first, a sun for the second, and some yet unknown symbol for the third. They whooped around and bucked on their horses, then eventually came to a stop.

"It sure is weird out here.", said the first, and took a small drink of water from his canteen. It ran out after about a mouthful, and he tucked it away.

"You could say that again.", said the second, and tried to take one from his. But the only thing that came out was a burst of sand. He frowned, and tapped it a few times on the side.

The third one said nothing, for he was too busy gulping down seemingly impossible amounts of water from his own canteen. He sat there for almost 10 seconds, the water rushing down his face, as his two friends stared at him in shock. He wiped his lips in an exaggerated motion and threw the waterskin aside, leaving it to drain on the ground nearby.

"Oh, come on.", said the first, and slapped the side of his horse. "Did you really have to do that again? It was bad enough the first time, but now you're just being rude."

"Excuse me, I planned.", said the third, and gave a lazy, watery burp. "Did you two plan? I don't think so."

The first odd rider glared at the third, who returned the look with a wide smile. They were most likely about to burst into words again, when they were interrupted by a polite cough from Dan.

"Excuse me…", he said, rising up out of the ground. One of the horses began to draw away from his tremendous size, but was restrained by his rider. "Who are you people? Why are you here? And… thanks for getting rid of that Minion cloud. That was helpful."

"Who are we?", asked the first, and put his hands on his hips. He stood up straight and proud in his saddle, and his two partners, in mere seconds, followed suit. "Who are we?"

"Yes, that is what I asked-", said Dan, but his words were suddenly cut off by the sound of a mariachi guitar kicking in from nowhere.

"I'm Dusty Bottoms!", said the first, and stared off into the distance with a proud grin.

"I'm Lucky Day!", said the second, and did the same, but for the opposite direction.

"And I'm Ned Nederlander!", finished the third, and gave his horse a slap on the side. They all began to trot around and sing, much to the rest of the group's wonderment.

"One for each other and all for one…", they sang, and crossed paths on their horses. They exchanged brief high fives, before slowly beginning a spin.

"The three brave Amigos are we!", they said as one, and lined up in a row. They once again put their hands on their hips, and smiled wide, heroic grins.

"Brother to brother and everyone, a Brave Amigo…", said Dusty, and brought his hand up to his forehead in a sharp salute.

"Wherever they need us, our destinies lead us…", said Lucky, and replied with a salute of his own. It was sharp as well, perhaps even sharper than Dusty's.

"Amigos, we're always togetherrrrr…", Ned sang, ending on a long, drawn-out, high note. They broke formation and spun around again, preparing for the finale of their bizarre song.

"Mommy, who are they?", asked Bubble, rubbing her eyes. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, Bubble.", said Brandy, staring with wide eyes. She had never seen anything like this before, and she wanted to get every second of it. "But they're the ones who saved us."

"We are the three Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamigos!", the Three Amigos sang as one, hanging on the word for at least 10 seconds. "And Amigos forever we'll be!"

Their song finished, they put their hands on their hips for the last time. They turned and coughed both directions for whatever reason, took a collective bow, and rode off, into where the sun would presumably set, in a few more hours.

"Well.", said Dan, as he felt everyone slowly come up behind him, still really unable to believe what they had just witnessed. "That… happened."

"Where's Leon?", asked Brandy, now ready to get back to business. Her head started to pound, as she thought about what could have happened. He could have been brought down by the Minions, or left in a ditch somewhere, or wandered off, or something even worse that she couldn't think of at the moment. "We still haven't found him-"

"I'm right here.", she heard Leon say, from right next to her. She gasped in shock and relief, as Leon became visible again. He hardly even had time to breathe before Brandy enveloped him in a tight hug that made his face turn red and his spine pop. "Woah woah woah-"

"Sorry.", said Brandy, and let out a little bit of a laugh. "I was just worried about you. And I guess you woke up then."

"Killing the Forgotten that unleashed all those Minions.", said Leon, and flicked his finger against his cheek. He rolled his lollipop around a bit. "All it took was one shot to the head."

"Where were you, and what were you doing-", said Brandy, then realized what Leon had said. She gasped, then smiled. She resumed her hug, squeezing him not as tightly this time. "You're my son, alright."

Then she gasped, as the reason for why the Three Amigos had appeared hit her mind.

"Dan!", she shouted, and brought the Ring of Three Wishes out of her pocket again. One of the tiny circles on the face of the Ring had been snapped in two, solidifying Brandy's theory.

"The Ring!", she said excitedly, and bounced up and down. "It worked! Agatha said that it summoned help, and it just totally did!"

"Wait, who's Agatha-", said Trevor, but Brandy gave him a look. She squealed to herself, and tucked the Ring deeper into her pockets. "Thank you.", she whispered into the sky.

"We should probably get going.", said Dan, wrapping a hand around Brandy and Leon. His other hand grabbed the rest of the group, and dumped all five of them onto his shoulders. "We're burning a lot of daylight out here, and we should probably at least get to Clashcrush River before nightfall."

"Right.", said Brandy, and nodded. She stuck her hand down Leon's hood and rustled his hair a bit, then looked towards the horizon. She hung off of Dan's head and put her hand to her brow- Dan could not help but think she looked very cute. "Let's be off!"

Dan nodded, then gave a mighty shout. His lungs had finally repaired, and a burst of golden Star flared around him as a warm aura. With everyone in place and injuries healed, the group once again set off for the Clashcrush Mountains, yet another defeated enemy under their belts.

Song: Approach

Far away, in a hidden valley at the very edge of the continent, incredible amounts of godly power radiated through the very air. So much energy was concentrated in this one spot that the atmosphere and ground simply could not contain it. It shifted manically every few seconds, going from the atmospheres of Clans, to Royale to Brawltopia to even the Hay Day Farms and the Boom Beaches every few seconds. A low hum shook the area, brought about by those same many cosmic forces.

All the gods of the world were gathered here, as were all the Primals. Most of them, anyway- the mighty Anghammarad was still asleep far under the surface of the oceans. He would not fit in the valley besides. And Akulamastar was somewhere out far in deep space, in a location unknown to anyone but himself. But the rest of them were here, in a glorious assembly that affected the very fabric of reality around them. The Primal Knight, Jonathan, spoke with the Primal Frank about something having to do with sandwiches. The Primal Executioner, Falce, spoke to himself, standing in a magically darkened corner of the grassy field. Fallon hovered above the ground, engaged in mental conversation with his brother, the Primal Bo.

The general mood was light, almost celebratory. This grand pilgrimage to space was not something that happened that often- once every thousand years. Many of the Primals had never been. Many, such as the Primal Fisherman Maurice, the Primal Goblin Brawler, and the Primal Emz were eagerly awaiting their first journey into the great beyond of reality.

Only Juno sat alone on a rock, not really sure if it was a good thing for her to be going. She could feel something coming, something very bad. It scratched at the back of her mind like a persistent cat, not letting itself be seen, but letting Juno know it was very much there.

"Juno, what's wrong?", she heard the voice of Se'th say from beside her. He sat down on the rock, and Juno microdashed to make some room. "Tell me what's on your mind."

"Something's coming.", she said, and looked up towards the Clashcrush Mountains. She gulped. "Something very, very bad."

"Oh?", asked Se'th, his godly eyes lighting up. "What do you think is coming, Juno?"

"I don't know.", Juno said, and gestured towards the world. "Something. I think I had it all figured out, but then I forgot. My memory can be bad sometimes."

Se'th smiled, and gave her a pat on the head. "Don't worry. Even if something does happen, I'm sure it will be taken care of. The strength of mortals tends to be enough- it surprises even me."

"Yeah, but…", said Juno, and sighed. She appreciated the head pats, but they weren't enough. "What if it's not? What if something happens during The Meeting, and we're not there to stop it?"

Se'th closed his eyes, and stood up. Once he opened them again, he was holding a small object in his hand. "Look at this, Juno. Tell me, what do you see?"

Juno looked into Se'th's hand, and gasped. There was a Bandit card, glittering with iridescent dust. "Is that… my card?"

"Yes.", said Se'th, and produced a small packet of dust from his pocket that read Strength. He took a gentle pinch from the small bag, and as Juno watched in excitement, sprinkled it over the card. Juno instantly felt different- stronger, even more powerful than she was before.

"There we go.", said Se'th, and gave Juno a pat on the back. "A nice buff will always make anyone happy."

He put his hand on her shoulder, and pointed to where Jonathan stood. "And wouldn't you know it, I think Jonathan said he wanted to talk to you."

"He did?", asked Juno, her nose going a bit red, as well as some skin directly underneath her mask. Then she collected herself, and opened her eyes wider. "I mean… he did?"

"Yep.", Se'th said, and stood up straighter. "Now go talk to him-"

But before he even finished his sentence, Juno had already Dashed away.

Se'th watched her go, then sighed. The truth was, he had been feeling something coming as well. He had no idea what it was- it was more Daria's turf. But it was something big.

"Come on, everyone!", he yelled, attracting the attention of everyone there- except for the Primal Ice Golem. But that was because it had no attention to attract. "We're leaving now!"

He snapped his fingers, as did the other gods around him. Dr'ew had naturally gravitated to him, as he tended to do- they were co-gods of Royale, after all. It only made sense.

With the snapping of the fingers, the crowd of assembled Primals began to vanish into thin air, and reappear inside the ship. Within moments, the true gods were the only ones left. Dr'ew began to step into the ship, when he noticed the look upon Se'th's face.

"Se'th.", he said, his godly beard flowing in some magical wind. "I know what and how you are feeling. Believe me, I feel it too."

"Then what are we to do?", asked Se'th, in a very low voice. "The world is defenseless during this time. I just told Juno what I did to make her feel better."

"Yes.", said Dr'ew, and the two began to walk into the gigantic spaceship. "But no matter. The strength of mortals will be enough to guard everything while we are away."

"I can certainly hope so.", said Se'th somberly, as the doors closed, the landing gear went up, and the spaceship began to lift off. "I can certainly hope."

Then the spaceship of the gods lifted off and blasted at the speed of light, far away and into the star studded sky.

Song: The Stardust Man Appears

It was not long after such a monumental event that Brandy found something odd wandering among her thoughts. When Dan had brought down that deer for them to eat, Trevor had mentioned something about her being a vegetarian. That in itself was not bad- it was common knowledge among people that she knew. But only among people that she knew- it wasn't as if she went around with a sign on her back that said "I'm a Vegetarian" or anything like that. So the thought managed to creep into her head- how did Trever know that? She was pretty sure she had never told him…

She took another look at him, engaged in an engrossing conversation with Annabelle. They were talking about the plants that they were passing through- Dan was currently walking along the banks of a small river, in the middle of a thick, gnarly forest. Bushes of juniper lined the sides of the walkway, accented by oak saplings popping through. The sunlight fought to reach the forest floor, and the air smelled like dirt and water. Yet for Brandy, the only thing reaching her senses was suspicion.

"Hey.", she said to Trevor, making sure to keep her voice level. She did not want to raise undue suspicion. "You remember earlier, when Dan was getting that deer for us?"

"Hold on a moment.", Trevor said to Annabelle. She nodded, and leaned her head against one palm. "I love the way you explain things.", she said.

"Oh.", said Trevor, with marked surprise. "You- you do?"

He sat there in stunned, happy silence for a few seconds, before Brandy loudly cleared her throat. With an "Oh right", he turned to her. "Yeah, I remember.", he said. "Why?"

"Well, _Trevor…", _said Brandy, a note of anger leaking into her voice as she leaned closer. "I never once told you that I was a vegetarian. And yet, you suggested a nice salad for me- because I was just that."

She narrowed her eyes, and Trevor looked around in confusion. "Vegetarian."

Trevor gulped, not really knowing what to say. "And… why does that matter?", he asked. "Does it really affect anything, me knowing that?"  
"Oh yes it does.", said Brandy, and folded her arms. "Because I never told you. No one ever told you. Which means, Trevor…"

Her eyes, normally a mix of green and blue, took on a distinctly purple tint. "That you already knew. You already knew about me, long before I ever met you."

She snarled a bit, and the corners of Trevor's mouth tugged down so hard his lip began to bleed. "Who are you, Trevor? Or is that even your real name? Annabelle, you too… you said you were federal Troops. Or is that just a coverup too?"

"Brandy, stop.", said Dan. "They're not anything evil, they really are-"

"We can't be sure.", said Brandy, and began to concentrate Dash energy in the palm of her hand. A faint purple light began to glow from her, and she slowly stalked forwards toward them. Bubble cried out, but Brandy was too deep in her trail of thought to hear her. "They might be working for him."

"Brandy, I told them you were a vegetarian.", said Dan with a sigh. "Right before I went to get the deer. You were just too busy doing something else to hear."

Brandy blinked, and the purple from her light suddenly disappeared. She sat back a bit on her legs, the Dash energy from her hand dissipating back into the air. Her cheeks went a little red at the mistake, and she put her hand over her nose. "Oh.", she said, and creased her eyes. "I'm sorry I- I didn't know."

She once again moved her hand towards Trevor and Annabelle, but this time it was a lot more gentle. "Sorry about that. I guess I just messed up there."

"Oh, don't worry about it.", said Trevor, and shook his head. "I guess we all just got a little mixed up."

"Right…", said Brandy and gently brushed her finger against Trevor's arm. He gave her an odd look, but let it drop. "Now we can continue what we were talking about earlier."

"What?", asked Trevor, and felt a slight tingle in his arm where Brandy had touched him. "What are you talking about-"

_We can talk in here, _he heard Brandy's voice say inside his head. _Like this. Now you can spill all the juicy secrets you want, and nobody else can hear you._

_Oh, _was Trevor's startled reply. _Well, that's cool. But how are we doing this? I never took any mental classes. _

_I set up a mental link when I brushed your arm,_ said Brandy. _I learned that trick from Agatha, a Witch I knew back at home. Well, I guess I still know her._

_Woah, a Witch?, _Trevor asked excitedly. _I had heard that Witches could do stuff like that, but I was never really expecting to come face to face with it. Especially when it's a Bandit speaking to me with it- honestly, I just can't believe that you guys are really a Bandit and a Mega Knight. I know it seems regular to you two, but to regular old Common Troops like us, it's a real honor to be fighting alongside a couple of Legendaries-_

He noticed Brandy was giving him a raised eyebrow, arms folded, almost laughing.

_I'm sorry, was that too much?, _he asked, and winced. _I have a bit of a tendency to overshare whenever I really like something. _

_No, no, it's fine, _Brandy thought with a wave of her hand. _Now, I want you to tell me exactly how you feel about Annabelle. _

_Oh…, _thought Trevor, pulling at his collar. _Well uh… like- you mean now? _

_Of course I mean now, _Brandy replied. _There's not really much of a better time. _

_I guess…, _Trevor thought back, and scratched the back of his neck with his hand. The truth was, he didn't really know how to approach this. He had always sort of been crushing on Annabelle, as long since he had met her 2 years ago. He thought she was beautiful, and smart, and a wonderful conversation partner, and interested in all kinds of cool stuff. And most importantly as all, whenever he was talking to her, his tics weren't as bad. It was like her presence somehow managed to calm them down. This journey, with both of them being stuck together, was like a blessing to him. But even though he desperately wanted to tell her how he felt, he could never manage to work up the courage to do so. She was always with the rest of her Archer friends, or on work, or having "personal time". But someday, he wanted to man up, go up to her, and tell her how he really felt. Someday, he would-

_Woah, _he heard Brandy say, and he stiffened. _That was a lot more information than I was expecting, but the more the better, am I right?_

_Wha-, _Trevor thought, and spun around to face her, his face an expression of betrayal. _You- you- you heard all that? All of it?_

Brandy shrugged, and gave a silent wink. _Well, yeah, _she thought. _They were your thoughts. And they were very loud. So of course I heard them all. _

_Oh…, _Trevor thought, and his face fell. He hadn't wanted Brandy to hear those things just yet.

_And I heard that too, _said Brandy. _But don't worry._

_Don't worry?, _Trevor asked, and aimlessly tapped at Dan's armor with his sword. _Don't worry about what? _

_I know you want to get with Annabelle, _said Brandy with a silent giggle. She put her hand on Trevor's shoulder and turned his face towards where Annabelle sat, talking to Bubble about an adventure in accounting and Castle-to-Castle sales she had once had. _And fortunately, I know just how to do it. _

_Th-thank you, _said Trevor, then stopped. He sniffed the air, and looked around.

"Wait.", he said out loud, and tapped Leon's shoulder, waking him up with a start. A single spinner blade nocked into Leon's grasp, but it retreated with a thought. "Hmm?"

"Does anybody else smell that?", Trevor asked, and took a deep whiff of the air. "It smells like- like-"

"Goblins.", said Annabelle, and wrinkled her nose in disgust. Then her face whitened in alarm, as she realized what was nearby. "Wait, Goblins? Guys, there are Goblins around-"

"No.", said Dan, and took a sniff of his own. "Well, yes, but those are not the only things."

He pushed aside a heavily gnarled tree, and looked into a small clearing up ahead. The entire group gasped, as a bustling Goblin town was revealed unto them.

Dozens of Goblins milled around, chewing on popcorn, chewing on Gold, chewing on each other, chewing on- well, anything, really. The buildings were tall and rickety, giving the likely true impression that they could topple over at any moment. A stall full of Goblin patrons sat right in the middle of the center road, holding a large sign written in Gobbish that nobody there could read. But they did not have to- the gigantic pile of food in the middle of the complex told them enough.

"Holy crap.", said Dan, and began inching forward. "Are those… hot wings? A gigantic pile of 100% authentic Gobbish hot wings? Heck yeah!"

"Dan, wait-", Brandy said, ever cautious, when there suddenly came a gigantic clap of thunder. Dan spun around, throwing up a shield on instinct, and grit his teeth at the thing on the horizon. An immense wind blew from the furthest shore of the continent, grey and lifeless, looming immense over the world like a gigantic wave.

"What the heck is that?", Dan shouted, and crouched in preparation to jump. Despite all that had happened, he was still mostly a Mega Knight. "It's coming straight for us!"

Bubble turned around, took one look at the gigantic grey wind, and screamed at the top of her lungs. She buried her head into Brandy's arms, who wrapped her legs around Dan's neck even tighter in an attempt to stay on. "Mommy, help!"

Dan grabbed them both and tucked them under his chest, dropping low to the ground on his knees. He made a cave large enough to hold the entire group, although it was a bit squished. Bubble kept screaming, and the cries of confusion came from everyone, but Dan just kept on kneeling onto the dirt. He closed his eyes as he felt the wind come blasting across the plains, hitting the trees as it went, stripping the leaves from them like lava strips away snow. The grass turned brown and dead as it went, bending underneath the onslaught of… of… whatever it was. Dan still did not really know. But still on it went, turning the bright, fluffy clouds to hulking grey rainholders, darkening the sky to a slate blue. Finally, with a tremendous roar, it swept over him, almost sweeping underneath his firm grip to the soil. But he held firm, and the mighty force passed, blasting through the Goblin village. It affected it the same as it did the other places it had hit- yet it did not touch any of the buildings. Only the terrain was affected, almost as if it was supposed to.

Dan looked out over the now-blasted landscape in slight confusion. The grass was dead, the trees had lost the majority of their leaves, and somehow the previously temperate forests had been replaced with those of pine. Curiously enough, there were also a great deal of pumpkins everywhere. "What the…"

He heard muffled shouting from within his grip, and he slowly got up. There, on top of a single patch of still healthy grass, was the group, a bit squished from the sudden cave. Brandy bounced off of Trevor's back, and landed on Dan's shoulder with a groan. Leon picked up Bubble by the back of the shirt, and looked towards the Village. Annabelle rubbed the side of her head- she had accidentally hit it on the ground during the whole mess.

"So uh…", Trevor asked, staring over the valley in confusion. "What just happened, exactly?"

"I'm not sure.", said Dan, and rolled his neck. He inwardly debated over whether or not they should continue into the Goblin village, or if something bad had happened to it. But as the smell of the hot wings continued to drift into his nose and mind, he slowly made his choice. "I'm not from around here naturally, so I'm still not familiar with all the stuff that goes on."

"Pumpkins…", said Brandy, staring at the ground. She knew that around this time of year, pumpkins would usually appear- but no one really knew why. Or where they went the rest of the year. But it was not widely considered an important enough question to devote research to, so the question was still unanswered. As Brandy continued to stare at the pumpkins, she thought she could feel a slight memory bump into the back of her mind. It was nothing that she could really get much of a handle on, save for one moment when she-

_Roundabout travel enjoyment night sky other identity pie kitchen lights_

Brandy's head snapped back, and she blinked a few times. A memory had just surfaced, what appeared to be a very old one. It had lasted less than a second, sufficient only to give her a few brief sensations. But what sensations they were…

She was slowly jostled out of her dreamlike state by the feeling of Dan walking, and she realized that they were heading into the village itself. She looked around and down at the Goblins, all of them staring in wonder at the group of foreigners that had so suddenly arrived in their midst.

"Hey Dan?", she asked, about to tell him what she had just experienced. But something, a miniscule voice in the very back of her head, told her not to. "I just had a thought."

"What is it, honey?", Dan asked, and stopped where he was walking. He turned towards the hot wing stand, his mouth already beginning to drool. Authentic, real, Gobbish hot wings were a legendary delicacy for most of the world. And here he was, about to have as many as he could.

"I think I know what that weird wind was.", Brandy said, and began tapping off on her fingers. "You do remember how Juno and Fallon were talking about how they were going to leave to go to space, right? And all the other gods were going with them?"  
"Yeah, I do.", said Dan, casting his gaze around to make sure that everyone was still with them. He nodded, because they all still were. "Why?"

"What if that just now happened?", she asked, excitedly. "And that big old wave of non-life was because all the gods are now no longer on the planet?"  
Dan stopped, having not thought of this. He only resumed walking again a few seconds later, after having given the possibility some work. "Yes, I think that's accurate. Good call, star."

He crouched down in front of the Hot Wings Booth, and dug into his right pocket. Inside was some of the wealth that Brandy had managed to take from the last Village's Gold Storages. It was a relatively small amount, only about 1480. But that was more than enough to pay for any rations they might need. He yanked out about 600 of it, and slammed it all down onto the front of the booth. The Goblin staffing it jumped, and looked with a mixture of fear and awe at the titan overhead. "I'll have as many as this much can buy.", said Dan, thinking of everyone else. "Make about half of them as spicy as you can, and try to find like some fruit or something in the back for my lovely wife over here, she's a vegetarian."

Brandy put her hands to her cheeks and swayed back and forth at his words, while the Goblin shopkeeper tried to rake in all the cash that had been dumped onto his storefront. He said a few excited words in Gobbish, and slowly waddled off with all of it. "617 batch!", he barked to his workers, and they began to immediately get to work. Wings were dumped from an immense vault into a huge frying oven, and gigantic tubs of sauce were mixed with Spears. A bushel of hot peppers were dumped into it and broken apart with a giant pitchfork, the eyes of the Goblins lighting up as they worked.

Brandy watched the proceedings for a bit, but soon grew bored. The smell of the cooking meat, while appetizing for everyone else there, served only to turn her stomach. She looked up, scanning the rest of the village for options- then she smiled, when she saw a place labeled Shiv's Smoothie Shak. She slid off of Dan's shoulder, grabbed Bubble around the waist, and walked off towards it. Her hands had automatically grabbed a few dozen or so Gold from within Dan's pocket. "I'm gonna grab a smoothie, Dan. Don't worry, I'll be safe."

Song: Shark Bytes

"Okay, be sa-", Dan started, then realized what she had said. He sighed as she walked away, out of happiness. Somehow, sometimes, deep down in his heart, he still could not believe that he was actually married to her. That they had a son. And now, he guessed, a daughter. She had already directly called him Dad, and he had seen and heard Bubble calling Brandy Mommy. And that, by extension, made him her Daddy. Only once he thought those words in his head did he realize just how weird it sounded.

He saw that Annabelle had joined them too, going towards the smoothie shop- they had once again split off into groups. The boys getting hot wings, and the girls getting smoothies. That seemed fitting, somehow.

"Hey. Dad.", he heard Leon say, sliding in to the bench beside him. Dan looked down, to see Leon spinning his eternal lollipop around in his mouth. "I know you really like to take care of Mom, and protect her, and stuff. But what else do you like to do?"

"What else?", asked Dan, and put his hand to his chin. "Well, I guess I haven't really done much else lately. This quest has just been so hectic that I haven't really gotten a chance to do anything else."

"Well, yeah, but like- before all this.", said Leon, giving Dan a look with a double raised eyebrow. But Leon's face was under his hood from Dan's point of view, and so he did not notice.

"Well, taking care of your mother is a full time job.", said Dan, with a content sigh. "She's always bound to get into trouble somewhere. She's such a bundle of energy. And she's so nice. And she's so cute, and so smart, and the best person in the entire world and-"

Even though he could not see Leon's face, Dan could sense the look he was giving him.

"Oh, sorry.", said Dan, and thought some more. "Just got sidetracked, is all. Although I do really like animals."

"Animals?", asked Leon, and flicked his lollipop stick with his finger. "What kind of animals?"

"I just like animals.", said Dan, and shrugged. "I like looking at them, I like observing them, I like finding rare ones. And if we ever get our own place, I think I might try collecting them."

"Own place?", asked Leon, and stopped all movement for a bit. "What- uh, what do you mean by that, own place?"

Dan noticed the Goblin waiter coming up from behind him, and reached out an arm. The gigantic plate of hot wings was deposited right into his hand, and his eyes reflected the steaming meat. "Well, after all this is over, I was thinking about moving somewhere a little off of our Castle. Just us four. We'll have our own little house."

He leaned down to Leon, and looked at him with an expression that only guys knew. "But you cannot tell your mother about this, you understand? This is going to be a surprise. No matter what."

Leon nodded, and grabbed a hot wing. He took a huge bite and swallowed almost instantly. "Understood, Dad. Now let's have an eating contest."

Dan laughed, and grabbed a handful of hot wings. A handful for him was more like an armful for most, or even a barrowload for many. "Oh, you're on kid. You're on."

Dan shoved an entire bucket of hot wings into his mouth, savoring the sweet, rich, yet somehow light and earthy flavor of the Gobbish secret sauce. He heard they put liquid Gold into it, but he wasn't sure. Leon ate one at a time, slicing the meat off of each bone with his surprisingly sharp teeth. He thought he was doing well, having eaten 15 wings in a minute- when he looked up at Dan. He had not bothered to strip the meat off the bones. No, he was just eating them by the dozens, bones and all, chomping down on them with the ravenous appetite of a starving piranha on crack. Leon looked at the dwindling plate, and realized that it was time to admit defeat.

"Woah, woah, Dad.", said Leon, and started to eat his slower. "Let's slow down, or we'll run out."

"Okay, okay.", said Dan, and stopped his frantic shoveling. He began instead to pop them into his mouth like popcorn, savoring every one.

"What kind of girl do you wanna marry?", Dan said, and Leon almost spat out his hot wing. He gagged and hacked a bit, before looking up at Dan in shock. "Excuse me, what-", he choked out, before again launching into a fit of spastic coughs.

"Sorry, that question was a little strange.", said Dan, eating a few more wings. "And sudden. But I'm curious. What kind of girl, eventually, not even close to right now of course, do you want to end up with? In the future. Not right now."

"Uhhh…", said Leon, and slowly chewed on a wing. He stared off into space and his own imagination, thinking about the question. What kind of girl, indeed? He had always thought he would end up with a nice Jessie, but a Bibi might be equally nice. He started to say his thoughts, but then realized Dan had no idea what those names would mean.

"Maybe a ginger.", he said, leaning against the bench. "Or a strong girl. I've always liked strong girls, I guess. Maybe a ginger and a strong girl. That would be cool."

"A Valkyrie?", asked Dan dryly. "You want to get with a Valk?"

"What?", asked Leon, and scoffed. "Frick no. The only Valkyrie I met once tried to beat me up for looking at her half a second too long. I don't want to deal with that."

"Good.", said Dan, and ate another wing. "Valks are mostly jerks. I've met a few good ones, but-"

He blinked, and looked down. "Wait a minute. When did you ever meet a Valk?"

Leon shrugged, and almost ate another wing. But he had eaten almost 20 at that point, and he was getting rather full. "It was about a week before I ran away. I wasn't old at all. Down by the docks, in fact. You see-"

But his words died in his throat, as a horrible scream rolled across the village. He looked up at Dan, who looked down at both him and Trevor, who had apparently been standing there the whole time. "That sounded like-"

"Brandy.", said Dan, at the same time that Leon said "Mom." Dan stuffed another pile of hot wings down his throat, finishing off the plate, then took off, both Leon and Trevor running to keep up.

Song: Danger Draws Near

Around the same time as the boys were having their hot wing eating contest and highly philosophical discussion, the girls had been in the smoothie shop, doing roughly the same thing.

Of course, they were not eating hot wings, they were getting Goblin smoothies. But the philosophical discussion was still very accurate.

"Bubble, what flavor do you want?", Brandy asked, as she stepped into the shop. She let her down and looked up at the display, only then noticing that it was written in Gobbish. "Let's see, they got… uh… ummm…"

She stared at the totally unfamiliar language, now wishing that she had paid attention all of those times Agatha or Bowza or Oticat had tried to teach her Gobbish. They had all said it would be important for the future, and now she realized that they had been right. But she sure did not expect that the time she would be using it would be in the middle of the Continent of the Clans, on an epic quest to save the world, ordering Goblin smoothies for her adopted daughter.

"How about the third one?", Bubble suggested, pointing at the sign. "That looks good. It has-"

She stopped, and tried to sound out the words. "Maaakaaa tealatooka burshkeen. Can I have maakaa tealatooka burshkeen, Mommy?"

"I don't know.", Brandy said. "We don't know what that is."

"But I do.", said Annabelle, and came up behind Brandy. "I took a year of Gobbish- I'm pretty sure I can tell you what it all says."

"Oh, hello Annabelle.", said Brandy, and sighed in relief. "Yeah, that would be great."

Annabelle leaned forward, using her specialty eyes in order to look at the menu. "We'll have…", she said, and looked up and down. There was a daily deal on for the Triple Berry and Swamp Grass smoothie- that would be nice. But so would the Pineapple and Spring Water smoothie, or the Mountain Bush and Turquoise Apple, or the "Grape." There were a lot of good options.

"Triple Berry and Swamp Grass smoothie.", Annabelle said finally, and nodded. She took out a small pouch of Gold from her pocket and tossed it onto the table, and winked. "And that'll be three of them. Yes, you can keep the change."

Brandy sat down at a nearby table, and Bubble took a seat right next to her. Annabelle waltzed over and slid down into the third chair, humming an aimless tune.

Brandy thought for half a second, her mind working at top speed. She turned to Annabelle, and decided that this was the best time to make her move. "So… I was talking to Trevor."

The corners of Annabelle's eyes pulled down a little bit, and Brandy inwardly grinned. The mention of his name had, however briefly, gotten Annabelle to smile. That was good.

"Oh, you did?", asked Annabelle, tapping on the table with one finger. "What about?"

"Oh, nothing.", said Brandy, with a sly wave of her hand. Her goal was to figure out just what she thought of him, without revealing that is what she was doing. Annabelle's goal here was to keep that from happening. "Just, you know, important stuff."

Bubble looked excitedly from her mother to Annabelle, wondering what they were talking about. She figured that it was adult stuff, but that was a very large group of topics.

"I see…", said Annabelle, and the corners of her eyes pulled down even further. "And by the way, I have something to ask you."

"Oh?", Brandy asked, and her eyes automatically refocused on what was coming up behind Annabelle. She tensed for a second- then relaxed again, as she saw that it was just the waiter arriving with their smoothies.

"What is it like living with those two men?", asked Annabelle, and blushed a little bit. "Well, I guess, one boy, and one man. A real cute boy, if I might add."

Inwardly, Brandy frowned. If she had heard Annabelle correctly, she appeared to be going after Leon. That wasn't good. But she would have to get as much information as possible before proceeding- it would be a mistake to rush into any relationship matters.

"What about it specifically?", asked Brandy, momentarily Dashing to the tray that the waiter held. Not even half a second later, she was back with the drinks, passing one to each of them. Bubble happily sipped on her straw, and squealed from the taste. Brandy took a sip from hers, and Annabelle waited until it settled to start drinking. "Ask me questions, and I will answer."

"Well, what is it like living with such a… massive man?", asked Annabelle, her cheeks turning even redder. "How does everything… work? Functionally, I mean."

Brandy waved her hand, leaned back in her chair, and took a long sip on her straw. "Oh, it works fine. I don't really want to explain the details. But it works out great for both of us."

"Why not?", asked Annabelle, and finally began to drink her smoothie. "Is it like-"

"It is something sensitive.", said Brandy, and flinched. "I'll tell you when I'm ready."

"That's fine.", said Annabelle, and stared off into the distance. "But what about your son? Leon? He's a real cutie…"

"Well, of course he is.", said Brandy. "Everyone who dresses in a green hood and surrounds their eyes with black is a total cutie. Everybody knows that."

She grinned, her not so subtle subtle message going through Annabelle's head in a heartbeat. It was her turn to roll her eyes, and take another long sip of her drink. "No, really, I mean it. He doesn't have a girlfriend, does he? Cause if he doesn't, I would be glad to-"

The time it took for Brandy to perform her next action was not something that Annabelle, even with her superhuman eyes, was capable of seeing. It took a few seconds for what had just happened to work its way into her brain, flashing into her eyes with a burning yellow and purple light. Brandy had Dashed right in front of her, snarled for all she was worth, and uttered a single, immensely powerful word- "No."

Annabelle blinked, now noticing that Brandy was still reclining in her seat. But several of the patrons of the shop had stopped eating, and stared at Brandy in shock. Bubble was still sipping quietly on her smoothie, the sound the only one in the entire shop, but she was staring at Brandy in a mixture of admiration and fear. Annabelle's hair was blown back by the force of Brandy's eruption, and her hand hung in midair over the smoothie cup. She tried to work up the courage to speak, and only found it after about 15 seconds or so of stuttering.

"Well uh…", she stammered out, and tried to pour herself another swallow of smoothie. But her hands were shaking so much that most of it ended up on her face, and she had to lick it off. "Well… I saw a hat shop on our way here! You wanna try on hats-"

Right in the middle of her words, a Goblin ran screaming into the shop, tore a sword out of his bag, and stabbed it right into the middle of the table. He was not screaming in aggression- no, this was sheer panic. Bubble yelped, and shot right out of her chair. Annabelle jumped backwards, and quickly drew her bow. She was so surprised she forgot to scream. Brandy, once Bubble screamed, screamed as well. She drew back her foot to give the offending Goblin a kick- then stopped, once she saw the look on its face.

"There's-", it spat out in decent Common, and tried to keep itself from dying out of fear. "There's a monster outside! It's going to eat me!"

Brandy got up, and sighed. She shot a look to Bubble that said _wait here, _and started to walk the same way that the Goblin had come running in from. "Oh, great. Yet another Forgotten. Just what we needed. Not like my cuts still haven't healed fully from the last two or anything."

"It's over there!", the Goblin screamed in sheer panic, as Brandy quietly walked past him. "It tried to kill me, and now it's gonna try and kill the entire village! Help me!"

"Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time.", said Brandy, and kept on walking. "No need to get your suspenders in a twist."

She reached the street of the village, and looked to her right. Judging from the trail of panic and mild destruction coming that way, that was the location of the Forgotten. She sighed, and Dashed down the road. Several Goblins along the side pointed her to the right location, among the maze of streets. She nodded, thanking them without a word, and kept on going.

"Thanc… yuu.", said a small Goblin child, peeking out from behind a larger one. Brandy stopped running, looked down at the tiny Goblin, and smiled. She raised her fist, and gave the Goblin kid a bump. Her mood brightened a bit, to be helping someone like that. "Hey.", she said. "It's what I do."

Then she kept on running, around and around the maze of streets and hastily built buildings- until she came to the clearing at the end. She figured that it was where she would find the so-called Monster- but to her utter shock, it was nothing like what she had expected. From the silhouette that she could see, it didn't look like a Monster at all. It looked like a tiny female Troop- it looked like a Princess. That in itself was strange enough, but as the Princess stepped forward into the light, exhaustion written upon her small face, Brandy gasped in shock.

"Oh my Se'th!", she screamed, and took a step back. She couldn't believe it. There was no reason for her to be here. And yet, here she was all the same. "Chloe?"

Chloe looked up from staring blankly at the ground, saw Brandy, and her face burst into an elated smile. It took a second for her to start running, but once she did, she sprinted towards Brandy like she was the last drop of Elixir in the desert. Brandy opened her arms and Chloe jumped into them, wrapping her own arms around Brandy like a tight knot. She sobbed directly into Brandy's chest, pushing herself deeper in for safety.

"Brandy…", she cried, sniffing out of both fear of her situation and happiness that she had found Brandy. "Where am I? What's going on? I'm so afraid…"

Brandy hugged her tighter in return, and rubbed her head. Her crown was missing, likely fallen off during her travels. It would be impossible to find in such a large forest, but perhaps one of the Builders at Oticat's castle could make her a new one. She gently grasped Chloe's chin and tilted her face upwards, staring directly into her tear-streaked eyes. "It's alright. I'm here now. And Dan is here with me, and some other nice people we met too. You're gonna be alright."

Chloe buried her face into Brandy's waist once again, and let out a flood of tears. Brandy gently stroked the back of her head, still a bit wondering about the situation. "Chloe, if you don't mind me asking, just how did you get out here? This is pretty much in the middle of the continent… did you wander out here yourself?"

Chloe looked up, and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She took a deep breath and started talking, all the words spilling out of her at once."I just asked Meg's King what he was working on, and he said it was a teleportation device, and so I pressed the button and then I was in this weird place with all these weird buildings and this Giant Skeleton but he was a Barbarian and-"

"Herb?", asked Brandy, in surprise. "You met Herb?"

"Yeah he said his name was Herb, and there was this really nice lady and her name was Sophia, and they took me to their big red house and I said that I was Oticat's third Princess and they told me that you guys had been there too and I went off looking for you only I couldn't find you but now I've found and- and- and-"

She once again threw herself into Brandy's lap, and began another round of panicked, yet happy sobs.

"I see…", said Brandy, and slowly got to her feet. She pulled Chloe to a standing position as well, and brushed off her sleeves. They had gotten very dirty from the journey. "Well, how about I just take you to where everyone else is? Me and Dan made some new friends- one of them's even a little girl like you! Maybe you can be friends too."

She heard a mighty crash from up ahead, and both of their heads snapped towards the source of the noise. They saw the Goblin from before staring at them in shock, his finger trembling as he pointed. "There she is! She's with the monster!"  
"Monster?", Brandy asked, and Chloe's face recoiled in hurt. "She's not a monster, she's just a little Princess!"  
The crash sounded again, and Dan came charging into view. He looked panicked, but Brandy didn't really notice. "Hey, Dan!", she said, and waved. "Look who I found!" She smiled, thinking that he could talk some sense into the Goblin. That is until he raised one finger, shouted "Single Spear Overdrive!", and shot a thin bolt of energy, directly through Chloe's head.

Brandy gasped in utter shock, as Chloe fell forward onto the ground. Blood spat from both her mouth and her head, a neat hole drilled through her brain. Brandy barely even had time to react before Chloe screamed in pain and fear, tried to grab Brandy's hand, and then burst into Elixir, right there on the ground. Brandy just stood there, watching the Elixir gently sway back and forth on the hard ground. Hardly any sound escaped her lips, just a low, agonized whisper. Somewhere, off in the sky, she thought she could hear the faint singing of a bird.

"D- Dan!", Brandy screamed, and whipped around. She yelled through her tears, unable to believe what he had just done. "What did you just do?"

"No time to explain!", Dan said, and grabbed Brandy around the waist. He tossed her up onto his shoulder, and jumped backwards from where Chloe had fallen. "Get away from there!"

"Dan, that was Chloe!", Brandy shouted, hardly even coherent. "How could you kill her?"

"Just watch.", said Dan, staring at the puddle of Elixir. "Any second now, it's gonna change. Any second now…"

But the puddle just kept on sloshing around, until the hard ground yielded, and slowly absorbed what had once been Chloe. Dan's face dropped, and he took a step back.

"Oh- oh.", he said, a lot quieter than he had been. "Oh my Se'th."

"Dan, what were you thinking?", Brandy screamed, the tears running across her eyes obscuring her vision. She yanked on his ear, turning him around and back towards the village. "You just killed Chloe! She had followed us here, and you just killed her! How could you-"

"Gotcha!", Dan roared, and suddenly spun around. His hand was raised, just in time to block a sword attack that would have stabbed straight into his neck.

There, on the end of his palm, was a black and jagged sword. Holding that sword was a black and jagged person, covered all over with spikes and layers of armor scraps. He hissed, his plan foiled, and tried to drop down to the ground- but Dan's hand contracted, and grabbed him tight.

"You thought you could get us that easily?", he asked, and squeezed tighter. The thing groaned in pain, and tried to escape, but his efforts were wet paper compared to Dan's grip of tempered steel. "Good thing the Goblins told us about you, and all of your tricks."

"How…", the thing squeaked out, feeling his lungs beginning to pop. "How did you figure it out? I thought I had her fooled… all my information was-"

He coughed, and only then did Brandy realize what had happened. "Was correct!"

"I'm sure it was.", said Dan, and snarled. "She may have believed you. But my fist sure doesn't."

Dan gave one last, might squeeze, and the Shapeshifter screamed in pain. His entire middle section popped, and both halves of his tortured body flew from Dan's grip like a sliced grape. He bled a runny mixture of both blood and Elixir onto the ground, then expired for real. The Elixir he had been before was merely a ruse, in order to trick Brandy.

"That wasn't Chloe, Brandy.", Dan said, watching the remains of the Shapeshifter slowly melt into the ground. Some of it was drunken by a small, bright green frog, but most of it merely disappeared. "That could only have been a Forgotten."

"I see that now.", said Brandy, quietly, the shock of the past minute or so silently settling in. "That was stupid of me. I should have seen it coming-"

"No, no, not stupid.", said Dan, giving her a look. They both heard footsteps from behind them, everyone except for Leon coming up from the back. "You're not stupid. That was just an exceptionally good trick. If the Goblins hadn't told me what he was up to, it would have fooled me as well."

"If you say so.", said Brandy, and slowly slid off his back. "That just… unsettled me a bit. Actually no, screw that- it unsettled me a _lot._ He looked and acted so much like Chloe that-"

She choked on her words a bit, and looked up, her eyes pleading. "Dan, I need to make sure she's okay. I need to. Even if that wasn't her, it feels like she's dead now."

Dan frowned, and put his hand to his chin in thought. "I'm not sure we would be able to know that, Brandy. It's not like there's any means of communication we can use right now… we don't have any homing Minions with us, and it doesn't seem as though there are any around."

"Yeah, and both our communicators probably ran out of battery a few days ago.", Brandy sighed, and put her head in her hands. She felt Bubble's tiny hand touch her thigh, and she looked up at her and smiled. "If only there was some way to… just to talk to everybody back home."

"Letter for you.", said a Goblin, and Brandy felt a single letter drop into her lap. She looked down at it, up in front of her, up at Dan, and then finally up at the Goblin, the sheer crushing irony of the situation not lost on her, or anyone there, in the slightest. Although it could have been lost on Bubble- she did not appear to be listening. Then she took another look at the Goblin, and her eyes very nearly bugged out of her head. She jumped to her feet, and stammered in shock.

"Holy crap!", she shouted, and Dan's eyes raised as well. "Glabnack?"

Song: Calm Sightseeing

She had not recognized Glabnack at first, in his new mail carrier's uniform. His face was half hidden by the thick goggles that were required, and the standard cloak obscured almost all of his body. He was also no longer carrying the gigantic book that he had been practically attached to the last time they had seen him. And yet, the crook in his nose and the small Honorary Wizard's tattoo on his cheek were unmistakable. And as Glabnack performed a little curtsey, they both knew, without a doubt, that it was him.

"Hey, how you been buddy?", asked Dan, reaching down a hand for a high five. "It's been-"

He thought for a moment, trying to think of the exact time, but then gave up. "It's been a while since we last saw you. Brandy, how long has it been?"  
"Oh, it's only been about 4 days.", said Glabnack, scratching his chin. "Of course, I've spent a lot of time in the basement fetching books. My perception of time is a bit altered…"

"Oh right, you were going to become a Wizard!", said Brandy. Everyone else in the group looked at them strangely, having no idea what the conversation was about, or who this Goblin was, or why Dan and Brandy seemed to know him so well. "How is that going for you?"

"Ayy, it's going great.", said Glabnack, with a heavily exaggerated swing of his arm. "I just love carrying books to graduated and natural Wizards for seven hours a day."

Then he gestured to his Mail Carrier's badge, and grinned. "But I have graduated to Mail Carrier Goblin, so that's pretty cool, I guess. Only took me a few days too."

He flashed a smile, and bobbed his eyes up and down. "Natural talent."

"What comes after that?", asked Dan, wanting to find out more. "How long do you have until you're a full level Wizard?"

"Well…", said Glabnack, and counted out on his fingers. "There's kitchen duty, then guard duty, then assistant, then apprentice, then Wizard. So I've still got a bit to go."

Dan had been about to ask him more questions, when he saw the faces of everybody there.

"Oh, right.", said Dan, and gave Glabnack a light tap on the back. "This is Glabnack. He helped us fight the Kraken and the Gorgon, remember? We told you all about this."

Nods were passed around the group, except for Bubble. She was too distracted, staring at Glabnack's shiny Mail Boots to pay any attention.

"But as much as we all would love to catch up with you more…", said Dan, and stood up straight. "We really should let you get back to your work. Mail Troops are always busy, huh?"

"Oh, too right.", said Glabnack, and straightened his robe. "Too right…"

He gave a sharp salute, and began a brisk trot towards his Mail Camel. "Nice talking with you guys! And remember to tell me if your quest works out! Lovely family you two found yourselves!"

He slapped the side of his Camel, and it emitted a sound unique to it only. Then it slowly lumbered off, covering more ground that made sense, and soon vanished around the corner, into the many trees that made up the valley.

"Well?", asked Dan, staring at the letter. "Open it up. Weren't you saying you wanted to see what everyone else at home was up to?"

Brandy's eyes lit up blue, and she gasped. "Oh, you're right!", she said, and quickly sliced the seal with her fingernail. "This is gonna be good." She excitedly extracted the letter, unfolded it with a movement boosted by Dash, and began to read.

_Dearest Brandy and Dan__, _the letter began. Both Brandy and Dan could immediately tell it was from Agatha, based on the handwriting. That made sense.

I truly do hope that this letter finds you both in good health, and in high regards. That fight against Bonoome a few days ago had me worried, I do admit. But I heard from Spacekrakenx that you two are fine and alive, and I do believe him. I'm glad that you managed to survive the fight against that monster.

And just in case you were wondering, we are all doing fine as well. Oticat went on a touch of a losing streak, but he's all better now. That may be in part to my rework- I'm the best I've ever been nowadays. All Witches are. It's like how we're rumored to be by new Kings, although in reality this time. Brenda and Meg are getting along well as well- they might even move in together in a House of their very own soon. And more work is done to make a hypothetical marriage legal. May it be, for their two sakes.

As Brandy read the letter, she could not help but tear up a little. Such reminders of home sparked a feeling of bittersweet longing inside of her, a split loyalty between the quest and just wanting to be home again. A tear rolled down her face, as she continued to read.

Chloe's been a real handful around the Castle lately- she misses you two ferociously. However, there is some interesting news about her- all of the Wizards have been working hard lately, and we might be able to create a cure for her before too long. Maybe, just maybe, by the next time you see her, she'll be a normal Princess again. That would certainly be a pleasant surprise.

Brandy gasped in relief, having just read confirmation that Chloe was, in fact, still alive. She had been harboring a little bit of uncertainty in her mind since the Shapeshifter, and was happy to hear that she could finally let it go.

I hope that you haven't needed to use the Ring of Three Wishes yet, the letter continued, and Brandy sighed. But if you have needed to, I hope that it served you well. I'm sure you're seeing all sorts of interesting things, over there on the Continent of the Clans. Not too many other attacks, I hope.

"Oh, I wish.", Brandy muttered underneath her breath. The fights with the Forgotten had been very fun and refreshing at first, but now, Brandy was getting a little fed up with the constant opposition on their way to the Mountain. She almost wished they could hurry up and just get there already…

I'm pretty sure you can write back using the included kit,the letter continued. But if you can't, just know that we are all here waiting for you when you come back. Hopefully it won't be long- the Castle just isn't the same without you two being here.

With best wishes of love and hope, Agatha

Brandy looked up from the letter, and slowly tucked it into her left interior pocket. She stood up, wiped a few tears from her eyes, and looked up at Dan. His reaction was mostly the same- full of bittersweetness, but without most of the tears. There was, however, quite a bit of closed eyes and sighing, attempting to keep his emotions in check. Brandy knew that despite his colossal size, and his mighty temper, and his extreme toughness, Dan was really a very emotional person. He just didn't tend to show it to anyone but her.

"We need to continue.", said Brandy, and looked up towards the sky. She put her hand to her face, staring at the horizon, or at least where it could be through the unbroken line of mountains.

The sun was beginning to approach the other side of them. They most likely only had a few hours left in the day, until the world was plunged into night. They certainly needed to stop before then- a journey at night would be far more perilous. There were things wandering about after dark that should not have been, things that were rather left unseen.

Brandy had seen one of those Night Monsters once. Or at least she thought she had. It was from a while ago, back when Dan was still a Knight. She had been looking out her window one night, not wanting to go to sleep- and there it was. A grinning, toothy mouth, held aloft on four thin limbs. No other facial features, merely a mouth. The body was pasty white, and it stood still as a rock. Just staring with its soul, right back at her. She had hid under the covers, she remembered. She had been pretty easy to scare back then-

"Brandy?", she heard Dan asked, and she was startled out of her memory. "Yes. Let's go."

"Oh!", Brandy said, and shook her head. "Right, right, sorry. I was just thinking about something, is all. Let's go."

Dan held out his hand, and she hopped onto it. The group, who had gotten ready to go while Brandy had been remembering the Monster, began to walk from the edge of the village to outside of it. But they had hardly gone even a few feet, when they heard a voice call to them from the side.

"Good day, travelers…", said the voice, and they all turned as one. There they saw an old, grinning Goblin, in front of a two-story, rickety, very thin and tall Goblin house, moving a pile of cards and Gold from one hand to the other. He was dressed in a clean purple suit, button up, a solid black top hat and pure white dress shoes completing his look. He affixed them all with a powerful stare, and everybody in the group could feel a menacing aura coming from both him and his house- not to mention the tent next to it. "Would you like to play my game?"

"Honestly?", said Leon, and kept on walking. "No. Normally we would, but we are quite busy."

"Oh no.", said the Goblin, and shook his head. "You're missing out of the deal of a lifetime here, madams and sirs. You see, should you win…"

He took off his top hat, and threw it into the air. It flipped over as he did so, about a dozen times, then landed at a slight tilt back on his head. "I will tell you all which you most desire to know."

Leon's face went from one of boredom to curiosity. "You mean… you can tell us information."

The Goblin gambler ran a single Gold piece up and down his arms and shoulders, then into his hand. He closed his eyes, the Gold disappearing without even a trace. "I guess you could say that… I am a dealer in many commodities. And information… can be one of them."

"Well then, in that case…", said Dan, and stepped forward. He leaned down, and offered up his hand- but did not shake. "What happens if we lose?"

"If you lose, then I get to keep the money.", said the Goblin, matter of factly. "It's as simple as that. You win, you get my information and your money back. You lose, and you don't."

Dan narrowed his eyes, and opened up a mental link between himself and Brandy.

_This guy's a Forgotten, _he thought, and slowly extended his hand. _There's no doubt about it._

_Almost certainly, yeah, _Brandy agreed, and gave the smallest nod she could. _Probably calls himself "The Gambler" or something like that. All of the Forgotten have weird names, now that I think about it. I don't think he would be very out of place among them._

_Too true, Brandy, _Dan thought, and the Goblin extended his hand to shake it. But Dan knew better than to just shake on deals in the wild- instead, he gently tapped the Goblin's hand with a fistbump. "Deal.", he said, and then straightened back up.

_That was a good call, Dan, _Brandy thought, and rubbed her head against his neck. _Not shaking._

_Aww, thanks, _Dan thought back, and started walking. The Goblin had suddenly appeared next to his tent, lifting up the flap, beckoning them all to come in with a single clawed finger. _I figured it was the best thing to do._

_And just to make sure…, _thought Brandy as they entered, Bubble almost tripping over the pile of stuff at the entryway, most likely arcane items. The boxes and bags certainly seemed that way.

_We are asking him for information on Rakastamos, right?, _she thought. _It would really seem a waste to ask him about anything else. _

_Well, of course, _Dan thought, as the entire group slowly filed into the tent. There wasn't much there- just a small cupboard, a few decks of playing cards against the wall, and a large table to use them on.

"Well, you all know the stakes…", said the Goblin, and expertly grabbed a deck of cards from the shelf. He began to shuffle, with lightning fast moves. "But the player? Who will that be?"

Brandy opened her mouth to speak, saying that she would go. She was quite good at games- but she closed it in shock, as she saw Bubble slip out from behind Dan and slide into the chair, without anyone saying a single word.

"I can do it.", she said quietly. "I'm good at cards."

Song: Crucial Situation

"What?", asked the Goblin, leaning over and taking a long, perhaps too long, look at Bubble. He chuckled to himself, and continued to shuffle the cards. "You want to play against me?"  
"Bubble?", Brandy asked, in equal confusion, but far less amusement. "Bubble, what are you doing? Let one of us play instead."

"No.", said Bubble, and huffed. She blew her long blonde hair out of her face, and slammed her hands down onto the table, interrupting the shuffling. "I want to play, and I am going to."

"Hmph.", said the Goblin. "Well, in all my years… I, Daxos the gambler, have never heard such a thing. Surely you wouldn't mind if I…"

He smiled, and flipped a small switch on the bottom of the table. Suddenly, the doors to the tent disappeared, and the ground turned from brown and yellow grass to a solid black material. Dan looked around, trying to sense what laid beyond the tent now- and found nothing. Daxos smiled, and flipped the cards from hand to hand. "Raised the stakes?"

"Go ahead.", said Bubble, to the surprise of everyone. "As long as I get to pick the game."

Daxos leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes, utterly confident. He knew from his years of experience that there was no way he could lose to this strange little girl, no matter how much she wanted to challenge him. "Very well, girl. Choose the game."

Bubble held up one finger, and stared him down with deadly intensity. "Traditional High Evening Goblin Poker.", she said, and Daxos dropped his smile. "No Switch turns."

Daxos got down from his position, and dropped his elbows onto the table. "Very well then.", he said. "It seems you really do know your stuff… Goblin Poker it is then. High Evening Trad, no switch turns. Everyone else, sit down. And Barbarian, please stop poking my decks."

Trevor looked up, guiltily, as Daxos looked at him poking the spare decks. He sat down on the chairs, besides everyone else. Dan looked down at Brandy, with a look of confusion. Brandy just shrugged- _Well, I guess this is how we're going- _and turned forward to watch the game.

Daxos flipped a pair of 10-card hands from the deck, onto the table in front of both him and Bubble. She took it in a flash, scraping it against the top of the table in order to completely obscure any sight that Daxos may have had. Daxos did the same, and instantly began to read his cards. His face showed absolutely no sign of emotion, nothing that would give away his hand. His eyes were as of stone, his mouth a thin hard line. Even the famously expressive ears of the Goblin remained totally inert, his nose not budging an inch. Bubble's face was mostly hidden behind her hair, but what could be seen was as smooth and expressionless as a canvas.

"First hand.", said Daxos, and calmly selected a card without looking. "Blind trump. Winner takes-"

"I'm sorry, but you forgot one of the rules.", said Bubble, and looked up. "We select each other's cards. Only then can it truly be blind."

"Ah, but we are playing High Evening.", said Daxos, and his left ear slightly twitched. "Therefore, we get to choose our own cards, as we have both sworn a silent oath not to-"

"Not just High Evening," said Bubble, and raised a single eyebrow. "Traditional as well."

Outwardly, Daxos showed no sign of emotion. But inwardly, he began to get slightly nervous. Who was this girl, so wise in the art of cards? She appeared so young, and he could not place her as any known Troop. And yet, there she was, telling him what rules were rules.

"You're right.", he said, and set down his hand on the table. "I'm sorry… I must have forgotten in the heat of the moment."

Both of them reached across the table, and selected a totally random card from their hands. At least, it was random for Bubble. She simply selected the card closest to her, which happened to be the one in the middle. But for Daxos, there was far more subtlety involved. He knew that most people tended to hold their most valuable cards in the middle of the two sections of the hand, on both right and left. He also knew that the power cards were typically held in the middle, so people would remember them for instant use. But the rest, the low-powered chafe, were kept on the outside as a sort of shield. So he drew one card from the far left side and flipped it over, letting it land on the table in front of Bubble, as her selected card landed in front of him.

"Ah, you've got a 6 of Elixir.", said Daxos, and clucked his tongue. "Whereas the card you've selected for me is a 9 of Gems. How unfortunate… it appears as though I have won this round."

"So what happens now?", asked Bubble, and quietly looked up. She caught the eye of Leon, who had chosen to sit at the very end of Daxos's vision for a very specific reason. He exchanged her gaze, nodded, and silently disappeared. "You said you had raised the stakes."

"Yes, yes, I did.", said Daxos, and laughed. His hand gestured to a chart hanging on the wall behind him, a tiny icon for each of them. A marker was next to each icon, going from green, to yellow, to red. "You see that chart? That is the consequences of each loss."

He drew his finger along the side, going down the chart as he went. "The final penalty is, of course, this tent is collapsed. I will automatically teleport out and back to our reality… you, of course, will not be so lucky. You'll have the void all to yourselves, though…"

Dan stood up, and now realized why he had failed to sense anything outside of the tent. "That's where we are right now? The void?"  
"Indeed.", said Daxos. He sat back down on the chair, and continued to flick his cards. "Now, shall we continue with the next hand?"

"Yes.", said Bubble, and held up one finger. "Next gamemode: True Guesswork."

"Indeed.", said Daxos, and began to take a card from one hand, ever so slowly, to the other. "We guess each other's cards, from instinct and skill alone."

Bubble nodded, and selected her own card. Brandy, staring forward, could see that she had chosen the 10 of Gold. She bit her lip, hoping that was forgotten enough of a card to avoid a correct guess.

Daxos and Bubble simultaneously slipped their cards onto the table, quick as a flash- but not before Leon, standing undetected behind Daxos, had gotten a good look at it. He knew that his card was the 8 of Trophies- but then his mouth went dry as he realized he had no way to say so.

Bubble stared at Daxos, waiting for Leon's hands to reappear. She knew that he had no way to communicate verbally, or else Daxos would find out. So she had to watch for his physical signal- hopefully she could find out. And soon enough, his fingers appeared, holding up four on both ends. Leon hoped that was enough for her to tell… and fortunately, it was.

"Eight of…", she said, and waited for the rest of the clue. But Leon had no idea how he was supposed to mime Trophies to her. He didn't really know these cards, he had no idea which suite came in which order. So the only thing he could do was try and make a T with his fingers, in blind hope she would get the clue- but she did not. She tapped the table with her finger, and said "-of Gems."

"Oooh, not quite!", said Daxos, and flipped over his card. Bubble groaned, and Leon knew it was time to go back to his seat. Now it was Daxos's turn to guess, and he stared forward with a mighty intensity. His powerful eyes had finally warmed up, and his vision slowly began to penetrate the back of the card. It was yellow- a sure sign of the Gold suite. But the number was a bit trickier. However, as Daxos ran some numbers through his head, contrasting chances with the amount of cards spent and still in the deck, he finally arrived at a sure answer. "The 10…", he said, and spread his arms. "Of Gold."

Brandy almost cried out, but managed to contain it. She could not allow Bubble to be given away. But to her surprise, Bubble flipped the card over, to reveal… the 4 of Elixir.

Song: The Kakero the Bluff

_WHAT?, _Brandy screamed inside of her head, as she saw what the card had suddenly become. It made no sense. First, the card had been the 10 of Gold, then the 4 of Elixir. Unless Bubble had suddenly switched out the cards, it was an impossible move. Cards didn't just change like that- and then, Brandy realized what had happened. Why Bubble had volunteered. They didn't change like that unless you were an illusionist- unless you were Bubble.

"Huh.", said Daxos, and leaned forward. He stared at the 4 of Elixir, which he could have sworn was not the card that she had been holding. Perhaps his eyesight was giving out. "Okay, I guess neither of us won that one. Next hand, I suppose."

"Yes.", Bubble said. "This one is to be Strength of Hands. However, I have a request."  
"Oh?", asked Daxos, and tapped his cards together. "What is that request?"

Bubble narrowed her eyes, and put her cards together in a pile on the table. She put her chin in her hands and stared at Daxos, with a mischievous grin. There was only one way to win this. Despite her powers, Daxos had the far superior skill, and would win in a long game. "If I win this hand, I win the whole game. But if I lose, I lose everything."

Daxos raised an eyebrow, his poker face finally broken. With such a bold action, his interest had been well and truly piqued. "Hm. Very well then. Put your hand and claim it."

"You first.", said Bubble, and began to think about her next strategy. "Tell me what you have, oh master gambler."

Daxos frowned, but knew he had to comply. Bubble had lost the most recent round with a loser, and so he had to state his hand first. He took a look at his cards, selected four, and placed them down onto the table. "Four Aces, one of each suite. Ascending."

You could have heard a pin drop. Such a hand was the most powerful one in the entire game, and everybody there knew it, except for Leon. He was not familiar with Clash cards at all.

Trevor scooted a little closer to Annabelle, and Annabelle scooted a little closer to him. Dan gripped his fist, ready to get physical if something went wrong. Only Brandy knew what was going on, and was actually unworried about Bubble's chances here. She couldn't wait to see what the look on Daxos's face would be when he lost.

"My, that's a good hand.", said Daxos, and grinned. "Very strong, in fact. In the rules we have, there's only one hand that can beat it. The-"

Bubble slammed her hand face down on the table. "Four Ascending, same suite."

Daxos spit onto the table, hardly able to believe what he had just heard. There was no way. There was absolutely no way. This little girl could not have somehow managed to assemble the perfect hand to beat him. There was no way- oh. Of course there was not. She was bluffing. She had to be. He had to call her bluff- but he did have to call something else first.

"What suite?", he asked. "You have to say your suite, kid."

Bubble tapped the table, and grinned. "Grass. Four Ascending, same suite Grass."

Daxos stared at her, in total shock. After a few seconds, a low laugh began to build in his throat. The laugh turned into a chuckle, which turned into a guffaw, which became a deep seated belly laugh that turned his face red. "What Grass?", he gasped between laughs. "There's no such-"

"AND I'm going to raise that bet.", said Bubble, and drummed on the table once more. "This hand is worth everything. If I lose, my entire family becomes yours for the rest of our lives. But if I win, you tell us everything you know and could ever know about what we're after."

Brandy's eyes very nearly bugged out of her head. _Bubble, what in Se'th's name are you doing?, _she wanted to scream, but she knew she could not. Grass was not a suite that existed. Making solid cards that appeared that way was out of Bubble's power. Brandy began to freak out a bit, but that was by far the tamest reaction out of anyone in the room. Leon had taken out Hunter Killer, and was prepared to shoot his way out. Dan started to take a deep breath. Annabelle and Trevor had both fainted, fallen asleep in each other's arms. But Bubble just sat there, incredibly calm, knowing what she was in for.

"Very well then, I call.", said Daxos, and reached for her cards. "Let's flip those over."

With the breath of everyone there held on the moment, Daxos flipped over Bubble's cards.

Daxos laughed, and slammed his hands down onto the table. "I win!", he screamed, up towards the ceiling. "I knew some stupid little girl would never be able to defeat I, the great Daxos the gambler-"

"Daxos?", asked Bubble, and pointed towards her cards. "Perhaps you should take another look."

Daxos looked down, and his eyes bugged all the way out of his head. He stared at the cards in utter shock, unable to even process what he was seeing. Those were his cards, from his own deck. He had played with them many times before, knew every mark on their surface. And yet what he was seeing was not the regular cards, but a perfect, pure, almighty, unmatched, Four Ascending, same suite of Grass.

No sound was heard from the entire tent, save the long, wavering whine of Daxo's brain slowly shutting down. The tent began to hum, and the black material underneath everyone's feet once again became grass. The sensation of the world once again touched Dan's mind, and he gasped in relief. Bubble slowly scooped up everyone's cards, humming a little aimless tune to herself, Daxos's head laying on the side of the table, still in absolute shock.

_How?, _he asked himself, still unable to comprehend what had happened. _How did I lose that? How did that happen? How was her suite grass?_

But his wonderings were interrupted when he felt the strong fingers of Dan pick him up off of the table and turn him around, staring up into the angry faces of the entire group.

"Now, Daxos the Gambler…", said Dan, and cracked his knuckles. "You're going to tell us everything you know about Rakastamos."

Daxos stared up, still struggling to get his damaged mind in order. His mouth still trembled, repeating "How?" over and over, quietly as he could. His fingers scrambled at the floor, digging at the grass like it was a precious gemstone waiting to be mined.

"I said…", growled Dan, and gently placed one finger underneath Daxos's chin. Daxos shrieked, and felt his head be pushed upwards, staring right into Dan's intense gaze. "Tell us."

"Who?", asked Daxos, finally free from his repeating. "Who is that?"

"Rakastamos, you idiot.", Brandy said, and held up a fist of her own. "You know, the gigantic Dragonlord that you so obviously serve."

"I'm- I'm sorry, but…", said Daxos, his eyes moving rapidly around the room, searching for a way out. He gripped the grass tighter, and swallowed hard. But nothing could help the intense beating in his heart, both from the shame of his loss and the fear of death. He knew that every single person in that room could probably easily kill him, and he had most likely just managed to make every single one of them very, very angry. "I don't know who that is."

"What?", Dan snapped, and drew back his other fist. It sparked a gold flash, and Daxos jumped back in terror. "Of course you know who Rakastamos is. You work for him."

"But- but…", said Daxos, and swallowed hard. His arms and hands began to shake, from panic as much as fear. "I don't. I have no idea who or what you are talking about."

"Hmph.", Dan scoffed, and began to slowly ring his hand downwards. The sheer heat from the action began to leave its mark on Daxos's skin, a gradual blackening of his jade tone. "Well, if you really won't talk, I guess you're just gonna have to die. Exactly like every other Forgotten."

Annabelle stared at Daxos, reading his eyes with hers. Her eyesight was so advanced, it was as if she could actually look into his soul. And when she looked deep into his eyes, she could see no trace of deception.

"Dan, wait!", she shouted, and thrust out her arm. Dan's hand stopped just a few feet away from the terrified Daxos, the sweat dripping from his face only to be instantly evaporated by Dan's heat. "I think… I think he's telling the truth."

"What?", Dan asked, and stared at her in disbelief. "Look at him. Look at what he can do. He's obviously a Forgotten."

"Maybe…", said Brandy, stroking her chin in thought. She considered that maybe Annabelle might be on to something there. "But he hadn't instantly attempted to kill us, like all the others. Every other Forgotten that could talk said something about their intent to get rid of us."

"And the recent ones have said explicitly that they were working for Rakastamos.", said Leon, pointing a finger in the air. "That's what the Dusk Witch said when I took care of her."

"I've looked into his eyes.", Annabelle finished, and slowly got up. "He's not lying about this. He genuinely does not know who Rakastamos is."

"Wait.", said Dan, an expression of both confusion and embarrassment slowly creeping over his face. "So that means… Daxos is… we just…"

Both Brandy and Dan, in exact unison, thought the exact same words. Dan's face was one of a letdown, while Brandy's was one of acceptance. _We just fought a regular guy…_

Dan's face turned a little redder, and he stood up to his full height. The roof of the tent lifted off the ground with him, leaving the bottom of the canvas about 10 feet off the ground. He turned to the exit, and coughed into his elbow. "Well, we had best get going. I'm sorry to bother you, Daxos. I think we all are."

"Wait.", said Trevor, and bent down next to Daxos. Daxos merely groaned, in vague acceptance of whatever would happen now. "You said you could tell us everything we wanted to know. So even though you don't know anything about Rakastamos…"

Annabelle caught on within a second, and finished his sentence for him. "What can you tell us about the Clashcrush River? And mountains."

Daxos gestured aimlessly, most of his sanity broken. "There are fish in that river.", he mumbled, and dropped his head to his chest. "Big ones. Big nasty ones with lots of pointed teeth, that will eat you right up if you let them. Watch out for those."

"Okay…", said Brandy, trying to commit that to memory. _Watch out for fish. _"Now, is there anything about Rakastamos's schedule, or maybe his weaknesses, that you could tell us about?'

Daxos stared at her in confusion, and his lips curled up. He closed his eyes, put his head to his knees, and began to sob with the confusion of one who has truly no idea what's going on.

"Okay, just checking.", said Brandy, and gave him a little salute. "Well, thanks for the information, Daxos the Goblin Gambler. Now, don't ask anyone else for their soul or anything like that. We're about to head out now."

As the mighty group slowly left his tent and headed back on down the road, Daxos staggered to his feet. His mind swam, as he stumbled to the open flap of his tent- and just barely managed to avoid tripping over a tiny stack of cards. A quick glance downwards was all it took for him to realize that those cards had been Bubble's winning hand, the so-called Suite of Grass. But as he flipped it over, it was not the cards that had stolen his victory and ended his 5-year streak- no, it was a mere collection of random cards.

Daxos stared at the cards for a few seconds, blinked, and immediately knew what he had to do. This was a wakeup call. No longer was he going to gamble, put his life on the line with every game. No longer was he going to sit here by the passage through the forest and to the mighty Clashcrush River, trying to swindle innocent Troops out of whatever they had. "No.", he resolved as he clenched his fist. "From now on, I'm going to be a responsible, mature, adult, normal Goblin. And I know what I have to do next-"

With a bold twinkle in his eye, he snatched his coat off of the wall, flipped it on, and ran out the door. "Run down to the town, make a lot of friends, and get myself stone drunk!"

Which, of course, is what he did. But he did prove popular at parties.

About a few dozen or so miles away, very near the huge and legendary Clashcrush river, a rather peculiar pair sat among the bushes. One was immense, purple, and muscled all over, barely able to keep himself hidden even through the thick trees. His head was largely obscured by a thick metal helmet, only his eyes and nose visible through it. The other was a much smaller figure, wearing bright blue robes and a tall, pointed hat. He gently waved his hand back and forth, swishing the water in a small offshoot of the river back and forth.

"Sir…", asked the purple one, slowly scratching his ponderous head. "I was wonderin' somethin'."

"What is it?", asked the smaller, and looked up from his Highly Important Actions. He stared up at the larger one with an oddly kind smile, considering who he was and who he worked for.

"Why are we doin' this?", the purple hulk drawled, his dim mind trying to put his thoughts into words. "What are we out here for, anyway?"  
"Why?", asked the smaller, and stood up. He thrust one fist into the air, and shouted boldly. "Why, for the honor of Lord Rakastamos, of course! For the glory of all Dragonkind, and the sanctity and safety of all the world."

"Not that, sir.", the big one said, and shook his head. "I was wondering why we're out here by the river, and not in the mountain with Rka- Rakkaa- Rakasa- Rakastamos. Shouldn't we be in there, protecting 'im?"

"Well…", said his caretaker, and winced. "No. You see, the master has a very specific plan. And out part in the plan is to be out here, and protect him from anything that might come along, trying to attack him."

"Oh.", said the purple giant slowly, and nodded his thick head. "I suppose that would make sense."

The small man's ears perked up, as he heard the sound of something in the brush. He quickly turned his head, and saw a full Troop of Barbarians in the bush. There were 5 of them, all wearing matching armbands- this was clearly a bunch of Royale Barbarians. And he had guessed that they had clearly come to attack his master.

"Like that, William.", he said, and waved his hand. The attention of the monster towering above him was slowly led down, and the man pointed at the Barbarians. "Those are the ones we're supposed to destroy."

William's face lit up, and he slowly leaned down. He put up a hand, and waved. "Why hello, Barbarians! What are your names?"

The man blinked, and the rest of his face violently twitched. "No, William, we are supposed to destroy them. Destroy, not befriend-"  
"Well, I'm Phil.", said the front Barbarian, and nodded. "These are my bros Dave, Bob, George, and Fred. I guess those are pretty common barb names, but we all know each other well. So it works out for us."

William drew upwards again, and he clapped his hands. "Yay! Yay! Phil n Dave n Bob n George n Fred! We're all going to play a game together!"

The man watching him closed his eyes in exasperation, and began to move his hands in the general direction of the river. The water rippled and moved, beginning to flow towards him. William's sheer power was almost unrivaled, but his intelligence was approximately that of an uneducated rock.

Phil looked around at the rest of his troop, and shrugged. "Sure, why not?", he asked, and put one hand to his brow. "What are we going to play-"

"Smash!", William shouted, and flung his head down right at them. None of the Barbarians even had time to react before the solid metal helmet he wore crashed into them like a meteor, splattering them into Elixir almost instantly. "We're going to play Smash."

William drew his head back, and once again clapped in delight at the scene of purple carnage before him. "Yay! Yay! Smash is so fun!"

The man dropped the water, and shook his head. "I'm glad you like to play it, William. It is rather useful at times, your smash skill."

William laughed, and slammed his fists into the ground, creating several more offshoots from the main river. "What are we going to play now, sir?"

The man put his hand on William's leg, and looked up towards the sun. It was closer to the horizon that he had expected it would be, but that was alright. There was still plenty of time left in the day. "We're going to play wait for the next targets, Willaim. I expect they should arrive in just a few hours."

"And then I can play Smash with them!", William shouted in happiness, and clapped his hands. "Yay!"

"Yes, William, then you can.", said the man. "Yes, you can."

Song: Killer

The Ship of the Gods, for all its size, grand construction, and splendor, tended to be a bit of a quiet place. The journey to their destination was always a few weeks, and they had to conserve their enthusiasm for each other to last all that time. A few of the Primals were up front, serving as guides. The Primal Kings, Blue and Red, were Co-Captains of the ship, along with the Primal Shelly, the Primal Barbarian, and the Great Elder God of Gods himself, the almighty Il'kka. Some of the other gods and Primals were off doing important things in the ship's rooms, such as cooking or making sure they had enough fuel, but most of the cosmic passengers simply sat around in the Main Hall, lost in their godly thoughts. Primals could see through the vision of any member of their lineage, and so most of them were doing that to pass the time.

But of course, the Primal Skeleton, King Doot, had grown bored of such a thing. He had wandered off to the far side of the Main Hall, and found a row of curious buttons. After messing with them a few times, he determined that they had no purpose, and so were useless to anyone, but especially him. _Especially _him. But as he began to turn away, ever on the hunt for something else, he stepped on a small button that lit up the entire wall behind him in a blaze of color. He hopped and turned around in panic, looking at what he had done.

The TV, arrayed alongside the entire side of the ship, came to life. It showed a Royale logo, which then zoomed and flipped outwards to show a pair of announcers- one a Wizard, and the other an Archer. They were both in the middle of something, but King Doot could not tell what.

"Oh, hey, TV Royale's on!", grunted the Primal Bowler, and looked up. He had been spectating the World Bowling Championships through the eyes of his personal favorite champion, Gret, but he supposed that would have to wait. "King Doot, turn up the sound, will ya buddy?"

King Doot happily nodded, and started to fiddle with the remote. He clicked through several buttons, not really sure what all of them meant. Perhaps it was the red one that changed the volume, or maybe it was the blue. Although it could have been the green- no, that one made the popcorn. He was sure of it. But he could not, of the unlife of him, remembered which one messed with the sound. So he just kept on flipping through the buttons, pressing one about a dozen times that seemed promising. Unfortunately, however, that was not the volume control. It was the channel button. The Bowler groaned, as King Doot flipped through channel after channel, seemingly oblivious to what was going on. "Doot, wait!"

With the flick of a button, King Doot went from the TV Royale channel to the Brawl TV, to Cooking with Goblins, to Goblining with Cooks, to the very same bowling tournament that the Primal Bowler had been watching just a few seconds earlier, to Alex Jones screaming about how it was impossible to find good sushi anywhere these days. A few more clicks sent everyone watching- which was quite a few Primals now, as they were all in the same room- through ads for fine Frozen Peak dining, an in-depth explanation, now a long while late, of the Pass Royale system, and a very small, angry-looking Princess demanding a movement for all Mega Minions to be rounded up, de-winged, and finally thrown into the ocean to be eaten by Sharks. The audience was mostly getting into it by now, having turned towards the TV to watch. But just as they were beginning to enjoy themselves, a huge gasp fell across them, as King Doot changed the channel once last time. He had continued to press the button, but nothing happened. Nothing changed the channel away from the immense, shadowed face of Dragonlord Rakastamos, staring back at them, his evil, toothy grin staring through the gloom.

Se'th and Dr'ew had been lazily reclining on a couch up near the front of the ship, reflecting on what they should do once they returned to the world. THey had discussed the theme for the next few seasons, the inevitable nerf to Elixir Golem in just a few weeks, what card they should put their godly powers into scouring the world for and manipulating a chosen into becoming, and theoretical other balance changes for the future a few seasons out.

"So uh…", said Se'th, and tapped his glasses a few times with his finger. "What do you think, Dr'ew? Should we buff Goblin Hut?"

Dr'ew- the real Dr'ew, not the demonic copy from a few weeks earlier- scratched his long, immense beard, and thought about it. "I don't know, Se'th.", he said, and shrugged. "I know that a lot of Kings had been asking for it, might buff a dead card which is always nice. But on the other hand…"

"Spawners are extremely unskilled and very annoying when meta.", finished Se'th dryly, and scratched at his bald head. "So that's two arguments here." '

Dre'w dug into his pocket, and withdrew a single Gold coin. He gave Se'th a knowing look- this was, in truth, how they settled most things. It seemed very odd to outsiders that the two gods of Royale decided things with a simple coin flip, but it was how they worked. But even as Dr'ew put the Coin on his finger and prepared to flip, an air-shattering scream came from the Main Hall. The two gods looked at each other in shock, and then turned towards the direction of the sound. They could see the Two Kings running past them, holding on to their crowns as they ran.

"Hold on, we're coming!", they both shouted at once, for the scream sounded like that of a Princess.

"What was that?", Se'th said to himself, as he too ran towards the Main Hall. "Why would somebody be screaming-"

And then, as both he and Dr'ew skidded into the room, his face went white. There, in full glory upon the TV screen, was a sight he hoped never to see again.

Song: Perfect Cell- Friedrech Habetler

"Hello, everyone.", said the booming, elegant voice of Dragonlord Rakastamos, as he stared directly into the camera feed. "I'm sure that you're wondering why I've called you all here today."

"You…", Se'th breathed, hardly even able to believe what he was seeing. "I thought you were sealed away for all eternity. That prison was designed to be inescapable for you."

"We all make mistakes, don't we?", Rakastamos laughed, and spread his arms open wide. "You're making one right now, leaving the world all alone and defenseless like that. What a shame."

Rakastamos bashed his tail against the rocks of his cave, making sure the bell-like tones were heard loud and clear throughout the entire ship. He rather liked the sound of bells- how powerful they sounded, how clear, how impending, how full of justice. If he were ever to just sit down and write himself a theme song, it would certainly include bells.

"And what a coincidence that your Godly Meeting and my reawakening just so happened to coincide so well…", Rakastamos laughed, then held up one finger. "Oh, wait. No they didn't."

He threw back his head and howled, a streak of red fire escaping from his mouth as he did so.

"I engineered that myself! The timing was perfect, thanks to my planning… and your cooperation. Thank you for that, by the way."

The Two Kings stared at Rakastamos's powerful form, not sure what to think. They had not fought against him when he first rose- they were not suited for such combat themselves. But they had heard many things about him, and knew he was one to be feared.

Fallon glared, his pure white eyes showing a small bit of pupil from his fury. He remembered vividly how everyone working together had just barely managed to put Rakastamos away the first time- and now they could not touch him when he returned. He cast a small glance to Juno by his side, who he had expected to be nervous. But instead, she seemed to be planning something.

"Enough boasting, Rakastamos.", said Se'th, and pointed his finger at the TV screen. "You couldn't have just called us to tell us that you awoke. That would be a mistake."

"Oh.", said Rakstamos, and a diabolical grin tore its way across his face. "Oh, oh, oh. I have a reason for why I called you, alright."

He grabbed the camera in his gigantic draconic hand, and began to slowly move across the floor of the cave. The gathered Primals watched in fear, not quite sure what they would find.

"You're going to enjoy the sight of this very, very much.", said Rakastamos, and came to his destination. He stopped moving, and slowly took his hand off the camera. He laughed, a jet of fire erupting from his mouth. "I know I did."

This time, it was Dar'ia's turn to gasp. The god of the Continent of the Clans knew full well what he was looking at, and he knew of its true power. He pointed at the screen in shock, his finger trembling with real fear. "That- that's Blood Elixir!", he said, and took a closer look at the enormous, almost full, container of sloshing dark red liquid. "And the container's almost full…"

"That is correct, Dar'ia!", said Rakastamos, and slowly moved one huge hand towards the container's surface. "But how would you like it to… be a little less full?"

"What?", asked Dar'ia. "What are you talking about? Unless you want to pour it out-"

"You see…", said Rakastamos, ignoring Dar'ia entirely. "Ever since I began to gather this Blood Elixir, I have just been dying for a taste. I'm sure it tastes absolutely…"

He moved his hand closer to the surface of the evil liquid, almost touching it. "Divine."

Fallon, with his unrivaled intelligence, was the first to figure it out. "Rakastamos, don't drink it!", he shouted. "That much Blood Elixir at once will kill you. Before you reach the magic amount, you need to be careful of how much you drink."

Rakastamos's eyes lit up in genuine surprise. Fallon had organized the first efforts to seal him away, those many years ago, and now it seemed he was… supportive?

"I know what you're trying, Fallon.", said Rakastamos, and scoffed. "You're trying to reverse reverse psychology me. You want me to not drink it, which means that I will drink it, but you want me to drink it, which means you don't want me to drink it. But…"

Rakastamos dipped his hand into the Blood Elixir, and it hissed and spat at the physical contact. "We're not doing things how you want them. I was going to drink this long before I called you."

The entire Main Hall shouted in shock, as Rakastamos swirled the puddle of Blood Elixir around in his hand. Small drops of the stuff ran over the edge of his fingers and hit the ground, eating at the stone like Poison through Skeletons. Rakastamos grinned, put his hand to his maw, and gently tipped his arm and his head back. As the gods and the Primals of the world watched in terror, Rakastamos drank about 3% of all the Blood Elixir he had been saving up.

For a moment, nothing happened. Only silence covered the sky, as the Blood Elixir slowly ran down his throat and into his stomach. He stood there as it processed- then a sharp shock of pain ran through his chest.

Rakastamo's pupils all but disappeared, as an almost solid line of sheer power shot from his stomach to in four directions all around him. The rock broke where the lines shot, leaving an X shape etched directly into the mountain itself. Rakastamos began to shake, and a low roar of both agony and triumph escaped his lips. The red and gold of his body shifted, becoming an even darker red and an even brighter gold. He roared, the low noise sending impact tremors through every bone on the ship, and every bone in his lair. A long, blood red line of spikes ran up and down his body, jutting out of his skin with a burst of blood. He groaned in pain- then once again began to laugh, as his small transformation reached its end.

"Oh…", he breathed, savoring the rich feeling of added power rush through him. "What strength… what power… what might! I would certainly go for another, if I had enough to do so…"

The Red King's face shook in horror, as he stared at the absolute power that he was now witnessing. That had been a tiny amount of the Blood Elixir, a mere droplet. And yet, it had boosted Rakastamos's overall power almost 20%, if not more. And Blood Elixir was exponentially more effective in large amounts. He shuddered to think of what would happen if Rakastamos accumulated the magical amount of 50000 Blood Elixir. Most likely, he feared, it was that he would become truly unstoppable, an invincible force of nature not even the gods could tame.

Rakastamos once again laughed, and put his wings on his ribs. "Now do you see, fools? You were the only ones who stood a chance of stopping me. And now you fret and frolic about in space, while my plans are about to come to full fruition. And there is nothing you can do about- nothing whatsoever."

"Maybe not.", said Jonathan the Primal Knight, and looked upwards at Rakatamos with boldness. "But not all immortal beings left with us on the trip."

"What?", asked Rakastamos, and began to think of who he had forgotten. "Who the-"

But then he remembered, and he closed his eyes in relief. "I fear not. Chuqualita and I are the only Dragonlords even awake, much less prepared to fight. And I already made sure she was far too afraid to even put up a challenge…"

He saw Se'th about to say something, and cut him off. "And do not think you can count on Anghammarad for help. It's been too soon since he built the Rushlands- he'll be asleep for decades, if not centuries."

Rakastaos laughed again, and wiped a tear from his eye. "It appears that the only beings that could even try to stop me are the world's mortals… and we all know how that would turn out."

"Oh, do we?", asked Jonathan, and summoned up a tiny amount of power in his left hand. A hologram of Dan beating down Bonoome appeared, large enough for Rakastamos to see. "It appears as though there are several mortals that are giving you quite the amount of trouble."

The Primal Wizard nodded, thinking of the current member of the Askari lineage. He did not mention him, for he did not want Rakastamos to be reminded. "There have always been."

Juno smiled, thinking of what she had seen deep, deep within the Bandit she had met. Perhaps, if nurtured correctly, it could be the way to defeat Rakastamos in battle. "The world has its champions, Rakastamos. Even if we are gone."

"Oh, hilarious.", Rakastamos growled, and reached up one hand to turn off the camera. He had a lot of things to do, and to sit here getting lectured by a bunch of Primals was not one of them. "But once I drink the full, complete Blood Elixir, there will be no power in the world that can stop me. Certainly no mortal- and eventually, not even you. My growth will be endless, and my potential infinite. When you return to your precious world, with all its precious little mortals, the only thing you will see is me. Me, and your quick deaths."

He gestured to himself, and tapped his head. "Once my rampage begins, I know just how the mortals will act. They always do. They'll pray to their gods, they'll ask their overlords for help. But, of course, you won't be there to help them."

Rakastamos gave one last snarl, and locked eyes with Se'th. "And I won't be listening."

The feed turned off, leaving the gods and Primals in shock. Dr'ew turned to Se'th, all thoughts of Goblin Huts totally forgotten. "Se'th?", he asked. "You got a plan, buddy?"

Se'th grimaced, and made some hand symbols around his heart. "You heard it yourself, buddy. The world has her champions. We can just hope they are enough to defend it."

Song: Silver Twist

At that very same time, two of those mentioned champions were walking through the deep woods, where the light struggled through the thick overhead canopy to kiss the ground with yellow glows. Curiously, it was still lush, despite what had happened earlier near the Goblin village. But although they walked in dusk, their mood was as light as a feather. THey had not run into any Forgotten or any other obstacles for about an hour, and they were all very grateful for it. The only thing on their minds was the wind blowing through the trees, the thought that night was now not too far away, and the fact that as in soon as the next two days, they could be facing down a legendary Dragonlord who planned to destroy the world. But they pushed that particular thought to the back of their minds, except for Dan, and just tried to focus on the happy.

Brandy leaned back on Dan's shoulder, letting her entire upper body fall behind. She stared behind the group, watching the trees sway as they walked. Although really it was her swaying, and the trees stayed still. But she wanted the trees to be odd and sway, so that is what she told herself. She felt and saw Bubble next to her try and do the same thing, but she stuck out an arm to stop her from going over the side. "Bubble, woah!"

Brandy shot back up in a situp, grabbing Bubble by the back of the head. She pulled her to a staring position, and stared at her with concern. "Bubble, I can do that because I'm big, I can Dash, and I'm used to it. You shouldn't try to do things like that yet."

"Mommy…", Bubble whined, and stuck out her lip. "I can do things. I helped against those Minions and the Goblin, right?"

"Yes, yes you did.", said Brandy, and softly petted Bubble's head. "But this is different, okay? Trust your mom."

Bubble sighed, closed her eyes, and leaned up against Brandy. It only took a second for Brandy's hand to reach out again and catch the real Bubble starting to lean again, who pouted and crossed her arms. "Okay, Mommy. Fine."

"How's everyone doing back there?", asked Dan, taking a break from his image training. He had been thinking up the best ways to defeat Rakastamos inside of his head. He estimated that he was about 80-100 feet long, as the largest Great Gold Dragons were. And off of that information, he figured the best, very precise sequence of moves to bring him down. Elbow strike to the neck, blast of Star in both eyes, slice from everyone at the neck…

"You need me to find some food, or are you okay?", he asked, taking a look down at the road. His legs were large and strong enough to break the majority of obstacles, but he still had to keep an eye out for the odd huge rock, or muddy pothole, or maybe even a Gem Box. It was unlikely that they would run into one, but you never did know.

"I think we're fine, Dad.", said Leon, and aimlessly shot a spinner blade into the woods. He worked his lollipop around in his mouth, and sat up a bit. "Those hot wings you got us filled me up pretty well. Probably won't have to eat for a few more hours."

"I'm still a bit hungry…", said Annabelle quietly, and raised her hand. "I didn't get that filling of a smoothie. It was too Goblinish."

"Okay, so we can pick something up for you.", said Dan, and looked around. There had been quite a few fruit trees on the path so far- but to his mild concern, they seemed to have run out.

But once he looked closer, he could see something strange. There were fruit trees around them, alright- but there was no fruit. The empty stems hung everywhere, with nothing on the end.

"Hey Trevor.", Dan said, and Trevor perked up. "What kind of trees are those?"

Trevor raised his head, and took a closer look at the trees Dan was passing. He scratched his chin and gave his mustache a yank, then snapped his fingers as his knowledge activated. "Those are banana trees.", he said, gesturing to the long stems. "Apples and cherries and pears, too."

"Hm.", said Dan, and his movements slowed down. It wasn't a conscious action- his feet seemed to sense something in the area before he did. "Why are they all missing?"

Trevor shrugged, and leaned back on Dan's shoulder. His hand went for his sword, without his notice. "Maybe there's something living in the area that really likes bananas."

No longer had those words left his mouth than he realized what he had said. His face went white and his mustache straightened as he swung his head around, looking for all the most telling signs. His hand had gone automatically to his sword- check. Dan was moving more cautiously- check. He took a deep sniff- yep. There it was. The distinctive smell of-

"Ewww!", said Bubble, and wrinkled up her little nose. "What's that smell?"

"I wouldn't call it eww, Bubble.", said Annabelle, and Bubble's nose immediately unwrinkled. "It's an interesting smell, though. I'm not sure what it is."

"I do.", said Trevor in fear, and everyone turned to look at him. He stared down at the ground, looking at the gigantic footprint right below Dan. It was bigger than his. "Great Apes."

"What?", Dan asked, and his eyes shot wide open. "You mean those are real?"

"Absolutely.", said Trevor, and gulped. "I remember learning about them. They are very real- and very, very terrifying. I've heard they can rip a Pekka limb from limb like a Goblin tears apart a Gold Storage."

He pointed down to the footprint, which Dan had stopped walking right next to. "See that? That's how big they are."

Everyone else looked down, with various results. Dan jumped back a little bit, then took a deep breath. Brandy's eyes widened, and she gripped on to Dan's shoulder a little, no, a lot tighter. Bubble drew her hair across her face, and Leon pulled down his hood. Annabelle scooted closer to Trevor, who put his arm protectively around her.

"Hmm.", said Dan, and the flow of Star around him began to heat up. "Well, they do look big. But I doubt that any one of them could be a match for me. We'll just-"

"Oh, there's never one.", said Trevor, with a shake of his head. "They always come in packs. Packs of two dozen or more, always ready to-"

"Trevor.", said Dan, suddenly deadly serious. Trevor felt a chill run through him, although his seat was pleasantly warm. "Do you doubt my strength?"

"N-no.", said Trevor, and shook his head. "I don't, Dan. It's just that Great Apes are like, really, really strong-"

"And I'm sure they are.", said Dan. He shook himself off from the tension, and once again began walking. "But I have yet to meet anything on this entire journey that was stronger than me."

"And it's not like they're Forgotten, or anything.", said Brandy, jumping to dissolve the tension. "So they won't attack us on sight, they'll just like… be animals. They might even let us pass."

"Maybe.", said Trevor darkly, tapping out a panicked rhythm on the side of his sword. "But I've also heard that Great Apes are viciously territorial. Even one wrong step in their part of the woods will set them off. In fact, I heard in my Wildlife class that-"

"Oh, my Se'th!", Dan groaned, swinging his head around on his shoulders. He turned to face Trevor, clearly very annoyed. "Could you be quiet about the Great Apes for one second! They're probably not even dangerous! I bet I could come face to face with a Great Ape right now and not even-"

Dan felt a snort run down his neck, and he turned. Whatever he was about to say next vanished, as he saw, right in front of him, a titanic brown ape, fur matted with blood and two huge teeth revealed in an underbite so pronounced it looked like a tectonic shelf.

"Oh.", said Dan, looking right at the nose of the huge beast. "Hello, Great Ape."

The enormous ape grunted, and sniffed Dan's face. Dan could see every inch of the Great Ape- the massive, muscled arms, each as thick around as entire other people. The fur, dark brown and spiked with blood, although hardly any of it the ape's. The ferocious look in the monster's eyes, one that signaled its life passion for killing anyone it did not like. It continued to sniff, until after about 15 seconds, it drew back.

"Huh.", said Dan, and folded his arms. "Well, it looks like I smell alright."

But then, of course, the Great Ape roared. It beat its chest a few dozen times, and more Great Apes stumbled out of the woods. They ranged in size from "only" 15 fee to a truly colossal 27 feet, brushing up against the tops of the trees. They were all in different colors and shapes- the only thing that united them was their overwhelming rage.

"Woah, woah.", said Dan, and stuck out his arms to fend them off. "Let's just think about this rationally, huh?"

Even though none of the Great Apes could really understand him, he knew how well a tone of voice worked. The number one thing animals responded to was that. He began to slowly move in a circle, pushing bits of Star out in order to keep the titans at bay.

"How about you all just back off, and you can let us pass through.", said Dan, taking a single step forward. "That way, we won't have to-"

One of the Great Apes lunged forward, his hand headed directly for Brandy, and Dan lost his train of thought. He lost what he had been thinking about, and for a brief second, he lost his sense of reason. He thrust out his hand and smacked the Ape's hand aside so hard it spun around and slapped its owner, who staggered back.

"Dan, stop!", shouted Annabell, trying to rack her brain for something she had learned. Although she had not taken the same Wildlife classes that Trevor had, she had taken language lessons. And it was with that knowledge that she was now coming up with something that would help.

"They're not trying to hurt anyone.", she said, staring at the Great Apes. "They just feel threatened by your presence in their territory. Try saying hi to them."

Dan stared at her for a few seconds, trying to keep his rational thoughts in the front of his mind where they belonged. That ultimately ended up to be a fruitless attempt, and he shouted. "Oh, and how am I supposed to do that? I tried speaking to them, but they wouldn't-"

"Not in our language!", said Annabelle, and gently beat her chest. "In theirs."

Dan saw what she was doing, and instantly tried to copy her. The beats were odd, but the message was clear. One of the Great Apes walked away, and the other two turned around. The left hand on the left and the right hand on the right pointed outwards, as if guiding.

"Okay, it seems that got their attention.", said Annabelle. "Now, let's see if we can get out of here."

Alas for that moment ,for they were blocked within seconds by another massive Great Ape. This one was decorated with so many war trophies that it was almost hard to see the Ape beneath. His sunken eyes looked absolutely ancient, yet his body swelled with muscle like a balloon swells with air.

"Oh, the leader.", said Trevor, and closed his eyes. He fainted on Annabelle and Brandy's laps, unable to handle the sensation. "Isn't that just our luck."

Dan stared the titan down, noting just how huge it was. The apparent leader stood almost 30 feet tall, larger than a Barbarian King, Dan, or even Bonoome. Even the tallest known official Troop, a Giant Skeleton, was on average about 3 feet shorter than the heavily muscled behemoth. His arms were thicker than of a Golem's, and his face seemed hewn from solid Bridgestone. Dan took a deep breath, just in case the situation escalated.

But the mighty Great Ape seemed to have no interest in fighting. Instead, it rolled back onto its haunches, raised its hands, and began to flip around its fingers at rapid speed.

"Wha- what is it doing?", asked Dan, and took a look at Annabelle. "Is this their language too?"

"It is…", said Annabelle, and bit her lip. "But I don't know any sign language. I can't talk to him." Annabelle paled, and put her hands to her cheeks. "Oh, shoot, I can't talk to him-"

"But I can.", said Leon, and leaped off of Dan's shoulder to the ground. He stood up and brought up his own hands, flipping them around with lightning speed. "I was taught sign language by a Frank I knew. Never thought it would come in handy, but- here we are."

The leader ape looked down in surprise, then opened its mouth and threw back its head. A low, guttural cry echoed from it, and it took the group a second to realize that it was laughing.

_You speak sign?, _he signed, and gave a grunt of approval. _I approve. Let talk._

Leon gasped in relief, and turned to his parents, a smile on his face. "He says that he'll talk to me.", he said, and turned again. "I just hope he's nicer than he looks."

Song: Night Bird

_My name, Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock, _signed Kragonbrock, and looked down at Leon's small frame. _Your name, what?_

_My name, Leon, _signed Leon, almost shaking at the sight of the giant Ape above him. _Leon come with family, to go to river. Mean Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock no harm._

_Kragonbrock harm?, _Kragonbrock signed incredulously, then laughed. _Hah. Kragonbrack no get harm. Kragonbrack the strongest. Kragonbrock invincible. _

_Leon sure you are, _Leon signed, and gulped. _Leon family need passage. Get to river._

Kragonbrock leaned back, using one foot to lazily scrape all the fruit off of a nearby tree. He tossed it into his mouth and gulped it all down at once, presumably to show dominance.

_You go through Kragonrock land, _he signed, and gave a disapproving look. Dan started to step forward as the Ape stared down at Leon, but Brandy silently told him to back up. He did so, watching Kragonrock sign even more. _Kragonrock no like Leon family in land._

_Leon family need go through land, _signed Leon angrily, and pointed to somewhere behind Kragonrock. _Leon family go through land, go up river, go into mountain. Leon family save world._

Kragonrock didn't even glance behind him. He merely yanked a branch off of a tree, gave it a few chews, and then let loose with another hearty laugh. He chuckled as he signed. _Leon family save world? Save world what? World need saving? No. World okay._

_No, _Leon signed, anger seeping into his moves. _No, world not okay. Dragon want world dead. Leon dead, Leon family dead, Great Ape Chief Kragonbrock dead. World not okay._

Kragonbrock reared up to his full height, and Leon thought that he might have said something wrong? Was it mentioning that Rakastamos wanted to kill the Ape? Looking back, it most likely was.

_No!, _Kragonbrock signed, barely able to keep it readable. He bashed his fists into the ground, creating two huge craters. _Kragonbrock die? No. Kragonbrock kill Dragon. Kragonbrock invincible._

_Kragonbrock invincible, _signed Leon, sighed in frustration, and took time to fingerspell a few names.He wanted to get the title just right. _Dragonlord Rakastamos over invincible. Dragonlord Rakastamos, anything tougher? No._

_Kragonbrock kill Dragon!, _he signed, the words almost ringing in Leon's head. _Many Dragon come out of mountains. Kragonbrock kill all Dragons. Kragonbrock strong, protect tribe._

_Kragonbrock strong? Yes, _signed Leon, seeing a way he could bring the stubborn ape around. _Kragonbrock busy? Yes. Kragonbrack kill Dragon that want to kill world, but Kragonbrock no time. Kragonbrock protect tribe. Leon family kill Dragon, in name of Ape Lord Kragonbrock?_

Kragonbrock put one hand to his furred chin, and stroked his long beard. He thought for a few seconds about this compromise, then once again signed.

_Kragonbrock like Leon plan, _he signed, and gave a single nod. _Kragonbrock like name Ape Lord. Kragonbrack now Ape Lord. Kragonbrock think he trust Leon family? No._

Leon had been liking what Kragonbrock had been saying, up until the last part. He stuttered a bit in confusion, then furiously signed a response.

_Leon family no lie, _Leon signed, and pointed towards Bubble. She gave a little wave, not sure what was going on. _That face of liar to you? _

Kragonbrock looked down, and dropped his face to the ground. He opened his mouth, his gaping maw at least the height of Leon. Leon almost screamed- but all that happened was Kragonbrock's tongue came out, licked up Leon's bare leg, and then retreated back into his mouth as he stood up. Kragonbrock reflected on the taste a bit, then broke into a wide grin.

_You taste like liar?, _he signed. _No._

Kragonbrock folded his arms, and frowned. His fingers were free enough to sign, and he did so. _Kragonbrock not sure, _he said, and a low growl escaped his lips. _Kragonbrock old. Great Apes old, old as Dragons. Kragonbrock wise as mountains. Leon young, Leon family young. Leon family not know Dragon like Kragonbrock._

_Leon family young, _signed Leon, and nodded. _But Leon family wise. Leon family journey, many monsters dead. Leon family kill Kraken. Leon family kill Giant. Leon family kill Dragon._

_Leon family strong? Yes, _Kragonbrock signed, and Leon sighed. _But Kragonbrock old. Kragonbrock old as mountains. Great Ape older than troops. Great Ape old as world. Great Ape stay here after all else gone. Kragonbrock not sure Leon family kill Dragon for Kragonbrock._

Leon turned around, and whispered to Dan. "Hey, Dad?", he asked, and Dan perked up.

"What is it?", he asked. "Does the ape need to… umm…"

He made a subtle gesture that involved a punch to the hand, and Leon shook his head. "No. no, nothing like that. He just doesn't think we're strong enough. Or old enough… I think."

"Hmm.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. "Well, will this convince him?"

Leon turned back to Kragonbrock, knowing what Dan was about to do. _Leon family strong, _signed Leon, and hopefully grinned. _Leon father show great Kragonbrock._

Before Kragonbrock could articulate a response, Dan gave a mighty shout. Kragonbrock startled in surprise, as a huge column of light erupted from Dan's body, breaking a clean hole in the treetops above and continuing upwards towards the sky like a volcanic eruption. It burst a neat patch out of the clouds above, continuing onwards until it could no longer be seen.

Kragonbrock stared at the group for a bit, his mind swirling with this newfound revelation. He slowly put his hands together, and signed a response.

_Kragonbrock believe Leon family, _he signed. _Leon family strong, strong like Kragonbrock. Kragonbrock let Leon family go on quest._

Leon, once again, sighed in relief. He got a little light headed from all the complex breathing action he was getting himself into, but kept on signing through the mental fog.

_Leon and Leon family thank Ape Lord Kragonbrock, _he signed, and gave a small bow. _Ape Lord Kragonbrock dress sense fashionable. _

Kragonbrock looked down at his various forms of battle armor and trophies, then gave a low, hearty chuckle. _Lord Kragonbrock thank Leon. Leon dress good, too._

Leon gave another bow, and turned to the group. A single tear of relief slowly made its way down his face. "Okay guys. He says he'll let us pass."

"Oh, thank Se'th.", said Dan, and took a single step forward. He gave a single nod, and Kragonbrock gave one back. "I was afraid we were gonna have to fight this guy."

"You fight Kragonbrock later.", said Kragonbrock, and Leon's jaw dropped open in shock.

"You look strong. You fight Kragonbrock when done with quest."

"Wait, you mean you could talk that whole time?", Leon shouted, and Kragonbrock broke into a wide smile. "Then- then- then what was all the signing and the tension for?"

Kragonbrock grabbed his feet and rocked onto his back, letting out a deep, booming laugh. "Funny joke!", he shouted. "Ape Lord Kragonbrock love funny joke."

Leon continued to stare, then just hopped back on to Dan's shoulder, right in between Brandy and the unconscious Trevor. "Let's go, Dad.", he said. "The River's waiting."

"Not quite yet.", said Dan, and extended one fist. He looked right into Kragonbrock's eyes, and the gigantic ape met the gesture with a fist of his own. The peal of their colliding strength echoed across the entire forest, and several other members of the Ape tribe looked up.

"You bet I'll fight you, bro.", said Dan, and grinned. He bumped fists with Kragobrock a few more times, then both of them backed away. "Right after I kill Rakastamos."

Kragonbrock stretched out his arms, and reclined on a nearby boulder. He gave a thumbs up, wich turned into a finger circle on his thigh as soon as Dan looked at it. Dan groaned in good nature, and Kragonbrock laughed again. Several Great Apes began to pop up in a circle around the pathway, hooting and hollaring their newfound praise. Apparently, Kragonbrock was the only one capable of Common speech. "Maybe- maybe Kragonbrock help you against Dragon! If Kragonbrock not too busy, of course."

His eyebrows furrowed, and he looked into his hands, his voice changing to imitate what were presumably other members of his tribe. "Kragonbrock, kill pesky Dragon. Kragonbrock, kill enemy Ape. Kragonbrock, what for big tribe dinner? Kragonbrock, kiss me. Kragonbrock…"

As the group walked away, hurrying before Kragonbrock had any chance to change his mind, Kragonbrock continued to speak. "Kragonbrock, go defeat weird robot. Kragonbrock, go tell metal Wizard information about mountain. Kragonbrock…"

Such information would have no doubt proved useful for the group, had they been there to listen to it. They still had no idea who Askari was, as strong of an ally as he would have been on their journey. But, alas, they had no idea what Kragonbrock was still talking about.

As Dan took the last few steps out of the treeline, for the lair of Kragonbrock had been established at the very edge of that particular belt of forest, Trevor slowly blinked awake.

"Hey guys, what did I miss?", he asked, and sat up. But no one answered him- instead, they all just stared forward, in total awe of what was in front of them. "Guys?"

Then he too looked forward, and he saw what they were all looking at. Veritable sparkles ran through his eyes, as a rush of satisfaction ran through him. He pointed, and struggled to speak.

"Guys?", he said, and Annabelle nodded. "That's the-"

"The Clashcrush fricking River.", Annabelle finished, and nodded again. Although the ground around it was brown and mostly dead, the bright blue of the river flowed just as beautifully as it did ever. "We're here."

But hardly did they have a moment to relax, before the hair on the back of Dan's neck stood up. He looked around and sniffed the air, his highly trained senses activating. He breathed in the sense of the area around him- water. Trees. Soil. A distinct aura of both aggression and magic, coming from a copse of trees on the other side of the gargantuan river. He did not know what it was.

"Dan?", asked Brandy. "What is it?"

She asked, but she already really knew the answer. In truth, she had come to expect it at this point. So when Dan rolled his eyes and bent down, letting everyone off onto the ground, his answer came at the same time that Brandy's did. "We're about to be attacked."

Leon slid off in a flip, skidding to the ground, and spun Hunter Killer out into his hand. Bubble tripped over a rock a little bit and stuttered in her walk, but soon took up a pose. Trevor stood up tall, his sword in hand. He had a good feeling that he was finally about to get a chance to use it. Annabelle jumped down next to him, and drew back her bowstring. She waved it around in the air, looking hard with her magic eyes for anything that moved. Brandy stayed on Dan's shoulder- she figured that was the best place to be. Plus, she could hang on there better than anyone.

"Eyes up everyone, stay sharp.", said Dan. He had heard the phrase in a show once, and it seemed to apply well here. "There's no telling what we're gonna run into this time."

"Mommy?", asked Bubble, and saw that a small rivulet of water beside her was beginning to shake. "Why do we keep having to run into monsters?"

Brandy sighed, and bit back a word she would not say in front of Bubble. "Because, sweetie, Rakastamos knows we're dangerous. So he's sending as many of his minions after us as he can."

"No talk.", said Dan, who was facing outwards towards the river. He pointed towards the treeline, at what was crashing through. "We gotta fight!"

Song: Gang-Plank Galleon

There, charging through the trees and right into the water, were William the Charger and Tremon the Aqua Wizard. William's solid metal, sharply pointed helmet glinted off the light of the evening sun, a gargantuan roar echoing through the entire valley. His appearance was that of an overgrown Bowler, about the size of or maybe even bigger than Dan. His bright blue shorts were connected to a pair of brown overalls, barely holding back his bulging muscles. His eyes glinted with rage, spurred onwards by the presence of Tremon who rode him. As he splashed through the waters of the river, throwing huge plumes of water behind him, Tremon grabbed hold and began to mold them into spikes.

Tremon was dressed in light blue robes, complex layers draped over his body. A tall pointed hat rested upon his head, somehow not falling off despite the intense speed. His long white beard flowed in the wind, azure particles floating around his hands. His fingers moved and swirled, sculpting the water into weapons as William charged.

"Oh, that's a big one.", said Dan, and brought up his arms to block the charge. He guessed, from the way William ran, that his attack must have been similar to a Battle Ram's. "Brandy, I need you to jump off of me as soon as he impacts. Grab the little guy, take him out. You got that?"

"I do, Dan.", said Brandy, and threw her hand out back behind her. Her palm sparkled with blue and silver light, as she concentrated lethal amounts of Dash within. Once she leapt onto the Charger's head, she could eliminate the strange blue Wizard with a single Dash Swipe. "Let's do this."

"Trevor. Annabelle.", said Leon, and carefully aimed Hunter Killer right at the estimated spot of the Charger's heart. "Once I shoot it, climb up on there and take out its eyes. It doesn't seem like it's that smart. If we take out its vision, it probably won't be a threat."

"Got it.", said Trevor and Annabelle in perfect synch. Both of them noticed, but neither of them wanted to draw attention to the fact.

"What about me?", asked Bubble. "What do I do?"

"You distract it.", said Annabelle, and slowly slid a second, then a third arrow into her bowstring. "Show him… I don't know, a birthday cake."

Bubble's eyes lit up in excitement, and she put her hands together. "Okay!", she said, and slowly drew them apart. "One birthday cake, coming up!"  
"Wait, I wasn't serious-", Annabelle said, but was cut off as a massive step rocked her footing. She looked up to see the Charger only meters away, actually leaping out of the water, his pointed helmet right in a collision course with Dan's crossed and locked arms.

Dan dug his back foot into the ground, to make himself as hard of a target as possible. The ground broke beneath his applied pressure, and he pushed a flare of Star into his arms. But despite the plan he had carefully put together, the force of the Charger slamming into him was almost unreal.

A huge shockwave spread throughout the entire area, as William's unstoppable force of a head met Dan's immovable object of his arms. It sounded like the peal of a mountain-size bell, pushing back the trees and tearing up the water for hundreds of feet in every direction. Dan and William struggled against each other for half a second, although it seemed like minutes for each. But unfortunately for Dan, only his arms were an immovable object. The rest of him was not so anchored- and William's entire body contributed force to the unstoppable impact of his head. Dan groaned as he was thrown back, throwing up a huge spray of dirt as he slid. Annabelle, Trevor, Bubble and Leon all yelped, as he demolished the ground right where they had been standing.

Dan stopped sliding, coming to a rest against a very large tree. He uncrossed his smoking forearms and grunted, rolling his neck around. He spat, and gave the Charger a very angry glare. "Okay then.", he said. "This guy's really tough. New plan."

Leon yelled in anger, and spun Hunter Killer around in his hand. Taking quick aim, he pulled down on the trigger, and shot a hail of bullets right at the Charger's massive chest. He was hoping for a good round of shots to the heart, but his mental state had been disrupted by the Charger's impact. As such, the bullets he shot went in a stray pattern, barely even scratching the titan's skin. But it did have an effect- William looked down, and thrust his hand straight for Leon. "Me eat you up!", he roared, and Leon jumped back as far as he could in panic.

"Birthday cake!", Bubble yelled, and thrust out her hands. A massive illusion of a birthday cake suddenly crossed the Charger's vision, jumping past him on four legs. It was complete with streamers and dancing candles- truly, everything a hungry monster would want.

"Cake?", William asked, in total confusion. He spun around and stared at the sprinting confection, his mouth beginning to drool. "Cake!"  
But before he could get running, Tremon slapped him on the ear. "She's trying to trick you, William.", he said, and turned William's attention back to Dan. "The little one's an illusionist. We figured that one out already."

Upon hearing those words, William's face twisted, and grew angry. He began to stomp towards Bubble, and stretched out his hands. "You trick William? William no like being tricked! William crush!"

Tremon sighed, even as Bubble shrieked and tried to run away. But the thick mud that Dan had thrown upwards made such a thing impossible. "William, you don't have to pull the whole third-person talk thing during battles. We've been over this."

"Sorry, sir.", said William, his attention momentarily taken off the battlefield. "I was just thinking it would scare them, you know-"

"ORA!", came the mighty shout of Dan, his fist plunging directly into William's jawline. The Charger flew back, hitting the waters of the river with a mighty splash. Dan brushed his fist off on his other arm, and growled. "Yeah? How does that feel?"

Then he noticed something. Normally, Brandy would have done something to jump in by now. She would probably be on his shoulder by now. But, he discovered as he looked around, she was nowhere to be found. His face went a little blue. "Brandy?"

But there came no answer, only the sound of William rising to his feet. He rubbed his helmeted skull, which had been heavily protected from the brunt of Dan's attack. "Sir?", he asked, and pointed forwards. "Which one of them do I get first?"

"Get the big one!", yelled Tremon, beginning to search for his own target. "If he's out, the rest of them will go down that much easier!"

"Yes, sir!", shouted William, and slapped himself in the forehead with his palm. Bending down close to the ground, William took aim at Dan, bellowed, and charged.

But this time, Dan was not going to fall for something as stupid as that. This time, he was ready. And this time, he placed one hand into the river, taking a preparatory breath. And as William charged him, Dan pushed himself off the ground, over William's head, and landed again on the other side. But before he had landed, Dan took time to push Tremon off, sending him flying into the water with an undignified scream.

"Sir!", shouted William, as soon as he felt the weight of Tremon vanish from his head. He suddenly turned upwards faster than he had any right to and slammed his foot into Dan's head, sending him back a few meters. "You don't attack him!"

"I do!", shouted Dan back, and let loose the breath he had been holding. A burst of Star rushed from his entire face and burned across William's, the Charger letting out a deafening shriek.

He slammed one foot angrily into the water, sending up a huge column that splashed into Dan's eyes, closing them on instinct. He shouted, his face red from both burns and anger. "You don't!"

The Charger had been about to deliver up a second blow, when he felt a sword sink its way deep into his ankle. He roared in pain, and an arrow suddenly pierced the bottom of his ear.

"William angry!", he shouted, and immediately spun around. He raised his fists into the air, about to bring them down again and crush both Trevor and Annabelle, who both stood there. "William crush you to paste! Only William best at Smash!"

But even as he started to bring his fists down onto Annabelle and Trevor, an even larger fist than his own collided with his spine. Dan had once again thrown a huge blow, sending the Charger slipping over the slippery river rocks and flat onto his face. A gush of water erupted from the impact, slamming right into Bubble and sending her all the way back up onto shore.

"Heh.", said Dan, and wiped his mouth. He took a deep breath again, and held his hand high above his head. A glowing orb of pure Star started to grow within it, a blast ready to destroy the Charger's neck. "This wasn't so hard after all."

Tremon shoved himself up from where he had landed in the water, but he recovered instantly. He did not splutter or spit- no, he was the Aqua Wizard. He had no need for such things. But no sooner had he gotten up than he saw Brandy jump up from the water as well, only a few feet or so away from him. He brought up his hands, and chuckled to himself, even as Brandy began her own movements to attack. "Hehehe… fool! You are in my element! I have you now-"

"Lemme guess.", said Brandy, and prepared to jump forward. It would be harder than usual with all the rushing water in the way, but a few quick calculations could let her do it. "You're some sort of water wizard, able to control water."

"Indeed.", said Tremon, and flicked his fingers. A tall arm of water rose out of the river and fell towards Brandy, and he laughed once again. "I am Tremon the Aqua Wizard, ruler of the rivers and seas. In any body of water, I am truly invincible!"

Brandy raised an eyebrow, and Dashed. The water arm broke apart from the force, and she appeared right over Tremon in a heartbeat, ready to Dash Swipe him out of life. "Oh really?", she asked, and swung downwards. "Well, we'll just see about that."

But, of course, Tremon had not left himself defenseless. Such a move would be an amature mistake for any Wizard, most of all him, the only one of his kind. So as Brandy's hand slashed downwards, vanishing away the water it touched, Tremon zipped away, an Aqua Rope pulling him back onto William's shoulders. Brandy winced, fell forward, then cried out in pain. Using her Dash Swipe took a lot out of her. It made her lungs hurt. It made her fingers ache. It made her shoulder bleed. She snarled, and began to build up Dash again, this time in her feet. If fancy techniques did not work, then she supposed she just had to take him out the old fashioned way.

Just as Dan had finished charging the blast, Tremon appeared on William's shoulder in a dramatic splash. With a high-pressure burst of water that knocked the Star charge right out of Dan's hand and into the trees, the Charger rolled away, into a place where he could safely get up. "Come on, William, get up!", shouted Tremon. "You cannot die here."

William grunted, and wiped a streak of blood off of his nose. He snarled at Dan, and beat his chest. "William angry!", he shouted, then felt Tremon glare good-naturedly. "I mean, I'm angry! I'll smash you flat!"

As William roared and bellowed, Trevor and Annabelle both saw their chance. Their minds working in perfect tandem, they did not even need to use words in order to figure out a perfect plan. Splashing through the river as fast as they could go, they snuck up behind William, avoiding Tremon's gaze. They both got into position, gave each other a look, and grinned. Trevor shouted an ancient Barbaric war cry, and swung his longsword, right above the spot that he had hit before. At the second that he did so, Annabelle shot two arrows at once, right into the bend of the back of the Charger's knee. Trevor's sword sunk deep, into the sensitive flesh, and Annabelle's arrow pierced straight through a nerve. William's roars were cut short and abruptly turned to howls of pain. He had almost turned around to attack them, when Tremon grabbed his ear. "Attack the big one, Willi!", he shouted, and raised his hands. Blue light swirled within them, and his eyes narrowed. "I'll take care of the rest."

Brandy started to sprint through the water, using small bursts of Dash to actually jump on top of the waves. She clenched her fists, preparing to plunge them directly through Tremon's heart. She kind of wished she still had her stick- it had been broken against the Bibi she had fought a few days earlier. It was useful, her stick. It allowed her to do things she couldn't with just fists and feet. But sometimes it did get in the way…

As she drew closer to William and Tremon, she felt something directly below her. It felt alive- alive and wriggling. Brandy looked down, and bit back a curse at the sight of a very large, extremely angry Piranha. It leapt out of the water at her almost before she could react, its jaws clapping together like a wind up toy and its eyes full of liquid Rage.

Brandy snapped back, the Piranha flying by her and splashing down in the waves behind her. Brandy turned around, looking to where it had landed. "What the…", she said out loud, in total confusion. "What's a Piranha doing in the river? And why did it attack me like that? That doesn't make sense- unless."

She looked towards Tremon, who seemed to be chanting. Even though William was once again charging towards Dan, Tremon's concentration was totally unbroken. His fingers flew at incredible speeds, his eyes closed and his legs floating a foot or so above the Charger's back. "He's controlling them?", she realized in shock, then instinctively dodged out of the way of something flying up behind her. As it splashed into the water again, she saw that it was another Piranha.

"Oh, crap.", she said, and took a deep breath. "Here we go."

The Piranha yet again leapt out of the water, teeth slamming together like a piston. Its eyes boiled over with unnatural fury, and it jetted itself towards Brandy's face- until Brandy thrust her fist forward in a Dash-augmented punch, bursting straight through the fish's body. It spat a burst of blood out every direction, and slid off of Brandy's hand into the water. But Brandy had no time for relief, as she saw the body become shredded into pieces within a second. There were more, she realized. And as the waves churned around her, she realized there were _far, far, _more.

A trio of bright blue Piranhas jumped out of the river right at her, intent to rend flesh written upon their faces. Brandy yelled and struck out with her leg, cleaving each of them in half across the front. Such fish, ferocious as they were, presented no obstacle to her. She had helped defeat the Kraken- what were a few Piranhas?

But even as she thought those thoughts, she felt something right upon her left forearm. She just barely managed to yank it out of the way before another four Piranhas bit down on the air, slamming into another strike from Brandy and falling hideously apart.

Brandy took another look towards Tremon- he was still chanting. His body had begun to float high above the Charger's back now, even as William's own battle with Dan continued. The two titans punched wildly at each other, Dan's cries of "Ora ora ora" reaching across the entire area. Brandy grimaced- there would be more.

On a whim, she struck out behind her. The cries of piscine pain and bursting of fish flesh confirmed yet another hit. She ducked out of nowhere, and another trio flew overhead, to splash into the river in front of her. Brandy only saw that she was succeeding. She did not see that all the instinctual combat was slowly, minutely, but surely, igniting a silver glow within her eyes.

She felt something else behind her, and let out a backhanded punch. But to her surprise, this one did not burst. Instead, a jolt of pain shot through her hand, almost like electricity. Brandy cried out, and turned- to see that she had hit a Jellyfish instead of a Piranha. "Oh, shoot.", she spat, and leapt into the air. "He's improvising."

From her lofty vantage point, she gathered all the visual information she could within a few seconds. She gulped as she saw that there were now far more than just Piranhas in the water- Jellyfish spun around, Sharks bit at the water, rocks, and each other, and even large Squid flailed ferociously in the magical current. She activated a quick Dash right before she fell, flashing about 20 feet to the right. Hopefully, she would land away from the area with the most of them.

But as she fell, she looked down, and groaned. She had actually gotten herself into an area with more of them. That was just her luck. What did she expect, acting on instinct like that?

Yet even as she thought that, that word stuck in her mind. Instinct.

Even as she fell, right into the teeming mass of Sharks and Squid and Piranhas and Jellyfish, the silver glow in her eyes heated up.

And even as she landed, right in the heaving, biting, yondering bulk of fleshy death, a bright white flash erupted from her entire body, taking the sound from the entire area and replacing it with a grey burst of absolute silence.

A few seconds later, Brandy lay in the water. She had trouble moving her limbs, and her eyes shook with exhaustion. Yet somehow, in those few seconds, every single river monster that Tremon had summoned lay dead beneath her, floating away in the rough current.

Dan lashed out with a huge punch, his Star coated fist slamming directly into the Charger's armored cheek. Had the steel helmet not been there, it most likely would have broken his jaw. But all it did was knock him back quite a distance, and cause him to get even angrier. He bent down and leapt right at Dan's body, too quick for Dan to really dodge. All he had time to do was cross his arms to block, throwing him backwards a few dozen meters and into a deeper part of the river. William guffawed, then stopped when he felt Tremon land unceremoniously on his back. William's eyes rolled up, to see Tremon angry. "Sir? What's wrong?"

"Something happened with the girl!", Tremon yelled, and pushed his hair out his face. "I had her all set up to get eaten, and then she just kills everything out of nowhere!"

"Oh, that doesn't sound good.", said William, putting a finger to his chin. "I don't-"

But he never got to finish his sentence, as Dan slammed a hand across his face. His steel grip stopped William's words, and Dan took a deep breath. "With overwhelming force… and blazing anger!"

"What?", Tremon shouted, and raised his hands. "Is he attempting to cast a spell?"

But unfortunately for Tremon and his skills in countermagic, Dan was not. He as merely charging up his Star. "My power of justice is truly unmatched! Force Cannon Overdrive!"

Dan's hand shone with a titanic light, and he shouted as hard as he could. William screamed as the heat reached him, pushing both him and Tremon all the way to the other side of the river, blood dripping from the Charger's face in the shape of Dan's handprint.

"You looked tough.", said Dan. "Looked."

William, feeling thoroughly discouraged, almost began to cry. He had taken great pride in his strength, even being able to best Bonoom in an arm-wrestling contest. Yet here he was, being beaten by the very one he was supposed to take out. It was too much for his fragile mind to take. "Sir… I don't think this is working…"

"Don't worry, Tremon.", said Tremon, and raised his hands. "And don't worry, William. You can do this. You are strong. I am wise. We are the perfect team. You just need to trust me. We got this. I just need to-"

"Hey!", he heard Brandy shout, and he turned to look. There she stood, upon a pile of his dead creatures, an expression of anger upon her face. "I appreciate the thought, but next time send something that I can actually eat!"

Tremon's face finally went from one of restrained anger, with mostly patience, to one of total rage. His eyes snapped to full red, and his hands twisted into claws. "That is it!", he shouted, and yanked on some magical thread. A massive roar echoed from downstream, a far upgrade on what he had previously been planning to do. "Everyone dies!"

"Uh… sir?", asked William, in alarm. "Everyone?"

"Everyone but us.", said Tremon, and pulled harder. "Sorry, I should have specified."

The mighty roar coming from downstream attracted everybody's attention, as they looked. Their expressions were various levels of alarm as they saw that Tremon had summoned a massive wave, one that seemed fully capable of grabbing all of them at once.

"Oh, shoot.", said Dan, and held out his hands. Trevor and Annabelle grabbed on to his fingers, and Brandy started running for him. "Everyone, grab hold! This one's gonna be big!"

Tremon laughed, and William tucked his hands over his head. "This is it! Goodbye!"

Bubble looked in despair downstream, as the wave approached. "Mommy!", she screamed in panic, and started running. "No!"

But she was too late. There was, to be true, nothing she could have done anyway to stop the wave. And as it crashed into everyone in the river, the last thing she could see was Brandy leap for Dan's hand. It was unclear if she had made it or not.

Brandy, too, was unsure. She was pretty sure she had grabbed on to something, but it was hard to tell if it was Dan or not. She couldn't see through the constant churning of the waves, the water splashing and pulling and pushing every which way at once. It thrust her up and down simultaneously, around and around, like she was stuck inside an infernal washing machine. But she held on to whatever she _had _grabbed, knowing that it was her only chance of making it out of the river alive. Even if she had grabbed onto the Charger himself, it was better than holding on to nothing. She had just to hold on, to hope, to stick to it a little longer-

And then, the wave subsided. The sides of it splashed down, their magical momentum dwindling down to nothing. The reason for this became clear, as Tremon threw down his hands by his side. He laughed, and William began to laugh along with him. "Behold!"

Tremon pointed to further downstream, revealing the spot where the river dropped off into the mighty Clashcrush falls. "This is your doom, foolish travelers!"

Trevor grimaced, and cupped his hands to his mouth. "That's a 5 mile drop into the rest of the river! Even if someone survives the fall, they can't survive the churning at the bottom!"

"That's right, boy!", shouted Tremon, and raised his hands. "The legendary sight of the Clashcrush Falls… how would you like to experience it firsthand?"

"No thanks.", said Trevor, and shrugged. He tightened his grip on his sword, motioning for Annabelle to do the same with her bow. "I choose life."

Tremon frowned, and pointed his finger towards Trevor. "William?", he asked dryly.

"Yes, sir?", asked William, and pounded his head into his hands. "Should I-"

"Kill those ones first.", said Tremon. "I changed my mind."

As Tremon was talking, a strange force began to take hold of Dan's mind. It was no foreign or opposing influence- no, this came from deep within him. It sounded like a mighty roar, echoing from somewhere beyond himself. It smelled like gunpowder, smelled like a volcano about to erupt. He felt his mouth open unconsciously, and an eerie growl start to build within his throat.

He was reminded of his training with Juno and Fallon, something about it flickering in the echoes of his subconscious. A curious green and yellow light began to flare around his body, and he hunched over, almost unable to take the immense strain.

"What…", Brandy breathed, pushing herself to her feet. It turned out that she had grabbed onto Leon, who had turned invisible before the wave hit. She didn't know where he was at that moment. Perhaps he was sneaking up on Tremon- that would be nice. A quick kill was the most desirable outcome in this situation. "Dan? You okay?"

A powerful light flashed deep within Dan's eyes, and he straightened up. A blazing corona of bright lime light blasted out from him in all directions, a visible sphere erupting outwards and tearing up the surface of the waves. He roared as he did so, with a tone that seemed far larger and stronger than himself. His mighty roar soared throughout the entire area on wings of rage, physical force beginning to push back everyone that was there.

Brandy stared in shock at Dan, at what he was doing. His pupils were beginning to fade from the force of whatever had taken hold of him, what armor he had on starting to crack. The sound that came out of him like a volcano barely even resembled his regular voice- it sounded like a titanic force of nature, calling from deep within the ground. And as it kept on growing and escalating, Brandy was thrown back into the waves along with William and Tremon, who were struggling to keep hold of each other. Trevor and Annabelle, who had been on the side of Dan closer to the waterfall, were struggling to hold on to a single rock sticking out of the surface of the river. But as Dan continued his primal bellow, Trevor's hand slipped- and with a cry of alarm, they were pushed closer to the edge.

"Dan, stop!", Brandy screamed, feeling the waves of his bizarre anger buffet her like a wild hurricane. "Dan, you're gonna send them over the edge!"

But Dan kept on roaring, his muscles vibrating with sheer fury. Waves of Star began to shoot out in totally random directions- into the sky, to the side of the river, even into the water below. A bolt of Star shot the tip off of a tree, sending a Gem spinning out. A shoot of fire-like Star shot directly into the water, heating up the rocks on the bottom until they burst, sending lava spurting towards Tremon and the Charger. Tremon held up a hand in panic and raised a wall of water to stop the blast, but Dan continued to roar with inhuman vigor.

"William, get him!", shouted Tremon, putting one hand to his face. "He's distracted, you can get him right in the back! Send him over the edge and eliminate him!"

William saluted, put his head down, and charged forward. "Yes, sir!"

But even as he charged, Dan dug as deep as he was daring to go, down to the direct source of the power that this odd roar was emanating from. And just before William reached him, one last flash of lime energy erupted from Dan's eyes, nose, ears, and mouth, sending a massive wave of sound through the brains of everyone there, throwing William back about 50 feet, throwing Brandy back nearly a hundred, and sending the still-invisible Leon who knows where. Fortunately, the wave passed right over the heads of Annabelle and Trevor, who were just barely hanging onto the side of the waterfall as it was.

The roar finally stopped, Dan's body falling into a limp state. He still was able to stand, but most of the light had vanished from him. He took a few deep breaths- not to get any Star back, no. This was just to breathe.

"William?", asked Tremon, frantically slapping the side of the Charger's head. William lay in the water, not really moving at all, his eyes closed. Tremon could tell that of course he was not dead, but it was much harder to tell if he was unconscious. His hand reflected off the hard metal, causing more harm than good. "William, wake up! Wake up! We still need to beat this guy!"

William slowly blinked awake, and gradually pushed himself to his feet. He broke the rocks that he had been pushing against, and grabbed his helmet. With a quick readjustment, he could once again see out of both eyes. "Sir, which one?"

"The big one!", shouted Tremon, gesturing randomly to the group. "Actually, no, the big one. Wait no, the girl. Actually-"

His wandering eyes caught hold of Trevor and Annabelle, still struggling to hold on to a single rock. Trevor strained to pull Annabelle up, but he was not quite strong enough to pull both of them to safety. Tremon's eyes lit up with glee, and he pointed to them. "Those two!"

"Those two?", asked William, and scratched his chin in confusion. He always followed Tremon's orders, but these ones seemed a bit odd. "But those two aren't even important."

"No, but they are certainly vulnerable.", said Tremon, and slapped the side of the Charger's head. "Now get them, William! Finish them off!"

"Yes, sir!", William bellowed, and put his head down. He scraped both feet against the rocks, beat his chest, and charged.

"Trevor, pull harder!", Annabelle shouted in panic, looking down at the yawning 5-mile abyss with unmasked terror. It loomed immense far below her, spelling certain doom if they should fall.

"I'm trying, I'm trying!", Trevor shouted back, immense pain straining his voice. He desperately tried to pull Annabelle to a better position than just hanging above the fall from his hand. His other arm tried as hard as it was physically capable to pull the both of them up, to no avail. He was a fairly strong Barbarian- under normal conditions he would have been able to do it. But the waterfall pushed at his arms, and he could feel his grip slowly beginning to slip.

"Who's there?", shouted Annabelle, and closed her eyes. She could no longer bear to see the sight below. "Is there anyone that can help us?"

Trevor looked up, and very nearly lost his grip. There was indeed someone coming towards them, but it was no help. It was the Charger, head down, ready to smash.

"Uh…", Trevor said, sweat clouding on his brow. "No. No there's not."

Annabelle took a deep breath, and attempted to calm herself. She didn't like this. She did not like this at all. But if it was her fate to die here, falling into a watery grave at the hands of a Forgotten, then so be it. "Trevor.", she said. "Before we die, there's something I want to tell you."

"What?", Trevor screamed. "We're not gonna die. Don't say that."

But Annabelle was not listening. She stared up at Trevor, who had been her friend for most of her life. "Trevor.", she said. "I just want you to know that-"

"ORA!", came the mighty voice of Dan, drowning out whatever she would have said next. Trevor felt his entire upper body seized by Dan's massive fist, yanking both him and Annabelle out of the edge of the waterfall. As they flew overhead, they could see Dan's other fist violently collide with the Charger's left cheek, a spurt of blood coming out of it. The metal on his helmet began to crack from the force. He had been so focused on potential targets, he had forgotten to watch his sides. And as the Charger stumbled backwards, Dan knew what he had to do. Even though Trevor and Annabelle had managed to inflict some damage onto the Charger so far, the battle had entered a new stage. They would no longer stand much of a chance- he had to get them to safety.

"Trevor!", he shouted, and took a step back. "Hold on to Annabelle! Don't let her go!"

"Wait ,what-", Trevor asked, but did as he was told. He was immediately glad that he did, for he suddenly found himself flying through the air towards the shore. Dan had thrown them.

They hung in the air for a few moments, Trevor holding on to Annabelle for all he was worth. He dared not to let up, for he knew it would mean both their deaths.

But after a few seconds of free flight, they landed with a rough impact on the shore. Rolling like a Barbarian Barrel, going over and over each other, Trevor smashed against a tree, groaned in pain, and fell flat on the ground. Annabelle lay there on top of him, very shaken up, but also very much alive. They both lay there for more than just a few seconds, watching the world spin like a washing machine.

But the sight of the churning sky was interrupted by the sight of Bubble standing over them, eyes wide, giving a little wave. "Hey guys.", she said. "Are you alright?"

"Oh.", said Annabelle, and cracked a bit of a smile. "Heyyyyyy Bubble."

Annabelle felt Bubble's hand slide down underneath her neck, and gently lift her up. Annabelle winced, but let herself be hoisted upwards and laid to sit on Trevor's side.

"Let's sit here, guys.", said Bubble, and sat down between the two. She stared at the ongoing fight nervously, for that was all she really could do. And after a few seconds of thought, both Trevor and Annabelle realized it was all they could do too.

Dan's punch to the Charger's face had done a lot more than just knock him backwards. It had caused significant damage to his jaw. It had made a crack in the metal helmet that could be seen from several meters away. But most importantly, it had managed to dislodge Tremon. And as he lay there dazed, seeing illusions of birds and stars rotate over his head, he gradually became aware of the water flowing through and over him. The sensation restored his strength almost immediately- he was, after all, the Aqua Wizard.

Tremon stood up, and turned around rapidly, searching for William. As soon as he saw him landing a revenge hit on Dan's chest with his head, he sighed in relief. "William!", he shouted, waving his hand over his head. "William, I'm over here-"

But a sudden sucker punch to the jaw cut off his words. His entire body twisted around from the force of the blow, sending him once more into facedown into the water. He yelped in surprise, the healing force of the river allowing him to instantly jump back on his feet. He raised his hands and prepared to fight- but to his confusion, there was no one in front of him. The river all around him was devoid of opponents… but that did not stop another punch from hitting him directly upside the nose.

"Hey.", said Leon, and let himself become visible. He drew back his fist, and a single spinner blade nocked neatly into it. "You're fighting me."

"Why, you little brat!", Tremon yelled, and raised his hands. "You dare to take on the Aqua Wizard in his own domain!"

"Well, normally I wouldn't.", said Leon. "But given your current state, I'd say I have a chance."

Tremon made a sound that sounded like a small pillow being squished with a brick, and thrust his hands down. Leon flicked off the spinner blade, just before two ropes made of solid water leapt out of the river and wrapped themselves around his wrist. Another rope shot out and wrapped around his waist, securing him to one spot.

"Ha!", Tremon said, and prepared another round of watery arms. "You think I'm-"

The spinner blade that Leon had thrown a few seconds earlier suddenly sliced right into the back of Tremon's head, cutting through his skin and flesh and lodging itself inside of his skull. He spat out a spurt of blood and fell forward, the water ropes releasing themselves from Leon.

Leon dusted himself off, and stared at Tremon. He knew he was not dead, for his body yet remained. And sure enough, just about a second later, Tremon gasped, shot upwards, and jumped back out of Leon's reach. Leon's suspicion was correct- it appeared as though just being in the presence of so much rushing water was enough to heal him from wounds.

"But what about all these wounds?", Leon asked, and drew out Hunter Killer from the air. "If I just really let loose, could even you survive?"

"I can survive anything, you fool!", Tremon growled, and raised his hands again. A sword and shield made of water rose from the river, taking up positions in front of him. "Especially arrogant little brats, who don't even have a weapon!"

Leon smiled. Of course Tremon couldn't see Hunter Killer.

"Ora!", Dan yelled, throwing yet another blow. "Ora! Ora! Oraoraoraora!"

Dan unleashed a flurry of blows upon William, yet they hardly even seemed to bother the Charger at all. He had managed to get his guard back up, and now every attack of Dan's was shrugged off with hardly any effect. The Charger roared, and jumped forward.

"Darn…", Dan growled, as he stepped out of the way of William's reckless blow. "This guy's a tank… he takes whatever I throw at him. What can I do to-"

Then, Dan began to think. He thought of to just a few days ago, when he had unleashed the column of energy that had destroyed both the Tick and hundreds of feet of forest. He thought about how his legs had always been the strongest part of his body, far stronger than his arms. It made sense, after all- a person's legs were usually around four times as strong as their arms. It was even more so for him, being a Mega Knight. His leg strength was legendary.

Dan jumped back lightly on his feet, dodging uncalculated strike after uncalculated strike from the enraged Charger. He thought about how the part of his body that shot his Star, regardless of how much he had put into it, seemed to directly correlate with how strong the blast was.

"Crush you!", William shouted, and Dan realized he had not been paying attention. He crossed his arms in defense- a half second too late, as William's metal head slammed right into his chest. Dan gasped, and threw himself backwards. William's attacks seemed to be getting stronger- he was evidently effected by his rage. But Dan had a plan.

"Super…", Dan shouted, taking in a deep breath. He dropped to his back, sticking his legs up in the air. He still had distance from William, as he scrambled to come up with a name. "Double…"

Two twin blasts of Star shot out from his legs, and formed themselves into spheres in the air. Once they began to come down again, Dan jumped up, and gathered energy in his hand. "Leg Day…"

William began to charge forward once again- but it was far too late for him. As the leg-shot blast of Star, far stronger and larger than normal ones, fell in front of him, Dan unleashed the energy within his hands. "Overdrive!"

The beam shot from his hands, a raging blast of Star that would have dealt heavy damage to the Charger normally. But as it hit the two shots that had been fired from his legs, the force was amplified nearly 20 fold. The beam grew from the width of Dan's arm to wider than he was tall, the bright light glowing blinding. A titanic roar shot out from the attack that drowned out even the sound of the waterfall itself, and hit the Charger head on. Even though he was as large and physically strong as Dan, Kragonbrock, or even Bonoome, he stood no chance against Dan's attack. The beam continued on like a meteor strike, going over the side of the waterfall and continuing out for almost a full mile, straight into the air. But the Charger did not- he fell almost as soon as he reached open air, going over the side of the falls and into the five mile drop that awaited him. He screamed Tremon's name as he fell, one last gasp at help.

Down at the bottom of the falls, a minute or so later, a portal just large enough to hold a person opened up. It was only there for a second, depositing a terrified man with long blood-red hair and a fishnet across his torso. He gasped for breath, noticing how he had been deposited in a small liferaft.

"How am I going to die this time?", he asked himself, looking around. It did not occur to him to look up. "What mad end will I meet?"

His question was answered a few seconds later, as the body of William the Charger came crashing down onto him with a sound that defied description, sending up a splash the size of a Castle and killing them both instantly.

As soon as William hit the ground, splashing into a huge puddle of Elixir that turned the churning of the water purple for a hundred meters in every direction, Tremon felt it. He heard the splash with his ears, and kew what it meant. But most importantly, he felt it in his soul- the Charger was no longer with him.

"William!", he shouted, a splash of water surging up in all directions around him from his sorrow. He clenched his fist in incredible anger, and the river around him began to turn red. "No!"

He heard Leon slide a single bullet into Hunter Killer's chamber. He turned slowly around in rage, deciding that it was time to drop the pretenses. "You fool…", he said, and slowly breathed out. "Did you think your little gun would be enough to stop me?"  
"Wait, you can see Hunter Killer?", asked Leon in shock, and pulled back a bit in surprise. If it turned out that Tremon was a Stand user, there would be no telling of what he was about to do. Every Stand he had met so far had been wildly different. Even if the only Stands he had seen up to that point were his own and Brandy's. "So you are a-"

"Indeed!", Tremon snarled, and a ghostly purple light began to concentrate behind his body. "You idiots never truly stood a chance. Now feel the wrath of my Stand, Toxi-"

He abruptly stopped talking. His eyes bugged out of his head, and any words that had been traveling up his throat were replaced with a cold, wet, gasp. He looked down in immense pain, to see the reason for such a thing. He thought it was odd that he could see his heart being held about a foot away from his chest, grasped in a black gloved hand.

Brandy pulled back her hand, taking Tremon's heart along with it. Her arm still vibrated with Dash energy, as Tremon fell forward into the river. This time the presence of the water was not enough to regenerate his injuries- he had no heart in order to do so. This time he just died, dissolving into a purple stream that was washed away over the falls within a second, to join what had once been the Charger.

"Whew.", said Brandy, and wiped a bit of stray Elixir from her forehead. She restraightened her bangs and wiped off her glove, the blood beginning to soak in. She gave the heart a look, before tossing it aside. She had no use for it, and it quickly dissolved. "There we go. Finally done."

"He was just about to bring out his Stand, too.", said Leon, with a hint of remorse. "Darn, I kinda wanted to see what it was."

"Hmm…", said Brandy, putting her hand to her chin. "He had a Stand? Then why didn't he bring it out during the battle?"

"I don't know.", said Leon, and shrugged. He looked up above Brandy, seeing Dan looking over to the far side of the river. He appeared to be searching for someone, although Leon did not know what. "Maybe he did. It could have been a Stand like yours."

"Maybe…", said Brandy, lost in thought, staring at the river. She reflected on the fight, only now realizing how close several members of the group had been to losing their lives. Even though she had seen Trevor and Annabelle hanging over the side of the falls, she had not done anything about it- and that fact worried her. "I don't know."

Then she stood up again, and placed her hands on her back. Brandy groaned in a deep stretch, feeling something odd in her mouth as she did so. "Anyway… I think we should meet up with everyone else. I think they're on the shore now, right?"

"Right.", said Dan, his immense shadow falling over them. "Bubble is on the shore with Trevor and Annabelle. I made sure of that. They're safe."

"Okay, good.", said Brandy, and bent to leap up onto Dan's shoulder. "I was a little worried about Bubble… I hoped she was alright."

"Well, she is.", said Dan, grabbing Brandy right as she was about to jump. She frowned at the unspent energy rocketing back through her legs and smashing against the bottoms of her feet, but she was alright. Dan turned to look at her, giving her a wide smile. "There's no need to worry about-"

Then he stopped, his eyes switching from reassuring to alarmed. "Brandy!", he shouted. "Brandy, what happened to your tooth?"

"My tooth?", Brandy asked, and crossed her eyes. She could not see her mouth, of course, but she tried so anyway. She started fishing around in her mouth with her finger, trying to find what Dan was talking about. "Why, did something happen to my teeth-"

Then, after a few seconds of searching, she found it. One of her front teeth had been knocked out in the battle, leaving an empty space in her line of pearly whites. "Oh, shoot. My tooth."

She leaned over, reaching for Dan's back pocket in an attempt to find something to fix it. "You still got a Heal around here somewhere, right? Please tell me?"

Dan frowned. "No, there's no Heals anymore. We spent them all. But don't worry, honestly. I think it looks really cute on you."

Brandy sat back up onto Dan's shoulder, the line of skin directly below her mask turning a little red. "Oh… you do? It's a missing tooth though. How can it look cute-"

"Because you look cute.", said Dan, giving her a gentle kiss on the side of her head. "So you look cute no matter what happens to you."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and leaned up against Dan's head. "But what if something happens to me that will make me not look cute anymore? What then?"

Dan held out his other hand, and Leon silently jumped up onto it. He deposited him on his other shoulder, not even breaking stride in his conversation with Brandy. "Well, nothing can do that. So don't even worry about it."

"But…", said Brandy, and thought about the wildest, most outrageous thing that could happen. "What if I lose my mask? Or my hair turns black instead of white? Will I still look cute then?"

Dan rolled his eyes, and shot the barest spark of Star at Brandy's side. She yelped as it tickled her, and they both smiled. "I said what I said, Brandy. You'll look cute no matter what."

He looked up as he remembered, and gave Brandy a little squeeze. "And besides, you heal from a lot of things quickly. So you'll probably have that tooth back before you know it."

"What do you mean?", Brandy asked, and raised a brow. "I don't heal that quickly."

"Oh yes you do.", said Dan, and took his hand off of her. "Your back was cut by the wolf guy just a few hours ago. But I bet it's already gonna be healed. Lift up your tunic and show me."  
Brandy, without even thinking about it, turned around and lifted up the back of her tunic. Dan took a look at her back, noticing with admiration how the slashes that had caused the fabric to be stained with blood were now but scars, almost completely healed.

"Well, what did I say.", said Dan, with love, and tapped Brandy on the head. "You did heal up all the way. So that tooth's probably gonna be just fine."

Brandy felt Dan's finger stroke her head, and closed her eyes in happiness. "Thank you, Dan.", she said, and smiled. "You always know just what to say."

Dan drea little closer to her, staring at the sun on the horizon. It cast beautiful red and blue rays across the entire valley, illuminating the idyllic landscape beneath. The river continued all the way through the whole thing, most likely ending up in the ocean. Countless trees and bushes dotted the landscape, like the little loops on a carpet. A huge purple mountain range made a wall of stone in the distance, broken only by where the river wound through. And everywhere he could see along the banks, there were Villages, separated by a distance of exactly 3 miles. It made him think for a second- think of what they were protecting here. Their quest was not merely to slay a Dragon- no, it was to save the entire world. He blinked- oh, they were saving the entire world. But that could wait to think about- he was holding on to something far more important. "You're welcome, my love."

Trevor stood at the bank of the river, Annabelle by his side and Bubble gripping on tightly to his shoulders. He swallowed, a bit nervous. Actually, scratch that. He was a lot nervous. Annabelle had said that she didn't really know how to swim all that well, and Bubble was a little kid, by the looks of it. That left it up to him to cross the part of the river they had been thrown to, and get to the other side.

"Trevor, are you sure we can't just walk across?", asked Annabelle, shivering from the cold water. "That would be a lot easier."

"Positive.", said Trevor, and rolled his shoulders. "Now both of you, get on my back. I'm gonna swim across."

Bubble stared at him in exasperation, and rolled her little eyes. "Boys.", she said under her breath, and gave a little flick of her fingers. She had already sensed the average depth of this part of the river- it was a mere 1 and a half feet deep. Any of them could walk across it without any trouble. So an illusion of a rocky bridge suddenly appeared, appearing to be just a few inches underneath the water. There was actually a difference of about a foot, but Trevor didn't need to know that. "Trevor, look!", she said, and pointed. "A bridge."

Trevor blinked, then started walking towards it. "Why, so there is.", he said. "Thank you, Bubble. Now I can walk across."

Bubble rolled her eyes once again, climbing up onto Annabelle's shoulders. Annabelle grunted, and hoisted herself onto Trevor's shoulders. Trevor's eyes bugged out of his head, and his shoulders nearly burst, but he managed to take a step onto the bridge. It was deeper than he had expected, but still very workable. He took another step, then another, then kept on walking towards the other side of the river, where the other half of their group was waiting.

"Oh, looks like they're making it across.", said Dan, putting his hand up to his brow to block out the rays of the setting sun. "That's good. It doesn't seem like they need my help, either."

Leon stretched below Dan's arm, putting one hand to the ground and leaning down to reach it with his head. "You know, that was a pretty good bossfight we just had."

"Boss fight?", asked Brandy in confusion, giving Leon one of her Looks. This one was not an angry one, as most of her Looks were, but simply one of disbelief. "What do you mean, a boss fight?"

"Oh, it's just a thing we have at home in Brawltopia.", said Leon, and briefly stopped for the shock of memories that went with the sentence. "It's where three Brawlers all fight this huge, super tough Boss Robot. It just kind of reminded me of that, is all."

"I know what a boss fight is, sweetie.", said Brandy. "But that wasn't a boss fight at all. Rakastamos is gonna be the boss fight."

"Oh, yeesh.", said Leon, his eyes going darker for a second. "Right, forgot about him. Guess this was a… a mini boss then."

"Exactly.", said Dan, and nodded. The other group had almost caught up them. "What else would be a mini boss then? I'd certainly say the Kraken was one."

"Bonoome, too.", said Brandy. "And Leon, you went up against Chad and his group… those were minibosses."

"You keep on not telling me about Bonoome.", said Leon, staring up at Dan. "Why not?"

Dan cleared his throat, and turned around. Despite the fact that Bonoome had died, and they had survived, they had not technically won that fight. Juno had needed to save them, and that was what he was ashamed of. "Nothing, son. I'll tell you later."

"You only call me son when you're thinking about something else.", said Leon. "What is it-"

"Hey, they're here!", said Dan, leaning over to the side of the river. Trevor took two steps forward onto the ground and instantly collapsed in agony, Annablle and Bubble hopping off his shoulders. "You guys made it!"

Trevor groaned, and Annabelle gave a thumbs up. "Right.", she said. "We finally made it past the river."

The group all stood there for a second, admiring their accomplishment. They had made it to the Clashcrush River, despite all the obstacles that had stood in their way. They now had a plan, and a path. They just had to follow the huge river- and at the end was their ultimate destination of Clashcrush Mountain and Dragonlord Rakastamos.

"You know…", said Brandy, and hoped her next words would not jinx their luck. "I do belive the worst of the journey is behind us. I mean, we've beaten every single Forgotten we've bone up against so far. And we keep on getting stronger every time we do so. What can even stand up to us now?"

"I don't know.", said Dan. "I sure hope nothing."

"Right…", said Brandy, and scratched the back of her head. She flipped down her hood, letting the wind flow through her sweaty hair. "Hey Dan, could you follow me? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Sure, honey.", said Dan. He threw a set of hand signals to Trevor and Leon that had no real meaning, but he hoped they would mean something to them anyway through sheer context. He followed Brandy as they started walking, to a huge rock against one side of the clearing. "What is it, honey?"

Once they reached the rock, Brandy sat down against it. Dan thudded down to the ground as well, shaking the rock a few inches. Brandy sighed, looked up to the sky, then looked back at Dan. She wasn't quite sure how she wanted to put this, but she was going to try anyway.

"When you roared back there…", she said, and put her hand on Dan's leg. "There was this weird energy around you. It didn't sound like you either… you looked, well, honestly kind of terrifying. What _was _that?"

Dan let out a deep breath. He had thought that Brandy had wanted to talk to him about something serious, but it wasn't. "Oh, that.", he said, and his eyes lit up as he started to tell a story. "Well, to explain that, I need to go back to when I was about to become a Mega Knight."

_About a month ago, in a secret clearing somewhere on Hog Mountain _

Song: Super Saiyan 3- Android Orchestra

Dan stood in the middle of a circle of Troops, all their watchful gazes focused on him and him alone. He had been training for a long time now. He had lost count of the exact number of days. It could have been weeks that he had been stationed in Juno and Fallon's Star Training Program, but he wasn't sure. It had gotten progressively harder to tell.

"Dan.", he heard Fallon say from his right, and he turned around. Fallon stood there on a tall rock, staff in one hand and bow in the other. The look on his face was halfway between pride and worry- both proud that his student had at long last progressed to his final test, and worried that he might not pass. He was speaking from every bit of himself- from his soul, his heart, and his mind. "Are you sure you are ready?"

Dan nodded, putting his hands together and giving a slight bow. "I am, Master Fallon. I am ready to complete my training, for those that I love."

He, of course, had not yet become a Mega Knight. He was still a regular, small Knight- but he was raging with potential. His naturally ingrained strength combined with his intense training had pushed him to the very height of his potential as a Knight, and he was now ready for what came beyond. Or, at least, he hoped he was.

"Then take your spot.", said Juno from beside Fallon. She pointed towards the high rock at the middle of the section of the mountain they were on. "And ascend."

At the sight of Juno, Dan felt his heart surge with a raging flame. She looked so much like Brandy that it hurt him. But he would pass this last test, and finally become what he was meant to be.

With a surge of courage, but still nervousness within, Dan slowly stepped up to the makeshift stone podium. He was still not quite sure what this test would entail, if he was being honest with himself. The ascension test for every Troop had always been different, and he was sure he was no exception. That was the only warning he had been given- no hints on what to expect at all. So he stepped onto the podium, turned around to face the circle, and mentally prepared himself for anything he might face.

Fallon stared at him for a few seconds, Juno closing her eyes. Dan stared back, expecting them to tell him what to do, but the sudden staring contest only continued. Dan felt himself get a little hot under his armor, and he scratched the side of his cheek.

"Well?", asked Fallon, and gave his hand a little wave. "Go on then, transform. We haven't got all night, Knight."

"Wha-", said Dan, and pointed to himself. "What do you mean, just transform? Isn't there a test first?"

"The transformation is the test.", said Juno, and winked. "You figuring out how to do it, that is. We've trained you this far. But the last step of the journey is one you must take on your own."

"I see…", said Dan, and shook himself to clear away any tension remaining. He took in a deep breath, feeling the Star flow within him. "Then I will."

He thought for a moment, wondering how to transform. Obviously, it would require a great degree of power. But where would he get such power? The only place he could think of was his Star, but there was a limit to how much he could hold in his body at a time. So he let out his breath that he had been holding in a loud exhalation, trying to give himself more room to think.

But even as he did so, he noticed something quite odd that had happened. The expelled air had given him a tiny bit more power. It was not large or particularly strong- but he had noticed that it had raised his power on the smallest scale. And that made it significant.

Dan took in another deep breath, making sure to get as much air within his lungs as he possibly could. He had to, in order for his plan to work. He leaned back as he did so, allowing his lungs and chest to fill with air as much as they physically could. Once he stopped sucking in air, and had packed his lungs full to bursting, Dan shot it all out in a loud huff that bent the branches on the air around him. He thought that it would perhaps be enough- but no. His interior power scale on himself barely budged, only ticking upwards infinitesimal amounts.

Dan thought for a bit, trying to figure out what to do. Regular breathing would obviously not do it, but neither would forceful techniques. And yet, if there was some way he could expel even more force-

And then, he almost laughed. Of course. The answer was so simple. All he had to do was take in a breath, so he did that. All he had to do was let it out again with great volume, so he did that. All he had to do was scream as loud and hard as he could- so he did exactly that.

He screamed as loud as his Knightly lungs would allow- they were strong, but nowhere near the monsters that he had in the present day. They were only strong enough to boost his scream to the volume of an avalanche, rather than an erupting volcano. He felt his hypothesis confirmed, as the power scale within him began to climb linearly, indicating a massive shift in strength from a single scream alone.

"Ah, I see he's figured it out.", said Fallon, and smiled. "That's good, it actually took him less time that I had expected."

"Well, what did you think was gonna happen?", asked Juno, and shrugged politely. "I did train him, after all."

Fallon nodded, and continued to watch Dan scream. He sucked in immensely deep breath after immensely deep breath, filling his lungs far past any legal capacity. Hie volume began to slowly increase, going from avalanche to passing train to jet liner, all within the space of a few

moments. The look on Fallon's face suddenly turned to worry, as he saw what powers Dan was beginning to unleash.

The grass bent around Dan's immense vocal outpouring, visible waves of sheer sound beginning to appear in the air. Dan bent down, letting the energy within him begin to soar to newer and newer heights. The hood on the back of his head fell, revealing his jagged blond hair.

Dan clenched his fists, from just the feeling of the power running through his entire body. His inner power scale was beginning to steadily climb- but there was no reason to tell him. Everyone there knew, just from the sheer shockwaves emanating around. And as he searched ever deeper within himself for yet more power, the very mountain began to tremble.

"What…", Fallon whispered to himself, and put his hand to his bow. "What is he doing?"

"It feels as though-", said Juno, then looked down to the ground. "No, the entire mountain _is _shaking! What power…"

"Dan!", Fallon shouted, and cupped his hands to his lips to try and be heard over the all-encompassing sounds coming out of Dan. "Are you okay?"

Dan turned a fixed Fallon with a look of bravery. It could only mean one thing considering the circumstances, the squared jaw and burning eyes- Yes. I Am.

"Okay.", Fallon said, and leaned back on the air. "Well then, I can only hope this plays out well."

But Dan kept on screaming. He pushed as much out of himself as he possibly could, allowing the power of the Primal Mega Knight to flow through him unhindered. He thought he could see himself in his mind's eye, a true Mega Knight at last.

The ground shook even more, and the members of the circle around him began to get worried. The amount of energy that Dan was giving off seemed far more than what was required for a simple transformation, even a Knight to Mega Knight one.

"Hold on…", said a Prince, stumbling as the ground quaked. "Fallon, isn't he going a bit overboard?"

Fallon opened his eyes, and took a closer look at Dan. His magical eyes widened with concern as he read Dan's energy levels- they were far beyond what they should have been. Fallon did not quite know why- perhaps it was his Star, mixing with the aura of the Mega Knight he was aiming to become. Perhaps it was the fire that was within his soul, pushing him to heights higher than it was safe to go. But whatever it was, Fallon knew that Dan could keep it up no longer.

"Dan!", he shouted, standing up straight. "You're pushing too hard! Slow down!"  
"No!", Dan bellowed, with a voice that was far deeper and more powerful than his own. A bolt of lightning shot out from his body and struck a far away tree, reducing it to ash and a single spinning Gem. "I can't! I have to keep on going!"

"Dan!", shouted Fallon again, with intense urgency. "Your body cannot stand the energies you are outputting! If you keep on going, you will die!"

Dan turned his gaze away from the sky to Fallon. Dan was levitating now, borne aloft by the sheer might of his transformation. "I mean that I literally cannot stop now! My body is too deep in to stop!"

"Then unless you transform right now, you're going to die.", said Juno, calmly, with a hint of regret. "That plain, and that simple."

Dan heard that information, and took it to heart. He grit his jaw, prepared for one final push, and screamed.

His scream- no, his yell- no, his roar, blasted through the air like a tidal wave of solid sound. The entire section of mountain they were on began to shake apart, the dirt flying up in chunks from Dan's essence. The sound tore off into the dark night, flooding down into the valleys and biomes below. Several Castles around the area would report strange sounds with no source the next day, all having been heard at the exact same time. But only those on the mountain knew what happened that night.

"Dan!", shouted Fallon, knowing what he had to do. He hated to interrupt the ascension process of any student, but it was better that than Dan lose his life. "I'm going to get you out-"

Then he stopped, dropping his hands by his side. He reconsidered that course of action, as he saw that Dan's entire body was starting to grow larger.

Dan's muscles began to swell, shifting upwards in size like a balloon being inflated. His arms and legs grew longer, stretching to support his thickening torso. His screams became even lower in pitch, taking on a brassy tone, sounding like a solid gold Rocket being launched rather than anything remotely human. His mustache grew as well, becoming far more rugged and thick than what it had been before. And as the group below all stared in total wonderment, Dan's body swelled from that of a mere Knight to the fabled form of the legendary Mega Knight.

But even as he did so, Dan felt immense pain. The physical pain ran through his body like wildfire, from the stretching of his very bones and organs. It was far greater than any other pain he had ever felt- except for the mental agony that assaulted his brain.

His eyes were closed, trying to concentrate as hard as he could on the transformation. But the dark image of a certain individual blocked his mind, and stopped him from doing so. He had no idea who it was- but he was terrifying. His spiked hair flowed uncontrolled in some metaphysical wind, and his grimace burned with rage. His fists dripped with blood, as he roared like a wild beast. Somehow, Dan knew that the figure, whoever he was, was the source of his power. And then he realized it. The legends about the Primal Mega Knight- how he was prone to berserking, how his initial ascension had drove him half-mad, how he had to control himself at all times- were true. And Dan also knew without a doubt that he now had to take that mantle upon himself.

Dan's eyes shot open, and he gave one last roar of pure power. A ring of green and yellow energy shot out from him in all directions, scraping away the top layer of grass on the mountain's side and knocking everybody to the ground except for Juno and Fallon. And as Dan let the last of his weakness fly away into the cold night air, the screams finally faded from his throat. The light slowly dimmed around him, and he floated down onto the scarred and broken ground. He had no armor, save a shattered metal strip around his waist. His head spun from exhaustion, light-headedness, and the odd sensation of being in a much larger body. But most of all, the power he now held dizzied him. He could feel it in every part of himself. He knew that the power he had been searching for all month long was finally here. But he had to test it out.

"Dan?", asked Fallon, taking a step forward. "Are you okay-"  
Dan's answer was not of mere words. It was of a single inhaled breath and a blast of Star from his mouth that shot out for hundreds of meters into the air, lighting up the night like a fireworks display. It was, unfortunately, accompanied by a slight spattering of blood. All of Dan's screaming had left the inside of his throat rather damaged.

"I'd take that as a yes.", said Fallon with a smile. He reached out his arm and grabbed Dan's student band off his neck, replacing it with one of a Master with a single swift movement. "Congratulations, Dan."

Juno looked up at him, barely containing her admiration. "Yes… now go help your girl.", she said. "She's a Bandit, right? I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. I know I am-"  
She didn't even need to wait for Fallon to give her A Look before closing one eye and throwing up her arms. "What?", she asked. "I'm just saying."

Fallon shook his head, and put his arm on Dan's shoulder. It took Dan a moment to realize that Fallon, too, was flying. "Dan.", he said, and gave him a nod. "You are ready. Go."

_Present Day_

Brandy sat back, and gave a low whistle. She had never heard that story before, and some parts of it came as a bit of a shock. "Woah.", she said, and blinked a few times. "That's what happened?"

"Yep.", said Dan, and flicked at the rock they were sitting on. A chunk of it came off, skidding across the ground and exploding on another rock. "It was hard, becoming a Mega Knight. But it was way, way worth it."

"You- you almost died!", said Brandy, tears beginning to well up in the corners of her eyes. "You almost exploded, or had your heart give out, or whatever would have happened to you…"  
Brandy threw herself forward into Dan's leg, and buried her face in his muscle. "Don't let that happen again, okay? I don't want you ever dying."

Dan rubbed the back of Brandy's head as gently as he could, not wanting to hurt her. A single thought popped into his head of how easily he could, but he shoved it outside within an instant.

"Don't worry, I won't.", said Dan, and gently smiled. "And you won't either. None of us will."

"Are you sure?", asked Brandy, and looked up. "Because I-"

"Brandy.", said Dan, lifting up her chin with the very tip of his finger. "Look at me."

Brandy looked at him, deep into his eyes. They were blue today. Sometimes they were blue, sometimes they were green, sometimes, more recently, they had been purple with Rage. But right now, they were a gorgeous shade of azure. "Okay.", she breathed.

"You're not going to die.", said Dan. "Simple as that. You know why?"

"Why?", asked Brandy, hardly able to contain herself. She felt every hair on the back of her neck stand up, as Dan's low voice reached her ears over and over again. "How do I know?"

"Because you have been through so much crap.", said Dan. "And you have not died, not even once. What's a giant Dragon and his army of weird troops when you've faced down demons? Nothing, that's what. And besides…"

He moved his finger from Brandy's chin to her ear, and she shivered. "Nothing can hurt you as long as I'm around. Nothing's allowed to. You got that?"

"Yes…", Brandy moaned, and let herself fall onto Dan's hand. "I do."

As she looked out under Dan's arm, her forehead wrinkled. "Wait, when did it get so dark-"

A crash sounded from the opposite end of the campsite, and Brandy jumped up. She and Dan looked at each other, then looked to where the crash had come from. Trevor had managed to set up camp with help from Annabelle and Leon, and they had been sitting together around a campfire. But Brandy saw Leon turn invisible out of instinct, and Trevor jump back as something emerged from the bushes just beyond, its tortured looking body looming high.

"Oh great, we got another one.", said Brandy, and rolled her eyes. "Come on honey, let's blow this one to bits."

"Right.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. He held up his hand as Star flowed into and around it, and made a sound like the cocking of a gun. "Just real quick."

Brandy laughed, and ran forward. She saw Annabelle finally roll away from the Thing and grab Bubble- that was good. It would make it so Brandy didn't have to be careful aiming.

"Dorra!", she yelled, and suddenly Dashed forward. The monster didn't even have time to respond before Brandy had planted her foot deep into its face, pushing the back of its skull a full foot behind where it would usually be. It screamed a gurgled scream and hit the ground, but curiously did not burst into Elixir. Brandy decided the best course of action would be to jump back, and examine it from a distance.

"You…", she heard the thing say, as it slowly rose to its feet. As the light from the fire hit it head on, Brandy could see just how ugly it was. Its nose was a flat stump with two slit like nostrils, its skin a pasty white. Two long fangs jutted from its mouth, its head a shiny dome. The two long ears on the side of its head were sharp, almost as if they had been filed to a point. The strange, oil-black clothes it had on seemed to be actively falling apart, and its fingernails had been grown out to the point of claws. The liquid that dripped from it was no doubt toxic- Brandy made sure to keep her distance. "You fools…"

"Huh.", said Dan, as he came up behind Brandy. "What is that? Ugly one."

The thing laughed, throwing its head back as it spat blood into the air. It flailed its fingernails around randomly, and turned to look directly at Bubble. "I am the Vampire, Dan."

It laughed again, and turned to face each of them in turn. "Oh, don't look so surprised. I know each and every one of you by name. Dan. Brandy. Leon. Bubble. Trevor. And Annabelle."

"Yeah, okay?", asked Dan, and crossed his arms. He noticed the grass rustling right next to the Vampire- no doubt Leon was sneaking up on it. "I'm sure everyone in Rakastamos's army knows our names by now."

"Oh, but I know more than that.", said the Vampire, and stroked his arm with his claws. "I know what each of you can do. And I also know that you _cannot_ kill me."

"Really.", said Dan, and nodded, hoping that Leon would see him. "Then what do you call this?"

The Vampire had no time to respond before Leon became visible next to him, and let loose. A volley of dozens of rounds from Hunter Killer shot directly into his head, each blowing a clean hole straight through his brain. He threw multiple spinner blades from his other hand, all of them shredding through the Vampire's central body like a knife through paper mache. But that was far from all- Dan gave a low shout, and fired his Star Cannon clean through the Vampire's torso. A hole almost as wide as the Vampire himself appeared, shooting the body back into the bushes with a deafening sound of thunder. And for the finisher, Brandy Dashed forward again, delivering a devastating Dash boosted punch all the way through his stomach, carving upwards through his chest and throat, and finally ending by coming clean out through his head.

Brandy leapt back, and almost stumbled over Bubble, who was staring at the bloody carnage with utter fascination. Brandy moved her hands in front of Bubble's eyes, and slowly backed her up towards Annabelle. "There you go.", she said. "Don't look at that."

But, unlike the bold statements of many of the other Forgotten, the Vampire's warnings of his inability to die held true. He groaned in sheer agony as he slowly, somehow, with his mangled arms and broken legs, picked himself up off the ground. His split head gradually knitted back together as he stood there shaking on his shattered legs, gasping for breaths he did not need. The gaping hole and gash in his stomach still dripped blood, but his head had pretty much popped back into one place after a second. He put up one finger, and let loose a torrent of blood from his mouth onto the ground. "You…"

Dan stared, and gave a low whistle. "Wow.", he said. "Looks like he wasn't kidding."

"Do you know how long it's going to take me to regrow that?", the Vampire rasped, clearly in immense pain. "That- that _gaping _hole in my chest?"

""Well, I don't know.", said Brandy, and shrugged. "Could be maybe 10 minutes. Looks like you're hurt pretty bad-"  
"Nope.", said the Vampire, and flexed the muscles remaining in his torso. A veritable wall of flesh slammed down from every side of the hole, sending a spurt of blood outwards. The damage that had been dealt to his torso automatically healed up, leaving no sign of the group's attack except for, of course, the blood that had been expelled from his body.

"But if it makes you feel any better…", he rasped, and grinned. He licked some of the blood from his fingernails, drinking it down. "That hurt a lot."

Dan frowned, and folded his arms. "Well, shoot.", he said. "If we can't kill him, then what are we going to do?"

The Vampire grinned, and slowly tilted his head back and forth as if mocking their puzzlement. "Oh, I know precisely how you can kill me. And it looks like the boy there has already figured it out."

"Leon?", asked Brandy, and turned to him. "Do you know how to take this thing down?"

Leon nodded, and stood up. "I do. But I don't think we can. I'm pretty sure he can only-"

"I can only be killed by the light of the sun!", the Vampire screeched, at a volume that made both Bubble and Brandy instinctively cover their ears. "And it looks like it's already vanished, down below the horizon."

He put one hand on the rock that he had been standing behind the whole time, and lazily strode forward. From the look on his face, he supposed he had all the time in the world. "That leaves me until morning to kill you… and I'm sure I can figure out a way to do it by then."

He looked around the campfire, staring at each of them in turn once again, then laughed.

Dan narrowed his eyes, and made a finger signal to where Bubble stood. "Bubble.", he said, and pointed another finger at the smug Vampire. "Trap him. Stick him in a cage until we figure out what to do."

Bubble stared at him, confused. "Daddy? I can't-"

Then she caught on, and smiled broadly. "Oh, right. Time for your cage time, monster!"

She brought down her hands with a happy crash, and the illusion of a very thick, iron-barred cage crashed down over the Vampire. He had no idea it was an illusion, and he pulled back to avoid getting crushed. For even though he was immortal, he didn't exactly relish the pain.

"There.", said Bubble, hands on her little hips. She closed her eyes, and stuck out her tongue at him. "Stay there, ugly. My Daddy's gonna wreck ya."

The Vampire growled in protest, wondering if it was worth it to try and dig underneath the bars. He did have very long and strong claws- but they were made for slashing, not digging…

Dan stood there, hand on his chin, trying to figure out what to do. Here in front of him was an enemy that could not, apparently, be killed. And from the assortment of weaponry and his status as a Forgotten, Dan assumed that the Vampire was easily capable of doing at least some of them in. And that was not a loss Dan could ever get himself to accept.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, and his eyes shifted downwards, to see her staring up at him. "How are we gonna get rid of this guy?"

Dan still continued to think, tiny flecks of Star running through his fingers from the rhythmic in and out of his breath. "I'm not sure, honey. I'm thinking to figure it out."  
Brandy saw the Star twitch in tiny bits around him, and her mind raced to come up with an idea. "Well… what if you shot him with all the Star you had? Like when you shot that other dude."

"No.", said Dan quietly, and shook his head. "Wouldn't work. I already shot a hole in his stomach with Star. And now he's fine."

Brandy bit her lip, noticing how all damage from the combined attack had healed up completely. "You're right…"

She stood there for a second, scratching her own cheek in thought. She brightened up, as another thought entered her head. "Well, what if I just reach inside his head and destroy his brain! Even he couldn't regenerate from that."

Dan just shook his head again, but this time it was Leon who spoke up. "Not that either, Mom. I already used Hunter Killer to destroy his brain. And he regenerated from that easy."  
"Hm.", said Brandy, and frowned. She aimlessly stroked the ground with her foot and Dan's arm with her hand as she thought, trying to think up something to do.

Dan felt something crawling on his back- but rather than panic and try to flick if off, Dan knew from muscle memory that it was most likely just one of the group. He was right- Annabelle had climbed up to his shoulder, and was now gesturing for him to lean in.

Song: Birth of a God

"Me and Trevor had an idea.", she said, and Dan leaned in. Annabelle grabbed his ear and whispered the plan, making sure that the Vampire had no way of hearing. And as her words flowed into his ear, the plan taking light in his brain, Dan began to nod.

Once Annabelle had relayed the entire plan to Dan, Dan took his head back up straight. Annabelle nodded and slid off the ground, landing next to Trevor with a soft thump. They exchanged thumbs up and frantic giggles, before taking a seat next to each other to see how this next bit playedo out.

"Vampire!", Dan shouted, trying to be as dramatic as possible. He thought that if perhaps he was to be dramatic, then the Vampire would try to be dramatic as well. He gestured towards the illusionary prison that held the beast, and made a slight bow. "I do hereby challenge you to a duel."

"A duel?", asked the Vampire, and his eyebrows perked up. He got up from the corner where he had been sitting, and slowly walked to the other end of the cage. "How interesting… but you see that I am in a prison. But perhaps if you were to offer a member of your party as tribute, then-"  
"Oh, get out of it you stupid frick.", said Dan, and waved his hand in exasperation. "That thing's an illusion anyway. What, did you think it was real?"

If either Bubble of the Vampire took offense at this, none of them displayed it. The Vampire merely chuckled and walked out, stopping right in front of Dan.

"So, you wish to battle me?", the Vampire chortled, and looked around. "I, who cannot die?"

Dan had the precise answer for that. But it did not involve words in any way. The thing that it did involve was him slowly lowering himself a bit further to the ground, closing his eyes, focusing the energy that surrounded him within his own gigantic body, and beginning to scream.

The scream started off normal volume at first, or at least normal volume for him. It would be beyond the sound or vocal capabilities of any normal being. The Vampire looked mainly confused, but a touch mildly amused. That confusion kept on growing as Dan continued to scream, but the touch of mild amusement was soon replaced with one of fear.

"Wha-", the Vampire spat, the deafening loudness of Dan's roar beginning to hurt his eardrums. He covered his ears with his hands, but the sound pierced through like a sword through wet tissue paper. Dan continued to scream, as the first lines of Star flashed around his body.

"So, that's your plan?", the Vampire asked, now covering his entire face instead of just his ears. But it was hard to do so- especially as Dan's screaming kept on growing ever louder. The ground started to shake, and the Vampire stumbled. "You're just gonna scream me to death? Hope that my eardrums will give out, and I'll spend the rest of my life writhing in agony on the ground?"

Dan gave him a single second of stare, before averting his gaze and looking up once again at the sky. The screaming triggered his Star to grow, a bright curtain of blue, gold, and oddly mint green shooting into the sky far above. His hair stood up off his back and neck, flowing in some energy-based wind. The shining light that was Dan became visible throughout the entire valley, catching the attention of dozens of Troops below. They wondered just what that thing up on the top of the falls was, that could be glowing like that. He screamed so much his jaw hurt, his throat beginning to tire. And yet, he only screamed louder. He continued to scream above all, the ancient lungpower he possessed kicked into full gear. And as it did so, as he summoned the full force he could muster within his arm, sparks of Star flew around him a tremendous rate. With just a few more seconds of screaming, they had graduated from sparks and flashes to entire bolts, winding around his body and creating an aura of sheer power that lit up the entire campsite. He roared, and shot one hand above his head.  
"Oh, no, I get it.", said the Vampire, and chuckled. "Try to bore me and distract me until the sun comes up, huh? Well, don't think I haven't prepared for that exactly."

He sharpened his claws on the rock, and prepared to leap directly for Dan's neck. But right before he did so, a shadow made of light fell directly over his head.

"Oh.", he said, and looked up. Dan had still been screaming, and now the ball of energy that he had been building up was approximately the size of a large building. A single tinge of fear ran across the Vampire's face. "Somehow, I had forgotten about that."

"Overdrive!", Dan bellowed, and shot the massive ball of energy downwards. No one there was even able to see it hit its target- none of them were that fast. There was a bright flash of light, one that seemed to light up the entire mountain with their brightness. UNfortunately, it didn't kill the Vampire.

Once the dust settled, Dan stood in front of an entire scorched area of the ground, the dirt and grass broken into pieces. The Vampire ever so slowly removed his hands and fingers from his face, sneaking a look at what had happened. He became utterly confused when he realized that it was… nothing. Nothing seemed to have changed.

"You- you missed me.", said the Vampire, and began his most annoying laugh ever. "You missed me! Haha, you fool! You just had to aim a little better."  
But as the Vampire continued to laugh, Dan slowly laughed along with him. It took a few seconds for the Vampire to realize this was happening, and he slowly looked at Dan with an angry gaze. "What?", he asked. "What's so funny.?"

Dan gave a few tired chuckles, and pointed right at the Vampire. "I wasn't aiming for you."

"What?", asked the Vampire, strange feelings about such a sentence flooding his mind. "What do you mean-"  
Then he looked down, and understood. He looked down at the gradually expanding crack in the ground right where he was standing, and he understood.

With a titanic flash of pure elemental force, having been nudged a bit by Dan's Star, the mountain that had been revealed to be an active volcano blew a tiny bit of its top. A solid sheet of lava blasted out in a long, thin, shape, right underneath the boulder that the Vampire now found itself to be standing on. And as the blast elevated, the Vampire screeched, and the Volcano roared ,that rock blasted off into the sky, towards the clouds. Dan kept on watching, as the panicked screams of the Vampire slowly, gradually, faded into nothing.

Song: The Oh of Pleasure- Ray Lynch

"Well.", said Dan, and clapped his hands together, dusting them off. "That's that, I guess."

He turned to Annabelle and Trevor, and gave them a broad smile. "Thanks for the idea, guys. That was a good one, just straight up removing him from anywhere like that."  
"Heh.", said Leon, and flipped his lollipop around in his mouth. He felt his legs begin to feel funny, from the activity of the day."I wonder if he'll reach the sun like that. You know, go into space."

"I don't know.", Dan groaned, and leaned back. He popped his back with an echoing snap that could be heard for miles, and opened his mouth in a loud yawn. Within seconds, everybody else was following suit. Yawns were indeed extremely contagious, no matter what the situation.

"It would be funny if he did though. Would make absolutely sure we would never see him again."

Brandy blinked a few times, stifling yet another yawn. Only now, after the last enemy had been defeated, did she truly notice just how dark it had become, and figure that it could only get darker from here on out. Only now could she feel the pure exhaustion across every point of her body, begging her to fall asleep. Only now could she remember just how good sleep felt, and how much she wanted nothing more than to crawl onto Dan's massive body and sleep like a Log for 4, or 5, or 18 hours. She figured such thoughts would be visible on her face- but judging by Dan's next words, they were not.

"So, what do you guys wanna do now?", he asked, looking around the circle of exhaustion. He did not look directly at anyone's faces, so it was hard for him to tell what was going on.  
"You guys wanna tell stories, or maybe cook some more food, or just-"

"Sleep.", said Brandy, and flopped unceremoniously down onto the ground. "I want to sleep. Right now."

"Oh.", said Dan, and shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds good to me too."

He put one hand on the ground next to Brandy, and gently laid himself down next to her. She used a tiny bit of Dash to roll over onto his stomach, snuggling deep as she could go.

"What a _day _this has been.", she mumbled, beginning to feel the exhaustion overtake her. "Like, seriously. This day has been just so, so long. And crazy. And weird. And exhausting. And-"

"I feel that.", said Dan, and moved a hand over Brandy's back. "I guess I'm pretty tired too… we all are, really. It's getting hard to talk. Let's just go to bed."  
"Let's…", said Brandy, and let her eyes close. She felt herself fall deeper into Dan's grasp, feeling his warm body pressed against her cold one, her familiar bed out here in this wild wilderness. It was a good thing, the comfort of home.

"Mommy?", she heard Bubble say, and Brandy's head immediately shot up. Tired or no, Bubble had a question. And that took priority. "Yes, Bubble?"

"What are those things?", Bubble asked, slightly nervous. She pointed towards the river, where Brandy could see an oddly familiar shape floating down the falls. It took her a moment to realize what it was- but once she did so, she almost burst out laughing. Well, not burst out- more like a few soft chuckles. But she was quite amused at the sight of the Pharaoh's coffin, floating down the river. It turned out the river she had fallen into was the Clashcrush after all.

"Oh, nothing Bubble.", she said, and laid back down onto Dan's chest. "I'll tell you in the morning."

"Okay.", said Bubble, then pointed at a small snake-like object, coming down the grass to meet Brandy. "Then what's that?"

Had Brandy been more awake, she would have jumped out of her position. But she was not, and so remained totally still as the thing approached her. She stared at it through bleary eyes, and was slightly shocked to see that it was a vine. In its snakelike mouth was gripped a note. And on that note were two words that shook Brandy to the core, and made tears appear in her eyes.

_Thank you._

"I'll tell you about that one in the morning too, honey.", she said, and gave the vine a teary nod. "You're welcome."

The vine turned away and headed back off into the darkness, its grateful mistress no doubt somewhere out there. Bubble stared into the night, not wanting to go to sleep just yet, as young children often do. She tried to think of something to prolong the night, something to keep her awake. Then, in a flash of inspiration, she had it,

"Wow, that Dampire sure was vumb.", she said, then realized she had mixed up the words. "Wait, I mean-"

"Yeah.", said Annabelle, and giggled a little. "That Dampire sure was vumb. Good thing you crapped him in that tage."

Bubble laughed, and squirmed on her patch of ground a bit. "And then Daddy shot him into space- wait, no, that one doesn't work. And then Saddy dot him into-"  
"Oh, could you guys be quiet?", asked Leon, and sat up. "I'm trying to get some sucking fleep."

With those words, everyone knew that it was truly time to end the day. Bubble laid down, scooching a little closer to Leon. He let her put her head under his arm, and closed his eyes. Trevor and Annabelle slept near each other, both wishing to get closer, but neither of them knowing each other's desires. Brandy and Dan let each other fall into a deeper embrace, both of them knowing that no matter what lay ahead, they would always have each other. They had made a family out here, and they intended to keep it.

Song: Propaganda

The city of Glordnod the Goblin King was one of legends. From its soaring towers of randomly placed wood and stone to its inordinately heavy defenses- dozens of Eagle Artilleries lined the district around the Castle itself- it was regarded by architects the world around as simultaneously a disaster and a triumph. Sense and good taste were in short supply, and yet sold by vendors near the gate. The entire city was surrounded by an incredibly thick wall of some unknown, stone-like material, making even the strongest Village Walls of Town Hall 12's seem like wood and glue in comparison. Legend had it that not even a direct hit from an asteroid could dent the mystical structure, built by the first civilized Goblins nearly a million years ago. But past the wall is where the city got truly interesting.

The tall towers leaned in every direction, interconnecting with one another at totally random angles, forming every postal delivery worker's ultimate nightmare- except, of course, if you were a Goblin. Most inhabitants of the city were Goblins, so it all worked out in the end.

The streets were filled with all sorts of shops and carts and vendor stalls, each vying to sell their wares for any price to anybody who walked along. There were food stands, selling recipes and cooking that would either delight the senses, or burn them right off. There were weapon stalls, selling everything from rusty stone slingshots that could barely shoot a meter to legendary swords and axes, forged in volcanoes and tempered in the glacial heart of Frozen Peak. For the Goblins, money was about the essence of the stuff, not the amount. They would rather take 100 in coin than 1000 in anything else. For it was Gold that formed the foundation of most of their buildings, seen implanted in cornerstones the whole city over.

The Goblin Military was even stranger- it had no set ranks, no positions, and certainly hardly any plans. The typical strategy of proper Goblin warfare was to form your soldiers into something resembling a line, or at the very least some sort of shape, and then send them screaming into the enemy horde. Usually the Goblin Military would be milling around the city, finding new and interesting ways to screw up and mess around. But this time, today, they had all gathered for something else.

Indeed, the vast majority of the city's entire population had gathered inside, on, or somewhere around the Castle in the exact center of the ancient city. This was not a rare behavior- it was common for Goblins to gather for a great feast or festival. Their annual Great Goblin Feast was only in a month or so. But that was not the reason they had gathered. It was no festival, or protective gathering, or sheltering from a plague. It was something else, something very, very rare. It was also not even close to everyday that the Goblin King actually invited a non-Goblin into his Castle to come speak to him. The last time that had happened was to his ancestor, Globidigork, when he had met with the legendary Askari the First. But, of course, history tends to repeat itself all too often. And that is exactly who Glordnod was meeting with on that day, for almost exactly the same reason.

The throne room of the Glordnod's castle was an exercise in wanton design ineptitude, random columns, statues, and buckets strewn all over like a child's kicked over blocks. That was actually the way they had drawn up the plans all those years ago- a Goblin child had been playing with ice blocks, and had kicked them over. The design was clear, if you looked at it from above. But almost no one was, except for the semi-rich Goblins that had gotten themselves a seat in the roof. Most of them had to sit outside.

But right in the center of the throne room was the great Goblin King himself, Glordnod. Usually he would be eating popcorn, or a chicken wing, or some Gold. But today he leaned forward in utter fascination, listening to every word of what the charismatic Askari had to say.

"Glordnod.", said Askari, on one knee. His most loyal retainers- an ElectroWizard and a Knight- flanked him, making sure the Goblins kept their distance. "You surely understand the immense gravity of this situation, I hope."

"Hmmm…", said Glordnod, and rubbed his head. "Glordnod think understand. But Glordnod not sure? What if Askari trick Glordnod?"  
"A trick?", asked Askari, and breathed in. "Glordnod, I assure you on my word as guardian of the Ivory Tower that this is no trick!"

"Okay.", said Glordnod, then tapped his fingers on his throne. "But what if trick?"

Askari sighed, and a single piece of paper flipped from his interior storage to his hand. "Read this, Glordnod. This is a signed letter."

Glordnod picked it up, and Askari dropped his trump card. "From Lady Chuqalita herself."

For half a second, there was silence in the room. Unlike the lands of Royale and Brawltopia, the older lands had not quite forgotten their Dragonlords. The Goblins especially knew this- they were all familiar with the names of all of them, down to the last schoolchild.

Glordnod read over the letter, nodded, then gave it back to Askari. He stood up from his chair, put his fist into the air, and turned to address the crowd.

"Goblins fight! Goblins fight! Goblins fight!", he yelled with vigor, and the crowd went wild. Askari smiled- the military might and numbers of the Goblins would no doubt prove useful. After all, every bit mattered against the might of Rakastamos. Askari checked his mental checklist, thinking of who he was to visit next.

"Let's see, I was going to make a stop on Brawltopia…", he mused, fiddling with his trick eye. "And then Royale… no. I was going to check on the King of those two Troops Juno and Jonathan told me to keep an eye on. What was his name?"

He tapped his head, signaling his brain to dig up the answer. His brain began to do so, searching through the last few days and weeks of memories. After about a second, a single name popped into the front of his enhanced vision with a slight ding. Askari stopped, looked at the name, committed it to memory, and smiled. "Ah, yes. That was it."

He looked up and took a deep breath, signaling to his retainers that it was time to go. The journey would be no trouble- they could catch a ship easily. He merely repeated the name to himself, determined not to forget it. He tapped his eye again, for no other reason than he thought it would look cool. "Let's pay you a little visit…"

He and his retainers left the Goblin Castle, knowing that everything depended on their mission. Askari smiled to himself, knowing that destiny laid in his hands. "Oticat."


	18. Chapter 17

Overall, the mood at Oticat's castle was that of a rather good time, or at least not as bad as it could have possibly been. It was far, far better than it had been during the time approximately a month ago, for obvious reasons. But the main cause of celebration, on that current day and time, was Oticat's tremendous, mostly uninterrupted, winning streak. He had managed to climb almost 400 Trophies in the span of only four days, a gargantuan boost for most Kings- let alone him. His mood was practically ecstatic, as he stood at the table in the festival to truly kick off the new season- Shocktober. The anticipation had been building for a while, and now that the season was finally here, there were many celebrations to be had. The happiest were, of course, those affected by the tremendous balance changes, most of all the Witches around the entire continent. Hardly an hour went by then one did not see a Witch hoist her staff into the air and shout a triumphant shout of praise, thanking the gods for this wonderful new balancing. Even if they were gone for the time being, Se'th and Dr'ew still received the message, in no small part due to the efforts of the Primal Witch Avaya.

The entire Ballroom of Oticat's castle, covered in purple and pink streamers, glitter, and light, was filled almost to the brim with overjoyed troops. The walls of the castle appeared to be a delightfully spooky purple, along with most of the tables and chairs. It was quite similar to the purple of Elixir- which worked out nicely with the brand new card, the terrifying Elixir Golem. Oticat personally did not get all the fuss, but the top ranking Kings were always talking about how it was the best card in the world right now. And Oticat, of course, believed them.

Spooky music, constantly being played by a live and tireless Skeleton band, floated throughout the halls on repeat. Or at least it would, until either Oticat or one of the Princesses got tired of it and told them to turn it off. Bets were being relayed through the castle on how long it would take- the current average wager was about 2 days, although some bet up to 5.

But right in the middle of the festivities was Oticat, one foot on the table, a glass of bright purple Elixir held high. His beard shone with his favorite oil, and he looked brightly around the room, at the majority of the guests. Spacekrakenx stood next to him, both their arms around each other's shoulders. They had done some 2v2s lately, with absolutely smashing results. But now, at the height of the party, Oticat had decided it was time to make a toast.

"Everyone!", he shouted, and hoisted his cup higher. "Lend me your ears!"

Song: Silver Twist

Had Skeletons had ears, one would have thrown one at him for the sake of a joke. But they possessed no such flesh, and thus the only ears given were metaphoric.

"Give him your ears, Brenda.", said Meg quietly, sitting sneakily on her girlfriend's lap. "Or do I have to grab them and give them to him?"

Brenda laughed, and her hands flew to her ears on instinct. "Only if I get to honk your nose, my little nutmeg."

Meg blushed at the usage of her favorite pet name, but her mouth turned upward in a smile. "Deal."

Meg suddenly reached forward, a single finger extended for both of Brenda's ears. Brenda could easily have dodged the blow, but she knew she shouldn't. She let her ears get gently grabbed by Meg's soft fingers, the tips massaging her earlobes.

Not about to let herself get outdone, Brenda reached her own hand around Meg's face, and gently squeezed the very tip of her nose. Meg gasped, her grip on Brenda's nose weakening as she felt the sensation overtake her. Brenda moved her other hand around to Meg's legs, giving them a gentle stroke as she continued to very gently hold Meg's nose, making sure to not cut off her airflow. That would have the opposite effect of what she was trying to do.

They had been getting more and more fully engrossed in their little ritual, when both a Goblin Brawler on their left and an Electro Wizard on their right both gave a little cough. Brenda coughed a bit from the sound, and Meg's face flushed as crimson as her origins as they realized what they were doing.

"Oh, uh, sorry…", said Brenda, and scratched the back of her neck. It had gotten hot. "Just enjoying the festivities."

Meg leaned back into Brenda's grasp, Brenda's hands settling on Meg's stomach as they both sat back to watch whatever Oticat was going to say.

"It's been a totally fantastic season so far!", Oticat shouted, and the crowd cheered along with him. "Sure, it's only been a new season for a day, but hey!"  
"Fantastic season!", Spacekrakenx finished, and tipped his cup into his mouth. "Great year!"

The crowd cheered along with him, hoisting their own glasses of Party Elixir up into the air. One of the many Troops in the crowd, Nicholas the Electro Wizard, was sitting at the same table as Agatha and Bowza- unofficially labeled by several around them as "The Smart Table." When he raised his glass, his elbow knocked a spare one off of the table, it shattering on the ground below and spilling the Party Elixir in a neat puddle.

"Ah, shoot.", said Nicholas, and leaned down. He grabbed a small bit of a paper towel as he did so, intending to clean it up. "I'll get it. Just spilled a little E2O."

"Actually Nicholas-", said Bowza, looking down at the Electro Wizard. "That would be Elixir."

"Yeah, that's what I said.", said Nicholas, looking up. "E2O."

Bowza sighed, and straightened his cape clip. He got down on his knees, grabbed a paper towel of his own, and swept up the entire puddle of spilled Elixir with a single movement. He stared straight into Nichola's eyes, about to show him the difference between intelligence and wisdom.

"No, Nicholas.", he said. "You said E2O. That's just the same as Elixir, but you could have just said Elixir instead. Everyone already knows you're smart- you don't keep on having to try and prove it everytime you get the chance."

He took a look at the single drop of Elixir that still remained on the ground, and noticed the color that set it apart from regular Elixir. "And now that I look at it, this is actually Party Elixir, which has had special stuff added to it in order to produce a different effect when drunk. Making you not only sound overly pompous, but you're factually wrong."

Bowza rose to his feet, and gave Nicholas a single pat on the back. "Try to get it right next time, okay buddy?"

Nicholas stared at him, not a single word coming out of his mouth. His left eye twitched a tiny bit, but that was all the movement he was capable of after Bowza's words. Agatha watched him, then put her fingers on Bowza's shoulder.

"What was that all about?", she asked, and Bowza just smiled. They slowly walked to a different table full of Bowlers, leaving Nicholas behind.

"He tried to leave Electripowder in my shoes last night.", said Bowza. "That's why."

Kars slammed his fist on the table he was at, shaking the wood and almost splitting it right down the middle. His beard was so full of Elixir droplets that it could almost itself be drunk from. He laughed maniacally at his opponent in front of him, a slouching Barbarian named Drev. He had barely even managed to down 5 cups, while Kars had shot down 40. It made onlookers stare in astonishment at how Kars could even physically fit that much Elixir inside his body, but he would always just laugh it off and say something about metabolism. The truth was, even he did not know. Perhaps it was just a gift. An odd, mostly meaningless gift, but a gift all the same.

"Ya give up yet?", he yelled, and downed yet another glass. "Or do I have to keep drinking?"

Drev was a Barbarian that knew when he had been beaten. He hung his head and slowly walked away from the table, leaving Kars free to drink the rest of what he had left. Kars swiftly and efficiently drunk up the remaining Elixir on the table, slamming his hand onto the table again once he was done. This time, it actually did break, splitting evenly down the middle and falling to either side. Kars, of course, was so drunk he simply did not care. He just propped his elbows up on the table anyway, sitting back on the also busted chair.

"Who wants to go next?", he shouted, his words beginning to slur. "Who wants to take on Kars, the all time drinking champion?"

The crowd of Troops all around him only cheered. They wanted to make sure that he had their full support, but none of them actually wanted to take him on. Most of them had had their fill already, and did not want to risk damage.

"Oh, come on!", Kars yelled, swishing his axe around in dangerous swoops. The crowd stepped back, trying to avoid getting cut. "Who wants to take me on?"

Kars felt the strong, familiar grip of Webert grab him by the arms, and slowly lift him up. "Woah, bro.", said Webert, and grabbed Kars too tight to let him escape. "I think you've had a little too much there, buddy."

"No!", Kars yelled, and tried to attack, but his movements and speech were too slurred to properly do either. "I'll drink your Elixir, purplehead! Come on, let's go!"

Webert merely sighed, and walked off towards the edge of the room. He knew that Kars would fall asleep any second now- oh. There he was, out like a light right on Webert's shoulder. Webert continued walking, and set Kars down gently against the wall. He would wake up tomorrow with a splitting headache, as he always did.

Sadie and Elizabeth sat on the main stage of the Grand Ballroom, both of them busy digging in to the food they had ordered. Sadie had gotten a huge ice cream and caramel fudge sundae, that was most likely far too large for her. But that is what ordering from the Giant Troops side of the bar would get you. She had had to squeeze past a Goblin Giant and a Pekka in order to do so. It was anyone's guess at what the Pekka was doing at the bar.

Elizabeth, meanwhile, had grabbed a very tall, very thin, drink. It was made of the finest ingredients money could buy, or at least that's what the Goblin at the bar had told her. It was funny, actually- she had never seen him around the Castle before. Either he was new, or…

"I think that Goblin ripped me off.", she said, taking another look at her drink. It seemed an awful lot like canned fruit juice, with some seemingly random spices thrown in. "He said it was the finest ingredients money could buy, and- well, look at it."

Sadie flipped up her stylish sun visor to look at the drink, and frowned. "Well, I guess it's the finest that 50 Gold can buy. That's how much you spent for it, right?"

"Yeah.", said Elizabeth, and leaned back. "So not too much of a loss. And even if this is just canned fruit juice mixed with seemingly random spices, I guess that's not too bad."

"What?", asked Sadie.

"What?", asked Elizabeth. "What did I say?"  
"That just sounded weirdly specific.", said Sadie. "Is that what that is?"  
"Yeah.", said Elizabeth. "It just feels like it, I guess."  
"I see.", said Sadie, and leaned back on her own chair. She took a scoop of ice cream into her mouth, savoring the rich flavor. She looked out over the thriving party, soaking in the wonderful atmosphere and the delightful spookiness of the place. Oticat's Builders always managed to cook something up, and tonight was far from an exception. And yet, as she looked harder, she could tell something was missing. Someone was not there tonight that really should have been. And that something was-

"Chloe.", said Sadie, and sat up. "Where's Chloe?"

"Chloe?", asked Elizabeth, and took another sip. "I think she's upstairs somewhere."

"Well, she's missing the party.", said Sadie, and sighed. "I think she'd love to be here."

Upstairs where Chloe was was a particularly quieter part of the Castle. The loud music, dancing, shouting, and random acts of friendly violence from the bottom floor had all but vanished by the time they reached Chloe's ears. They had settled into a low, quiet, somewhat rhythmic pulse of deep sound, perfect for soothing the ears and mind of a tired, young Princess.

Chloe lay in her bed, the blankets around her wrapped like soft cotton. The purple moonlight of the Royale night filtered in through her window, falling upon the bed and turning the light blue sheets into the color of the perfect lilac. Hardly any sound came from the quiet room, save the subtle noise of her soft breath. The light flickered through her room, falling upon the paintings and pictures on the walls. Decorations spun in the bare light, a peaceful scene by all marks.

It was in total and complete opposition to what Chloe was feeling at that time- a total devastating nightmare, one that tore at her mind and threatened to overwhelm her.

She could see herself in what looked like a wrestling ring, surrounded by a faceless, cheering crowd of Red Troops. She shivered in her torn Blue uniform, fear and sweat dripping across her face in equal measures. Blood coated the bottom of the ring from thousands of battles, the sorrow and pain almost physical sensations carried through the air.

Her opponent, a heavily muscled and tattooed Valkyrie, stood in front of her with a cruel jeer written upon her face. She flexed her massive biceps, and winked at Chloe.  
"Oh, what a scared little Princess we have here.", she said, and tapped her foot against the ground. "Don't worry. You won't be scared any more."

Before Chloe had a chance to respond, the Valkyrie leaned down and began to charge forward.  
"You're not scared when you're unconscious!"

Chloe shrieked in total horror, and tried to dodge out of the way. But before she could move, the Valkyrie had already grabbed her by the foot. Chloe was yanked up in the air in one swift movement, the bottom of her head not even going down to her opponent's waist.

The Valkyrie raised her higher, recoiled her head, and spat right in Chloe's face. Chloe closed her eyes and tried not to cry, the despair of the situation rolling over her like a wave.

The Valkyrie continued to yell and insult Chloe, but no words made it through Chloe's ears. She was trying desperately to block them out, trying to hold on to some faint hope that she would make it out of there okay. But as she felt the Valkyrie raise her over her head, that hope all but faded.

The Valkyrie laughed, ignoring Chloe's desperate cries for help. She brought up Chloe higher and higher over her head, until her arms had stretched as high as they could go.

"Please don't throw me.", said Chloe, with a voice so small and weak she could hardly even believe she had said it. "Please don't."

"Okay.", said the Valkyrie, shrugged, and slammed Chloe's back directly onto her head.

Chloe felt the pain before she heard the sound. She could almost feel the long thin line travel down her back, spreading all the way through her body. Then as the sound of the snap reached her ears, she started screaming in absolute, indescribable agony. The Valkyrie dropped her- and Chloe rolled all the way across the ring, her back broken in two.

The crowd cheered, and Chloe could no longer contain it. She started to cry, the tears flowing down her face and mixing with the blood dripping from her torso. She felt her stomach heave from the pressure, and her body buckled as a surge of vomit worked its way up her throat. She almost threw up- before she felt the Valkyrie place one hand over her mouth, clamping it tightly shut. "Uh uh uh.", she said, and smiled. "No throwing up on my boots."

But it had to go somewhere, even if it could not exit through her mouth. Chloe screamed in pain once again as the vomit surged its way up her throat and through her nose, burning the skin of her nostrils with things they were never meant to hold. The Valkyrie took her hand off, and the rest came out of Chloe's mouth. It splattered all over her body, and she fell to the floor. Chloe lay there, unable to move with her shattered back, hearing the audience cheer, covered in blood, sweat, vomit, and-

And Chloe heard herself scream, as she threw herself out of bed. She hit the floor from sheer panic, and tightened her grip around the first thing she could feel. She buried her head further into whatever it was- this time, it was Mr. Snuggles her stuffed Baby Dragon. She spun around, winding the blankets around herself, and sobbed quietly to herself, thinking that no one would hear. She thought she would have to keep the pain to herself.

But, fortunately for her, there was a figure outside the door. He heard her sobbing, and stopped the patrol around the Castle that he had been sent to do. He quickly ran a hand over himself, turning his entire body visible, and floated through the door.

"Chloe?", Chloe heard the voice of the Phantom say, and she looked up. "Are you alright?"

Song: Dawn

Chloe looked up from crying into her bedsheet, and saw the familiar form of the Phantom. Brenda and Meg had finally introduced her to him a few nights ago, after her curiosity about how Brenda "air-carried" her only continued to increase. She had been a bit scared of him at first, which was understandable. But now she considered him a friend, and a good guardian.

"No.", she said, and loudly sniffed. Holding Mr. Snuggles tightly in her arms, she slowly rose to her feet. Her tears still ran down her face, and her cheeks were still red from the fear of the dream. "I had another dream, Mr. Phantom. A real bad one."

"There's no need for such formality, Chloe.", said the Phantom, and knelt down by Chloe's side. He used one hand to brush her loosened hair from her face, and the other to gently wipe away her tears, lifting them directly from her face and casting them to the side. "Just Phantom is perfectly fine."

He put his white gloved hand directly on Chloe's forehead, using some of his special powers in order to directly push calm thoughts and relaxing feelings straight into Chloe's brain. "Now… why don't you tell me what happened?"  
Chloe frowned, trying to think about the positive feelings the Phantom was giving her. But it was a difficult task indeed, with the intense panic of the horrifying nightmare still coursing through her mind. She swallowed a few times to try and get the gunk from her throat, the Phantom giving her a few pats on the head. "It's alright, Chloe. It's alright."

"I-", Chloe choked out, then broke down crying once again. She fell forward into the Phantom's grasp, and he made sure to hug her tight. "I was in a room and there was this big mean Valkyrie and she beat me up and she broke my back and I threw up and I was crying and I was gonna die and-"

"No, no, that didn't happen.", said the Phantom reassuringly, and gently stroked Chloe's back. "It was just a dream, nothing more. You're alright now."

Yet even as he said those words, the Phantom was deep in thought. This was the third time she had had such a dream, about being forced to fight in a horrifying situation. He wondered if it was really just a dream she was having, or if it had more to do with her life under the Red King.

The door burst open, the Phantom turning to see who it was a few seconds before. He could sense that it was Brenda, of course, for all Stands were tied to their users. But he did not know who else it was, other than that it was two other people. He guessed it was Meg, for she often hung around Brenda. He did not know who the third one was- perhaps it was Oticat.

As the door slammed against the wall with a loud crash and the trio rushed through, the Phantom made a mental tally. Both of his guesses had been correct. Brenda dashed right up to the Phantom and Chloe, a worried look upon her face. She wrapped her own arms around Chloe, passing straight through the limbs of the Phantom. Meg could not cross the room quite as fast as Brenda could, but she ran as fast as she could anyway. As soon as she reached the exact center of the room where the tandem hug was, she rested her head directly on Chloe's. She knew that Chloe liked being in the center of hug piles like this, and was happy to assist in any way she could. Oticat did not run, for he was not exactly built for things like that. But he was fully capable of walking to the center, and slowly, gently, wrapping his arms around all three of them. They all stood there for a moment, no sound coming from any of them except for the quiet sobbing of Chloe. Her little body heaved up and down, all her emotions pouring out of her and spilling all over the group's embrace. Yet as she did so, another of the Phantom's abilities went into effect.

He locked on to the very essence of Chloe's sorrow, tracing its exact reality signature and shooting it back to its source. And as his reverse emotion rope shot into Chloe's brain, it dug deep. It began to actively reduce the sorrow in her wherever it was found, cutting away her sadness and surgically removing her fear. It seemed to take quite a while from the Phantom's point of view, but for everyone else it was practically instant. And as the full effects of his special technique took hold, Chloe found her tears drying, her sobs lessening, and the black fog of despair clouding her heart break up and fly away.

"Thank you…", she said shakily, and took a deep breath. She sniffed a few times to try and clear her face up, and shifted a bit underneath everybody's arms. "Can I get out now?"

"Yes.", said Brenda, and shifted back. Meg haphazardly jumped a foot or so away from the group, allowing Chloe some breathing room. Oticat simply stood up with Chloe in his arms, and she wrapped her little arms fully around his torso. She could smell his Elixir and Pine based beard oil, a comforting scent for her. She may have not been with him for very long, but to Chloe, Oticat was the beloved father she had always had.

Their embrace was tender, and long. Chloe felt herself start to fall back asleep in Oticat's comforting grasp, as she should have been. It was just around 10 o'clock midnight, a time when she should have long ago been in bed. Her eyes closed, and a single soft snore began to escape her lips- when the door banged open once again, startling her awake.

There stood Dr. Jethro the Wizard, a paper clenched in one hand and a test tube in the other. The paper was held so tightly it was bent, and the test tube looked like it was about to boil over from Dr. Jethro's heated grasp. He was breathing heavily, apparently with some exciting news.

"Dr. Jethro?", asked Oticat, and blinked in surprise. "What could possibly bring you here at this hour? I would have thought you would be downstairs with everyone else."

"It's Chloe.", said Dr. Jethro, and pointed. His eye twitched with the signature of someone who was simultaneously a genius and mad as a Goblin. "I think we may have found a way to cure her."

"Cure me?", asked Chloe, leaning partially out of Oticat's grasp in order to give Dr. Jethro an odd look. "But I'm not sick."

"I mean cure you of your oddly intense youth.", Dr. Jethro said, and the eyes of everybody in the room shot open in shock. "We know how to make you a normal Princess again."

Song: Vita

Everyone was silent for a second, not quite able to believe what Jethro was saying. He and his research team had been working on such a thing ever since Chloe had been adopted ,with no sign of being done anytime soon. But apparently now here he was, with a solution.  
"Normal?", asked Chloe, and shrank back in Oticat's arms. "But I'm already a normal Princess. I have two arms and two legs and a crown and a bow and-"  
"No, no, not like that.", said Jethro with a wave of his hand. "I mean make you a big Princess, an older one, reverse whatever awful procedure was done to you inside of that Red Castle."

As the group watched, Jethro spread the papers out on a nearby desk. They were bent from stress and stained with spilled Hyper Elixir- he had been trying to keep himself awake for the last three days straight in an attempt to finish his work. But the words and charts upon them were still clearly readable- and that was the important part. Jethro looked them over with the intensity of a madman, and held them up to Oticat.

"See?", he asked, and furiously jabbed one part of the paper with an equation written on it that seemed more like the product of a random generator than anything else. "This is it, sir! This, right here, is the secret to both reversing and accelerating aging! With just a little more research, we could potentially unlock the mysteries of life or even time itself!"

"Er… good.", said Oticat, and nodded slowly. He had never been one for science, but he appreciated the thought. "So this will make Chloe better, right?"

"Oh, absolutely.", Jethro said, nodding frantically. He rolled the papers back up into his sleeve, and wriggled his fingers in excitement. "If Chloe would just come to my lab, we can begin the procedure at once."

"What?", asked Brenda, Meg, Oticat, and Chloe all at once. The Phantom had already retreated back into Brenda. "You mean… like- right now?"

"Well, of course.", said Dr. Jethro with a shrug. "That is, if Princess Chloe is prepared."

But Chloe was not sure if she was. She stared at Dr. Jethro in trepidation, hugging on to the familiar grip of Oticat with worry. "I don't know…", she said. "I'm not sure."

"Oh, Chloe.", said Oticat, and gently brought her up to his face. "You'll be fine, I'm sure of it. Dr. Jethro has been my trusted doctor for years, and he hasn't messed up once."

"Wow, not even once?", asked Chloe, and her mouth dropped open. "Are you sure?"

"Absolutely.", said Oticat. "Not even once."  
That would have been enough to persuade most people, but Chloe was not most people. She was not yet ready to trust somebody she didn't know to operate on her body, for some reason that flickered at the back of her mind. She turned her head, and pouted. "I'm not sure."

Oticat wracked his mind, trying to figure out what could persuade her. His face lit up as he thought of an answer- examples! Surely some examples could help.

"Dr. Jethro helped Brenda when she had a flu.", said Oticat, and Brenda rolled her eyes. "It was back waaay back when she was just a little level 9 Bandit. That was probably before you were even born."

He looked to Meg, who only shrugged. Dr. Jethro had never helped Meg before.

"Aanddd…", said Oticat, thinking some more- then he had it. "He helped Brandy when she found out she was gonna be a mother. Or tried to help her, at least-"

Chloe's eyes lit up huge, and her mouth dropped open again. "Brandy's a mommy?", she said loudly, and Oticat nodded. "Yep. And Dr. Jethro helped her."

That announcement came as news to not only Chloe, but Meg as well. Meg looked at Brenda in shock, wondering why she had never told her this. Brenda gave her a look that said _I'll tell you later, _and Meg nodded in acceptance.

"Well… okay.", said Chloe, and nodded. She slid out of Oticat's grasp and onto the floor, walking over to Dr. Jethro. "If you helped Brenda and Brandy, then I guess I could let you help me."

Dr. Jethro smiled warmly, and held out his hand to Chloe. She took it without any real hesitation, and they both began to walk out the door into the hallway. Even though the party was still going on downstairs, they could barely even hear it.

"How come you never told me Brandy had a baby?", Meg asked, staring right into Brenda's face. "This is big news!"

"Well, I didn't- I wasn't- I wasn't sure if she had actually had it or not.", said Brenda, stuttering over her words. "I thought she had gotten rid of it- I mean, one day she was pregnant and the next she wasn't. And I I had never seen her walking around with a little baby in her arms, so-"

"Wait, when was this?", Meg asked. "Was it before I came? It would seem that it was."

"Oh yeah, it was.", said Brenda. "This all happened while you were trying to find your way here."

"Who's is it?", asked Meg, her eyes brightening. "It's Dan's, right? I mean sure they didn't get married until a few days after I had arrived, so-"

She saw Brenda's face get dark, and Meg's eyes fell. "Oh.", she said quietly. "It's… it's his, isn't it?"

Brenda nodded, and Meg pursed her lips. "Well…", she said, trying to think of a bright side. "I hope that whatever happened to it, it's out there somewhere. Living a happy life."

"I wonder what it is.", said Brenda, flicking her fingernails aimlessly. "Maybe an Ice Wizard."  
"Ice Wizard?", asked Meg, and moved her fingers onto Brenda's mopey hand. "Why do you say that, thief?"

Brenda smiled, and scratched the part of Meg's head where her helmet brushed against when she walked. "Oh, no reason."

It had not taken Chloe and Dr. Jethro long to reach his lab. It was only a floor away from Chloe's bedroom, not too far of a distance to walk. He, of course, knew by heart where it was, even if Chloe did not. But all she had to do was hold his hand and follow him, and soon they had both arrived. Chloe took a deep breath as she saw the doors to his lab- she had never been there before. "Dr. Jethro?"

"Yes, Chloe?", asked Dr. Jethro, as he retrieved the key card from his pocket. He held up the small card to the automatic door, and it gave a small beep, the light above turning bright blue.

"Welcome, Dr. Jethro.", said the door, and seemed to smile. "And guest."

"I'm worried.", said Chloe, and shrank back from the door. Even though it had been programmed to seem warm and inviting, it seemed far too ominous for her. "I'm not sure I want to do this."

"Well, why not?", Dr. Jethro asked. "You want to become a big Princess again, don't you?"

"I do.", said Chloe, and forced herself to nod. "But I'm still scared."

"Don't be.", said Dr. Jethro. "This is going to be a quick and painless process. It'll be like taking a pill, and it'll be over before you know it. Okay?"

He put his hand right behind her crown, and rustled her hair. She could not help but giggle a bit, for that was the spot in which she was most ticklish. "Okay."

Chloe set her little jaw, a spark of true bravery welling up from somewhere deep inside her. She took the first step into the lab itself, past the guardian door. "Come on, Dr. Jetho.", she said, getting the name wrong on purpose. "Make me big again."

Dr. Jethro followed her now, as she walked faster into the lab. It truly was a state of the art installation, test tubes and microscopes on every counter. Blue slates of bright glass made up most of the walls, several beds arranged semi-randomly throughout. About a half-dozen Wizards were at various tables or counters throughout the lab, conducting experiments on everything from Electricity to Dark Elixir. A pair of Skeleton Assistants ran through the lab frantically, gathering whatever materials their superiors required. Jethro took a deep breath, happy to be in his zen spot once again.

"Morning, Dr. Jethro.", said one of the Wizards with a nod. "It is morning now, isn't it?"

"Yes, Jakko.", said Jethro, and began to move towards one of the beds against the wall. A ring of bubbling potions were arranged around it, and a light hummed overhead. Chloe ran after him, trying to keep up. "It is indeed morning, by about 10 minutes."

He automatically reached out and grabbed Chloe by the back of the neck, moments before she grabbed a test tube. Neither of them knew what she would have done to it.

"Chloe, we cannot get distracted.", he said, and sighed. "Now come over here, and you can finally fulfill your full self."

"Okay, okay.", said Chloe, and rolled her eyes. She slammed her arms down by her side and marched herself over to the bed, sitting on the side. "I just want to see what all these things are."

"I know.", said Jethro, and tapped the side of the the cupboard. He withdrew a single syringe, and wrapped his hand around a small bottle, full of mysterious liquid that shifted between blue and white. "But you can once you're older."

"But that's so far away!", Chloe whined, and slapped the sheets of the bed. "I wanna know now!"

"Oh, you can be older now.", said Jethro, and smiled to himself. _Oh, Jethro, you sly Goblin._

"What?", Chloe asked, and stared up at him in surprise. Her small attention span had, evidently, not been enough to last all the way to the bed. "How? Show me."

"Why, it's easy.", said Jethro, and screwed open the bottle lid. He gently tipped the bottle's contents into the syringe, letting the batch of Time Fluid fill it up. "You just hold very, very still, and let me give you a shot."

Chloe's eyes widened in fear, as she suddenly began to reconsider. "Wait, a shot? Hold on Dr. Jethro, I don't like shots-"

But it was too late. She yelped in surprise and a little bit of pain, as Dr. Jethro jabbed the shot of Time Fluid directly into her arm.

Dr. Mansa, a level 11 Wizard and Dr. Jethro's right hand doctor, was suddenly startled out of his seat by the shock that spread through the room like a Tornado. He very nearly fell out of his chair, the bubbling compounds that he had been working with falling over and almost mixing on the ground. He managed to keep them apart just in time- all the while staring in awe at the magnificent light show that was streaming from where Chloe and Dr. Jethro had been just moments earlier. His pupils automatically contracted from the shining onslaught, his hands heating up from instinctual self defense. "Dr. Jethro!", he shouted, struggling to be heard over the deafening roar exploding outwards. "What is going on?"  
Dr. Jethro had no way of hearing. His ears were completely blocked off by the wall of sound that emanated from Chloe like a toxic shockwave, blasting away anything that both wasn't tied down and weighed under 15 pounds. That included loose papers, several books, and a few Bats that had flown through the open window. But the sound was not the only thing created by whatever Chloe was currently undergoing- the light and heat were equally intense.

Most of the Wizards there closed their eyes, unable to deal with the blinding illumination. Even the Skeletons, who physically had no pupils, were forced to retreat. Dr. Jethro, too, closed his eyes- he was now lost completely in the maze of light and sound. And yet, just before he was cut off from the world, he thought he could see the lit up silhouette of Chloe, shining through.

"Dr. Jethro, what is going on?", shouted Dr. Jakko, holding his arm up in front of his eyes, trying to keep himself from being blown away. "I don't think any of us authorized an experiment of this caliber!"

The heat blew outwards, scraping against Dr. Jakko and very nearly burning his jacket. It ate away at the edges of papers, several heat sensitive experiments bursting into flames. The Skeletons ran around in blind panic, as the Wizards trying to stop it were forced to retreat. They were used to handling flames- but not a single one of them knew what this was. Dr. Jethro didn't know either. The only one who had any inkling of what was going on was Chloe.

She could not see any of the world outside the blazing corona that enveloped her. The only thing she could see was red hot fire, orange waves surrounding every bit of her vision. She could see bits of herself reflected in the heat, almost like looking into a cracked mirror. She heard the shouts from outside the blaze, but they were muffled and quiet- it was like trying to listen to crickets through a fortified door. The heat radiated outwards from her, coming directly from her skin- she could not actually herself feel that assault. The only thing that she did feel was pain. Agonizing pain that racked not only her body, but her soul. She could feel her limbs and bones getting stretched, her organs growing larger faster than they had any right to. But that was not the most painful part- no, the most painful part of the whole process was mental.

Memories flooded into her like liquid from a burst dam, spreading through every bit of her consciousness faster than she could possibly process them. She saw herself in the memories, yet hardly recognized- no. She soon heard another scream join the cacophony- and realized that it was her own. It was of a deeper pitch than she was used to, more rounded- older.

The door shook, with the force of someone attempting to get in. But it was locked, with the force of a King Tower blocking entry. They would either have to use a key card to get in, or gain access by sheer force. It only added to the chaos of the room, the fires, the screaming, the blast waves, the Wizards beginning to feel their skin turn to Elixir from the absolute overwhelming pressure, the-

Chloe let out one final scream, and the ongoing explosion soared in power. The Wizards were all thrown back against a wall, the Skeleton Assistants unable to handle it. They turned to splashes of Elixir against the floor, but began to reform almost instantly. It was their peaceful territory, after all.

Dr. Jethro slowly got up from the ground and stared forward, feeling around his forehead for his eyebrows. They were gone, as was to be expected. But that was not what he was staring at in total shock- no. The only receiver of his attention was Chloe.

There she stood, upon the bed, staring at her hands in abject wonder. She was a full foot taller and much more rounded, her facial structure changed dramatically. Some of her clothes had been burned off in the fire, but nothing too bad. Her hair flowed from the remaining force left in the room, now longer and much darker. A mysterious scar in the shape of a 3 had reappeared just below her ear, a single drop of blood still somehow dripping from it.

"You…", she choked out, not quite yet used to her new voice. "You did it."

She looked up, tears beginning to drip from her eyes. Her lip quivered, and she threw herself forward right into Dr. Jethro. The surprised Wizard stumbled back, barely able to keep himself on his feet next to Chloe's tackle. "You did it!"

She tried to pick Jethro up, failed, and instead just whirled around on one foot, allowing her skirt to fly up. "I'm me again!"

She jumped up into the air, allowing her dark auburn hair to flow freely. A broad smile of absolute joy crossed her face, and she closed her eyes and squealed. "I was trapped in that tiny body for… for… for who knows how long! I wasn't even really myself, I was trapped, I was-"

Then, she stopped bouncing. A slight bluish tinge began to come over her face, as the memories once again reached the front of her mind. "Oh.", she said, and gripped her heart. "Oh. Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no-"

Chloe stumbled back, attracting the alarm of every Wizard in the room. She slammed her back and head against a pole, seeming to not even care. Her eyes rolled back in her head, and she slowly began to fall to the ground, going limp. "Oh no-"

Every single major memory of the last time she was a regular Princess hit her mind at once, and she once again screamed. The exact way they had abducted her, seeing everyone she had known cut down right in front of her. The things they had done to her- oh, the things they had done to her. She screamed again, and the Wizards all rushed to her side.

"Wood chipper!", she yelled, off the prompt of one particularly horrible memory. "Digestion experiments… lead balloon… bloodbath… elixir...monster..."

Then she closed her eyes and fainted dead away, right in the arms of Dr. Jethro.

Or, at least, until she felt something being forced into her mouth. She felt her jaw being moved to chew and swallow whatever it was- it seemed like it was a pill. Her eyes shot awake, such actions being all too familiar to a large part of what had happened to her. "Get away!", she screamed in panic, and thrust out her hand to stave off the attackers.

But she saw only the smiling, now familiar faces of the Wizard group, one almost recoiling from her vicious slap. "Welcome back, Patient Chloe.", said Dr. Jethro, and gave Chloe a big thumbs up. "I wasn't sure what was gonna happen for a second there… but it looks like it all worked out in the end."

"Right.", said Chloe, and took a deep breath. "Right, it all worked out. Right, I just gotta breathe. Right…"

The Wizards stood around in their circle, letting Chloe have some room to breathe. They all knew it was the most important thing to do, them being doctors and all. After such a flashy and destructive transformation sequence, it was best to let everybody involved just recover a bit.

"Chloe…", said Dr. Jethro, and reached behind him. He rummaged around in a jar for a second, and yanked out a bright pink sucker. "Would you like a lollipop, for being such a good patient?"

Chloe stared, not sure what to do. On one hand- lollipop. She would never have missed a chance for free candy, particularly not her favorite- red flavor. On the other hand, she wasn't a kid anymore. She had just become an adult Princess, a real one, and adults did not take candy.

A quick thought process then told her just how stupid that assumption was, as she remembered the vast amount of adult Troops in her life that not only adored candy, they made sure to have it at every available opportunity. So she shrugged, winked, and took the lollipop. "Oh, okay."

She had just barely placed it in her mouth, when the door finally slid open with an agonized hiss. "I am sorry, User Jethro.", it beeped in a sad sounding mechanical voice, now seeming to be frowning. "I could not hold them."

"Oh, it's alright.", said Dr. Jethro, seeing the panicked faces of both Brenda and Meg. "I know these two personally. Add them to the Approved list."  
As the door did just that, Dr. Jethro took a wide stride forward. "Well ladies, what can I-"

"Chloe.", said Brenda, and gave a flick of her hand. "Chloe, you're alright, right?"

"Yes!", said Chloe, jumping up from the ground. The lollipop stick only barely obscured her words. "I am! And I've never felt better-"

"Okay, good.", said Meg, with immense nervousness. "Because we got uh… we got a situation."

Downstairs, the party had all but stopped. All eyes and attentions had gone from their own separate activities to the Thing that had just entered the doorway, slowly but surely oozing down the middle of the crowd. All the assembled Troops automatically parted to let it pass- they had absolutely no idea what this oddity was. But they were sure they did not want to mess with it.

It stood about the height of a Bowler, or at least it looked that size. It was impossible to truly tell with the way it squished and jiggled, the top of its gelatinous body moving up and down by a foot or two every time it thrust itself forward. Its entire transparent body was a solid shade of emerald green, miniscule bits of a darker color floating within. It was mostly an oblong, or a square, or a long formless shape- it depended on the second in which it moved. The only variations on its body came in the form of two long antenna on the front, seemingly the only way it could sense. It had no eyes, ears, or nose, or even a mouth. As if to reinforce the fact, the antenna gently touched the ground as it slithered, tapping out some sort of rhythm. The only sounds it made were the soft squelching of its alien body, as it traveled through to the center of the room.

"What is that?", asked a Rascal Girl fearfully, hiding behind her sister, who hid behind their brother. "It doesn't look like anything I've ever seen."

"I don't know, Trouble.", said her sister, and grabbed her siblings a little closer. "I don't know."

Bowza stood at attention, ready to attack if needs be. He slowly took in a long, deep breath, gathering bits of Star within his lungs. He ran his fingers up and down his bow in anticipation, and felt Agatha gently squeeze his hand. A single Skeleton hid in the folds of her dress.

"What is that?", Agatha whispered, not wanting to take any chances of alerting the beast.

"I don't know.", said Bowza, and frowned. It certainly seemed alien at first glance, but he could tell there was something familiar about it. Almost as if it was a Troop- but that was impossible. There was no such thing as this, not that he had heard.

"Is it a new card?", asked Sadie, next to Oticat. "Is that an Elixir Golem?"

"No, no.", said Elizabeth, hands going to her bow. "The Elixir Golem is purple. And not shaped like that."

"Well then, what is it?", asked Oticat, leaning forward. He scratched his chin, noticing with no small degree of discomfort how it was coming straight for him.

But of course, nobody in the room knew. They had never seen a Forgotten in person before, and they did not know what one was. None of them dared to attack it, for none of them knew what it could do. All they could do was watch as it made its way to the stage where the two Kings sat, and plopped itself down right at their feet. It came up to their chests, from its imposing height. Spacekrakenx swallowed nervously, and looked around for who could help.

The Slime shifted, as if preparing an action. It reared up a bit further on its bottom, giving its front side a foot or two more of size. A horizontal split suddenly appeared in its front with a wet splurch, and moved up and down a few times. Oticat realized with slight disgust that it had made itself a mouth.

"Oticat…", the Slime said, in a voice that sounded oddly clear. "Oticat…"

"Er, yes?", said Oticat, and held a hand to his ear. "This is him speaking. What and who are you?"

"I bring a message.", said the Slime, its mouth barely moving as it said so. "From my master."

"Master?", asked Oticat, and blinked. "What do you mean, master? Do you mean King?"

"No.", said the Slime. Small bits of itself began to leak off, forming themselves into arms on the monster's side. "I mean the mighty Dragonlord Rakastamos."

Both Kings stared. Neither of them had any idea who that was. Oticat opened his mouth, only finding out what he wanted to say a few seconds afterwards. "Well, uh, he certainly sounds mighty. But why have you come here?"

"I have found out through very reputable sources that an evil Wizard named Askari wishes to visit you.", said the Slime, and bobbed up and down. "Do not listen to what he was to say."

Oticat nodded, but Spacekrakenx only furrowed his brow. Something about that name flittered through his mind, searching for a connection. "Okay.", said Oticat, and the Slime gurgled in satisfaction. "We can do that, Mr…?"

"Slime.", said the Slime, and slowly began to turn around, its work finished. "I am Slime."

"Wait.", said Spacekrakenx. "Askari… that's the name of the World's Protector. Isn't it?"

The Slime stopped in its tracks, and a low growl started to emerge from somewhere on its body. It had not wanted to use force like this. But now that the oddly placed second King had forced its hand, it supposed that it had no other choice.

Song: Capture the Target

"Killll!", it bellowed, and shot out a dozen tendrils in each direction. Each one aimlessly grappled for a Troop, attempting to drag them into the creature's body. "Kill you!"

"Woah!", shouted Oticat, and jumped away. He madly scrambled for the other side of the stage, trying to get away as quickly as he could. "Guys, run!"

Neither Sadie or Elizabeth had to be told twice. Both of them got up and followed their father as fast as they could, not even bothering to lay down covering fire. Spacekrakenx ran with them, grateful that he had put his Princesses on the other side of the room.

Bowza drew his bow, and let his breath flow out of his nose. The Star ran down into his shoulder, then arm, then arrow of light, heating it up gold. "Single Target…"

"Bowza, run!", Agatha said, and tugged at his arm. "We need to keep our distance!"

"Overdrive!", Bowza yelled, and let his drawstring fly. The Star-charged magical arrow shot directly through the Slime's body and came out the other side, leaving behind a small, but burning, hole. He took a look at how little damage it had dealt, frowned, and turned around. "Okay yeah, let's get out of here."

He grabbed Agatha around the waist and leapt, using a bit of Star to fuel his movements. "It seems like it would be vulnerable to heat. Let's let some Wizards handle it."

Agatha looked side to side, noticing something that alarmed her. "Uh, Bowza?", she asked. "There are no Wizards."

She was right. All of the Wizards were still upstairs in the lab, trying to clean up the mess. They had no idea that their talents of fire were going to be needed against a Slime this time of night.

"Well, Brave can do it.", said Bowza, leaping over a chair and landing on an elevated platform in the middle of the room. "He can shoot fire."

That, too, would have been a good plan. But Brave did not think so. The only thing that Brave had done was bravely fly away, somewhere out the window and to his favorite roosting spot in a nearby tree. "But where is he…"

"Killll!", Bowza heard the Slime bellow from right behind him, and he jumped up. But he was half a second too late- one of the thrashing limbs snagged Agatha by the ankle, and started to pull her from his grasp.

"Agatha!", he shouted, and yanked. The Slime pulled harder, the end of its arm tightening around Agatha's ankle. She groaned in pain, trying to keep her foot from tearing off. With one hand she grabbed on to Bowza tighter, and used the other to shoot the Slime with searing bolts of energy. Unfortunately for her, they seemed to do absolutely nothing.

Just as the Slime seemed about to yank Agatha into itself, a trio of flaming arrows struck it directly where it had sprouted the limb from. It shrieked in otherworldly pain and let go of Agatha's ankle, letting the hurt arm snap back into its body. Bowza looked up- and saw the new, grown up, Chloe running towards them, about to take another shot.

"We got this!", she yelled, and let fire. Another trio of burning arrows sank into the Slime's face, and it howled. "You guys run!"

"We?", asked Bowza, and looked past her. His eyes shifted from physical sight to metaphysical, sensing things that weren't quite there. The first thing he could feel was some form of energy swoosh right past her and stop right at the Slime, preparing to strike.

"Foul beast, you shall not harm anybody today!", said the Phantom, and whirled his sword around his head. He gathered his energy within it, hoping to gather enough to put the Slime right to sleep. "You shall fall right here, where you crawl!"

He stabbed his sword directly into the Slime's head, and Bowza could see a long thin line appear in the Slime's body. It groaned as the Phantom's spell took effect, its nonexistent brain somehow affected by the Phantom's command.

The Slime tipped over onto the floor, and lay totally still. The Phantom sheathed his sword, nodded, and was drawn back into Brenda, who landed right next to Agatha.

"Woah, woah, woah.", Brenda said, and looked around. "Is everyone alright? That thing didn't get anybody, did he?"

Bowza shook his head, and Brenda sighed in relief. "Oh, that's good.", she said, and kicked the Slime. "Now… what in Clash is this?"

Usually, somebody there would know the answer to such a thing. It would normally be one of the Kings, Bowza, Agatha, or one of the Wizards. But this time, there was no known information to go off of. This was the first time the Slime had been seen for thousands of years.

"I-", said Meg, then stopped herself from speaking. The odds of her guess being right were tiny, and she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of all these people. "Never mind."  
"What is it, Meg?", asked Brenda curiously, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Did you say something?"

"No.", said Meg, and her face reddened. She tried to push Brenda away, to no success. "I didn't say anything. Good, at least."  
"Woah, woah.", said Brenda, and gave her neck a tiny, tingle inducing squeeze. "Yes you did. Now tell everyone what you thought… Nutmeg."

When such techniques were used on her, Meg couldn't resist. She just shivered a little bit, then turned to address the curious crowd. "You all remember when Dan and Brandy fought that Giant, right? Bonoome?"

"Yeah.", said Brenda, and scratched the side of her face. "What about it?"

"Well…", said Meg, and turned away. She took a few deep breaths in order to collect herself, then forced a casual smile. "He didn't really look like a Giant. He looked like a weird, stronger one. And this thing doesn't really look like any Troop. So what if they're… I don't know… working together? Sort of? I guess?"  
Everyone listening stared, and Meg felt her face go red again- but not the good way this time. Her fingers twitched, as she took in the looks of everybody there. "Or not, you know, I-"  
"No.", said Bowza, taking a closer look at the Slime's body. Once he bent his face the right way, looking at it in the precise light, he could see what appeared to be the mark of a Dragon's head. "I think you're on to something, Meg."

"You- you do?", asked Meg, and her sorrowful face began to lighten. "You mean it?"

"I do.", said Bowza, and stood up straight. "I think we need to find out a little bit more about this Dragonlord Raktasmos… and these so called Lost Troops."

"Bowza?", asked Agatha, giving Bowza a little tap on the shoulder.. "He said Dragonlord Rakastamos, not Raktasmos."  
"Oh. Right.", said Bowza, and closed his eyes. "I was just a little distracted, sorry."

As the two immediately went off to try and find some Wizards to talk to, Brenda and Meg continued to stare at the Slime. Chloe and the other four Princesses surrounded it with locked and loaded bows, aims at the ready, just in case it woke up. Some of the Wizards were going to try and find some more information on it, apparently by force. But such thoughts were not what occupied Meg, or Brenda.

"They're probably out there fighting things like that.", said Meg quietly. "There would be more of them, right?"

"Oh yeah.", said Brenda, and nodded, giving Meg's neck another bit of a squeeze. "There are probably way more of those Lost Troops."

"I wonder where they are right now.", said Meg, looking up at the sky. Through a small hole in the ceiling that was there for some reason, she could see the stars. "Probably out having some wondrous adventure, probably out battling hordes of those things. Probably gonna save the world."

"Most likely.", said Brenda, and pinched a nerve. Meg's head instantly fell onto Brenda's shoulder, but she fully let it. "They did always have a knack for doing those kings of things.  
"Brenda?", asked Meg, and looked up. "Do you think we could go on a quest sometime like that too? I want an adventure."

Brenda smiled, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Oh, don't worry, Meg.", she said. "I think we're gonna go on an adventure too. Who knows… we might even meet up with them. I wonder what they're doing right now…"

Song: Dawn

At that particular moment, their group were all sleeping, because it was still just a few minutes after midnight, and they would not be awake for several more hours. Brandy had woken up about an hour after they had all gone to bed, realizing that there was no one keeping watch. She thought that she would be able to do it- after all, she only ever needed four hours of sleep a night. But then she realized that no Forgotten would ever dare attack them at night. No Troops besides Dark Elixir Troops would ever do anything at night in the wilderness like this, not this late. This late was when the Night Monsters prowled around. She almost panicked about those as well, before she had realized that they only ever attacked people who were awake. So she had quickly fallen back asleep, before one appeared. It might have been too much for her to deal with.

But soon, after mostly restful sleeps and truly bizarre dreams, the sun once again crept up behind the hills. The entire valley began to be filled with the sweet sounds of birdsong, and the trees rustled happily at the return of the light. As Brandy slowly blinked awake, she could see the entire lower valley of the section of the Continent spread out before her like a masterwork tapestry, the river shining from the light like a channel of melted sapphire.

"Ohhhh…", she groaned, and sat up. Pressing her hands to her back, she let out a strong yawn. She fell forward and smacked her lips together, her hands soon starting to try and fix her hood hair from the night before. "What time is it?"

"That's a Vision Bird.", said Trevor, as he sat up. He said it to no one in particular, but Brandy heard it. She saw him point to a bright blue bird on a nearby tree, singing its heart out in 23/4 time. "Common to the area. Not very bright, but they are reported to see the future."

"And it's giving its signature call.", Dan rumbled, in a voice so low it sounded more like deep ground vibrations that anybody's voice. "That's pretty neat."  
"Dan.", said Brandy, and leaned back on his chest. "You're doing your rock voice again."

"Oh.", Dan rumbled, then cleared his throat. "Sorry, is this better?"  
"Yes.", said Brandy, and hopped up. She put one hand to her brow, casting a look around the campsite. As far as she could tell, their campsite had not been attacked during the night. "That's better."

"It's early o clock, that's what time it is.", said Leon, and groaned awake. He pulled his hood down all the way over his face, only letting his chin be visible. His eternal lollipop was already in his mouth- in fact, he had not taken it out during the night. "It's too early to be up."

"Oh, Leon!", Bubble yelled right in his ear, and his head jerked back. "It's bright and it's a day and we're on a quest and I'm so excited and I found a little bug!"

"Yeah, wooh.", said Leon, and fell back onto his softish patch of dirt. "Jeesh, I feel like Sandy on a rough day."

"Sandy?", asked Annabelle, and moved a little closer to Leon. "That sounds interesting… who's that?"

"Brawler.", said Leon, Brandy, and Dan all at once. "Throws sand, sleeps a lot. Cool guy. Met one once."

Leon turned and stared at his parents in shock, but Brandy merely shrugged. Leon shrugged after a bit as well, and just chose to stare at the wondrous sunrise, slowly coming up over the clouds.

"Alright, who wants breakfast?", asked Brandy, and clapped her hands together. "We got- uh…"

She stared down at the ground, once again realizing that they had eaten all the food with them days ago. What food they had managed to forage had not lasted them long, and she could feel for the first time in a while just how hungry she was. Her diet had been nothing but unpredictable for the last few days, and she was truly starting to miss the huge, reliable breakfasts they had always had at home. "Shoot, we don't have anything."

"I have food, Mommy!", she heard Bubble say, and turned to look. There stood Bubble, with a huge basket full of bread, rolls, jam, and a few bottles of Elixir and fruit juice. "See, look!"

"I mean real food, Bubble.", said Brandy, and frowned. "I like that you try and make me feel better, but I need-"

"It is real.", Bubble pouted, then threw one of the bottles of Elixir. "See look."

Brandy reached out on instinct and caught the bottle in her hand. It made a solid sound upon hitting her skin. That was the weird part.

"Bubble?", she asked, more than just a little suspicious at the seemingly free food. "Where did you get this?"

"Night service.", said Bubble, and scrunched up her body mischievously. She pointed to the ground, where Brandy could see a small sheet of paper. "See, look."

Brandy, having no idea what Bubble could possibly be talking about, Dashed over to the paper. Bubble stumbled back a bit at the movement, but was otherwise fine. Brandy picked the paper up, held it up, and read what was written in a totally unplaceable script.

"Thank you for choosing the Night Service.", it read. "You will not be charged for your free continental breakfast, as we were frankly just happy to have customers. Thank you for not moving around at night- it makes all of our jobs easier. Your friends, the Night Service."

Below the writing was a small picture, which read "Employee of the Month". To Brandy's surprise, there was the Night Monster she had seen all those years ago- a mouth on four limbs, pale as white paint and sporting an eerie grin. According to the award, his name was Charles.

"Ah.", said Brandy, and looked up. Her mind swirled as she thought of something to say about the paper, but of course she could not come up with anything solid. So she merely folded the piece of paper into a tight square and tucked it into one of her interior pockets, then picked up the basket. "Well. I guess that happened. Now let's eat."

"Oooh, let's.", said Bubble excitedly, and clapped her hands. "I call the fish!"

"Fish?", Brandy asked, and took a closer look at the contents of the basket. "There's fish in here?"

To her surprise, there was. A trio of Piranhas had been skinned and lightly roasted, staring up out of the basket with dead eyes. Brandy tried to keep her stomach calm at the sight, and looked towards the river. She had guessed the Night Service had gotten them from the battle the night before. "Ah.", she said. "Fish."

"So can we eat?", Bubble asked, and pointed to the rest of the group. Annabelle and Trevor had already managed to get a fire going, even without Leon or Dan helping out. Those two were on the other side of the camp, Dan taking some deep breaths to warm up for the day. Leon stood next to him, watching intently.

"Sure.", said Brandy, and started to walk over to the fire. "But I get that prime Elixir bottle. I'm thirsty as all heck."

Bubble shrugged, and gave a little giggle. "I can't drink that stuff. What is it even, anyway?"

"Right, I keep on forgetting that you don't drink Elixir.", said Brandy. She stared a little closer at Bubble, noticing how her long blonde hair just really did not resemble any Troop at all. "I still think that's pretty weird. And for what Elixir is, well…"

She held up the basket, and quickly swiped her hand into the pile of food. She grabbed the bottle of Elixir within half a second, and opened it in even less. "I don't know, really. I guess it comes from underground, and it's an essential liquid. Plus, it tastes like fruit."

She took a swig, shivering a little bit from the excellent flavor. Whoever the Night Service really was, they got their stuff well. "So I like it a lot."

Once they reached the fire, Trevor held up a hand of greeting. "Hey guys.", he grunted, then resumed poking the fire with his sword. He had managed to start it going very well, but then it had started to die down again for some reason. He had just told Annabelle to go and gather some more sticks for it- an order which perhaps she had obeyed too enthusiastically. But it was not, as he noted with some happiness, a route that took her near Leon which she took.

"You want some food?", asked Brandy, and dug out what looked to be a sausage roll. "It's good and fresh. We got it from… uh… it's good and fresh."

Trevor took one look, and immediately grabbed the roll from her hand. He was starving. "Oh, yes I want one. Actually, how many do you got in there? I want a few."

"Oh, I got…", said Brandy, and quickly rummaged through. Her fast fingers grabbed onto about three, with a tightening grip. "I have quite a few, actually. Perfect."

She tossed them out in a flash, Trevor managing to catch all three of them. He set them down on the rock next to him- he would eat them once he was done keeping the fire going. "Alright. Thank you Brandy. For everything."

Brandy smiled warmly, and opened her mouth to thank him back. But she was interrupted by Bubble's excited voice, being excited directly into her ear from a distance of three inches.  
"Woah, woah, Bubble.", said Brandy, and jerked her head back. "Don't shout in my ear like that, sweetie."

"Sorry Mommy.", said Bubble, and rocked back on the log she was sitting on. Not The Log, just a log. "Anyway, can I try on your mask?"

"My mask.", said Brandy, and turned this sentence over in her head. She put her hand to her chin and sat there in stunned silence, slowly blinking. "You want to try on my mask."

"Yes.", said Bubble proudly, and looked up with shining eyes. "It looks super cool, and I want to wear it too. I promise I won't break it please please please-"  
Brandy winced, and gave Bubble a few preemptive head pats. If she was going to freak out, she could at least be calmed down beforehand. "Well, you can't. See, it doesn't come off."

It was Bubble's turn to stare, even as she took a bite of the seared Piranha. "It doesn't come off? Why does it not come off?"

"It's part of my skin.", said Brandy calmly, and sipped another gulp of Elixir. "That's why. Imagine if I wanted to wear your hair. What would you say to that?"

Bubble thought for a moment, then her eyes lit up. She grabbed the edges of her hair and pulled them as hard as she could- then all of her hair popped off like a wig. She held it out to Brandy, and beamed. "See? You can wear my hair. So I can wear your mask!"

Brandy just sighed, and reached out to Bubble's head. She rubbed her hand across Bubble's seemingly bare scalp- sure enough, she could still feel the smoothness of hair. "I mean really, Bubble. Not just an illusion."

Bubble stopped beaming, and slowly her face turned into that of a pout. She lethargically put her hair back on her head, it popping into place like a well-oiled machine part. She sat there on the log, her fish now sitting in the basket instead of hanging out of her mouth. It was odd that she should be that upset just because she could not wear a mask- but, then again, that was how little kids often were. She sat there and continued to pout- until, that is, Bubble's face lit up again. She closed her eyes and concentrated as hard as she could, scrunching her face up and flexing her arms to gather as much energy as she possibly could. Brandy took a look into the basket to see if there were any more bottles of Elixir, for she had finished hers- and that is when Bubble made her move. There was a soft popping sound, and Bubble vanished. In her place was an exact copy of Brandy- everything from the tiny flecks of purple at the edges of her eyes to even the scars hidden on the backs of her thighs. If Brandy had been looking, it would have been exactly like looking into a mirror. Bubble giggled quietly in anticipation, noting how even her voice had changed to sound distinctly more Bandit-like, and ran off towards Dan.

"Hey Dad?", asked Leon, and Dan looked down. He held in the breath that he had just been about to release, using it instead to talk to Leon. "Yeah?"

"What is that thing you do?", Leon asked, tapping the ground with one foot. "Like that breathe in and shoot electricity all over the place thing. It's pretty cool, and I think I want to learn it."

"Oh, you mean Star?", asked Dan, and smiled. "Well. Have I got some things to teach you."

He looked up into the bright morning sky, a slight tear coming to his eye. He remembered when Bowza had first taught him the art of Star, when he was still a boy rather than a man. He figured that it would make him tear up, now passing the art down to his very own son. Fitting, considering how much Bowza had almost been like a surrogate father to Dan himself.

"Uh… Dad?", asked Leon, and stopped moving his legs. "You're crying. Is something wrong?"

"Oh, no.", said Dan, and slapped a hand down onto Leon's shoulder. It hit the entire side of his body and some of the ground as well, Leon hissing in a breath. But Dan didn't even notice, from his vision so clouded with pride. "I'm just overjoyed to finally teach you."

"Well, okay.", said Leon, and picked at the back of his hood. He was starting to get a little hot in it- maybe he should take it off. But he banished that thought from his mind as soon as it appeared. He had never once taken off his hoodie before, and he was certainly not going to start now. "Then teach me, Dad."

"Alright!", shouted Dan, and leapt to his feet. Leon jumped with him just on instinct, not really looking where he was going. He landed shakily, and looked up at Dan.

"First, take a deep breath.", said Dan, and took a breath of his own to demonstrate. His was full and powerful, honed from almost constant use for the last week and huge amounts of intense training. Leon's was fairly ragged, but still usable. "Okay, good."

"Now, take a moment to sense the Star within your breath.", said Dan, closing his eyes. "For the Star is a force that exists all around us. In the air we breathe, in the Elixir we drink, in the heat and blood running through our very veins. Focus on it. Harness it. And become it."

Leon closed his eyes, as he noticed a soft golden light streaming from every inch of Dan's body. He tried to focus the Star, wherever it was, from inside his breath to inside his body. He felt a little dumb, looking for something that apparently wasn't there, but- wait. No. There it was.

"Dad, I feel it!", said Leon excitedly, and stood up a bit straighter. He put his arms out in front of him, trying to grab the shimmering, floating bits of golden light that he was seeing.  
"Okay, good!", Dan shouted, and began the next step. "Now, bring it down into your arm. We'll try and start with a simple blast- that should do it for now."

"Okay.", said Leon, and reached out with his mind and soul, trying to grab the Star. But as soon as he did, as soon as his soul touched the Star that he had gathered within himself, something happened that neither of them had expected.

A bright blue spark erupted from Leon's body, sending him flying backwards with a sharp snap. He cried out in pain, small blue bolts of lightning wrapped around his body as he skidded back.

"Woah!", he yelled, feeling that every bit of Star he had gathered had left him in a second. He pushed one arm against the ground, trying to get up, but the pain still coursed throughout his entire being. His soul ached, and his heart and mind each felt like they housed a smoldering fire. "What the Fr'ank was that?"

"Woah, woah, what happened?", asked Dan, taking a single step forward and grabbing Leon by the back. "What was that? Did you breathe wrong? Did you breathe in too much? Wait, I bet you just-"

"It was my Stand, Dad.", Leon groaned, and let Hunter Killer materialize in his hand. It too sparked and sputtered, each flash of blue electricity around it mirroring one around his own body. "I think… I think the energies are just incompatible."

"Oh.", said Dan, and stood still for a moment. The only sounds that could be heard between the two of them were the electric bolts slowly falling off Leon, and the sound of Dan's hopes of a father-son Star attack dwindling into oblivion. "Wow, that kinda sucks."

"Yeah, it does.", said Leon, and held up his hand. Hunter Killer gave a happy whir, almost as if it had a mind of its own. But Leon knew it didn't- unless, somehow, it did. "Eh, whatever. I still got one."

"Right.", said Dan, and nodded. "Now, I think everyone else got some breakfast from some tippers or whatever. How does breakfast sound wait what the-"

That last bit came from Bubble disguised as Brandy suddenly landing on Dan's back and grabbing his neck, bringing her face around to Dan's. "Kiss me.", she said, for some odd reason. Perhaps she was trying to play a prank- even she did not know. "Kiss me, Dad."

"Uh… okay.", said Dan, and closed his eyes. He set Leon down on the ground with one hand and brought Bubble up to his face with the other- then stopped. His eyes popped open as he realized what Bubble had said. "Wait a second, Dad?"

"Oh no-", Bubble squeaked out, and panicked. Her illusion dropped, revealing her flushed face. She looked up into Dan's eyes and smiled, trying to save face. "Uh… hi Daddy."

But, to his credit, Dan merely sighed. He set Bubble down onto the ground as well, standing up all the way straight. "Bubble, don't do that.", he said, and looked forward into the campsite. Trevor and Annabelle had finished getting the fire upgraded, and were now cooking a pair of hotdogs. Brandy was busy working on downing another bottle of fresh Elixir, seemingly oblivious to what had just happened. That was good, he thought. He wouldn't want her to know. "You can't just go around imitating people like that, even if it is a very useful skill to have."

"Well, why not?", Bubble asked, and put on her most innocent face. "You just said it was useful. And isn't useful good?"

"Well, yes, but-", Dan said, and sighed. He thought about what he was going to say next, but was interrupted by the crash of flames from the campsite. His attention and vision were instantly drawn that way- to see the fire suddenly rear up, into a vaguely humanoid shape.

_Oh sweet Dr'ew not again, _he thought, and closed his eyes in exasperation. "Wait here, okay Bubble? I'll tell you after we have this thing sorted out."

And with that he ran off towards the fire, Star sparking in between his fingers, Leon following him in his wake.

Song: Clash

Brandy jumped back from the fire, as it suddenly roared and reared up. The flickering flames were transformed into a humanoid shape, with two tall arms and a jagged face. It had no legs- its stump of a torso merely bled into the fire below. It blazed with molten energy, the already hot flames apparently heating up even more.

"Behold!", it bellowed, barely able to be understood through its wispy, alien voice. "I, the Prime Fire Spirit, have been sent here to destroy you!"

Brandy stared at the "Prime' Fire Spirit. It was most obviously not a Primal, for many separate reasons. One was that there were three Primal Fire Spirits, not just one. Another was that all of the Primals were currently in space on the ship of the gods, so they could not be here. The third was that it had been sent to destroy them, which could only mean that it was working for Rakastamos. But the fourth and most important detail was that whatever this thing was, it barely even resembled a Fire Spirit at all. So what in Se'th's name did it mean that it was the Prime?

"Excuse me?", Brandy said, and stood up off the ground. She took herself to her full height, and clenched her fists in anger by her side. A tiny flash of purple suddenly appeared in her eyes, but vanished as quickly as it had come. She stared at the Prime Fire Spirit, and the dirt below her slightly cracked. The fire trembled from the tremor, and the Prime Fire Spirit stumbled.

"You think that you can just bust in here and attack us, out of nowhere, this early in the morning?", Brandy asked in anger, and curled back her lips to reveal her bared teeth. "Well, I don't think so. We are trying to eat our fricking breakfast, and you are not helping!"

The Prime Fire Spirit stared at her in astonishment, before laughing maniacally. It sounded, truth be told, less like a laugh and more akin to a vacuum cleaner being sucked up through its own nozzle, but it was really the thought that counted. "Ha! Do you think I care?"  
"Oh, you better.", said Brandy, and slowly leaned back. She crouched down low onto the ground, moving her fist into a position ready to strike. "Because I'm about to make you."

The Prime Fire Spirit held out its arms in an open gesture, as if mocking Brandy's attack position. "Do you really think that you can hurt me, or my master Rakastamos? Ha. Your puny body of mere flesh is no match for my perfect form of concentrated fire!"

"Wanna bet?", asked Brandy, and looked down at the wood and somehow charcoal that made up the flame base. "Because all fire needs fuel, except for Fire Spirits. But it does seem that you need it, based on the fact that you have not so much as moved from that spot this entire time. So what happens if I just…"

Her fist lit up blue, and she prepared to punch. "Destroy your fuel?"

The Prime Fire Spirit hesitated in his movement a bit, but once again regained his confident air. "Go ahead, try it.", he said, waving a hand in dismissal. "But don't expect it to at all work-"

His words were cut off, as Brandy lunged forward with a mighty yell. She stopped her punch just half a foot away from the fire's base, a huge shockwave erupting from her shining fist. It blew all the way across the entire campsite, taking the majority of the fuel with it. Bits of wood and charcoal blew all the way to where Dan and Brandy had been sleeping the night before, still flaming bits of ash going high into the air. Some of it landed in the bushes where it failed to catch, some of it landed in the river where it was immediately put out, but most of it landed strewn across the small plain they had camped on the previous night. And as for the Prime Fire Spirit himself, he was blasted backwards across the entire area, his base tendrils leaping from one spot to another as ghostly trails of flickering flame. He cried out as he was thrown, barely able to keep himself together from the devastating attack. But finally, after a few seconds, his body slowly stabilized on the largest piece of fuel, a stack of burning sticks a few dozen feet away from the firepit.

"Woah.", he groaned, in pain from the strike. "Okay. Okay. I see what you were trying to do there. But, unfortunately for you…"

He laughed again, and shot out his arms in two directions. Both of them grabbed another pile of fuel, and began to slowly drag them back to his location. "I can just reconstitute my main form's fuel source without limit! Your little maneuver did nothing."

He smiled, watching Brandy sit down as she thought of a plan. He kept on moving the materials to his body- then realized something. Brandy did not look like she was sitting down, upon a second look. It almost looked as if she was ducking. That was weird. Unless she wanted to try and avoid his attacks in the least efficient way possible, why would she-

"Hey, frick for brains!", he heard the shout of Leon from behind him, and started to turn around. There, to his horror, he saw Leon right on top of Dan's hand, the former angry and the latter dripping a huge amount of water from between his fingers. "Reconstitute this!"

Before the Prime Fire Spirit even had time to respond, Dan opened his hand. A huge charge of water dropped out and directly onto the Prime Fire Spirit's body. As it passed through his flames, they flickered intensely- but once they hit his fuel source, he screamed in steam.

The Prime Fire Spirit writhed and shook under the watery onslaught, his fuel and lifeblood swiftly disappearing. A huge cloud of steam obscured any view of him, as well as his own sight. He fell over onto the ground and clawed pathetically at Dan's foot, desperately trying to inflict any damage at all before he gave out. But it was too late- with one last burst of steam, the Prime Fire Spirit was gone, turned into a bizarre mix of Elixir and steam, a purple mist floating upon the air.

"Huh.", said Leon, and nodded. "Kinda reminds me of how what's his name died. Chad."

"Oh, that's what he looked like?", Dan asked, and his eyes lit up with pride. "All writhing on the ground like that, trying to get away but couldn't, and finally vaporizing into the air?"

"Yep.", said Leon, and grinned. "Exactly like that. Right under the light. And you know what I said to him right before he died?"

"What?", asked Dan, and gave Leon a bit of an elbow touch. "I bet it was something good."

"Well, it looks like you couldn't handle the strength…", said Leon, and stuck out his arms. He buried his face into one elbow crook, and flicked his lollipop around in his mouth. "Of either son."

He quickly un-dabbed, and sat back. "Cause like, you know- sun. Son. You get it?"  
"Oh, I get it.", said Dan, and slapped his knee. "That's my boy!"

For a brief second, his mouth pulled down into a vicious snarl at the mere thought of Chad's name. His hair flared up, and a brief green and yellow aura appeared around his entire body. But just as soon as it had arrived, it disappeared.

"Woah.", said Leon, feeling his skin tingle a little bit from Dan's sudden outburst. He looked at Dan, and shivered a tiny amount. "Dad, what was that?"

"That?", asked Dan, and shrugged. "Oh, I don't know. I just do that sometimes. Honey, what's wrong?"

That last part was directed at Brandy, who was sitting on a rock, her head in her hands. She was frowning, her eyes half closed.

"We can't stop getting attacked.", she said, and sighed. "No matter what happens, or where we go, some new fricking Forgotten shows up to attack us. I mean-"

She gestured to the remains of the fire, and scowled. She let out a sharp breath, blowing her bangs out of her forehead. "We can't even build a fire without getting attacked! What'll happen next, we get attacked in our dreams?"

She put her head back in her hands, and let her entire body go a little closer to the ground. "This quest started off super fun. We got to go around and fight cool things, and find cool things. But now it feels like there are just too many monsters for it to be enjoyable anymore."

She felt the ground rumble, as Dan knelt down by her feet. She looked up into his smiling eyes, and he put a hand on her entire right side. "Brandy, I know that. I know that we've gotten attacked so frequently lately, and I know that all the monsters are getting exhausting. But you know what else I know?"  
Brandy rolled her eyes, but played along. "What?"  
"I know that every single Forgotten we've run into, every single enemy we've faced, every single fight that we've won, which has been all of them, has only made us stronger. Seriously, look at how strong we are now.", Dan said.

"Stronger?", asked Brandy. "What do you mean, stronger? I don't feel any-"

"Punch that rock you're sitting on.", said Dan, and Brandy stood up. "No Dash. Just punch the rock, and see what happens."

Brandy hesitated, but knew that she could always trust Dan. She drew back her fist, made a conscious effort to not concentrate any Dash into it, and punched the rock- and to her utter shock, the rock made a clean split directly in two. Her knuckles didn't even hurt.

"See?", said Dan, and gave Brandy a light pat on the back. "Before we got here, you were nowhere close to that strong! And I guess I've evolved too."

He leaned in closer, and Brandy shivered, still staring at her hands. "And if we keep on going through opponents at this rate, by the time we get to Rakastamos, he'll be nothing. We'll be invincible."

Brandy nodded, her down mood all but vanished. She looked up, seeing that the sun was about in the 8:00 position. She turned around to the rest of the group, and put her hands to her mouth.

"Hey guys, we're gonna leave soon!", she said, then looked back up at Dan.

"Thanks, honey-", she said, then shook her head. "No. Thank you… my love."

Dan smiled, and gently took Brandy into his arms. "My love… I like that. Although weren't we gonna call each other star and mountain? You were star, I was mountain."

"Oh right…", said Brandy, and closed her eyes. "Don't worry, mountain Dan. You can call me, Brandy star, anything I want."

"Brandy star…", said Dan, and thought. Something clicked in the furthest back of his mind, but it was nothing he could get a real grip on. "That sounds interesting. Almost like… you have two names. Like your King name, but… different."

Brandy scratched her chin, and tried to picture herself with that name. But she couldn't really do such a thing, and she just shook her head. "That would be cool. Probably not star though… something different. Something more… descriptive."

"Like Littlefoot?", asked Leon, and Brandy's ears perked up. "That's apparently the Primal Leon's second name. Primal Nita's too. Which would make it my second name… I guess?"

"Huh.", said Dan, and looked outwards. He searched for the right direction to go, which way the river flowed. "Yeah, I guess so. Although legally, your name would be Leon Oticat."  
"Oticat?", asked Leon, and scratched his head. "Eh… I don't think that really fits. Why Oticat?"  
"That's the name of our King.", said Brandy, and felt, for a brief moment, a tinge of homesickness in her heart. "And since you're our son, that would make it yours as well."

Leon nodded, and swished his lollipop around in his mouth. The eternally shifting flavor had changed during the night- it was now cherry, from watermelon. "I see. My Brawler house's name was different though. A lot different."

"Oh really?", asked Brandy. She was still quite curious about the way that Brawltopia worked. She would have to ask Leon sometime- but this was a good opportunity for information. "What was it?"

Leon took a deep breath, and tried to keep himself composed. It was a difficult task, with the name being what it was. "It was… xxxsuperpromegaultraman4u33uoxxx."

"Ah.", said Brandy, and nodded. "Yeah, doesn't fit."

"Trevor!", Dan shouted, and stuck out a hand towards the direction the river was flowing from, up towards the hills. "What does the map say about our next destination?"

Trevor nearly fell out of his standing position, and scrambled to get his map out of his pocket. He hurriedly unscrolled it in front of him, and ran his vision across it, trying to figure it out. "Uhh…", he said, then slammed his finger down into the correct spot. "Here it is, Dan. We're heading up northwest, following the Clashcrush River upstream. Ultimate destination, Clashcrush Peak and Dragonlord Rakastamos."

"Well, yes, I know about that.", said Dan. "But is there anything else in our way? Anything else we have to worry about?"

Trevor looked down his finger, and gulped. He took another breath, and calmed his throat. His eyes twitched, and the corner of his mouth pulled down. Brandy took a note of that- it always seemed to happen more whenever he was nervous. "Well, there's a swamp. A big one. And a huge, tall mountain, right in the middle of a super deep canyon. We'll probably want to go onto that rather than the canyon, just my advice. And before that, there's something called the… War Fields."

"Hm.", said Dan, then thrust his fist into the air. He didn't realize how much it looked like something else. "Well then, let us be off. Towards the mountain!"

"Towards the mountain!", shouted everyone else, and they all began to walk. Trevor, however, wasn't finished- he unrolled the map again.

"Also, there's some odd cave or tunnel.", he said, and squinted. "Above ground, tall, but not that long. So that's weird. And I guess there are some villages too, just an assumption."

"Ah, good.", said Dan, as the group began yet another leg of their marathon journey. "Cause I'm starving. I could really go for another pile of meat…"

"Can I have some ice cream?", asked Brandy, as they rounded the corner, and went around a bend of trees. "Cause dang."

Song: Magnetica

Far away, in a secret cavern tucked away deep in the middle of the Clashcrush Mountains, there was a particularly powerful, nasty, and notorious Forgotten. His name had been long lost to any sort of records, even the vast and crystalized ones of his one advanced mind. But his title still remained- that of the Cyborg.

His lair was one much different, much removed from that of his master Rakastamos. It too lay deep inside of a forbidden cave- but any resemblance ended there. Where the lair of Rakastamos was filled with ancient treasures and age-old murals of Dragon times long past, the Cyborg's lair was far more modern. Panels of fine steel lined the walls, reflecting off of the vast array of mechanical apparatuses in the cave. Where Rakastamos chose to leave the blood and Elixir of his defeated challengers as a warning for all others, the Cyborg had it cleaned up almost immediately, shipped off to his master to serve as fuel. Whereas Rakastamos had layers upon layers of hollowed out space for his many works, the Cyborg had but one. A place to keep himself, and to keep his backup computer just in case his main body were ever to be destroyed.

Rakastamos preferred to keep his lair dark, as a means of raw intimidation were anybody to come looking. Lit only by dragonfire torches along the walls, most mortals could barely even see their way through. But the lair of the Cyborg was clean and bright, modern lights on the ceilings casting pure fluorescent shine. It looked almost like a Brawltopia office building- but, of course, his lair had been built long before most of them had ever arose. And now that Rakastamos had risen once again, he was at long last able to inhabit it.

He sat in his mechanized throne in the dead center of the room, his eyes rapidly switching between the monitors that lined his evil lair. He was able to take in all the information at once, with the strength of his mechanized brain. For although his title was the Cyborg, he truly was all machine. There was not a single part of him that remained biological at this point- he had, truly, forgotten if there ever had been. Whether he had been a real cyborg, or if that had just been his name. But it was all behind him now- he was fully metal, a construct of terror and steel. And he was proud of that. He was proud of his granted title as Rakastamos's third finest warrior- but he was always trying to move up. Past his competitors, to secure his rightful place directly at Lord Rakastamos's side. And then, perhaps, he might even surpass him, enforce his own brand of justice directly on the world. No longer would the weakness of the flesh prevail over the truth of the machine. No, he would make sure that all the continents of the world would be ruled by their rightful owners. And he, of course, at the helm.

But, of course, he was not just sitting there for sitting there's sake. No, he definitely had something important to do. Rakastamos was soon going to contact him, with precisely the right mission for him in this situation. That was something he rather liked, being on a mission. It all felt just so right to him- the chase, the takedown, the satisfaction of a job well done- and most importantly of all, the ticking of a neat little box. One objective down, and the next to go.

The Cyborg slammed his fist down onto the side of his throne, instantly calling up a random minion in his lair. His mechanized voice crackled through several loudspeakers at various perfectly planned locations all around the cavern, causing everything there to look up. "Metals!", he shouted, using the name he had selected for all his chosen. "Get me Rakastamos. I'm tired of waiting for his call."

One hand stroked his cheek, for some reason. He had long since lost the sensation of pleasure, but the automatic action remained in his mind. He supposed that perhaps it meant he had been at least somewhat human once, a flicker of his long ago past.

"Sir?", asked a small Mouse Droid, rolling up to him on the hard floor. "Rakastamos? But you and we were specifically instructed to wait for his call!"

"And I have grown tired of waiting.", said the Cyborg, and frowned. "That is what I said. Those were the orders which I have given. Now go and carry them out, or you will be retired."

The Mouse Droid bobbed up and down, understanding. "Yes, sir.", it said, and rolled away. "Right away, sir."

"Good.", said the Cyborg, and looked around at the screens once again. They were, for the moment, mostly just forest. But there was a very specific group that Rakastamos had assigned him to find- one that had been of great sorrow to his master. One that he knew was responsible for the slaughter of a great deal of his brothers, sisters, and friends. He held a great hatred for them, although he knew that nothing in the world compared to the smoldering, blazing rage that was inside the heart of Rakastamos. He would take it out on the group once he found them- And the Cyborg would find them. Mark his words.

The lair of the Jester, although far different, was no less sinister than the Cyborg's dark dwelling. In fact, all things considered, it was most likely far worse.

It was not by any stretch orderly, like the lair of the Cyborg or even Rakastamos. Sheer chaos seemed almost to paint the walls, the tunnels deep within twisting and curving into impossible shapes. Non-conventional geometry flowed like water through the entire area, making caverns far larger on the inside, tunnels that should by all rights overlap themselves instead miss by hundreds of meters. Not even gravity could find the strength to remain normal in the Jester's evil presence- certain things rotated around endlessly, switching their base from wall to ceiling and ever back again. If one looked hard enough, but few ever did, they could almost see the reality strings flowing and twisting round one another in an agonizing dance of nonsense. The garish paint job covering the entirety of his lair did not help- sickening pinks and purples deeper than the brains of most mortals dripped down the harsh stone, blending together at the bottom in a color that defied description. Yellows and greens struck out savagely and blindly in random parts of the tunnels, polka dots and striped bars committing acts of pure hatred on any sense of reason whatsoever. But the color scheme and the endless tunnels seemed innocent and regular next to the absolute Hell that was the central cavern.

This was not the place that Jessie the Bandit and Sven the Lumberjack had fallen into the day before- no, this was far, far larger, and far far more terrifying. The place they had entered, his main Guest Room, was not merely the tip of the iceberg- it was the spot in the air birds flew before they landed on the iceberg. The Main Chamber was the location of his Circus of Chaos, his Magnificence of Mayhem, his Grand Park of Bedlam. It stretched no less than 5 miles from one end to the other, in almost a round, football shape. The top was composed entirely of curved spikes, still wriggling in anticipation of a fresh kill. It had been so long since the last one, and they did not know when another would arrive.

But far down below the cursed ceiling of the cave was the bottom- and that is where the most nightmares resided. A vast array of brightly colored tents lined the ground, shining with diabolical energy and glowing with evil light. Screams of horror and joy sounded with equal measure, echoing off the walls in a mad mockery of anything sane.

No one truly knew what happened in those places. No one that had ever gone in there ever made it back out. Or at least not with their minds intact. Often times one would come out- either their mind or their body. The other half of them would be lost to the Jester, swirling around deep inside of him forever. The tales said they were forced to crank the music upon his back, the nightmarish organ and trumpets that signaled his passage. Others said they were consumed directly, only adding to the nightmarish being's monumental power. But none truly knew, for such things- knowing precisely- were forbidden in the Jester's lair.

It was at that time that the Jester himself sat upon his garish, unholy throne, slowly slurping up a single strand of spaghetti. He had been working on that particular one for about 4 hours now, and it had long since run out. That, of course, did not stop him from slurping it up.

"Rakastamos…", he asked himself, suddenly serious, despite his nature. "When are you going to call?"

Then he slammed his hand down on the armrest of his throne, and laughed in a laugh that scraped at everything around him. "Oh, I know! I could always just ask! Because he's right above me!"

The armrest laughed, its face contorted in immense pain. The chair itself guffawed, muffled underneath the Jester's bulk. The pink stone patio around him laughed, buckling up and down. He laughed along with them, then held up his hand to silence them. They complied.  
The Jester sucked in a deep breath, his chest inflating to almost unbelievable proportions as he did so. He let it out in a mighty yell, able to be heard all the way up his lair, through the endless tunnels up the mountain, and into the cave of Rakastamos.

"Yo, boss!", he shouted, and the entire mountain trembled. "When are you gonna call us?"

Rakastamos, who had been deep in thought, was suddenly shaken out of it. He had been sitting in his mediation form- holding so utterly still that one might think he was composed of stone. He had been needing such things over the last few days. He needed to keep himself sane, keep himself composed, with all the things that had been happening lately. With so many of his precious, beloved Forgotten meeting their ends at the hands of a particular group of Troops that, try as he might, he could not seem to get rid of. No matter who or what he threw at them, no matter what obstacles he made sure prop up in their path, they always managed to pull through.

And it _infuriated _him.

He shuddered from his anger, feeling the relaxation of his meditation form shatter off of him. He pulled back his teeth and snarled, barely able to contain his frustration. How dare a single group of mortals try and mess up his plans so badly? How dare a mere- what was it called- Mega Knight confound the likes of some of his strongest Forgotten? How was it that they continued to take the longest possible path, rather than coming straight to him? He knew full well that he could destroy them practically in a heartbeat, if only they arrived at his cave. That is how all the other assassination groups went. But these ones, who he had dubbed "The Tailbiters", refused.

He heard the Jester's shout of impatience once again echo through his lair, and he shook his head as he remembered he had to start the meeting. Then he remembered with a smile the reason why he had called it- to figure out how to get rid of the Tailbiters once and for all.

"Yes, yes, of course.", he muttered under his breath, and slammed one paw on the stone table next to him. He fumbled around for a bit, finally grabbing a large, ancient communicator. It wasn't very advanced, having only the most rudimentary vision technology and a total lack of surround sound. But it was the one that fit his unmatched size, and that was what truly mattered. "I'll start us off."

He pressed a single button on the device- it was the only one it had. The screen fizzed, popped, then split into two. One showed the image of the Cyborg, fully expecting the call. The other showed the surprised visage of the Jester, who had been getting ready for another shout.

"Welcome, welcome.", said Rakastamos, and smiled. "Now, shall we get started?"

Song: Glory Gods

Then Rakastamos noticed something. The screen had only been split into two- but he had been expecting a third. There were three of his most Chosen Forgotten, but this was only two.

"Hold on a moment.", said Rakastamos, and gave his device a light slap. "There's only the two of you. Where's-"

"Oh, he said that he couldn't make it.", said the Jester, and let out his huge breath. "For, you know. Some reason."

"Right.", said the Cyborg, his face not changing in the slightest. "Our third brother had other business to attend to."

"Hmph.", said Rakastamos, and the fire on his back jetted up. "Well, I do trust him. But I would rather he be here, even if he is doubtlessly slaughtering in my name."

The Jester looked up from his meat statue carving to the screen- and noticed something. Something about Rakastamos. Perhaps it was the way he held his own device, or maybe it was the way he was still partially hidden in shadows. But something about him definitely looked different. And from the way the Cyborg's eyes suddenly began to move, the Jester could tell that he was not alone in thinking so.

"Er, sir…", said the Jester, his accent slightly changing. "Did you do something with yourself? You look… different. Are those frills? Have you always had frills?"

Rakastamos moved back a bit from the screen, then laughed a low laugh. He moved his claws to his head, his face still hidden in the deep shadow that streamed from the top of his lair instead of light. "Oh, these? Why, no. I seem to have acquired them after I… drank the Blood Elixir."

The Cyborg's face suddenly ceased up, a motor in the far back of his cave breaking down and shooting sparks. The Jester shot out his cheese smoothie and looked up in Rakastamos in utter shock, unable to believe what he had just heard. "Wait, what?", he asked. "Sir, you drank-"

"Oh, no, no.", said Rakastamos. "I didn't drink all of it. I had merely a sampling, a trifle. But now…"

He grinned, and clenched his fist.

The Jester could hear the shockwave before he felt it, but he felt it almost instantly. It rumbled through the entire mountain range like an earthquake, shaking up the entire ground. Even the Cyborg could feel it, merely a taste of Rakastamos's strength spreading so far.

"Oh.", said the Jester, and tipped his hat. "Well done sir. That is truly amazing."

"Yes, yes, I know.", said Rakastamos, and shook his hand. "However. I did not call you thre- two, here today to speak about my newfound strength. Rather, I wish to talk about the group that is coming towards me at a madding pace, that- that-"

He sat there fuming for a few seconds, the Jester and the Cyborg merely watching in awkward silence. The rock around Rakastamos melted, dripping into the spots between his scales.

"That group.", he said finally, and cleared his throat. "Cyborg, they will enter your territory next. I'm leaving it up to you and your group to defeat them- or, as you would say, delete them?"  
"I don't say that, sir.", said the Cyborg, with no trace of humor whatsoever. "But yes, I will destroy them for you. Me and my team will make short work."

"Good, good, thank you.", said Rakastamos, and softly clapped. He looked towards the Jester, who set down his lava macrame. "Now, I don't expect the Cyborg to fail. But if he does… you will step up to the challenge. Do you understand?"  
"Yes.", said the Jester, and saluted with one of his many arms. "I do, Lord Rakastamos."

"Good.", said Rakastamos, then seemed to brighten up. "Now, discussion question of the day, to keep our spirits up. Are robots alive?"

"Well, I would like to think so.", said the Cyborg, hiding his annoyance. "Otherwise, what would I be?"

"Oh, well, I didn't mean you.", said Rakastamos. "I mean other robots. Such as these mouse droids around my lair."

Rakastamos aimed his camera downwards, to show a small group of four or five Mouse Droids skittering past. "Those ones."

"Hmm…", said the Jester, stroking the back of his nose. "Well. I know my robots are not alive, in the technical sense. However, they do seem to at least perform well at simulating emotion. So I wouldn't know."

"Interesting, interesting.", said Rakastamos, and smiled. So far, his day had not been terrible. "Cyborg, would you care to elaborate more on your positon on the matter?"

Song: Calm Sightseeing

Not overly far away at this point, there was another group having a similar conversation. It was not about robots, but it was in the same vein. It was, to be specific- "should Hog Rider be nerfed?"

"No.", said Dan, and shook his head. "I don't think Hog Riders need any sort of nerf. I mean, sure they deal a lot of damage if they're not countered, but that's true for basically anything four Elixir or above. And the poor guys have so many counters anyway."

"Yeah, but so many of them are just soft counters.", said Brandy, and huffed through her nose. She did it when she was flustered- there was a difference between flustered and angry. "Like everyone always says _oh, just add Tornado to your deck! You can counter Hog Rider easily! _Like no, it still gets damage off. And every time you play it, it gets damage off. And there's no counterpush potential whatsoever with Tornado. I mean what are you gonna do?"

Dan listened to her vent, and smiled. It was cute, he thought. The way she expressed herself like that. He took a particularly large step over a boulder, and Brandy bounced up on his shoulder. She grabbed his neck, interrupted in her sentence, and sucked in a breath.

"What was that?", she asked, and looked around. "Are we getting attacked?"

"No, no.", said Dan, and rolled his eyes. "I just took a big step."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and smoothed herself off. "Well, in that case-"

"I think Hog Rider needs a nerf.", said Trevor, cutting into the conversation. "Cause a win con that gets basically guaranteed damage with the most rudimentary of support just isn't fair, you know? I think Hog Riders are mostly nice guys, they just need a nerf."

"Now, hold on a second.", said Annabelle, looking up from doodling on her hand with a stick. "You said, _mostly _guaranteed damage with the most rudimentary of _support. _By saying that, you say that Hog Rider itself isn't bad, it's only with support."

"Yeah, but they're always with support!", said Trevor, stretching out his hands. "You never see a Hog Rider without a Log or a Wizard or even just Bats with him. You always have to take that into the equation."

"Well sure, but then you have Elixir to counter that entire push too.", said Brandy, flipping her bangs back into her hood. "Otherwise, you've been battling badly. That's what I heard Ash say once."

"Okay, so we have two for needing a nerf and two for not.", said Dan, and looked back onto his broad, muscular shoulders. "Leon? Bubble? What do you think?"

Bubble looked up from doodling on Dan's shoulder with a crayon. Dan hoped it was illusionary, because it sure looked permanent otherwise. Leon stared straight ahead, and coughed.  
"How are we supposed to know?", Leon asked, and Bubble slowly nodded. "I don't even really know what you guys are talking about at all."

"Ah.", said Dan, and nodded. He turned back to in front of him, realizing his mistake. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't. Ah well, guess it's tied."

"Right…", said Brandy, and leaned back. She snuck a look at Annabelle, who had returned to doodling on her hand, and tried to see what she was drawing. Her heart and eyes lit up as she saw that it was a Barbarian's sword. Brandy grinned mischievously- this was good news.

"Hey.", she said, and gave Annabelle a soft elbow bump. Annabelle looked up, clearly a bit annoyed at having been interrupted. "What's that you're drawing?"

"A sword.", said Annabelle, and returned to drawing. "I am drawing a sword."

"Yeah, I can see that.", said Brandy, and rolled her eyes. She leaned in a little closer to Annabelle, and grinned. "But that's the sword of a Barbarian."

"Yes.", said Annabelle, not wanting to talk about it. She looked away, and calmly began to shade the blade. "So it is."

Brandy frowned, and internally scratched her head. This was going to take a little more work than she had thought. But that was no trouble- for no thing worth having ever came for free. Except for the occasional Gold Chest in the shops back at home. Those sometimes came free, and were certainly worth having. She remembered that Meg had been unlocked from a Gold Chest once, and she was one of the best people Brandy knew. Then Brandy realized what she was doing, and snapped herself back to reality. She could not get distracted.

"Is it Trevor's?", Brandy asked, and glanced over to where Trevor sat. "I bet it it…"

Annabelle huffed, and looked away- but not before Brandy saw that her cheeks turned just a little red. Brandy grinned to herself- score.

"Is it?", asked Brandy, and tapped Annabelle's knee. _Is it? Come on, you can tell me in here._

Annabelle blinked in surprise, and looked around. "Woah-", _I mean, woah. How can you do that?_

_Witch training, _thought Brandy with a shrug. _Now tell me. I know you've been trying to hide it, but the eyes and ears of a Bandit see all, and hear even more. What do you think of Trevor?_

_He's… fine, _thought Annabelle, and Brandy's eyes closed a bit. _But that's all._

_Oh really?, _asked Brandy, and tapped her cheek. _Then why did you blush so much? Surely a "that's all" wouldn't warrant such crimson cheeks, right?_

Annabelle sighed, then looked up at Brandy with watery eyes. Brandy shivered, ready to hear what Annabelle finally had to say.

_Okay, fine,_ Annabelle thought, and Brandy almost squealed. _He's always been almost like a cute little brother to me, but now that we're like all grown up and stuff and on this quest with you guys and not much to do but talk and fight and stuff, I realize that he might be more to me but I really don't know cause all our lives we've really just been friends and I don't know if I should take it further or if it would ruin stuff and I don't know how he feels about the whole thing and I-_

_Woah, woah, slow it down, _thought Brandy, and put her hand on Annabelle's thigh. _I know how those feelings are. Not knowing what to do with a friend that becomes more than that._

Annabelle audibly sniffed, and Trevor looked over for a second. _You- you do?_

Brandy smiled. _Yes, I do. That's how I met Dan. We were friends, and then- well, we were lovers. And if you think that can happen between you and Trevor, then go for it!_

_But- what if he doesn't feel the same way?, _asked Annabelle, then closed her eyes. _I'm sorry, that sounded dumb. That sounded like a movie. Like one of those cheap Goblin Stadium Productions romance films where you guess the outcome during the opening credits. _

_No, no, it's fine, _Brandy thought, and bit back a laugh. _He likes you back._

Annabelle had expected Brandy to say something about her oddly specific usage of the example, but what she had just gotten was far better in every way. Her entire body perked up, pulled to a sitting positon off of Dan's shoulder. "He-", she said, then shook her head.

_He does? _

_He does, _thought Brandy, and held out her fist. Annabelle cautiously bumped it, then attempted a weak grin. _Now next time we stop, you can tell him exactly how you feel._

Annabelle winced, and looked up into the sky. _Well… not right now._

_Why not?, _asked Brandy in confusion. _If you feel that way, then tell him._

_I just don't think right now is the right time, _thought Annabelle, and scratched at her arm. _But once the time is right, I will tell him. _

_Okay, _Brandy thought, and nodded. _And don't worry, I won't tell him before you do._

_And also, don't tell him before I do-, _Annabelle thought, then rolled her eyes. _Thank you, Brandy. You're a lifesaver. Both of you. I mean, if you hadn't shown up at that base when we were there, we probably would have-_

_Hey, it's what we do, _thought Brandy, and beamed. _Me and Dan, together. We help people._

A thought occurred to Brandy, and she looked at Annabelle in suspicion. _So, if you truly do feel about Trevor in this way, then why were you seeming so intent on Leon?_

Annabelle bit her lip, and scratched her arm harder. _Well, I… I don't really know. I wasn't thinking all that great. Maybe I wanted to make Trevor jealous, I don't know._

Brandy nodded, and gave Annabelle a single tap on the top of her head. _Heh. Not really how I would roll with it, but I guess you do you._

_Right, _thought Annabelle, and took a deep breath. Brandy could feel the mental room fade, and they both lay back onto Dan's back. "Good talk, Brandy. Good talk."

"Talk?", asked Bubble, and Annabelle stiffened. "What did you talk about?"  
"Uh…", said Annabelle, trying to think, but Brandy cut in for her before she was forced to say anything.

"Flowers.", said Brandy, and made some gesture with her hand. It didn't mean anything, but as long as it got Bubble distracted, it worked. "Elixir wine. You know, adult stuff."

"Oh.", said Bubble, and pouted. She blew her long blonde hair out her face, and crossed her arms. "Can I talk about adult stuff?"

"NO.", said Brandy and Leon, who had just gotten up, at the same time. "When you're older. But not right now, okay?"

They took a mildly surprised look at each other- only mildly. They were mother and son, it made sense they would soon begin to copy each other's sentences. "When you're older."

"Hey.", said Dan, his immense voice cutting off any other direction the conversation would have gone. He pointed forward, everyone following his gaze to where a huge cave towered above the deadened plain. It was blackened and scorched with evidence of fire, but there was a path clear through. It was certainly not a cave formed by any normal means.

But that was not why Dan pointed to it- no, that was for the two strange Troops that sat at its base. One sat in a cross legged position, and the other was quietly singing some odd tune to himself. Dan arched an eyebrow. "You think those two think Hog Rider needs a nerf?"

Leon cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted along with Dan. It was lost in his father's immense sound, but it was the thought that counted. "Hey, you guys!", they yelled together, totally destroying the mysterious duo's concentration. "Do you think that Hog Rider needs a nerf?"

The one that had been mediating looked up, his long hair flowing in a wind that wasn't there. He stroked his luxurious mustache, which flowed evenly with his soul patch. He moved gracefully in his bell bottoms and deep sleeves- in total contrast to his partner, who stumbled over his own feet. But as the partner opened his mouth to apologize, his voice was that of angels.

"I'm sorry.", he said, the voice carrying along the wind and lifting up the grass. "I let myself get distracted."

"Ayy, it's alright.", said the agile one, and put a single foot on the ground. He pushed off with his other, bouncing himself into the air and coming up closer towards the group. "As long as we reach them."

"Uh…", said Leon, and slowly reached into his sleeve for a spinner blade. "They didn't answer the question."

"You're right.", said Dan, and frowned. He almost sucked in a breath- but something about the two convinced him not to. They seemed so talented and graceful, it was hard to believe that they could possibly be enemies. Perhaps they were not. Perhaps he had just found two more allies. But, to Leon's credit, they had not answered his question.

"Oh, yes!", said the first, and leaped up onto the top of the hill. "It's been a while since I kept up with the news of the Arenas, but I do believe Hog Rider was quite strong last time I visited."

"I, as well.", said his partner, reaching the top of the hill in an exhausted state. "They were far too powerful. Nerf, indeed."  
"Huh.", said Leon, and let his spinner blade retract back into his pocket. "Maybe they do need a nerf, then. If the vote is like that."

Song: Death by Glamour 

"Hey.", said Brandy, staring at the two with suspicion. She suspected that they were, of course, Forgotten, but Dan had not attacked them. Maybe they were not. "Who are you guys?"

"Who are we?", asked the first, and thrust his hands up into the air. He immediately performed a triple backflip, landing on a single toe. He spun around in a halfpipe move, and landed in a perfect split. "I am the Dancer, Alitray!"

"And I…", said his partner, and took out a beautiful guitar from behind his back. It was inlaid with Gems, Gold, bits of Dark Elixir in glass, and everything in between. He gave a pluck on the ivory strings, and grinned. "Am the one known as the Singer. Fortussa."

Alitray spun around on a single finger and cracked his knuckles midair, landing again on his head. He spun around on the top of his scalp, his hair somehow supporting him off the ground. With a rush of wind from his high-speed spinning, he once again jumped into a standing position, and spread his arms out open wide. He jumped from one foot to the other, as if daring the group to try and attack him. "My agility and speed are unrivaled throughout all the land. No matter your abilities, you cannot touch me!"

Fortussa opened his mouth, and let out a single note. It rang through the air, what remained of the grass and bushes trembling when the sound wave reached them. As the group heard the sound, they felt a bit of a sensation fall over them- the sensation that they no longer wished to fight, that they just wanted to head home. But it was only a small sensation, and did not affect them that much. "And I am Fortussa, the singer. I said that already. But my voice's magic shall command you to do my every, uh… command. Haha!"

As the Dancer jumped around, a grin on his pale face, and the Singer strummed his fancy guitar, Brandy felt a strange feeling slowly creep over her. Her hands began to tremble from sheer fury, and her eyes snapped to full open. Her hair stood a little off of her head, and her hood automatically fell back. Her mouth opened in both a vicious snarl, and what was about to be the most vicious tirade of her life. She had never really been one for swearing, but this was just finally too much.

"Are you f- serious?", she screamed, and the entire group turned around to stare at her. The Dancer stopped his movement, and the Singer's voice was given pause.

"We really cannot go five e- minutes without running into more d- Forgotten, can we?", she continued to yell, her hair flaring up more every time she spat. "No. No, no no. Every time we round a bend, there's more t- pieces of pathetic h- who attack us!"

She clenched her fists, and the muscles in her arms gradually began to swell as she continued to scream. A faint purple fire sputtered to life around her entire body, the rage within her beginning to be released. "No matter where we go, there's just more m- Forgotten!"

Leon and Annabelle each slowly reached over, and placed a hand over Bubble's ears. Bubble tried to draw her head back, but the grip of the two was too strong. She had been having lots of fun hearing these new words, but apparently these two wanted to ruin it for her.

"And they're not even fun anymore!", Brandy screamed, a purple spark echoing around her like a storm at sea. "They show the f- up, we beat the f- out of them, and then it's on to the next. How many have we even r- beaten so far? 12? Well, looks like it's about to be 14! Ha! s- 14!"

Dan had been about to butt in, and tell her to stop. But he saw the things that her rage was doing. He saw that her rage was rising out of her body, her muscles swelling to high proportions. Her voice was growing deeper, longer, and much more powerful. A purple light burned in her eyes- and he could tell it would soon be released. So he stood there, and let her rant.

"When are we gonna run into one that's actually d- strong?", she screamed, and slammed her hands together in the air. "Never! Because i- doesn't even j- with a f- p-!"

"Mommy?", asked Bubble, struggling to hear between her sandwiched ears. "What are you doing? Can I join?"

"Not now, sweetie, Mommy's busy.", said Brandy quietly, then continued her rage. "And we've been walking for q- knows how long, and all we've run into are these h- b-!"

The Dancer and the Singer looked at each other, entirely unsure how to handle this. Their expressions were those of awkwardness and confusion- but those turned to fear, as they saw just how large the purple aura around Brandy had suddenly gotten.

"That is it!", she screamed, and her eyes flared a deep violet. "I have had it with these m- Forgotten on this m- QUEST!"

She gave one last scream, and her Rage erupted.

The blast of purple energy tore out of her body like a summer storm, blowing away the grass, the wind, and the energy of compliance that the Singer had summoned. Their eyebrows were blown away as well, torn utterly asunder by the force of Brandy's annoyance. But this was no ordinary annoyance. It was a terrible, thundering annoyance, one that broke the ground with its intensity and burned the skin of anyone near. For there Brandy hovered in the air, held aloft by her Rage, it burning around her like a shield. Her hair floated above her head, spiked and glowing a lilac hue. Her muscles were far larger than they usually would be- on par with a Knight's or Valkryie's. Her eyes shone with pure purple energy, and her mouth was open in a permanent snarl. But no one was able to see her- for next to her now incredible speed, it was as if everyone else was holding totally still.

Brandy yelled in frustration, and jetted forward like a beam of light. Grabbing the Dancer by his foot- for even in her anger, she didn't really wish to hurt such an individual-, she spun around as fast as she can, his body coming along for the ride. His mind barely had time to process what was even happening- first the girl had gotten angry, then started cussing them out like an old seasoned sailor, and now all his vision was spinning like he was in a washing machine. It abruptly stopped, and he rejoiced- only to realize that it was because he was flying straight up into the air at speeds he had never before achieved. Brandy had thrown him, and he was now on due course to exit the atmosphere.

The Singer had faster reflexes than his partner, but he was totally unable to prevent what was coming. He could feel Brandy grab on to his face, the same way she had grabbed the Dancer. Her nails dug into his skin, drawing blood, as she whirled him around and around. He screamed for a second, trying to escape- then he too was free. Free as a bird, provided that bird had no wings, no real sense of direction, and was hurtling towards the upper sky at a speed that most animals could only ever attempt to match.

Brandy stood there for a moment, huffing and puffing. As she saw her two opponents turn to nothing more than faraway twinkles in the bright blue and purple sky, she felt her Rage subsiding, retreating back into her once more. She groaned, as the energy that had fulfilled her to her physical limits and far beyond vanished, back to wherever it had came. She took a step forward and coughed, sparse purple dust flying from her throat. "Ohhh…"

She saw time go back to normal, Dan reaching out an arm to catch her. She had no worries about him doing it- he would catch her. He always did. Which is why, as she fell face forward towards the ground below, she hit his soft, warm hand instead of the cold hard ground.

"Brandy…", he said, and gently brought Brandy up to his shoulder. "What was that?"

"Uhhhmmm…", Brandy moaned, face down in his hand. She tried to get up, to push herself- but her muscles were totally exhausted from her enraged outburst. "Hehe. I don't know."

"You need to take a nap, honey?", asked Dan, and gently stroked her back. "You seem pretty tired."

"Oh.", said Brandy, and let herself relax. "Nap. Yes. That… nap. SOunds good…"

Then she was out like a light, in half a second. She promptly began to snore, a habit she often denied. But Dan always knew the truth. He snored too.

"I guess we should stop here for a bit.", said Dan, and sat down on the ground. It broke underneath him, the soft dirt crumpling underneath his weight. "We gotta wait for Brandy to wake up, after all."

He looked forward, at the mysterious tall cavern. It stood in stark contrast to the river, standing tall and menacing while the river flowed wide, clear, and bright. He thought that if he looked at it the right way, it almost looked like a face. The tall bit of stone at the top, the two crumbled edges at the side… yeah, he could see it.

"Hey Dad?", asked Leon, and Dan looked down. "Yeah?"

Leon held out his arms, and Dan gently put Brandy's sleeping form into them. Leon huffed a bit from the exertion, but Brandy didn't weigh too much for him- only just a bit over 100 pounds. He turned around and looked for somebody to hand her off to, before realizing that the best option was just to put her on the ground. He looked up again. "Wanna go explore that cave with me?"

"Sure.", Dan said, and shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

He stood up, and started to follow Leon towards the towering stone structure. He noticed out of the corner of his eye Bubble playing patty cake with Trevor and Annabelle, Brandy peacefully snoring just a few feet away. He smiled with his eyes, and took a deep breath with his mouth. He was slightly disappointed that he had not gotten to fight the Dancer and the Singer himself, but he guessed that it was better for Brandy to work herself out. He often wondered just where it was that power came from. Was it just part of her? Had it been somehow bestowed upon her by her life's experience? He didn't know. Perhaps he would ask, when she woke up.

"Is there anything particularly interesting in the cave you want to show me?", asked Dan, ducking under the branches of a bare tree. "Or you just want to do something with your father?"

"Both.", said Leon, and jumped over a rock. He landed at the base of the Cavern, hands on his hips and in his pockets, staring up at the huge onyx structure. "Kind of both."

"Oh.", said Dan, and stepped over the rock. He clapped his hands together, and looked into the strange chamber. The overall structure of the cave reminded him somewhat of a Crown Tower, its proportions and thick build telling. "Well, I'm happy to provide both."

They took a look at each other, and stepped into the chamber.

But something odd indeed happened once they did. The light, though it had been streaming down just a few seconds earlier, suddenly grew very dim. The world outside grew from a clear view to one looking like it was seen from within a foggy window, cracks up the glass.

The constant drone of the low wind and chirping birds had been replaced with the subtle incantations of mysterious voices, coming from all around. The air itself seemed thicker, as if this place was not meant to be disturbed. Both Dan and Leon felt as though they were being watched from every possible angle- even inside of their own bodies.

"Woah, this is freaking me out.", said Leon, and folded his arms. He promptly vanished, and Dan could hear his footsteps as he speed walked towards the entrance. A very thin trail of smoke rose up behind him, no doubt boosting his speed. "Never mind-"

"No.", said Dan, and reached out his hand at the furthest footstep. He felt his fingers grab Leon by the hood, and yank him back with a meep. "Hold on a second. Something about this place isn't right."

"Yeah, I know.", said Leon, and rubbed his shoulder. "There's all this creepy stuff everywhere-"

"No.", said Dan, and suddenly threw a rock. It reached the entrance in a matter of milliseconds, vanished, and came flying out the exit upon the ground. "We can't leave. This place wants us to stay."

Song: Rubicon

"Oh boy.", said Leon, and took a deep breath. His Stand automatically slid into his hand, and he held it up in front of him. "That isn't good. Are we trapped? Shoot, we're trapped."  
"Leon, calm down.", said Dan, and looked up. He exhaled a bit of breath, lighting up the tip of his finger like a candle. The low Starlight fell upon the ancient, cracked walls, revealing what appeared to be a mixture of ancient hieroglyphs and runes.

"Woah.", said Leon, looking up. The beginnings of his claustrophobia induced panic attack had been swept away by the utter wonder he was suddenly experiencing. "What are those?"

"Well, they look very old.", said Dan, and furrowed his brow. Moving his light from one end of his reach to the other, he was able to faintly make out what some of them said- if he could remember his 4-day course in Ancient Languages correctly. "I think it says… beware the grounding wire. Fatal nothing occurs if not left untouched."

"Ah.", said Leon, and looked down at the ground. "You see a grounding wire around here?"

"No.", said Dan, and kept on walking down the cave. "But I don't think we need to watch out for one. This place looks older than any place I've ever been. Any grounding wires would have rotted away long ago."

Leon was about to say something, but he decided that the times for such things were probably long past. So he decided instead to be quiet, look up at the runic inscriptions, and think.

Dan walked along rather quickly, on account of his tremendous size. Leon had to keep up a light jog for even pace, while trying to read the writings. It was a mildly hard task, but he was able to do it. He stared at the runes, not understanding, and stared at the hieroglyphs instead. Those were easier to make sense of.

The one that Dan was looking at now depicted a heavily stylized Dragon, locked in roaring combat with one even larger. The larger one was a deep red and gold, vicious anger burning within his eyes. A single purple crystal made up his eye, and Leon could feel himself shiver from the artistry of the work. The smaller Dragon shone blue and red, purple mixing in the cracks in his scales. Although he was the smaller, he appeared to be winning.

The second set of carvings made up a far stranger scene than anything Leon had been thinking he would see that day. A large, multi-faceted crystal on legs sat on the ground, motion lines coming off of it. A bunch of Barbarians and Goblins were bowing to the people that emerged- very tall, thin people, unlike anything he had ever seen before. From the tiny flecks of primitive paint that still remained on the ancient stone, Leon could guess they had been quite colorful.

"Huh.", he heard Dan say, and he looked over. Dan stood close to the wall, his face almost touching it. He squinted as he read what had been written there, trying to understand.

"What is it, Dad?", asked Leon, glancing behind him. There was nothing, just a Bat.

"It appears…", said Dan, and moved back. "This place used to be some sort of… teleportation array? If I'm reading that correctly."

Leon's eyes widened, and the tail on his jacket stuck straight out behind him in surprise. "Teleportation?", he spat, growing excited. "Well, does it still work?"  
Dan took another look, scratching his bearded chin in thought. He tilted his head a little bit, and tapped the stone just below the writings. It sparked a flash of blue, and he stood back. "It looks like it."

"Well then, let's use it.", said Leon, a plan already formulating in his head. "We can just teleport to Rakastamos right now, or in the middle of the night when he's asleep, and kill him! We won't even have to walk the rest of the way."  
"No.", said Dan, and shook his head. Leon's face fell. "Besides the fact that we're still not quite strong enough, this one will only teleport us to the nearest station upriver."  
"Oh.", said Leon, and let his eyes close. "Well, how far away is that?"  
"About 10 miles upriver.", said Dan, and placed his hand on an ancient keypad. "Which, you know, isn't bad, but it isn't great either. Whatever though. I'll take it."

"Right.", said Leon, and turned around. "Now, we just need to get everyone else and-"  
But his words stopped in his throat, as he saw the rest of the group already standing behind him. Brandy was half-awake, her arms wrapped around the shoulders of Annabelle and Trevor. Bubble gestured at him with a sharp stick, then dropped it once she realized it was just her brother. The stick dissolved.

"Teleportation…", said Annabelle, and looked up at Dan. "Is that true?"  
"Yep.", said Dan, and punched in some more numbers. "At least, according to these runes. I mean, it's not like teleportation is really that tricky of a science to master. The Arenas got it down easily."  
"See, exactly.", said Brandy, and laughed. "You just like, put the thing over there."

"Indeed, honey.", said Dan, and flipped a switch. The entire cavern lit up as blue as an azure sky, and a loud whoop began to be heard down the whole chamber.  
"Please, keep all of yourself within the teleportation array at all times.", they heard a soft, feminine voice echo from the walls. "Failure to do so may result in imminent death."

"Wait, what?", Bubble screamed, and leapt right at Dan. She assumed that he would be standing on the teleportation array- and she was right. As soon as Dan realized it, he quickly gestured for everybody else to get on.

"We are teleporting you in 3…", said the voice, and Brandy suddenly snapped all the way awake. She Dashed to the pad, grabbing Annabelle and Trevor with her. Leon had already grabbed on to Bubble, and jumped onto the pad with her.

"2…", said the voice, as Leon and Brandy tumbled on to the pad. They all clung tight to Dan, who sucked in a breath for protection. He let it out as a brightly glowing shield around him, shimmering with golden energy. "1…"

Brandy glanced down- and noticed that Bubble's foot still hung off the array. She panicked a bit, and grabbed for the foot to try and grab it before they were teleported.

"0… teleporting now.", said the voice, and the entire group began to flicker and disappear. Brandy managed to grab on to Bubble's foot, just as they vanished into nothing. The voice continued speaking, to the empty room. "Thank you for using Moorlein brand teleporters, have a nice day…"

For the next passage of time, they swirled. It was probably just seconds, but they had no way at all to tell. For the group, it was as if a thousand years and 3 seconds were passing simultaneously, and there was no way to tell which was which. Or even, in truth, what that concept meant. Which was which. It was a silly phrase. Phrases in themselves were silly, weren't they? Or at least that is what Annabelle thought, as she felt the sum total of her being flung through the Aether like spare luggage. Brandy just tried not to feel any of it, and Bubble thought it was like that feeling you got when you stood up too fast. But this one was longer, far more sustained. Or at least she thought- there was no way to tell what amount of time passed. They kept on spinning, like the group hangers on of an empty universe. They were the lost Elixir bottles at a busy airport, the single sock waiting out in the rain, the last collector cup on the shelves of the third floor of a mattress store. For as long as they spun around in the infinite nothing of the void, they were the last few seconds spent in a building, the abandoned playground in the corner of a field. They were a single clay tablet floating on a Jellyfish's back through the thundering deep of the waves, they were a single level 1 Skeleton lost in a forest a hundred miles wide. They were a single atom of heat in a pot of bubbling water, they were-

They were tumbling out of an identical teleportation field and into the grass, having just emerged from a far different cave. They rolled down the hill almost as one, Dan madly scrambling to keep all of them together. They all screamed and yelled in the chaos, almost drifting apart but managing not to. Dan made special care to make sure his huge bulk did not squish anyone, rolling around and under everyone else instead of on top of them. They kept on falling, down and down the huge hill- before Dan jut his arm out and dug his fingers deep into the soil, bringing him to a halt and everybody else sliding to a stop on his torso.

"Whew.", he said, and cracked a grin. "That was pretty intense, wasn't it?"

Now that they had stopped rolling from their immense momentum with the launch, Dan could see that the hill was actually not particularly steep. He slowly let go of the ground, only falling forward a little bit from the release. The rest of the group all shakily stood up- except for Bubble, who lay there staring at the sky, a weird grin upon her face.

"Let's never do that again.", said Brandy. "Seriously, that was weird."

"Oh, don't worry.", said Dan, taking a look around. This new station was, thankfully, still in very close proximity to the Clashcrush river. That was good- if they lost it, it would be almost impossible for them to get back on their tracks. And the hills still loomed above them, the Clashcrush mountains towering even higher in the distance. But, Dan noted, that distance was no longer so far away. They were slowly becoming more defined, feeling more obtainable. Dan knew that with every step or skip his group took, the final battle would only ever draw closer.

He looked to his left- there was a very respectable rock pile, presumably built to commemorate something. Perhaps a battle. But that didn't make sense. Only villages would build something like that, and there were no villages around. Or- or were they? A quick glance to the right, then a rejoicing stare to the right solved that question. There was a village, just a few hundred feet away. It appeared to be a bustling, well-upgraded Town Hall 12 Village, no doubt full of high-level defenses and Troops. Dan let out a sigh of relief- at last, a place to get a decent nap.

"Hey, is that a Village?", he heard Brandy shout from below him, and he felt her climb up onto his thigh, then his shoulder. She pointed forward for emphasis, and shouted with joy. "It is a Village! Finally, yes!"  
"Oh, thank Se'th.", said Annabelle, and rolled her head around on her shoulders. "Finally, someplace I can actually get a shower."

The thought of that kicked around in Trevor's mind, and would not leave for a while.

"Yeah, me too.", Trevor, and looked up. "I'm gonna take a shower too. In the Male Troop's room, of course. Not the-"

_Shut, _he heard Brandy say inside his head, and he dutifully obeyed.

"Maybe they have some food there.", said Leon, and flicked the end of his lollipop stick. "I haven't gotten a real good meal since yesterday."

"Heh, welcome to the clan.", said Dan, and his stomach rumbled. "I hope they have all the food. We have enough Gold to pay for it right- eh, who am I kidding. They're a high level Clans village, they have enough Gold. I bet we could pay them in services though."

"Okay, but they better not ask if we're their Clan Castle troops again.", said Brandy, and huffed. "That got really annoying, really fast-"

Something happened inside of Brandy's mind. Blue lights flickered into being behind her head, and she fell limp onto Dan's leg. Dan was about to shout- then head her softly talking to herself.

_Brandy stood in the middle of the Village, in pain and terror. She saw a huge metal limb slash overhead, plowing right through a Barracks. A Villager ran by in terror, only barely missing getting cut wide open by a pair of snapping steel jaws. A Cannon shot at a huge metal hand, before being crushed asunder by the powerful grip of whatever it was. It was clear that the village's defenses did not pose any threat or challenge to whatever monster was besieging it._

Brandy snapped awake again, the blue lights fading back into her head. She looked once again at the Village, now horrified with her new information.

"That Village is going to be attacked. By a huge metal monster.", she said, and gulped. "We have to go save it. Right now."

"Wait, what-", said Trevor and Annabell simultaneously, but were cut off by Dan's deep inhale.

"You sure?", he asked, and began to warm up his muscles. For some reason, he did not bother to throw everybody on his back this time.

"Absolutely.", said Brandy, and nodded in worry. "That was a Dreamer dream. It was accurate." "Right.", said Dan, and turned directly towards the Village. He started to run off, leaving Trevor, Annabelle, and Bubble totally confused as to what Dan and Brandy had been talking about- The Dreamer. What was that?

"Thanks for the tip, Brandy.", said Dan, as his feet pummeled the ground. His shoulders bore Brandy, as his hands sparkled with golden light under the purplish sun. "Now let's go save that village."

Song: Throwing

The group ran along the packed ground, turned into hard cement from the overpowering height of the sun. It was unusually hot for October- that should have been a warning sign that something was wrong. But no one picked up on it- they were all too busy trying to run as fast as they could towards the Village, intent on saving it.

"Alright.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. Star flickered down his arms and legs, concentrating in his hands with a sparkling flare of pure power. "Here's the plan."

He nodded towards Leon, who nodded back in automatic agreement. "Leon, go fast. You're gonna run through the entire village, rescue every Villager and Builder you see. They're the helpless ones. The Villagers are the women in the dresses, the Builders are the short guys in hats with hammers. You got that?"

"Yes.", said Leon, filing the information away in his head for the mission. "I do."

"Good.", said Dan, and turned to Brandy. Almost no words were needed- none, in fact. Had it just been those two, Dan would not have spoken anything at all, relying on their connection with each other to relay information. But they were in a group, and everybody needed to know the plan. "Brandy, round up everyone else. We're probably gonna need a lot of help to take that thing down- and a Village's army is the best thing to do it."

"Right.", said Brandy, and saluted. Truth be told, she rather enjoyed following orders like that. She didn't know why. Perhaps it was just the fact that it was Dan giving them. "Will do."

"Bubble.", said Dan, and jumped over a rock. He landed on the other side with a boom, everyone riding on him bouncing a few times. But Leon and Brandy, being the fastest on their feet, still ran behind. "You need to distract that thing, whatever it is, when it shows up. Brandy described it as a huge metal monster. Shouldn't be too hard to spot."

"Okay, Dad.", said Bubble, and huffed. She began to spin blue energy around in her hand, no doubt preparing to cook up some quality illusions. "I'll distract it so much it'll feel like it's on drugs."

Dan stifled a laugh at the ridiculousness of that sentence, but finally turned to face Trevor and Annabelle. "Trevor.", he said. "Annabelle. You two have the most important mission. Find the monster's weak point, and break it. Just about everything has one, and I expect this one to be no different."

"Okay.", said Trevor, and placed his hand on the grip of his sword. Finally, he would get a chance to use it. He narrowed his eyes and flexed his muscles in anticipation- it had been far too long.

"What about you?", asked Annabelle, and gently grabbed her bow. "What are you gonna do?"  
"Oh, don't worry.", said Dan, and snarled. "My job? It's beating the living crap out of whatever we find."

"Ah.", said Annabelle. She was about to say something else, but her words were lost as Dan jumped over a small stream. She landed on his shoulder again, shook her head, and blinked.

"Okay, we're coming up on the village now!", Dan shouted, and slowly began to rear up. Leon put a bit more power into his legs, wishing that he could use his Smoke Trails right then. But unless he wanted to waste a Super, he would just have to be content with his current speed.

Brandy crouched a bit, then leapt straight up. She landed on Dan's arm, taking a stance. She had been running next to him, but she felt sort of uncomfortable not beng on him.

"Have your stuff ready.", he said, and a powerful golden glow started rotating around his clenched fists. "There's no telling when that monster will appear."

"This is a Forgotten, right?", asked Annabelle, and carefully placed a pair of arrows into her bow string. "Just making sure."

"Yes.", said Dan, and nodded. He began to slow down, as they reached the line of trees that surrounded every village. "Weird, powerful monster right in our path? Of course. It could be nothing but."

"Here comes the village!", Leon yelled, and crosses his arms in front of his body as Dan shattered the treeline with his powerful body. A pair of trees flew both in front of him and behind him, a square of dirt torn up along with their roots. The damage to them was not great- they could easily be replanted. Dan gave a mighty battle roar as he jumped into the clearing, took a stance, and saw-

Nothing. Nothing except a calm, perfectly ordinary, if sparsely populated, village. From the looks of the empty Army Camps, no army was currently trained. It also seemed as though the Gold Storages and Elixir Storages had been filling up for quite a while, and the Dark Elixir Storage was curiously empty. But, Dan thought to himself as he surveyed the area, that could explain why he saw no Heroes among the buildings. Their tall figures must have been put down for a few day's nap, all the Dark Elixir the village had used to upgrade them.

"Huh.", he said, and slowly let his tensed-up shoulders drop. "Okay, uh… never mind then. I guess we were early. Everyone, spread out. Get ready for the thing to arrive."

The Village itself was a beautiful, mostly upgraded Town Hall 12. A blue color scheme covered most of the buildings, much to Brandy's delight. Blue was still the most comforting color for her- except, of course, Seagreen. That had always been her favorite.

The shining Eagle Artillery in the middle of the village shone with a brilliant light, the canister of Dark Elixir on the side filled to the brim. The same was true for the Inferno Towers it bordered, their blue and white construction in stark contrast to their normal appearances. One had been set to Single Target, a single eye- like circle burning with an unmatched flame. The other had been set to Multi, a crimson icosahedron burning like a sacrificial alter.

But beyond these fancy defenses were the more basic parts of the village- the Barracks, electric horns sitting atop them. The Dark Barracks, covered with magical, non-melting ice all along the back. The Spell Factory and Laboratory sat in equal glory- but, oddly enough, neither of them semed to be running. In fact, the only things that seemed to be operational within the entire village were the defenses.

This seemed odd, but not particularly alarming. Perhaps the Chief of the village had not been there for a while. Such things happened sometimes.

"I guess so.", said Brandy, beside him. She looked out, to see the other members of the group slowly taking their places. They wanted the element of surprise for when the monster arrived. "Although, what does a Chief look like? We've never seen one, unless you count Spacekrakenx. But he was a King, so I hardly think it counts."

Dan realized that his thoughts must have been running through a communication channel, and he closed his eyes. He liked to talk out loud. "Yeah, and I don't know anyone who's seen one, either. I wonder what they look like…"  
"Maybe sort of like a King?", asked Brandy, and stared out over the village. They were still on the outskirts, nobody in the village having come to greet them. "That would make sense."

"Yeah.", sad Dan, and nodded. He thought it was just a touch odd that the Villagers among the buildings seemed to be following the exact same paths, over and over again. Usually they were indeed creatures of routine, but jumping over the exact same wall piece and making the exact same turns every single time seemed… excessive. And as he watched, a growing suspicion seemed to arise in him.

"Brandy, could you go check that out?", he asked, and pointed at the nearest Villager, who was clapping at a small flower. "Something doesn't seem right-"

Before he could finish his words, Brandy had already Dashed off in a puff of smoke. He felt the tingle of a kiss upon his cheek, and smiled. Brandy was fast. Sometimes, it seemed like she didn't even know how fast she really was.

Brandy touched down on the ground about 50 feet away half a second later, almost stumbling over herself in front of the Villager. She stood straight up, and flicked her finger off her forehead in what she hoped was a friendly gesture. "Hey!", she said. "What's happening?"

But the Villager, for whatever reason, failed to respond. She merely continued to clap at the flower- ending in exactly 7 claps, no more, no less. Then she straightened up and progressed to the closest tree, no doubt going to clap there as well.

"Hmph.", said Brandy, and blew her bangs out of her face. "Rude. Oh well, I'll just try someone else."

She Dashed over to the next closest person she could see- a Builder, who was hard at work upgrading a Bomb. Deciding to take a more direct approach, she placed her hand directly on his shoulder. "Hi.", she said, with a less sincere grin. "What's going on here?"

But the Builder, too, ignored her. He merely continued to wack at the Bomb with his all purpose tool, the green light around it slowly fading, millimeter by millimeter. To Brandy, it looked like a hammer. She didn't know how it upgraded things- but that was not what was important at that moment. What mattered was finding out just what was going on. Why none of them were talking to her, why none of them seemed natural.

"Hey.", she said, her friendly voice dropped in favor of a much harsher one. "I said, what's going on here? Why aren't you responding?"

The Builder didn't even register that she had said anything. He just continued to wack at the Bomb he was upgrading, in the same infuriatingly exact rhythm.

"Hey!", Brandy shouted, and grabbed the Builder by his shirt. She huffed from her nose, angry at the man. "I said, tell me what's going on!"  
But then, as his hat fell away from the force, Brandy could at last see his face. And what she saw made her gasp, recoil in terror, and look around in total shock.

"Oh, of course.", she said, spinning around to try and take in as much information as possible. She Dashed her way around a building, trying to see more- and saw the Barbarian King alter totally empty. No King prowling his territory. No King laid down for a nap, soon to be stronger. There was not even a sign that read "Gone Attacking", as what usually appeared whenever a Barbarian King was thoughtful enough to leave a note.

One might have just thought it was because the army was off attacking- but Brandy knew that could not have been the case. There was no army training. There were no spells brewing, or even a laboratory upgrade cooking. There was no sign of activity, except for the bristling defenses, ready to fire. Those things in themselves were not worrying- except for when combined with what Brandy had seen on the face of that Builder.

"Dan!", she screamed, and Dan stood up. Bubble, who had been sitting on the far side of the village, looked up from her bubbles. "We need to get out of here, right now!"

"Why?", asked Dan, flicking his Star charge back into his hands. "What's wrong with the village?"

"It's not real!", Brandy screamed, turning the heads of Trevor, Annabelle, and Leon. "There are no heroes! There's no army, or spells, or upgrades! And look!"  
She grabbed a passing Villager by the shoulder and turned her around, letting what she had seen clearly shine through. "They're made out of metal!"

Dan stood there for a second, trying to take in this new information. It swirled around in his mind, formulating a plan. Once he had it, in all its glory, he opened his eyes.

"Shoot.", he said, and scratched his head. "Well, what does that mean!"  
"The monster isn't going to attack the village!", Brandy yelled, and leapt up. She Dashed in the air towards Dan, and he caught her with an outstretched hand. She looked absolutely panicked, sweat dripping down her face.  
"It isn't?", asked Dan, and looked up. "Well, that's good."

"No!", Brandy yelled, as the ground began to quake under their feet. She jumped up on to his shoulder, and pointed at the center of the Village, something started to emerge from the ground on iron legs."The village _is _the monster!"

Song: Magnetica

"What?", Dan shouted, but it was too late. The Village's transformation had already begun.

The azure Town Hall stood straight up, rotating around on a massive screw. The top of its roof cracked open with an aching boom, revealing a sparking level 5 Mega Tesla. It hummed with massive amounts of electricity, far beyond that of what a regular Tesla or even a Sparky could unleash. It swiveled around on its axis like an eye, as if searching for the group.

The shining Eagle Artillery of the village rose on the dirt and steel back that was breaking out of the ground, automatically arming itself through some dark technology. The top slid back to reveal a shining golden cannon, pulsing with a miasma of incandescent light. It too rotated, but was fortunately unable to aim downwards- for now, at least.

One huge metal arm reached downwards, past a metal Villager running out of the way screaming a pre-recorded scream. It grabbed a Cannon, and yanked it straight out of the ground- and Brandy realized that is where her vision had come from.

The Inferno Towers of the village yanked themselves out of the ground, sliding up onto the mechanical beast's shoulders and head. One spun into place on the right, the single beam beginning to blaze. One clicked into position on the left, the fractured orb crackling with fire. The third one that had been missing slid into the right spot on the top of the monster's emerging head, still dripping dirt and stone. It hummed and spat for a few seconds, trying to decide whether it should be single or multi-target- then, somehow, it turned into both.

A pair of X-Bows slid onto the robotic titan's hands, one taking up residence on top of it and the other sliding down into its palm. Its fingers were made of the village's Cannons, each of them swiveling automatically, but leaving a path for the X-Bows to shoot. The X-Bows themselves made various popping sounds as they were loaded, locked, and aimed each at a different member of the group.

"Holy…", said Leon, and backed up. He grabbed Bubble from where she was on the grass, and started running off towards the treeline. Blind panic coursed through his mind at the sight of such an unimaginable monster rising up before him- he didn't think about where he was going at all. Bubble screamed, both at Leon for running away and her own terror of the beast. But Leon seemed to not even hear her, as he tore off through the dense foliage.

The Archer and Wizard Towers screamed with metal and stone voices, as they were horribly compacted into smaller versions. Most of their size was torn away, only the mechanical Archers and Wizards themselves remaining. They were slapped onto the side of the monster, as it emerged from the ground. Most of it had broken free of its dirt and stone prison, the glowing yellow eyes of the head now becoming visible.

"What is that thing?", Trevor gasped in fear, as more and more parts of the village rapidly loaded themselves onto the growing body. There went the Barracks, sliding themselves into bits along the torso to form scale or carapace-like armor. There went the Gold Mines, sliding deep into the gullet of the bizarre lifeform- if it could even be called that. There was a flash of light from both the spot where it had been torn from and the mouth, as the gold was melted.

"I don't know.", said Annabelle. "It doesn't even seem like it's real. Nothing can be like that."

"Well, it has to be a Forgotten.", said Brandy, and grit her teeth. She stuck out a fist behind her, her eyes and mind rapidly going over the monster, trying to find a weak point.

"Which means that we have to take it out.", said Dan, and greatly inhaled. The Star rushed down his body, and flowed into his hands. "Everyone, circle. On your marks."

The Elixir Storages and Elixir Collectors were tossed into the glowing maw, the sound of breaking glass coming from within as they were melted down and processed. The beast let out a low roar, and shook its head. The last of the dirt fell off and broke apart, revealing a head not unlike that of a metal Dragon. It shook its arm, and the village's Spell Factory slid up its arm, sliding into place right on its lower jaw. It hummed to life with a loud zap, ready to fire destructive spells at any target.

"Wait.", said Brandy, and looked around. Her face turned white at the realization, and her breathing went faster. "Bubble? Leon? Where did you guys go?"

There came no answer. The only thing that happened was the titanic steel behemoth absorbed the last of the village into itself, the Dark Elixir buildings, the Laboratory, and the Builder Huts slotting into the final places on its body. The Army Camps, for whatever reason, were left alone, and it was easy to assume that all the Traps were still underground.

"Bubble!", Brandy screamed, turning in a circle. But there was no answer, and Brandy began to fear the worst. "Leon!"

"I'm sure they're fine.", said Dan, and put one hand on her shoulder. It blazed with warmth, the Star flowing gently down her body and hitting the ground. "Leon can run fast, and I guess they could both turn invisible. They probably just retreated. Don't worry."  
"Yeah, but what if they didn't?", asked Brandy, a shock running through her chest like white lightning. She took another glance at the technological terror in front of them- it had begun to turn around.

"They did, okay?", said Dan forcefully, and took his hand off her shoulder. His eyes narrowed, and he started to hold them up in front of himself, taking aim right at the beast. "Now let's go kill this thing." 

"Right.", said Brandy, and crouched down low, trying to control her breathing. Leon and Bubble were safe. That's what she had to tell herself. And besides, Dan had said they were alright. So that was true. Or she hoped- no. It was true. That was the truth, and that is what mattered.

"Hey!", she heard Dan shout, and looked up to see him rushing at the monster. "Take this!"

He put his hands together, and yelled. "Super Blast Overdrive!"  
"Dan, wait!", Trevor yelled, running towards him as fast as he could. "Wait for backup-"

The blast hit the face of the monster right on, throwing up a huge explosion that sounded like if metal could scream. The mechanical dragon stumbled, and gave a low growl as it tried to right itself. Yellow smoke rose from its mouth, and bubbling liquified Gold started to drip from in between its whirling, drill-like teeth. "You fool…", it growled, and blinked. "You did not give a chance to introduce myself."

"Oh, shut up!", shouted Dan, and took another deep breath. He was surprised that his first attack had not worked- this one must have been made out of something far stronger. "We already know who you are. You're a Forgotten, working for Rakastamos, here to kill us before we reach him, yada yada yada. We get it."

"Oh, it's not just that.", the thing said, and laughed. It boomed a single musical note across the entire valley, shaking the trees and utterly destroying what little remained of the leaves. The entire river trembled nearby. "For I am The Cyborg! Third in line of Rakastamos's personal lieutenants!"

"I see.", said Dan, continuing to build up the charge in his hands. If he could use this moment to get information out of The Cyborg, then he would gladly take it. "Who are the others?"

"You're trying to get me to betray my master?", asked the Cyborg, and its eyes narrowed. "Although I suppose I can tell you about Bonoome… you've already met him after all."

"Yes.", said Dan. "What, was he the first in line?"

"Oh, no.", said the Cyborg, and its throat began to swell as the molten Gold built. "He was the fourth- and out of us, by far the weakest."

Dan jumped back, and the Cyborg attacked. It opened its mouth wide and spat a river of liquid, bubbling Gold that arced through the air like a stream of death. Dan shouted and unleashed the force within his hands, shooting it straight at the oncoming stream. But it had been a mistake to shoot such electricity into the perfect conductor- for both of them. As soon as the beam of Star hit the stream of gold, a bolt of powerful electricity launched out of both ends, striking Dan in the chest and scraping the Cyborg all along the left side of its face. Dan grunted and the Cyborg hissed, its eyes rolling around in its head as it switched to a different weapon.

Dan once again took a breath, noting that any damage to the head seemed to effective. "Guys!", he yelled, looking to see which of the Cyborg's weapons were currently active. "Where's my backup?"

But there was nobody to be found. Dan hoped they were all just in their positions, and narrowed hs eyes. Huge amounts of Star built up in both his arms and legs- he was going for a combo move like he had used against the Charger. But as the Cyborg built up his own attack, Dan worried that it might not be enough.

"You're too annoying.", said the Cyborg, the Inferno Towers starting to glow. "Too effective. Now die."

Dan let the energy in his feet jump up, manifesting as two golden spheres upon the air. He gathered the energy in his arms into right between his hands, drawing his arms back to fire. "Super…"

The Inferno Towers all shot at once, a multi-faceted blast of pure flame shooting right for Dan.

"Leg Day Double Overdrive!", Dan yelled, and fired off the shot. Once again, as the energy from his hands hit the energy from his feet, it was multiplied into a gigantic beam that streaked forward with unstoppable force. It slammed into the Inferno Towers' mixed beam with a bang, sending a huge shockwave throughout the entire area. The Cyborg grunted, and Dan let out a shout.

"What a ridiculous name for such a feeble attack.", said The Cyborg, and spun around the Eagle Artillery on his back. "It matters not that you can barely stop my Inferno Towers, for I have a far stronger attack."

"Shoot.", Dan spat, and tried to reach Brandy. He sent out his mental link, scanning the entire area for her mind. _Brandy!, _he thought as loudly as he could. _Where are you?  
I'm here, don't worry, _he heard Brandy say, and sighed in relief. _I'm sneaking up behind the Cyborg now. There's a wire that looks like it'll deal a lottt of damage if cut._

_Good, _thought Dan, and saw a shadow of energy above him. "Bad."

In the fraction of a second that followed, several things happened at once, most of them done by Dan. One was that he shut off his beam, letting the Inferno blasts freely fire. The other was that he dodged out of the way with a Lightning fast motion, the Inferno fire carving deep into the ground where he had been. The thing that followed afterwards was the blast volley from the Eagle Artillery slamming into the dirt, reducing much of the area to a smoldering crater.

Dan rolled over onto his feet again, and instantly started to recharge another blast. He held his hand up, channeling some leftover and extra energy into it to keep up a personal shield.

"My, my.", said the Cyborg, and raised its hands off the ground. The X-Bows ratcheted into place, all of them taking aim at Dan. From all the energy he had put off in such a short time, he was beginning to get a little winded. "You're a strong one, Dan. I can see why all the others had such trouble against you."

The Cyborg's Spell Factory lit up, and his mouth once again swelled with boiling, burning Dark Elixir. The Eagle Artillery once again took aim, and the Inferno Towers started to swivel. **"**But! There is no mortal soul in the world that can defeat I, The Cyborg-"

Right as he said that, he felt a popping sensation right in his back. Brandy, arriving at his body, had just suddenly cut that wire she said she had found suspicious. The Cyborg hung there motionless for a few seconds, before its entire upper body suddenly fell limp, hanging to one side.

Brandy jumped over a low spot on his tail, and ran up to Dan, the bit of wire in her hand. "Whew.", she said, and tossed it away. "That was close."

But, of course, no sooner had she said these words than the Cyborg's eyes once again flashed to life. There was a torturous groaning sound as his upper body regained control of itself, leaning upright again. Hs eyes now burned with hatred, and the huge assortment of weaponry on hs body all flashed at once. "Oh, that is it.", he said, and raised his hand. "Everybody dies."

Song: Burning Colosseum

The Cyborg roared, and held its arms up into the air. Everything aimed directly upwards- the Eagle Artillery, the Inferno Towers, the X-Bows, the Mega Tesla- everything. Brandy watched in confusion as they all fired upwards, shooting straight up into the sky.

"I- I tore out that wire!", she said, and started to build some Dash in her hand. "Why didn't it work?"  
"I don't know.", said Dan, and closed his eyes. He began to take in one long breath, as deep as he possibly could. He knew that he would need such a thing in order to defeat the Cyborg.

"Okay, we couldn't find a weak point.", said Trevor, suddenly standing next to Dan, hands on his knees. Annabelle was now there too, wiping oil off her forehead. "You guys find one?"

"No.", said Brandy, and looked up. She yelped, and jumped upwards over Dan's head. Throwing up her arm, she tried to create the largest Dash shield she had ever made- she had to. Dan hadn't made a shield yet, and a combined hit from all that weaponry would certainly kill Annabelle and Trevor. She could not bear to lose them.

As Brandy screamed in both effort and pain, a huge Dash shield appeared over the group's heads. The combined blast of the village's defenses slammed into it not a second later, sending out a deafening shockwave for miles around. Brandy screamed in defiance, feeling the immense weight push against her. But after a few tortured, agonizing seconds of pain and pressure, the blasts faded after failing to hit their target.

Brandy screamed again, out of pure pain this time, and fell right into Dan's arms. Her entire right arm was sparkling with blue energy. There were several spots where the skin had burst open, blood slowly dripping out. Her face was contorted in pain, and she coughed.

"Brandy?", Dan asked, and Brandy slowly opened her eyes. "Shoot.", she said, and coughed. "That… that took a number on me. Hold on."

"Take her somewhere safe.", said Dan, and handed Brandy off to Annabelle. He gave her back a little shove, and she ran off towards the treeline- much to Brandy's mumbled support. But Dan knew that the block, although very helpful, had let her too injured to continue fighting. Leon and Bubble were still gone, and Annabelle had just left. That meant only him and Trevor were able to keep fighting- so, really, only him.

"You are truly impressive.", Dan heard, as the Cyborg began to move towards him. Every metal step boomed upon the ground, its sharp feet making a crater every time they impacted the dirt. "I can see how you were able to take down each and every one of my friends and coworkers thus far. However…"

They Cyborg raised its hand again, each Cannon on its fingers gathering swirling energies deep within it. The Eagle Artillery slowly reloaded, and started to prepare one last shot. The Cyborg's eyes beeped and spun, trying to get exactly the right shot angle to hit Dan where it would hurt the absolute most. "I am not like those others. They had weakness. They could be defeated. I can not."

Dan snarled, and suddenly lashed out with his right hand. "Oh yeah?"  
Before The Cyborg could move to block, a thin beam of pure Star shot out like a perfect Spear. It hit the side of the Cyborg's head clean on, piercing straight through and coming out the other side, like a sharpened chopstick stabbed right through a bread roll. The Cyborg let out a cry of shock and pain, one eye exploding from the sudden injury.

A mixture of oil and Elixir began to drip from the side of the Cyborg's head, onto the ground below. It lowered its arm, the light in its working eye sputtering madly, trying to keep on going.

"You- you hit my braiiiiiin.", the Cyborg whined, its damaged head messing with its voice. "How- how- how0- how did yo udo that?"

Dan exhaled, and set down his hand. He could see that the edges of the Cyborg were beginning to fall off, onto the ground below. "Whew.", he said, and clapped his hands in a mighty sound. "That was a tough one, alright."

"You think you have beeat n me?", the Cyborg groaned, its words garbled through its rapidly melting head. It raised the Inferno Tower on its head to try and strike- but that, too, was damaged. It had gone from both modes at once to neither, sparking just as much as its one working eye. "I,,, the Cyyyborg?"

"Yes.", said Dan, and breathed in again. He held up his finger, about to try another shot. He didn't know if it could regenerate or not, but he bet that it could. And he was not going to take any chances.

"Well, sorry to disappoint you. But…", the Cyborg began. "I always have a back up plannnn-"

But before he could say what that plan was, another beam from Dan shot straight through the top of his head, bursting out through his other eye.

The Cyborg gave one last tortured cry, and fell. Its entire body twisted like a gigantic metal rubbish heap, collapsing onto the ground with a sound that defied description. Its mouth fell open onto the ground, melted Elixir and Gold running together and slowly dripping out. It was hard to tell if it would turn into Elixir or not- it had been a village come together.

Dan almost turned away- almost. But he saw something slowly creeping towards the Cyborg's head. He leaned a bit closer to look better- and saw a small collection of writhing metal pipes, all crawling towards the gaping holes in the monster's head.

Unbeknownst to Dan, those were the pipes and tubing left behind by the Jesterbot 2.0, when Brandy had put a fist through its torso. Those had dropped off on command, going to the exact, perfectly planned spot in space and time where they were needed most. And that happened to be right there, right then, when the Cyborg needed help.

The tubes slowly slid into the Cyborg's head, and its eyes started to blink back awake. A metallic creak issued from deep within its throat, and its shoulder started to move.

"Shoot!", Dan shouted, and jumped back. He looked behind him, to see that Brandy was starting to get up. That was good- she would still be a valuable fighter. Trevor and Annabelle looked ready to fight as well. That was also good, as he was going to need all three of them for what was coming next. "Guys, we're all going to have to strike together on this one!"

"Okay.", Brandy said, and breathed in. She grabbed her aching side, and grit her teeth. "I can do that. Let's go."

"You insolent little wretches!", screamed the Cyborg, and raised its hands. The Eagle Artillery on its back did not even wait to fire- it simply exploded right into the air, launching an entire volley of powerful blasts right over the group's heads. As Dan looked at it closer, he noticed that the Cyborg's entire body, all of the absorbed defenses, looked quite different. It was almost as if they had been upgraded. But that was impossible- a Town Hall of 12 was the highest Town Hall. At least that Dan was aware of. Was there one higher? He didn't know. But if anyone had the capacity for higher, it was this mechanical monster.

"Brandy.", said Dan, and gestured to something he had noticed, on the Cyborg's head. "You see that thing? I need you to-"

He stopped talking, and looked around. "Brandy? Honey, where'd you go?"

But Brandy, for whatever reason, had disappeared.

"There's not time to say goodbye!", the Cyborg yelled, and raised both its hands. Every bit of firepower on its entire body glowed at once- the Archers, the Wizards, the Cannons, the Bomb Towers, the X-Bows, the Mortars, the Inferno Towers, the Eagle Artillery- even the Air Defenses turned to fire. The Spell Factory on its jaw lit up as well, preparing to fire a Lightning. "This is the end, you pathetic mortal scraps!"

Dan took a step back in a carefully prepared stance, trying to get enough energy together to deflect the blast. But his foot slid deeper into the dirt than it should have logically gone- and he felt it touch the unmistakable textured surface of a Giant Bomb.

The traps that had been buried in the ground went off all at once right underneath Dan, washing flames of fire and a huge explosion over his entire body. The Spring Traps did nothing against his mighty weight, but the Bombs and Giant Bombs covered his entire body with a huge explosion. He yelled in surprise and some pain, closing his eyes to ward off the smoke. But the purpose of the Traps had been, of course, not to damage him. No, they had been to take his mind, eyes, and attention off of the real threat.

"Ha!", the Cyborg shouted, and let his entire volley fly- or he would have, had something not come flying straight out of the forest like a guided missile, hitting the Cyborg directly upon the head and smashing the jewel that had been placed there to bits.

The Cyborg screamed in pain, its weaponry firing at random. Huge streaks of arrows and pure flame slashed across the entire area, some ending up hitting Dan dead on. But he crossed his arms and held his breath, trying not to let any shot get past him. Which, fortunately ,they did not.

The cannonballs and arrows strafed the entire area, a great deal of them slamming into Dan's body. But he held firm, even though the pain was beginning to get through his already damaged armor. He took a breath in, preparing to use the Star even though he was exhausted and his lungs were suffering tears. But before he could, the shadow of pure destructive force fell over him. He looked up, and saw the firepower of the Eagle Artillery coming down straight on top of Annabell and Trevor.

"Oh.", he said, and dove towards them. "I had forgotten about that."

The full force of the blast came down directly onto Dan's back, sending out lesser shockwaves in every direction like the peal of a great bell. He groaned in agony as the raw damage and power hit him, cracking what armor he had left into bits. It fell off of him, smoking and broken, revealing his equally smoking and torn back. He coughed a single bloody cough, as the impact of the beyond-max-level Eagle Artillery slowly settled within his bones. "Ow…"

Trevor and Annabelle ran out from beneath him, as Dan dropped to his knees. He was far from out, but he was, for now, down. He would need about a minute to recover, before he could fight again. But someone had finally joined them- or, to be precise, two someones.

"Come on!", Leon yelled, and flicked another few spinner blades out of his pocket. He took careful aim at the speed in which he was running and launched them, arcing and cutting through the air, headed straight for the Cyborg's eye. "Come on, just try and hit me!"

Bubble, riding on his shoulders, said nothing. She merely closed her eyes and concentrated, bending the air around the two. To the Cyborg, as long as they were standing right behind Bubble's illusion, they were totally invisible. But she had to keep it up.

"What?", the Cyborg roared, and randomly swiped out. He missed the two by a mile, and they kept on sprinting at top speed. "Who the- what the-"

Leon grimaced, and shot a look at the main group. He saw Brandy leaning against a tree, going through her pockets for some reason. He saw Dan face down on the ground in a huge crater, struggling to stand. He saw Trevor and Annabelle desperately trying to dodge the continuous shots of the Cyborg, and panic started to set into him like quick-acting cement. But he refused to be scared- he gave a ferocious shout, and sped up. He drew Hunter Killer out of his pocket, and aimed it right at the Cyborg's head. Even if something had managed to rejuvenate it, one more clean shot through the head would most likely finish it off.

"Leon, slow down!", Bubble screamed, pushing her hands around in fear. "I can't keep up with you! He's gonna see us!"

"What?", Leon shouted, and slowed down. But that too was off- he had slowed down too much, and was now out of the way of Bubble's illusion screen. And that was when the Cyborg saw him- a double target, to be utterly destroyed.

"Die!", the Cyborg yelled, and swiped his free hand. Leon crossed his arms, and Bubble tried uselessly to throw up a shield- but neither of their defenses mattered against the blow. Five gigantic Cannons slammed into Leon, throwing him far away into the air. He felt a sharp, excruciating pain in both his legs, and screamed in agony as he tumbled through the air.

Song: Third Bomb

"Leon!", Brandy screamed, as she saw them fly through the air. "Bubble!"

Dan looked up, having finally managed to push himself to his feet. He stretched out his arm to catch the two, but his blurred vision caused him to wildy miss. Leon flew over his head, past Trevor's waiting grasp, and slammed directly into the ground. This caused another loud crunch, and another scream of intense pain. He skidded along the ground like a thrown ragdoll, and slammed into the treeline. He couldn't move, only continue to scream.

Bubble missed Dan's grip as well, but managed to fall into Brandy's. Her face was streaked with a mixture of tears and blood, both her's and Leon's. Her arm lay in an unnatural position by her side- Brandy could tell at once that it had been broken, along with both of Leon's legs. Brandy began to gasp in horror over and over again- they had run out of Heal spells.

"Bubble…", she said, and gripped Bubble closer to her. "Don't worry. It's all gonna be okay."

But Bubble did not respond. She merely lay there, looking towards the sky, her mind gently shutting down from total shock. She could hear and feel nothing.

Dan groaned, and forced himself to stand up straight. He took another deep breath, trying to gather as much Star into his hands as possible. He thought that perhaps, if he just shot one last blast, he could finish off the Cyborg for good. He didn't know if he would survive the process.

"Shoot…", Trevor said, and looked at Annabelle. They weren't sure if they should run or not. They were both in pretty good shape, but stood absolutely no chance against the Cyborg. They questioned whether it would be better to live, or die alongside their friends.

"It's over, useless mortals!", the Cyborg shouted, and plunged his fist into the ground. The entire valley began to shake, and faraway screams were heard. Trees far away shook and fell, as a huge golden Dragon emerged from the ground, taking flight towards the group. "I hardly will bother to finish you myself… no, that is what my servants are for. Although..."

Brandy closed her eyes, and knew what she had to do. She Dashed over to Leon, and grabbed his legs. Setting Bubble down on his chest, she concentrated on where his legs had broken. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, despite the situation, she placed one hand on his joints. She thought about the pain, exhaled- and swept it away, into the open air. The damage was still there, of course- but the pain did manage to subside a bit, enough for Leon to form words.

"Mom…", he groaned, and looked up. His face was bleeding, the blood mixing with tears. "What are you doing?"  
"I'm helping the pain.", said Brandy, and did it again. Leon swallowed, unable to believe it. "What?", he asked. "Why? We're all gonna die…"

"No!", Brandy shouted, and looked up towards Dan. "We're not gonna die. Just hold on."

"Hey, Dan?", asked Trevor, looking up towards the Dragon and the Cyborg. The area around them was shaking, everything building up towards what felt like an explosion. "What are we gonna do?"

"I don't know.", said Dan, and brought up his shaking, shining hands for one last blast. "Maybe this. Maybe this will work. Just hold on."

"Hold on?", asked both Leon and Annabelle, with expressions of desperation. "We can't just hold on! We're about to die!"  
"No.", said Brandy loudly, and Dan quietly. Brandy hugged Leon as tight as she could, bringing in Bubble even closer. "Just hold on, hold on, everything's gonna be okay-"

"Get behind me!", shouted Dan, and held up his hands together. A quiet determination sparked in them, fueled by a desire to live. "I'm gonna blow him up with one shot!"

"It's over, mortals!", shouted the Cyborg, and the entire group fell back. The terror of his voice blasted out for miles, as he aimed all his weaponry straight at Dan. "Time to die!"

"No!", Dan yelled, and a green aura flared up dozens of feet above his head. His teeth grew longer, and his pupils less visible. He let out his charged up blast, with a sound that felt like an erupting volcano.

"Yes!", the Cyborg yelled, and unleashes his fullest strength. The two forces charged towards each other, each carrying enough energy to transform a small city to ash. They twisted and spireled in the air towards each other, increasing as they went, until-

Until a single voice rang out above them all, from the clifftop below. It sounded like justice and terror all rolled into one, a perfect balance. "Sutah Platina! Za Warudo!"

Song: Diamond is Unbreakable

At those words, time froze. Well, not so much as froze as torn apart, ripped asunder by the powerful abilities of the one who spoke. A horrible screeching note rolled across all of reality, the entire world turning grey to the vision of all two who were capable of seeing it. And as the man in white touched down upon the ground, he stared at the scene of intense combat down below.

But it did not invoke feeling in him. There was no fear, or anger, or even confusion. Merely a sigh, an adjustment of his hat's brim, and a trademark "Yare yare daze."

With the smallest of thoughts, he summoned his legendary Stand to his side. The mighty Star Platinum hovered in midair, its long hair flowing in the wind, awaiting its master's orders.

"Star Platinum…", said Jotaro Kujo, and continued to observe the scene below. "Anata no atarashī kunren sa reta chikara wa koko de yakunitachimasu. Sorera no 2tsu no mokutō o nyūshu shite kudasai.

Star Platinum nodded, and temporarily faded away. Jotaro waited a bit, feeling deep within him the sensation of his stopped time beginning to fade. He had only three more seconds- but for him, such a time was an eternity. His reflexes were faster than anybody he knew.

But, soon enough, his two companions emerged from the thin air. They too could move in his world of stopped time, for he had personally allowed it. One carried a comb in his fingers, flipping it through his immaculately styled hair. He tugged at his collar, and looked around.

"Oiii, Josuke!", shouted his other partner, and put his hand on his brow. He stared into the valley with wide eyed wonder, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. "Doku ni iru no?"  
"Wakarimasen, Okuyasu.", said Josuke Higishikata, "Jotaro-san ni doshitara I ka kiite kudasai."

Jotaro pointed, the force of such a pose known to many as a destructive maneuver. He pointed out the group down below, right on the brink of being blasted into oblivion by the Cyborg's full power blast. "Okuyasu.", he said, and Okuyasu perked up. "Za Hando o shiyō shite, jama ni naranai yō ni shite kudasai. Anata ga sore o hikidasu koto ga dekirunara."

Okuyasu saluted, and Za Hando appeared behind him. With a loud, enthusiastic cry and a swipe of pure Stand energy, space itself vanished. A hole was opened in reality between the three and the group down below, one that would not activate until time unfroze.

"Josuke.", said Jotaro, and frowned. He always did that. "Karera wa kega o shite iru yō ni miemasu. Sorera o iyasu tame ni anata no kureijīdaiyamondo o shiyō shite kudasai."

Josuke gave a thumbs up, and was about to say something. But he was cut off by the all-encompassing sound of time slowly beginning to work again, the greyscale of the world turning into color, and the movement starting to creak back into existence.

"Toki wa no mukidas.", said Jotaro, and closed his eyes. Time began to move again.

As soon as it did, a whole lot of things happened, some of them even good.

The entire group was yanked away by the force of erasing space, the Cyborg's combined blast shooting right past them. It continued on into the ground, carving away the rock and melting the dirt for thousands of feet until it smashed against a tectonic plate, far down below. The entire valley rumbled, but it was too far away and too gradual to be noticed by anyone.

At that same time, the group flew up towards the cliff where Okuyasu had slashed from. Of course, not even the force of that small vacuum was enough to bring them all the way there, and they ceased their travel around halfway through.

Dan, however, kept firing. His shot rocketed past the Cyborg's, continuing on through the air and shooting straight for the Dragon. The Dragon jerked its head back to avoid the shot, the suddenness of the movement causing it to lose its sense of direction. It was forced to bank and take a low landing in the trees to avoid a crash, vanishing somewhere below the firs.

"Wh- what?", he said, as he noticed they they were now, in fact, flying through the air. Not wasting even a second, he spun around, grabbing everybody he could reach. Tucking them close to his body in a flash of quick movement, he prepared for the crash against the cliff. "Everyone, hold on-"

But the crash never came. With another grating blast of sound, Okuyasu struck again. A vacuum opened up in space, yanking the group upwards, over the cliff, and directly behind Jotaro.

As they rolled to a stop, Brandy couldn't quite believe what it was she was seeing. The three men- well, boys, really. Although the one in white was a man- in front of her hardly resembled anyone or anything she had ever seen. And behind the one in the blue jacket, there was-

"A- a Stand?", Brandy gasped, as she rolled behind Dan's arm, and into a different field of vision. "What?"

The Cyborg raised his assortment of weaponry, and took a close look. The area he had hit harbored absolutely no sign whatsoever of the group anymore. They had either been entirely disintegrated, or somehow moved out of the way. And judging from the state they had been last time he had looked, the Cyborg was going to go with the first option.

"Excellent, excellent.", he said to himself, one hand leisurely heading for the communication button on the side of his massive body. "I'll just tell Rakastamos, and-"

But then, his right eye became aware of an odd-looking figure standing on a rock in front of him. He seemed, to the Cyborg's highly advanced vision, to be coated with some kind of totally alien energy signature, unlike anything on record.

He looked to be unlike anything in the entire world, even far different from the ones up on the rocks. His bright blonde hair stood straight up, crackling and sparkling with lightning. His orange clothes flapped in the wind, and his fists lay clenched at his sides. His proportions suggested him to be a child, but his overwhelming power suggested anything but.

"What…", the Cyborg said to himself, and took a closer look at the warrior. He began to extend a special probe, towards the child's head. "What are you?"

"Ka…", said the boy, and moved his hands back. His eyes narrowed, making sure he could get a good target.

"Ka, hm?", the Cyborg asked, "That is an interesting name. I don't hear it often."

"Me…", said the boy, and moved his hands together. A slight glow began to sparkle in between them, the Cyborg's energy readings going so far off the charts they had entered a new one.

"Me?", the Cyborg asked, and began to ready a needle deep within his body. This youth had incredible power- perhaps he could steal that power for himself. "What are you-"  
"Ha…. me…", said the boy quietly, and his hands started to fill with immense amounts of light.

"Oh.", said the Cyborg, and only then realized what was about to happen. He crossed his arms in front of himself, trying to protect upon the absolute onslaught that would soon be released. His Dragon enforcer chose that precise time to point its head above the treeline, staring right at the small thing in front of the Cyborg that seemed to be causing it so much terror.

"HAAAAA!", screamed the boy, and threw his fists forward as his energy beam was unleashed.

The blast was not merely large, or only extraordinary powerful. Such adjectives would be folly before the sheer might that was unleashed at the boy's command. The beam seemed not to be made of just semi-physical energy, but a solid chunk of matter. That was its presence it commanded as it punched through the Cyborg's entire body, utterly annihilating every part it touched like a hole puncher bit through onionskin. The beam was a magnificent gold in color, similar to the ones Dan shot- but this was beyond anything even he had managed to conjure up. This was on another level of strong, one that Dan could only stare at, in abject wonder.

The beam continued on, the mere aftereffects of the blast tearing what little remained of the Cyborg's body into pieces. The Cyborg could not even make a sound as his body was punched into dust- there was no time. Hardly a second had passed from the time the boy fired and the time the beam had shot across the forest.

It streaked off like a shot from a Cannon, firing all the way out of sight. The width of the beam fluctuated, going from thin to wide to thin again in a fraction of a second. All the trees for hundreds of feet were bent back, what little leaves remained on them disintegrating from both the pressure and the heat the beam gave off, even from that distance. The boy snarled, his hair flying in the wind he created as he fired the beam, until he was sure his opponent was no more.

Once he was sure that the Cyborg had been utterly wiped from existence, the beam began to weaken. Its golden glow faded to a mere yellow, until it slowly faded from the air, becoming just flicks and flecks of dust upon the light. The boy took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. His previously golden hair turned to black, and fell limp down onto his shoulders.

"What…", Dan breathed, hardly even able to believe what he had just seen. The one that had shot the Cyborg out of existence was just a boy- there was no way he was that strong. And yet, that beam was one he could hardly even believe existed. It was like he was… was… Dan didn't even know. There wasn't a metaphor he could imagine for that kind of strength. "...was that?"

"Who are you people?", Brandy asked, and jumped up from the ground. She landed on Dan's shoulder, and looked around at the assembled group of three. "I mean, thank you for saving us, but-"

Then, a thought occurred to her. She dug her hands into her pocket, looking for something. Once she found it, she brought it up, out, and into the light- the Ring of Three Wishes.

The second band had been broken, soft smoke coming from off of it. Brandy looked around at the group, who stared at the Ring with only curiosity. "Did… did this summon you? I know that when I pressed it the last time, some weird people came, so I thought that-"

"Yare yare…", said Jotaro, and once again adjusted his cap. He did that a lot. "Dō yatte koko ni kita no ka wakarimasen. Watashitachi wa shitte imashita."

"Uh…", said Brandy, staring at him. She tried to make sense of who, or what he was. With his long white coat, odd mix of hat and hair, and strange symbols all over his body, Brandy thought he resembled an unbearded Wizard. "What was that?"

"Oi, Josuke!", said Okuyasu, an expression of extreme worry crossing his face. "Nihongo wa hanasemasen! Dō suru?"

"Good grief.", said Jotaro, and sighed. He took a step forward, and grudgingly stared at Brandy. She shifted back, not really liking how standoffish he was. "I speak English. Let me talk to them."

Josuke nodded, and Okuyasu nodded as well after a second of staring. Dan got up from the ground, and rubbed his head. "Good morning, sir.", he said, and extended his hand. "Who, and what, are you?"

Jotaro looked at Dan's immense form, and made a small movement with his finger. Star Platinum emerged from his body to shake Dan's hand, causing Brandy's eyes to almost pop out of her head and Leon's tail to stick out all the way from his jacket.

"Woah!", Leon shouted, staring at Star Platinum in shock. "That- that's a-"

"A Stand?", asked Jotaro wearily, and nodded. "Yeah. This is Star Platinum."  
"Star Platinum…", Brandy breathed, and looked it up and down. "What an incredible Stand. I wish mine was like that. What can it do?"

"Brandy, what are you looking at?", asked Dan, and looked out across the group. "Is he-"

"You're not a Stand user?", asked Jotaro, his face not budging. "Hmm. How many of you are?"

Brandy and Leon raised their hands, and Jotaro made a mental note. "Anatagata futari. Sutando o hikidashimasu."

Josuke and Okuyasu both nodded, purple and blue light flaring around their bodies. "We're all Stand users.", Jotaro said, gesturing slightly to his two companions. "Watch."

"Woah…", Brandy gasped, as Crazy Diamond and The Hand appeared behind Josuke and Okuyasu. "Those… are… amazing! What are they called? What can they do?"

"This is Crazy Diamond, and Josuke Higishikata.", said Jotaro, and gestured. Josuke grinned, and waved. "He can heal things. Like how he healed the kid's legs, and the girl's face."

Leon startled, realizing that his legs did, in fact, not hurt anymore. He looked down, to see that Bubble was sleeping peacefully, the blood gone from her skin. "What? When? I didn't even see him!"

"During my stopped time.", said Jotaro with a smile, allowing himself to take some pride in his abilities. "That's what Star Platinum does. That, and punching."

"What about that one?", asked Brandy, looking at The Hand. Okuyasu kicked a rock, looking around at the scenery. "He looks impressive."

"That's The Hand, and Okuyasu Nijimura.", said Jotaro. "He's kinda stupid, but pretty dependable. Okayuasu? Miseru."

Okuyasu looked up, and grinned. "Heh.", he said, and spun around, preparing to pose. If he was to properly present himself, then he would have to put in effort.

"Za Hando!", he shouted, and pointed to a nearby stump. There were a lot of them around.

"Sono kirikabu o keshi nasai!", he yelled, and Za Hando attacked. It swung its hand downwards, a loud bass sound erupting from the motion. A large blue shape appeared in the air right where the stump was- then it was gone, along with the stump. Absolutely no trace remained of the wood, save a single Gem, spinning upon the ground.

"Holy Se'th.", said Brandy, staring at the three Stands in wonder. They were so powerful, she wondered if- no. There was no way. They probably had their own lives to attend to, and-  
"Wanna come with us?", asked Trevor, and Jotaro looked down. "We're going on a quest to save the world from a Dragon. We need all the help we can get."

"Yare yare…", said Jotaro under his breath. "We're busy. I don't know about the other kid though, you might want to check with him."

"Other kid-", said Dan, then realized who Jotaro was talking to. "Oh, right!"

Dan leapt off the cliff, to the spot where the blonde boy had been. He needed to find out as much as he could about his extraordinary power, and how he could attain such majestic might for himself.

"Now.", said Jotaro, and whirled around, his long white coat adding to the effect. "You said you had Stands. What are they?"

"Uh…", said Leon, and held out his hand. He concentrated a bit, as Hunter Killer swirled into view, its gunmetal barrel glinting with soft metal light. "This is mine. Hunter Killer."

He held it out in shooting position, softly switching between its different modes. "It shoots stuff."

"And, uh…", said Brandy, and trailed off. She didn't really know how to explain The Dreamer to any of them. It wasn't a physical Stand like Leon's, and it certainly wasn't a floating, bipedal spirit like the three. She had even been steadily using it less- she wasn't sure what to say.

"The Dreamer.", said Leon for her, Brandy turning to glare at him. "My mom's Stand is called The Dreamer. She can see the future with it, I guess."

"Hmmm….", said Jotaro, staring at the two. They both possessed similar abilities to Stands he had encountered in the past, although not fully realizing it at the time. They also bore resemblance to Stands a close friend of his would run into sometime in the future- but of course, he also had no idea such Stands were a reality. To him, Hunter Killer and The Dreamer were interesting, but nothing more.

"So what are they named after?", he asked, and Brandy frowned. "Huh?"

"What are they named after?", he repeated, and leaned forward a bit. "All Stands are named after something. Star Platinum was named by my grandfather's friend, after one of the Tarot cards. Crazy Diamond and The Hand are both inspired by those two idiot's favorite songs and bands… but what about you? What's your inspiration?"

Brandy and Leon looked at each other, wondering what Jotaro could possibly be talking about. "Uh…", said Leon, and shrugged. "I don't know. Hunter Killer just sounded cool, I guess. Could be a music name or a Tara card or something. Whatever."

"And I just named it The Dreamer because that's what it does.", said Brandy. "It dreams. I mean I had no idea it had to be named after something. No Stand I know is."

"What other Stands do you know?", asked Jotaro, suddenly curious. "Tell me."

"Uh…", said Brandy, and almost sat down. She was getting a little intimidated by Jotaro's menacing aura, and needed a little break. "My friend has a Stand. It's called Phantom of the Opera."

Jotaro almost laughed, but of course managed to keep it hidden. After that one Sun incident, he swore he would never laugh again. "I see."

A loud crash suddenly sounded on the side of the cliff, Star Platinum swinging around to attack. But it instantly relaxed when it saw just Dan, and the boy that had had blonde hair. Dan looked incredibly excited, while the boy just looked embarrassed to be there.

"Hey, everyone.", said Dan, and looked down at the boy. "This is Gohan. He said he didn't really know how he came here, just that he was suddenly here, and-"  
"And then there was a robot.", finished Gohan, and sighed. "So I killed it, because I figure that's what everybody wants me to do. Nobody cares that I can find the square root of numbers that don't exist, they just want me to break stuff."  
"Yeah, but you break stuff well.", said Dan, and leaned in. "Seriously, how did you do that?"

"You.", said Jotaro, and pointed towards Gohan. "What sort of power did you use?"

"Ki.", said Gohan simply, and left it at that. He didn't know what else to say.

"Ki…", said Jotaro, trying to remember what that was. He knew that his grandfather had used Hamon, but the beam the boy had unleashed was far beyond anything he had seen anyone do.

"Was that Star?", asked Dan, and his hand flared up in excitement. "Cause you have to tell me how you used that much."

"Star?", asked Gohan and Jotaro, both at once. "What's Star?"

"This.", said Dan, and held up his hand. "You know, ancient martial art?"

"Hamon?", asked Jotaro, and raised an eyebrow in a rare show of caring. "Is that what you call Hamon here? Wherever here is."

"I don't know.", said Dan, and let his hand drop. "What's Hamon?"

"Everyone!", said Annabelle loudly, and they all turned to look up, Annabelle standing upon a rock. Even Josuke and Okuyasu, who had gotten bored with a conversation they could not speak in and were just staring at the view, hands on each other's shoulders, totally just two friends.

"We're getting nowhere.", she said, and pointed to Jotaro. "You said you were super busy. And you, Gohan- you probably need to leave too."

"Yeah.", said Gohan, and looked down at the ground. "I do. If I don't get back to studying soon, Mom's gonna kill me."

Jotaro sighed, and turned around. "Sā, baka. Shuppatsu shimasu.", he said, and Josuke nodded.

"A, mō shuppatsu shimasu ka?", asked Okuyasu, Za Hando vanishing back into his body. "Shikashi, watashi wa chōdo koko de sore o suki ni nari hajimete imashita! Kono fūkei ga mobairugēmu no kurasshu, kurasshuobukuran ni dore dake nite iru kani sae kidzukimashita."

"Eto.", said Josuke, and nodded. He ran his comb through his hair out of habit, and started to follow Jotaro around the bend. A curious white filter lay over a patch of air in the middle of the path- no doubt the way back to Morioh. "Anata ga tadashī… watashi wa ima soko ni iru no kashira?"

"You guys are crazy.", said Jotaro, then transitioned back into Japanese for their sake. He settled back into his regular mode, preparing himself once again for the serial killer hunting task at hand. "Gēmu ni sanka suru koto wa dekimasen. Sore wa imi ga arimasen."

And with that closing remark, the Duwang gang vanished behind the bend, into a flash of white light. The portal closed up, and they were gone, back to their bizarre adventures.

"You.", said Dan, and turned to Gohan. "You have to teach me how to get that strong."

Gohan stared at him, then put two fingers to his forehead. He had watched his dad do the technique a lot- he was sure he had it down by now. "Just get angry. It'll do the rest."

Gohan closed his eyes, his first try at Instant Transmission most likely a success. He vanished, leaving the group once again by themselves.

"So.", said Dan, staring at the spot where Gohan had disappeared from. "That happened."

"Yep.", said Brandy, staring at the Ring of Three Wishes. It had generated immense value for them so far, but there was now only summon left. And they had to save it for Rakastamos. No matter what, she could not let herself use the last summon of the ring until then. "It did."  
"So… anyone wanna take a little break?", asked Dan, and sat down on the ground. He looked around for any food growing anywhere, but saw none. So he just picked up the Gem that had been generated from the trunk Za Hando had erased, and tossed it to Brandy. She grabbed it with one hand and tucket it into her pocket, keeping it nice and safe. "I'm tired."

"Yeah.", said Bubble, and sat up. "That was exhausting. And that robot hurt me. Good thing that nice man with weird hair fixed me up though."  
For a second, Bubble thought she could hear something banging on the other side of reality, unspeakable rage only contained by a barrier between dimensions. But she dismissed it.

Song: Memories of Bah

"Dan?", asked Brandy quietly, staring down at the ground. She had tucked the Ring back into her pocket, and was now sitting cross-legged upon the ground. Dan could immediately tell that something was wrong, and he went over to sit next to her. "What's wrong, honey?"  
"I keep…", said Brandy, and closed her eyes. She had to force herself to say what was next in her words, but it was difficult. She could not bear the thought of saying it out loud.

"What?", asked Dan, and put his massive hand on her legs. His strength could break hills, but his touch was as gentle as an April breeze. "What is it, Brandy?"  
"Well…", said Brandy, and reopened her eyes again. Her face turned a little red, then slowly started to become more and more white. Her fingers started to tremble, and sweat dripped down her cheeks. "I keep… I keep on…"

"Yes?", asked Dan, and slightly shifted on his massive weight. One hand went onto the back of Brandy's spine, supporting her all the way up her back. "Come on. You can tell me."  
"I've been having these visions lately.", said Brandy, her voice dropping from a regular speaking tone to a loud whisper. Her heart started to beat faster, barely able to articulate what thought entered her head after that. "And… and... "

"Brandy.", said Dan, and ever so gently placed a single finger on Brandy's chin. He looked her dead in the eyes, trying to send her all the love and affection he possibly could. He did not know what had sparked this sudden change in attitude. "You can tell me. You can say it."

"I keep feeling like…", said Brandy, and closed her eyes. She spoke in a voice so quiet that Dan could hardly even hear it at all, could barely make it out. ""I'm going to die."

The force of the words was far more than any usual utterance. A thick blanket of silence suddenly fell upon the entire area, crushing any noises of the throat, general conversation, or anything else that might be uttered casually. Dan took that information to heart, and knew he had to tread the next conversation carefully.

"What do you mean?", Dan asked, taking in a bit of a breath. He gently channeled what he hoped was positive energy into Brandy's back, trying to displace the fear she held. But he felt it merely push against her, unable to actually enter her body.

"I keep on feeling like… I'm gonna die.", said Brandy, gesturing out to the open air. She tucked her knees in close to her chest, and stared down at the ground. "So many times we've run into a monster this quest, and so many times I just barely survived. Each time we run into a strong one they get tougher and tougher… what if, next time…"

Brandy was barely able to choke out the words, but she forced herself to keep on going.

"What if next time, I don't make it?", she asked, feeling her eyes start to tear up. "What if next time, I'm not fast enough, and… it kills me?"

"No, don't say that.", said Dan, with total seriousness. He moved in closer to Brandy, wrapping his hand around her and gently squeezing, not enough to hurt but just enough to be comforting. He knew she liked it like that. "You're not going to die. Nothing can hurt you anymore."

"But they can.", said Brandy, remembering what she had faced. "Bonoome almost killed me multiple times. That guy on the wolf almost killed me. There were a few times in the river where I almost died. Every time, something saved me. You, the silver…"

"Woah, the sil-", Dan said, but thought that would be best saved for another time. "Yes.", he said, and nodded. "But you know what else?"

"What?", Brandy asked quietly, feeling a lump well up in her throat. She tried to push it down, but it was too big, too strong. Her eyes automatically closed, as tears of real fear slowly pushed their way out.

"You survived.", said Dan, and gave her the gentlest smile he possibly could. There was another slight shock in the back of her head, and Brandy's eyes opened up automatically. "Yes, they tried to kill you. But you survived. We all did. Because no matter what, we are not going to let each other die. None of us."

Brandy stared at him, exuding light. She felt the lump in her throat beginning to go down, and the tears starting to slow down.

"I'm not going to let you die.", said Dan, and gave her another small squeeze. "Leon's not going to let you die, Bubble's not going to let you die, Trevor's not going to let you die, Annabelle's not going to let you die-"

As he spoke their names, he picked Brandy up. He turned her in a circle, letting her face each and every member of the party. They nodded, and looked at Brandy with sincerity.

"But most importantly, Brandy…", said Dan, and slowly, gently, not making any sudden movements, brought Brandy closer to his chest. "You are not going to let yourself die. So you won't. I mean, you've survived so much, you must not be able to die."

"What do you mean?", said Brandy, trying to keep the lump in her throat from rising again.

"Well, look at everything you've been through.", said Dan, and Brandy took a moment to remember. "And if you've survived all that, then you must be destined to survive."

Brandy could easily have said "Yeah, I guess you're right", and left it at that. She could have easily agreed, and let the party continue on their way. But she did not, for she had one last thing to say. One last fear, that stood in front of her mind and did not allow her to let go of the fear of death. She swallowed hard, trying to find the courage to say it.

"But…", she said, and her eyes grew misted. "I've been having more dreams lately. From The Dreamer, those kinds of dreams. And…"

"And what?", asked Dan, letting his hot breath fall into Brandy's ear. Normally, this would have sent her curling up, into a happy ball. But this was not like most times.  
"And in them…", Brandy said, and felt more tears begin to drip from her face. "I'm dead. I've been having visions from the future, and in every single one of them, I die."

Leon stared at his mother, unable to believe what he was seeing. He had only known her for a few days, but he still found it hard to believe she could be like this. Almost all the time he had known her, she had been very calm and collected, not the crying mess he was now seeing. And yet, he had to think- was this what she was normally like?

"What?", Dan asked, and tried to hug her even better than he was doing. "Don't say that, Brandy. Even if you're getting a vision, it doesn't automatically mean that it's true."  
"But it does.", Brandy said quietly, and once again began to sob. "I'm gonna die, and-"

She suddenly felt a small Zap run across her face, all her tears evaporating. She looked up into Dan's face, who stared at her with a stone-hard seriousness.

"Brandy.", he said, every word weighted with emotion and intent. "Have I ever lied to you?"

"N- no.", said Brandy, and shook her head. "No, you haven't."

"Exactly.", said Dan, and nodded. "Now, has The Dreamer lied to you? Yes, yes it has. It said we would lose that final battle in the arena for some reason. And, of course, we did not."

Brandy thought about this for a second. She had always just assumed that the visions granted by The Dreamer were flawless, that they would come true every single time. But she did have to admit that Dan had a point. If that time had not come true, then why should the dreams of her death? The thought sent a single beam of light, a shaft of hope through the darkness clouding her mind. "I… you're right."

Brandy's tears began to dry, and the lump in her throat started to break down. She swallowed, and moved her tired limbs. "I guess I hadn't thought about it that way."

Dan let her out of his tight hug, and she slowly scrambled up to his shoulder. She laid her head on his, and felt her eyes start to slip close. "But I'm still kinda shaken up."

"That's understandable.", said Dan, and leaned down. He offered up his hands to the group, who climbed upon them and towards their usual spots. "We did just fight a gigantic metal monster and meet weird people from another place, after all."

"Yeah…", said Brandy, and a slight smile started to creep across her face. "I'm just gonna take a little nap right here, okay? Just a little… nap…"

Her eyes closed, and Brandy fell limp. She was prevented from falling off by the sandwich of Dan's head and Leon's side, slightly squished between them. But she liked that.

Dan watched her for a few seconds, making sure she was truly asleep. He hoped that his therapy session had worked, impromptu and quick as it was. Once he was sure she was out, he turned to the valley, looked for the river, and pointed in the direction opposite from which it was flowing. "To the mountain!", he said, but quietly, so as to not wake Brandy.

"To the mountain!", the rest of the group shouted, also quieter than they would normally. Dan began walking, down the hill, and towards the tranquil river.

"Trevor.", he said, and Trevor pulled out the map automatically. "Where are we going?"

"Hmm…" said Trevor, and carefully looked at the map. "It says something about a field, but that part of the map looks like its burned off. I can't read it."

"Oh.", said Dan, but kept on walking. He reached the bottom of the hill, and put his hand up to block the sun from his eyes. "Well, some fields can't be that bad, right?"

"I would hope so, Dan.", said Trevor, with worry. "I would hope so."

The Dragon that the Cyborg had summoned had managed to survive Gohan's blast, by not being in the way when it had shot. He cowered behind some still-smoking trees, unable to process the sheer might he had just witnessed. He was in terror- both of whatever that boy had been, and what Rakastamos would say if he found it.

But, in truth, he did not have to worry about either of those things. Gohan had gone back to his own realm, and Rakastamos already knew. He did not know the first, but he was about to find out firsthand the second, as something in his head began to ring.

"Terabooooos!", he heard inside his head, in the unmistakable voice of his master. Terabos flinched, but knew he had no choice but to answer the call. He squeezed his jaw, the method for answering. He winced, not wanting to answer. "Yes, Lord Rakastamos?"

"I suppose you are answering in fear.", said Rakastamos, and Terabos was taken aback. "But you do not have to worry. For although The Cyborg was indeed struck down, he can regenerate a new body at will. This was merely an inconvenience for him."

"O- oh.", said Terabos, and relaxed. "That is good, I suppose.",

"Yes, yes.", said Rakastamos, and his voice took on a more serious tone. "However, creating a new body will be a difficult task, especially since he would like to make it an even better one. It will take him a while, and I have a new mission for you during that time."

"What is it?", asked Terabos, and looked up to make sure the group was gone. They were, and he sighed in relief. "I should know as soon as possible."

"Find Chuqalita.", said Rakastamos. "I know my sister well. I also know that she is most likely going to try and wake our siblings, no doubt to try and quell my goals."

"But- why would she do that?", asked Terabos, and began to warm up his wings. "You wish to save all Dragonkind, and bring in a true Golden age of prosperity. Why would she oppose you on that?"

"Her name may be Chuqalita the Wise.", said Rakastamos, and chuckled. "But her constant interactions with mortals have slowed her mind to that of a mere child. It pains me to see her fall to such depths… but if she must be dealt with, then do it."

"Wait, you-", said Terabos, and shook his head in confusion. "I must have not heard you right. You want me to- to kill Chuqalita?"  
"If you must.", said Rakastamos, and Terabos felt a chill run down his entire body. "It would be a loss, but everything matters… when you're building the perfect world."

"But…", said Terabos. "But sir, I can't kill Chuqalita. That's like asking a Skeleton to battle a Pekka. It would be suicide. Would my talents not be better used somewhere else-"  
Before he could finish his sentence, Terabos felt a searing pain suddenly erupt all along his jaw. He howled in agony, his tail thrashing around, crushing dozens of the trees around him. He slashed at his jaw in immense pain, but it did nothing to quell the firey sensation. He bit his jaw down and cursed in Ancient Draconic, much to Rakastamos's amusement.

Finally, after a dozen or so seconds, the pain was over. Terabos shook his head and winced, to find that his once golden scales all down his right side were now a deep black, the color of pure ink. Smoke rose off his body, and spikes jutted out from random places.

"There.", said Rakastamos, and Terabos could hear him smile. "I've given you some power. It should be enough to put up more of a fight against my _dear _sister."

"I see…", said Terabos, and flexed his arm, testing out his newfound strength. He took a moment to calculate- he estimated that his overall power had increased by nearly 120%. He was now most likely one of the strongest beings on the entire planet, behind some of Rakastamos's choice forgotten and the Dragonlords themselves. "Thank you, sir."

"Yes, yes.", said Rakastamos, and sighed. "Thanks can be held until after you successfully complete your mission."

"Yes, sir.", said Terabos, and took another look at his black scales. He felt that he needed a new name, one more befitting of his strength. He thought- Terabos the Black sounded appropriate.

"Now go.", said Rakastamos, and Terabos the Black could feel a burning sensation in his limbs that drove him to action. He immediately pushed off into the air, and took off towards the sea. He reached out with his mind, able to sense Chuqualita's immense strength from where he was. "And if you cannot do her in…"

Terabos could suddenly feel Rakastamos's hot breath in his ear, and he could not help but shiver. Even though he was now far more powerful, he was still a snowball in an Inferno next to the almighty Dragonlord. "Then find somebody who will."

Terabos nodded, and kicked his speed into higher gear. He flew off towards the ocean, in search of Dragonlady Chuqalita, willing and now perhaps able to do what his master requested.

Song: Fields of Fright

It was about an hour later. The group had made good progress towards their current destination, along the banks of the great, blue, clear and clean Clashcrush River. But as the previously mossy riverbed had started to turn to mere rock and silt, they knew the landscape was about to change.

Bubble lay with her head across Brandy's lap, the latter still fast asleep. Bubble looked up into the face of her mother, gently snoring, tears and sweat streaked across her cheeks. Bubble looked at Brandy's mask- and a mischievous idea began to creep into her head.

Bubble pushed herself to a sitting position, and ever so slowly reached out for Brandy's mask. She had not seen her take it off the entire trip, and she was very curious to see why. Was there something beneath it? Was there something she was keeping hidden? To Bubble and her young mind, these were very enticing reasons to pull off the mask.

No one noticed as Bubble very gently grabbed the edge of Brandy's mask. Trevor and Annabelle were engaged in a conversation about stars or whatever, and Leon was talking to Dan about how something worked- Bubble thought she heard a "Brawl" in there somewhere. But none of that mattered to Bubble- the only thing that did was seeing they were distracted. No one was able to see her grab the edge of Brandy's mask, take a breath, and _pull-_

Brandy was jerked awake, her hand automatically flying out. She pushed Bubble as her head snapped up, Bubble crying out and falling off of Dan's back. Brandy's hands went to her mask, the sensitive skin irritated by Bubble's touch. A few tears of pain came to her eyes- then they widened in shock as she realized what she had just done.

"Bubble!", she yelled, and looked over the side of Dan's shoulder- to see that both Trevor and Annabelle had reached out and managed to grab Bubble just in time, by her feet. Bubble hung there, staring up at them, a frown upon her face. "OhmygoshImsosorryIdidn'tseeyou-"

Bubble tried not to cry, as Annabelle and Trevor pulled her up. Brandy assisted in yanking her back up the last few feet, wrapping her in a hug not even a second afterwards.

"Mommy…", said Bubble, her voice muffled in Brandy's embrace. "Why did you hit me?"

"Mommy's really sorry, and she didn't mean to.", said Brandy. "But you tugged on my mask when I was asleep, and I guess I just acted without thinking. I shouldn't have done that."

"Why did you get mad?", asked Bubble, her pain quickly forgotten. "I just tugged on your mask. Just wanted to see what was under there, is all."

Brandy sighed, realizing only now she had never told Bubble this. "Nothing's under there, sweety.", she said. "My mask is part of my skin. That's part of being a Bandit."

"A Bandit?", asked Bubble, her mouth dropping open. "Isn't that a bad thing?"  
"No.", said Brandy in confusion. "Of course it isn't. Who told you that?"

Bubble appeared to be about to say something, but she stopped herself from doing so. Instead, she scratched the back of her neck, and looked away. "Somebody.", she said. "People."

"I see.", said Brandy, then was suddenly thrown back. She grabbed on to Bubble again, and turned around. "What is it? Do we have trouble?"

"No.", said Dan, and looked forward. There, in front of them, was a massive field of volcanic rock and blasted sand. Hundreds, or maybe even thousands of pits dotted the landscape- it was hard to tell what was inside of them. Chunks of rock stuck in semi-randomized patterns, with rivulets of lava running in between each one. Steam rose from bubbling pits in a waved line all across the entire area, all the way into the distance. The area seemed to be dozens of miles across, and likely hundreds of miles wide. There was a short slope from the semi-grassy, rough woodland they were in now, and the blasted landscape they saw before them.

The Clashcrush River sloped sharply down, entering directly into a slit right in the ground. From the arrangement of the steam vents all across the landscape, Dan could guess that was the direction the river followed. But the most curious part of the entire place was how semi-symmetrical it was, how perfectly non-perfect it appeared. There was something very odd about it, although he could not place exactly what. "Look."

"Oh…", said Trevor, finally understanding. He brought up the map again, and nodded his head. "I know where we are now."  
"Where?", asked Annabelle, and moved a little closer to him. "Where are we?"

"That's why it said the Fields.", said Trevor, and moved the map right side up. "This is the War Fields. This is where Villages go to conduct their Wars."

"Woah.", said Dan, and gave a low whistle as he looked out over the tortured realm. "Looks a lot different than our War Island. I mean, I don't really remember what that place looks like anymore, honestly. It's been a while since we were last there."  
"But it looked a whole lot different than this.", said Brandy, with a nod. "This looks more like Pekka's Playhouse than anything else. Only a whole lot…"

"Creepier.", Bubble finished, and scooched closer to Brandy. "This place is creepy."

"It is.", said Brandy, and nodded. She looked up towards Dan, who took the signal. He looked down the slope leading to the fields themselves, looking for the best place to go down. "We had better head through it quickly. There's probably things in this field that we would be better off not running into."

Dan didn't say anything to that, even though he agreed. He just took a single cautious step down the slope, everyone on his shoulders increasing their grip. He slowly slid his foot down the pale, crumbling dirt, everybody holding their breaths in hope the dirt would hold as well. It almost slid away underneath the entire party's massive weight- but somehow, it managed to hold. Dan's foot was stable on the slope, and everyone let out a sigh of relief.

Unfortunately, however, this was the thing that broke it. The force of everybody releasing their sighs of relief at once changed the force exerted upon the dirt, and tipped it just onto the side of breaking. The dirt began to slide away, and Dan lifted up his foot, trying to get back to the top.

"Shoot.", he spat under his breath, seeing that the dirt under him was still sliding, faster than he could get up it. He instead slammed his other foot down into the dirt, choosing to go with the slide instead of trying to resist it. He, and the group on his shoulders, slid down the steep slope, arriving with a hop and a jarring thud at the bottom. Dan's feet went from soft dirt to impacting hard volcanic rock, a sharp hiss echoing out from the destroyed ground.

"Well.", said Dan, and clapped his hands. The sound carried oddly far, echoing across the plains and into the pits that were arrayed across the entire area. "That wasn't so bad."

"What's in those pits, Dad?", asked Leon, and pointed towards one of the pits. He flicked the tip of his lollipop as it changed flavor- this time to a subtle cinnamon. It was his least favorite of all the flavors, but it would do for now.

"Uh…", said Dan, and moved his stance up to his toes. Standing as high as he could, he could see into one of the pits, but not well enough to see what lay at the bottom. "I don't know. Let's get closer."

Dan walked closer to the pit, everyone else on his shoulders all keeping a careful eye out. This was a monstrous place, and each of them knew it. They were expecting an attack from any and every direction- perhaps a flying Forgotten coming in from the sky, or something burrowing up from underground. At this point, nothing no longer surprised them.

Dan reached the edge of the immense pit, and looked down. To his surprise, he could see a sprawling, but totally empty, Village. It was a brand new Town Hall 11, with the walls a mere level 1. Dan didn't really understand the concept of rushing your Town Hall, but if he did, he would have snorted in disgust. "Oh. It's a Village. An empty one…"

The hair on the back of his neck raised in alarm, remembering that the Cyborg had appeared at first to be an empty village. He growled in a low voice, and his fist gripped. "That's not good."

"Oh, don't worry.", said Trevor, and looked down at the Village as well. "They're all like that. Most Villages have an exact copy here. But when they're not actively in war, they don't have any Troops here."

"Oh.", said Dan, and his fist unclenched. "So it's fine then. We won't be running into the Cyborg again."  
"Well, he is dead.", said Brandy, and gave Dan a slight scratch on the back of his neck. "So of course we don't have to worry. That kid killed him, remember?"  
"Right.", said Dan, and nodded. He turned away from the pit, and looked towards where the river boiled underground. He had no idea how it continued on through the sheer volcanism of the area, but he was glad it was able to. Otherwise, there would be no path to follow.

"Seriously, this place is giving me the creeps.", said Annabelle, and pulled Bubble a little tighter. Bubble was happy to oblige, and gave Annabelle a tight hug. Annabelle smiled, giving Bubble a little pat on the head, then pulled Trevor closer as well. "And it feels… cold. Like, this place is full of volcanoes and junk, but it feels cold for some reason."

"That is weird.", said Dan, and sniffed the air. He continued to walk, but slower than normal. He had to make sure he did not miss anything, just in case something was going wrong. "Yeah, it is kind of cold, and- and does anybody else smell that? It smells like… flowers."  
Brandy sniffed the air as well, the distinctly sweet and airy smell of roses reaching her nose. But that made no sense. There were no flowers in any direction that she could see, the only plant life in the entire fields some blasted bushes and sickly-looking weeds. With the cold air, the strange smell, and the tinkly, eerie music that was now beginning to reach her ears, Brandy could tell there was something wrong.

Song: Buunemba

"We should run.", she said, and slapped Dan on the shoulder. "Before something bad happens. Like, now. Dan, run."

Dan nodded, and started to walk faster. But it apparently was not enough for Brandy, who could feel her heart start to inexplicably beat faster. There was the smell of roses again, jamming itself into her nostrils with almost painful intensity. The feeling of the cold grew as well- to the point where even though she was standing next to a puddle of lava, it felt as though she was in Frozen Peak. Sweat broke out on her brow, and she gasped. "Dan, run!"

"I'm trying!", shouted Dan, his legs pumping with ferocious force. "But nothing's making sense!"

Dan jumped forward, and soared through the air. He landed a few feet behind where he had started, the cold blasting across his face. "I can't go!"

"What do you mean you can't go?", Brandy screamed, unexplained terror welling up from inside her body. She pointed forward. "Just go!"

Then she noticed what had happened to her hand. Despite the fact she had pointed forward- she knew that, without a doubt, she could see her own hand pointing back at her. It was not broken, it merely curved in no way that was possible. She drew her hand back, and stared at it in horror, revulsion, and a little bit of wonder.

_Up is downnnn…_

The voice came into everybody's heads, yet no one had said it. It sounded like nails on a chalkboard, the tone of the voice similar to a theater closed after dark. Bubble slapped her hands over her ears, and screamed. Leon had become invisible, without meaning to.

_Right is left, _the voice continued, and something started to emerge. _Forward loses its meaning, and hot turns to cold…_

The entire group stared, as the monstrous thing emerged. With a puff of smoke that tasted like a haunted childhood hallway, its twisted, geometric nightmare of a body became visible.

It stood tall and thin, each of its four arms spiraling off into fractals. No head was visible, save a single bright pink triangle upon what could feasibly be called its shoulders. The trademark cap of a Jester swung lazily off the top- a clear signal of what it was.

"I am the Jesterbot 4.0.", it said, and flicked a finger. "And you are dead." 

It spun in a circle, each of its arms twirling around in a pattern that bordered on hypnotic. It laughed a low laugh, and continued to speak its cursed song.

"Black is white, and all around…", it chanted, and stood up tall. "When the Jesterbot's in town!"

"You think you can stop any of us?", asked Dan, and took a deep breath. "Just like that?"  
The Jesterbot put its hand to its chin, pretending to think- then burst out laughing. It spread its arms open wide, just as its predecessors had done before it. A spark of lightning shot down from its hands to whatever could be called its feet, running into the ground below. "Why, of course I can! For under my disruptive sphere, you are powerless to make your own actions. Only I can control what-"

"Hah!", shouted Dan, and thrust his fist out in back of him. Space bent and warped, the opposite effect taking place through some unknown, highly advanced sorcery. A portal opened in front of Dan, his fist launching outwards, opposite from where he had struck, right towards the Jesterbot's face. The Jesterbot grimaced, yelped, and just barely managed to dodge out of the way. Once Dan's fist had reached its furthest point, it came flying back, through both portals, and Dan snapped his hand back into place.

"I see.", said the Jesterbot, and raised its hands. "Very clever… very clever indeed."  
"Guys, spread out.", said Dan, and lowered his voice to a whisper. "By which I mean don't spread out. Everybody jump towards each other, right in the middle. We'll use his own strength against him."  
"Right.", they all said, and stood up. Taking places in a tight circle, they faced each other, ready to follow through. Leon almost pulled out Hunter Killer, before remembering it would inevitably cause something bad. Bubble racked her brain, trying to figure out what the opposite of making an illusion would be. Dan took a deep breath, trying to figure out his next move.

"It's no use, your time is done!", the Jesterbot shouted, the crystalline figures on its arms beginning to turn into claws and blades. "I must kill you, even though we're having fun!"

It waited a few seconds to see the reactions to its impromptu poem. It thought it might have messed it up, but it wasn't really sure. It hoped it had not. That would be rather embarrassing.

"You messed that up.", said Annabelle, and the Jesterbot's face fell. "You should lose a syllable on the second line. It would make it a lot more intimidating."

"Why, you little frick!", shouted the Jesterbot, and fully expanded its hands into shimmering blades. It gave a mighty shriek and plunged downwards, right where the party was all gathered.

"Split!", shouted Brandy, and they all jumped at each other at maximum speed. They had expected for the opposite reaction to happen, sending them all flying away and ready to attack. But to their utter surprise, the opposite of the opposite took place, and they all smashed into each other with a sickening crunch. Brandy alone was unharmed- she had activated enough of her Dash to keep herself safe, without endangering anybody else.

The Jesterbot yelled in triumph, and jabbed its blades down at the group. "You fools!", it screamed sadistically, its multiple eyes gleaming with sick laughter. "Did you think that my ability was unable to be manually controlled? I control all! I even control…"

The Jesterbot gestured in a swift motion towards Trevor, and his arm raised on its own accord. The Jesterbot gave a sinister smile, and Trevor's sword was slashed right at Annabelle's head. The Jesterbot's eyes lit up. "You!"

"Sorry, Trevor.", said Brandy, and closed her eyes. She took a moment to concentrate, trying to figure out where it her plan would work on Trevor's body, before remembering that it likely would not matter anyway. So she just struck out randomly- and hit the back of Trevor's neck with a perfect tone of focus and reverb, the blow traveling up a nerve and into the brain, shutting off his awakeness instantly and sending him into a deep sleep.

"Haha!", the Jesterbot laughed, and jumped back in a backflip. "You sent him to sleep instead of releasing him from my control!"  
"Yes, but that is what I wanted you to do!", shouted Brandy, and pointed at the Jesterbot's astonished face. "You said it was manual what you do, and I just took advantage of that!"

The Jesterbot's face twisted up in anger, and it drew itself backwards. Extending its arms hugely in either direction, a great variety of bladed weapons began to appear from within.

"That's it.", it said, and growled. "Everybody dies!"

Only then did it notice the gigantic blast that Dan had been building up the entire time he and the group had been talking. It lay in Dan's hands, yellow lightning sparkling all around it, Dan barely even able to keep it contained. It scorched the ground where Dan held it above, slashing across it with little bits of potent electricity. Dan held up his hands, the spitting sphere held between them.

"Oh.", said the Jesterbot, and smiled internally. "It- it looks like it's too powerful for me to deflect! Please, sir, have mercy! I-"  
"No.", said Dan, and unleashed the blast. It fired straight towards the Jesterbot like a magical missile, picking up speed as it went and increasing in size. But as it shot at it, the Jesterbot only laughed. He held out his arms to catch the blow, as if opening for a big hug.

But as the energy collided with him, a vast shock of pain erupted through his body. The Jesterbot was thrown back, skidding across the lavastone. He spun to a stop about after 10 or so seconds of skidding, staring up at the sky. "What?", he spat, unable to belive what had just happened. "What- how- how did you-"  
"Simple.", said Dan, and folded his arms. On the tip of each of them was another glowing orb, growing in both size and power. "That was a burst of healing energy. When it hit you, it dealt you all that damage it would have just healed. Will you catch the next one, I wonder?"

The Jesterbot stared at the group, the smile all but gone from its face. He held up one hand, a sparkling green aura sphere within it. Then he allowed himself a little laugh, and held up his other hand. "There you are. You are free to leave."

"Wait, what-", Brandy began, only for a thick, barely transparent shield to slam down around the group. The Jesterbot laughed, and held up his hand, the green within only increasing.

"Do you know what this is?", he asked slowly, and began to spin the orb around in his hand.

"No.", said Dan, trying to buy time. He took in a very deep breath, intent on unleashing as much distracting force as he possibly could. He knew how to beat this thing, but that required a ton of speed. Enough speed to attack the thing and rip out its mechanical brain without it realizing they had done so.

"This, mortals, is an orb of pure life.", said the Jesterbot, and began to juggle it from hand to hand. "I found it, the other day. So does anybody want to guess what happens when I throw it at you?"

There was silence for a few seconds, while the Jesterbot waited for someone to answer his question. Finally, Annabelle spoke up just to cease the awkward silences. "It becomes a-"  
"That's right!" shouted the Jesterbot, and raised its hand to finally throw. "It becomes a great big ball of de-"

He never got the chance to finish his sentence. For before he could, a blue light found its way over his entire body, freezing him to that microsecond. He stuttered, staticed, and disappeared, vanishing utterly in a flash of blue light.

The group stared at the spot where he had vanished, in utter astonishment. There no longer remained any trace of the Jesterbot 4, merely a blank spot upon the volcanic rock. Not even a wisp of blue smoke or soot remained. There was no longer any trace that it had ever even existed in the first place.

"What... ", Brandy said, struggling to get the words out of her mouth. "What just happened? Where did it go?"

"I have no idea.", said Dan after some thought, and stood up straight. "But… I guess that it's gone now. That's good, right?"

"Right…", Annabelle said, slowly taking her hand off of Trevor's shoulder where she had grabbed him, when she thought she was about to die. "But didn't it say something about it being the fourth?"

"That's right, it did.", said Dan, and his eyes narrowed. He took a deep breath, not really wanting to have to fight again, but suspecting that he would have to. "I know that I helped take down the first one, me and Leon. The second one, Brandy killed. And then that was the fourth… so whatever happened to the third?"

As if to answer his question, the air once again began to flash and spit blue sparks, another portal through time opening. There was a streak of white lightning, the air splitting open entirely to fling something out, as it tumbled through the air and landed upon the volcanic ground with a disappointing thump.

"You're…", said the Jesterbot 3.0, almost instantly springing to its feet. Its vast variety of guns were still drawn, but it looked around in utter confusion instead of shooting. Its internal clocks were going haywire, causing steam to rise out of whatever it had to pass for ears. It should have been the day before the current day, but somehow it was the future. What was going on? Its eyes beeped and tried to take in the information, but failed. "You're not Askari!"

"Askari?", asked Brandy, suddenly right next to the Jesterbot. She brought up one fist and put it against its chin, figuring that it would not have time to fire all its guns if she struck first. "Who is this Askari?"

"Nobody.", said the Jesterbot 3.0. "No one to you, at least. But I, the Jesterbot 3.0, was dispatched to dispose of him. But now it appears that I am one day ahead of my schedule. Or, one day behind my schedule. Yes, indeed, I am one day behind the day I was supposed to have killed Askari already. No, wait-"  
As the Jesterbot struggled to figure out something it had never been programmed for, Brandy looked up towards the group. "Well, looks like we know where the other one went. That's convenient."

"I was supposed to kill Askari.", said the Jesterbot again, and lashed out. "But I guess you'll do nice as well."

Brandy dodged the Jesterbot's sudden attack, leaping backwards right next to Dan. His jagged chainsaw sliced through the air, black smoke from its diesel engine slashing behind it. Its guns started to roll around, the bullets in its interior chambers starting to slide back into place. Firing calculations were made, and scopes were automatically adjusted for sizes. "Yes, I suspect that Askari will come to recruit you sooner or later. I will stop that from ever happeni-"  
Then he stopped. The whirring from within his body wound down to a rapid halt, his upright guns falling limp and useless in front of him. One chainsaw simply stopped running, the other snagging on its belt and destroying itself in a fit of sparks. The Jesterbot fell forward and broke on the black stony ground, a dozen or so holes all drilled through the side of its head. There stood Leon, Hunter Killer still smoking, a grim look upon his face.

"And now they're_ all_ dead.", said Leon, and blew the smoke off the barrel of his gun. He flipped it around in an ethereal matter, and it disappeared into the air. He wasn't a Colt, he knew- no, he was even better. "That makes things a whole lot less difficult."

"That guy was creepy.", said Bubble, pointing at the Jesterbot, turning to a puddle of slick black Elixir. "His arms were weird."

"You think everything's creepy, kid.", said Annabelle, and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Bubble shrugged, and walked a little faster to keep up with her. The group had already started moving- no words were needed at this point in the journey. Even the newcomers knew each other well enough by now to know what Dan and Brandy were about to say. "That's cause everything is."

"Well…", said Annabelle, and looked around for something to use. There wasn't a lot around. There weren't any sticks or branches, not even a tuft of grass. There was just volcanic rock, white sand, and the occasional bit of broken glass. "Everything? I'm not creepy, am I?"

"No.", said Bubble, trying and failing to keep her giggling to herself. "You're not."

"Oh, but I'm part of everything, aren't I?", Annabelle asked, and winked. "So's Trevor. So's Leon. And so are even your parents."

"Yes, but-", said Bubble, her face welling up in young frustration. She huffed a sharp breath and put her hands on her hips, blowing her bangs out of her face. "You know what I meant."

"Oh, did I?", asked Annabelle, and finally found something to use. She leaned down and grabbed a small cream-colored pebble off the ground, slipping it discreetly into her palm. "Or do I just know other things? Like… what's behind your ear?"

"What?", asked Bubble, brushing back her bangs to look at her right ear. "Is something-"

"No, silly.", said Annabelle, and knelt down. She put her hand behind Bubble's left ear, revealing the rock that had been in her hand. "Your other ear. Look."

Bubble gasped, and grabbed for the rock. She stared at it in wonder, unable to believe that Annabelle had done such a thing. Annabelle laughed, and Bubble tucked the rock into her pocket. Refusing to let herself be outdone, Bubble grabbed Annabelle by the shoulder.

"Okay, watch this.", said Bubble, and reached behind Annabelle's ear. "I'm gonna pull something out from behind your ear."

Annabelle rolled her eyes, knowing that Bubble was just going to conjure something up. But she went with it anyway, letting Bubble reach behind her ears, act surprised to find something, then pull out a Gem. "See, look.", said Bubble, with a proud smile. "I found a Gem!"

"Yes, but-", said Annabelle, and reached to take the Gem. Her words were halted in her throat as she touched it, realizing that it was, in fact, real. "Wait, what-"

Bubble looked up at Brandy, who still held another Gem in her palm. Brandy winked, and held a finger to her lips. Bubble winked back, not allowing Annabelle to see.

"I'm just magic.", said Bubble, and jumped past Annabelle, running to catch up to Dan and Leon in the front. "You silly."

Trevor watched Annabelle chase after Bubble, and scratched at his mustache. He sometimes considered trimming it, maybe even cutting it off- but then what would he be? A Barbarian without his mustache was nothing. He had no idea why he would even think about it removing it, and yet think about it he did. Sometimes it worried him, but most of the time it felt perfectly natural. He had no idea why.

"Hey.", he heard Brandy whisper in his ear, and he startled. Brandy looked at him with mischievous eyes, seeing him looking at Annabelle. "Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Sure.", said Trevor, not quite taking his eyes off Annabelle. "About what?"

Brandy saw the edges of his eyes twitch, and his teeth gently clack together. "About that.", she said, and Trevor immediately seized up. "About what you do when-"  
"No.", said Trevor, and turned away. He folded his arms, his mustache and face bristling at the mere thought. "I'm not going to talk about that, okay? You can't make me."

"Hmmm…", said Brandy, and turned away as well. She was not only concerned for what they were, but she was also madly curious. She had never seen anything like that before, and she so very much wanted to find out what it was.

"So what do you think we're gonna run into when we get there?", Leon asked, looking up at Dan. "Get to Rakastamos, I mean. I know his lair is in the mountains, but that's about it."

"Well.", said Dan, putting his hand to his chin in thought. He tried to remember what he had learned from his animal studies, of the Clashcrush Mountains in particular. He looked down at the ground to make sure they were still following the path of the river- they were. That was good. If they lost the path, they might never make it to the mountain. "There are animals."

"Yes.", said Leon, taking a suck on his lollipop. It was, unfortunately, still cinnamon. "And?"

"And there's going to be a lot of Forgotten.", said Dan, with a nod. "That I know for sure. I would expect Rakastamos to be holding the majority of his forces up in his lair. So once we get there, we're really going to have to fight like mad."

"That's what I'm worried about.", said Leon, and his face grew dark. He pulled his hood down a little more over his face, and moved closer to Dan.

"What do you mean?", asked Dan, and let Leon lean against him as they walked. "Sure, it's going to be hard, but it'll be worth it. We'll save the world all together."

Leon grimaced, and fidgeted with his spinner blades. "Yeah, but… there are going to be a lot of Forgotten. And not to mention Rakastamos himself. It all seems pretty intense. Harder than anything I've ever done."

"We've all done hard things on this quest, son.", said Dan, and gave Leon a gentle pat on the back. "Doesn't mean we can't do harder things soon."

Leon frowned, and looked up at Dan in slight frustration. "I'm scared, Dad. I guess that's what I'm trying to say. I may not look like it, but deep down? The idea of going up against a Dragonlord scares me to the fricking bone."  
Dan pulled Leon a little closer, then grabbed him around the waist. He hoisted him up onto his shoulder, and spoke a little quieter. "It's okay, Leon. It's okay to be afraid. Because I'm here for all of you. And as long as I am, nothing will happen to anybody."

"Okay, but what if something does?", asked Leon, and Dan frowned. "I mean, you can't-"

"I can.", said Dan, and a spark of Star flashed behind him. "By the end of this journey, we will be strong enough to face down and take down Rakastamos. I promise you that."

"Okay.", said Leon, and chose not to press the issue further. He turned and looked ahead- and saw something, far ahead.

"Dad?", he asked, and pointed. "What is that?"

Song: A Powerful Enemy

Dan saw it, approaching them at incredible speed. Over the blasted ground it soared, its sheer velocity kicking up a trail of dust behind it that looked almost as if to be a mountain. The dust swirled and lashed out with tendrils of both lightning and flame, utterly decimating anything it flew over. A single tree grew out of the space between two War Bases- until the monster flew over it. Then it was reduced to nothing but ash and a Gem, the wind blowing them both out of sight. He could see the form was of a monstrous Dragon, but one unlike he had ever seen before. Its wings were incredibly wide, almost far too much so. There was no reason for it to have such vast wings, yet here it was anyway. Its tail was long and thin, slashing across the ground like a scythe cutting through wheat. Its head was enveloped in a strange mix of both electricity and fire, blasting along the ground and tearing it apart in a blazing cloud of utter destruction. Dan could feel the menacing aura sweeping off of it in droves, and he raised his hand to try and ward it off on instinct.

"I don't know.", he said, and slid one foot backwards, taking a combative stance. He took a deep breath, feeling the Star flow into his hand. "But it looks bad. We had better be ready."

Brandy scrambled up to Dan's shoulder, putting one hand to her brow to scout out the Dragon. "That looks like… an Electro Dragon.", she said, and squinted. "But it's not. There's fire around it. And is that an… Inferno barrel on its back?"

Dan took another look, seeing that Brandy was right. As it drew closer, Dan could see the color of its mottled scales- a bright blue, with seemingly random patches of green arrayed all around it. Its claws shined like Gems, its eyes glowing yellow with no doubt murderous intent. There was no doubt about it- this was a Forgotten. A particularly powerful one.

"Oh, you're right.", said Dan, and tried to think. The chaos made it hard. "It looks to be some sort of cross- an… uh…"

"An Infeletic Dragon?", asked Annabelle, and Trevor shook his head.

"An Enfeirlic Dragon!", he said, then shook his head as he realized how that sounded.

"An Elecfirno Dragon?", asked Bubble timidly, and Trevor snapped his fingers.

"That's perfect, Bubble!", he said, and Bubble smiled a bit. "Now we just need to kill it." 

"That would be great, Trevor.", said Dan, and raised his hands, taking careful aim as the Elecfirno Dragon approached. He thought that a few far off shots would be best, but not as warnings. If they merely drove the beast off, it would most likely come back when they least expected it. It was far better to just kill it now and be done with. "Now come help me kill it."

"Uh… how?", asked Trevor, and drew his sword. He was not sure why. "I'm not ranged."

"Right.", said Dan, and looked down at Leon. "Leon, light him up."

"You got it, Dad.", said Leon, and nodded. He stuck out his hand, Hunter Killer swirling into his fingers. He aimed it right in front of him, directly at the approaching Dragon, and fired.

The Elecfirno Dragon saw the barrage of both electric blasts and metal shards streaking towards him, and scowled. Retracting his wings to the his sides, he tucked and rolled in the right direction a few times in order, expertely dodging the fire. Leon's bullets streaked right past him, impacting randomly onto the ground below, as did most of Dan's shots. But one of them had been shot on a curving path, and smacked right into the Elecfirno Dragon's neck.

Dan shouted in triumph, and immediately started charging up another round or two of shots. But he stopped once he saw what had actually happened to the Dragon's neck- instead of being damaged, the electric charge was actually absorbed into its body. The spikes all the way along the Dragon's back glowed a bright blue, lightning and fire just waiting to be unleashed.

"Watch out for that attack.", said Brandy, her mind spinning to try and come up with the most likely way the attacks of an Inferno Dragon and an Electro Dragon would be combined. Would it shoot a chain of Inferno beams? Would it shoot a single concentrated blast of Lightning? But as Brandy saw the Elecfirno Dragon speed ever quicker across the ground, she knew she would not have to wait long to find out.

"Everyone.", said Dan, and put his hands down. He saw how his attack had been absorbed, and disliked that fact very much. "I can't use Star against this thing. It's immune."

"Oh.", said Leon, and his face turned a little whiter. "Well, darn."

"No talk time!", shouted Trevor, as the shadow of the Elecfirno Dragon just barely overhead came within striking distance. "We have to fight!"

Song: Sword Attack

The Elecfirno Dragon gave a colossal roar as it reared up over their heads, the air shaking from both the force of its voice and the heat aura surrounding its body. Everyone in the group could now clearly see the details they had missed before- the spikes on its limbs, glowing blue in perfect accordance with the charge spikes on its back. The metal covering on its jaw, to better channel its Infernal beam. The total lack of pupils its eyes had, instead merely solid yellow slits. The way its wings bent at the joint, almost as if they didn't work. But they had to work, for it was flying.

"Shoot its mouth!", shouted Dan, and tried to think of what he could do. There was still Rotation, he knew that. But he hadn't had much chance to practice that at all, and he wasn't quite sure how well he would do with it in an emergency. But if he had to, then he had to.

Leon shouted, as he unloaded volley after volley of pure metal slashes into the Elecfirno Dragon's direction. But they merely bounced off the insanely hard scales, only a few minding meager purchase. Even then, they barely sank half an inch into the blue and green skin before sliding back out, dropping onto the volcanic ground. Leon grit his teeth and kept firing, a fan shape of crushed bullets appearing on the ground in front of him in every direction as the Elecfirno Dragon swooped and soared. A low roar built up in the back of its throat, preparing to fire its first shot. The ground quaked from the sound, and the air shook.

"Daddy!", shouted Bubble, and threw herself against Dan's leg. Dan had been in thought, trying to figure out how best to use Rotation to incapacitate it, but he had been stumped. The feeling of Bubble slamming into his thigh brought him back to the real world, and he blinked.

"Bubble!", he said, and started spinning around one hand. Thin blue lines accumulated around it, like the stick on a fairy floss stand collecting sugar. "I need you to distract it in any way you can! Summon up… summon up a Giant!"

"Giant!", shouted Bubble, and nodded. She turned to face the Elecfirno Dragon, her hands starting to glow. "Okay!"

Annabelle pulled back the bow on her string, and shot. The arrow fired straight and true, right at the Elecfirno Dragon's eye- and bounced off, flying off somewhere into a War Base. She growled and nocked another one, hoping for a different result. But she knew, deep down, that was impossible. She was just an Archer- what hope did she have against a Dragon as mighty as this?

The thought was interrupted by the sight of something streaking past her face, and striking the Elecfirno Dragon right on the snout. It didn't care for the most part, and continued to hover- but the sight of annoyance was clearly on its face. Annabelle saw Brandy grab another rock, take a moment to imbue it with Dash, and fling it at her target.

The second rock bounced off the monster's thick scales, but it had apparently caused enough pain for the Dragon's eye to twitch. It briefly considered changing its target to attack Brandy, but decided that it didn't need to. Instead, it just opened up its mouth, lightning and flame dancing in tandem within. Brandy knew that she had to jump back to avoid the shot, and she leapt backwards in a Dash-infused leap. Annabelle tried to do the same, but her skills weren't enough. She tripped over a rock, landing with a painful thud upon her back. The Elecfirno Dragon took a breath to fire, and Annabelle screamed-

Only to find herself suddenly out of the range of fire, Trevor below her. She blinked and looked up, seeing the piled up dirt around her. Trevor had tackled her out of the way.

Despite the fact that its targets had moved, the Elecfirno Dragon fired anyway.

Three triplet beams of both fire and lightning surged out of its mouth, scraping away at the rock and dusting the sand above. It flew away into the wind, borne aloft crazily by the shifting winds the monster had summoned .The blasts cracked through the very ground, shaking the entire area. If it hadn't been built on solid land, it looked as though it might collapse.

When the attack faded, three trails of burnt and broken ground had been torn into the landscape. The Elecfirno Dragon took another breath, preparing to fire once again- only for a strange blue line to suddenly dive into the side of its head.

The Elecfirno Dragon grunted in confusion, and aimed its head downwards. There stood Dan, one finger out, breathing a little heavily from the force of the rotation. He had hoped that it would be enough, but he had not used the technique in a bit. He hoped he wasn't rusty.

The Elecfirno Dragon opened its mouth once again, ready to fire- when Dan closed his fist. The Elecfirno Dragon's head spun around, the rest of its body following suite only a second later.

There it saw the figure of a Giant, badly hurt, trying to crawl away from the group. The Elecfirno Dragon now suddenly had to make a choice- battle against this group, who seemed quite capable, or go after a suddenly appearing injured Giant? It was a no-brainer to the Dragon- those without brains tend to solve problems just as fast, if not faster, as the smartest ones. They were usually wrong, but it was the time that counted in that situation.

The Elecfirno Dragon shot its massive blast of death right at the Giant, its bolts- of course- passing all the way through. They hit the ground on the other side, churning up the rock and dirt into something that most resembled taco meat. The Giant just kept on running, merely a creature of light. It could not be hurt.

The Elecfirno Dragon growled, and gave a flap of its mighty wings. It took off after the Giant, floating above it, trying to figure out why it had not been injured. It followed it, as the Giant walked off in a random direction, then increasing in speed.

"Good work, Bubble.", said Dan, and nodded. "Now while it's running away, we can regroup. Then when it comes back, we'll be able to kill it easily."

But, of course, nothing is ever really that easy. Dan's eye twitched, as he saw that the Elecfirno Dragon had gotten bored with the Giant and its apparent inability to combust. It now was once again flying overhead, seeming to be preparing another atack.

Brandy looked around her- and new what to do. She looked around, trying to see which one of the pits held the strongest base. She grimaced- it appeared to be a Town Hall 12 right next to her, brimming with all the upgrades that the Village could possibly get. She caught herself grimacing, and told herself to grin. This was a good thing. And most importantly, the Eagle Artillery was on. That was the most vitally important part of her whole plan.

"I'm gonna go start this village going!", Brandy yelled, and Dashed down into the pit. "We can kill him with that!"

"Brandy, wait!", shouted Dan, but it was too late. Brandy had already dove into the pit where the War Village was, skidding down to the Town Hall to try and figure something out. Dan cursed underneath his breath, and looked around to try and take a look at the situation. The Elecfirno Dragon was charging another blast, ready to unleash it soon. Trevor and Annabelle had taken cover behind a rock, discussing amongst themselves what they could do in this situation. Bubble's hand were flying as she tried to summon up another illusion, but it would not be ready for a few more seconds at least. Leon- Leon was nowhere to be seen. Dan guessed that was normal, and he was most likely plotting an attack. But for the meantime, there was only one fighter left to take on the Elecfirno Dragon, and that was him.

Dan grit his teeth, and sucked in a deep breath. He let the Star flow into his fist, concentrating brightly on the very tip. He aimed it right where the Dragon was about to go as it flapped overhead in long, lazy arcs, the spikes on its back slowly charging. Dan took aim, fired, and-

His Star shot outwards in the shape of his fist, rocketing like a bolt of Lightning right at the Dragon's face. The Elecfirno Dragon was far too slow to avoid it, and it crashed right up against the bright blue scales with a mighty crack of thunder. But that was all it did- his Star did not yet harm the beast. Dan frowned, and let his hand down.

"Shoot.", he said to himself, only now remembering he had been about to try and use Rotation. It should have still been spinning around his finger, he remembered. He looked back, making sure not to take his eyes off of the Dragon.

The Elecfirno Dragon, its charge finally completed, opened its mouth to its fullest width. A low whine shot through the entire area, moments before the blast was unleashed. Three strikes of electric fire shot through the air, exploding against the dirt and throwing up a trio of huge clouds of dust. Annabelle and Trevor cowered behind the rock, grateful that the Elecfirno Dragon seemed, at least for now, totally unable to hit its mark. The dust clouds swept over Bubble, causing her to yelp and lose her concentration. But there was no shape illuminated by the dirt, as one might expect. Leon, for now, remained hidden.

Now sooner had it completed that attack than it began to charge up the new one, the electric ions still crackling in the air around its head as it soared upwards. It started to concentrate a huge amount of energy in its mouth, ready to unleash one traumatic blast.

"Bubble!", shouted Dan, and held out his hand. Bubble stared at it fearfully, trying not to think about the Dragon above. Dan shook his fingers, and Bubble started running over. "Bubble, I need you to-"

But no sooner had he spoken those words than the Elecfirno Dragon revealed its true plan, and struck. A thin line of electricity smote the ground, drawing a direct line in between Bubble and Dan. Bubble jumped back and screamed, as the hit ground dissolved into a thin sheet of flame. The shadow of the Dragon passed overhead, most of the charged energy still in its mouth. Dan snarled- it had strafed them. And judging from the way its wings banked on the curve, it was planning to soon do it again.

"Bubble, jump to- no, just hold still!", Dan shouted, and thrust out his hand. He searched around for a half second before grabbing Bubble around the waist, yanking her right next to him. Bubble buried her face up against Dan's leg, wrapping her limbs around him to keep herself safe.

"Good!", Dan yelled, and stuck out his finger. The Rotation he had been able to gather to that point crackled and spat at the edge of his finger, a blue light emanating from his entire body.

The Elecfirno Dragon turned around, the energy building in its mouth to strafe the group once again. He looked down at the six, or now the two. He had no idea where all the others had went. There had been no pulsating sensation of a confirmed kill when they had vanished- it was as if they had willingly run away. The Elecfirno Dragon did not understand such things, but it did not matter. He did understand how to kill- very, very well.

Dan roared, and let his Rotation fly. It shot directly through the sky at unmatched speed, slipping past the Elecfirno Dragon's reflexes with an uncanny speed. It bounced and twisted as it flew, going straight one moment and spiraling in on itself was pure blue and white, a streak of hope as it slashed through the air on its way to the target.

But, alas, the Elecfirno Dragon was mostly unharmed. However, the place where it had hit caused it so much pain that fact was hard to at first believe. The Rotation sunk deeply into its flesh and pierced out through the other side, the Dragon giving a sudden cry of pain. It lashed out with its tail, severing the head off of several ancient statues that had been standing at the edges to some of the War Bases. It threw back its head and roared, stretching out its wings to try and make itself appear as large as it could. The metal that adorned its lower jaw sparked from the energy it was throwing around, its eyes shifting from blue to red to purple to green, to yellow again. It sounded like a volcano, if volcanoes typically rose from the shallow waters and had children. It straightened out one wing as it turned around, and started to come right back at them with a hateful vengeance in its blanked out eyes.

"Shoot.", said Dan, and jumped back. He checked to see if Bubble was still on him- she was. He checked to see that nothing had been forgotten about from when he last checked- no. Everything was fine there, if there wasn't a giant Dragon trying to kill them.

The Elecfirno Dragon opened its mouth to fire yet again, the electric death blazing up from within. It beat its wings faster and harder, trying to get to a position to hit the entire group at once. But such a thing was hard to find, and it kept on circling around. It knew that it would have to unleash the blast it currently had sometime- only preferably on the target group. And as it swept overhead, seeing only Dan and Bubble, he guessed that it would be the right time to start strafing again.

"Leon!", shouted Dan, looking around. He tried to gather up some form of energy in his hand, but he had no idea what to use. He saw the both Star and Rotation had achieved very little, and so he was striving not to use those. But what to use? "Leon, where'd you go?"  
He tried to wait for an answer- only for the Elecfirno Dragon to once again shoot a beam of flame directly into the ground. Dan jumped out of the way of the immense beam, as it carved out a swatch of solid land about 3 feet in width, but about 100 feet in length. The hard electric ray burned out a solid degree of the dirt, sending it aloft through the air to parts unknown.

"Dang it Leon…", Dan grumbled, and thought about what to do. Star didn't work. Rotation didn't work. Hee had only one chance- get close to the Elecfirno Dragon. Then, and only then, could he unleash his ultimate attack.

Dan had barely had time to put the plan together when he sensed that, once again, he had to dodge out of the way. He leapt to one side, sensing that Bubble had dropped off of him. The thought filled him with a momentary sense of panic, before he pushed it back down again. There was no room for panic here. She had just escaped, and that was it.

The Elecfirno Dragon's blast hit the ground right next to Dan, the deafening sound hard on both their ears. The ground shook and shattered underneath the elemental assault, the dirt and dust flying upwards on a level that had not happened before.

The dirt shot upwards into a massive corona, Dan throwing up his arm to block his face. A sphere of golden energy automatically appeared as a shield, the dirt and rocks dissolving into nothing upon impact. But even though Dan had been protected, the Elecfirno Dragon's attack had still worked. Dan heard a triumphant roar, and saw nothing but a tan haze in all directions. The purpose of the strafing assault had not been to damage him- but to create a smokescreen. If he was blinded, then he could not hit- or, at least, that was what the Dragon thought.

The Elecfirno Dragon gave a few beats of its mighty wings, soaring high above the cloud of dust and smoke. It cast a cruel gaze over the entire battlefield, admiring its handiwork. Trevor and Annabelle were still locked down behind the rock, Leon was still nowhere to be seen, Bubble was lying on the ground next to a different rock, thrown by the force of the most recent blast. She was barely moving, trying to crawl off towards the direction of a ditch. It looked for Brandy- it thought she had last been seen trying to escape.

Brandy kept on running down the center of the War Base, searching for the Town Hall. All the Villages she had been to had their Town Halls in the center, so why was this one not there? The only things that stood in the center were the Clan Castle, Eagle Artillery, and an empty Archer Queen Alter. It made no sense. She spun around on her heels, the wind tugging at her hair, looking for the now distinctive gleam of the Clan Castle- then she saw it. For whatever reason, the Chief of this particular War Base had decided to leave it at the very edge of the entire area, up against the far wall from which Brandy had come down. Brandy rolled her eyes and groaned, running off towards it as fast as she could go, plumes of dust blowing upwards behind her.

"Why is it over there?", she growled to herself, pushing herself to go faster. "That doesn't make sense? Aren't you supposed to protect your Town Hall? So why is it out in the open? Especially during a war… isn't a war supposed to be when you're trying most?"

The Dragon reared up its head, the pressure building up in its mouth. It turned its head to aim right at Brandy, and the Town Hall which she was running towards. It almost fired- until it felt something on its neck, scraping against the scales like an ice cube against wood. It turned its head to look, and saw the sight it most did not want to see. There stood Dan, blowing out a massive breath of air from his unparalleled lungs, the dirt utterly annihilated before his force. The cloud of dust had been split in half, the two parts rapidly deteriorating into the wind. The ground below Dan was affected as well- it too was eroding, leaving Dan on a rapidly shrinking plateau of solid dirt. The Elecfirno Dragon was almost blown back by the force of Dan's breath, holding out its wings in order to steady itself.

"Hey, you stupid flying trash!", shouted Dan, too angry to properly concoct a more personal insult. He didn't know the Elecfirno Dragon well enough anyway. "Look at me!"

The Elecfirno Dragon, already looking at Dan, decided to turn its attention back towards the Village. With any luck, its next shot would destroy the Town Hall, the resulting explosion taking the girl with it. His orders had been to capture her alive, but he would do what he must.

The energy in his throat built up to a fever pitch, the electricity arcing around his head even as his fire grew more intense. He narrowed his eyes, took aim, and-

Brandy suddenly felt a curious sensation behind her. It felt extremely hot, yet somehow also very far away. She ran a few more steps toward the Town Hall- then her vision suddenly blanked out completely. She skidded to a stop on the hard ground, falling onto her rear end from the deceleration. Time seemed to slow down around her, the approaching Lightning slowing almost to a standstill. Her vision turned from darkness to a split view, both surrounded by flickering blue lights.

The first was of her keeping on running towards the Town Hall, and jumping right onto the door. She gasped internally as a massive bolt of both fire and lightning- Elecfirno- came crashing down right onto the roof, exploding the entire structure. She saw her cape come flying out of the wreckage, still on fire and leaking Elixir from multiple places.

Due to the curious nature of The Dreamer, she was able to observe both split views at once. And the second one was much more pleasant- she stopped running towards the Town Hall, and instead flipped back the opposite direction. The Elecfirno still came, still destroying the Town Hall in a massive, devastating explosion, but she was not part of it.

The Dream began to fade, Brandy shaking her head to clear her vision of blue lighting. She stood back up, took a stance, and nodded. "Right."

She immediately flipped backwards, going away from the Town Hall and back the way she had come. She flipped about half a dozen times, stopping just shy of a Builder's hut right next to a Wall. She was glad she did, and even more grateful that she had avoided the Town Hall and listened to her Stand. For not even a second later, it came true. A massive bolt of death split open the Town Hall from the inside, tons of brick and Gold flying out. Brandy's forehead slightly tingled at the sight of such riches, but she put her urges aside. She had a lot of better things to do- like take out the Dragon.

The Elecfirno Dragon closed its mouth, letting the residue of lightning drip off. It looked back towards Dan, not sure if it had done its job or not- and was slightly nervous at the fact that Dan had disappeared. He had suddenly gone from right in front of him to nowhere to be seen, and that fact made the Elecfirno Dragon look behind him. He had heard this particular Mega Knight- if he even could be called that anymore- was a very dangerous enemy.

Dan, while the Elecfirno Dragon was searching for him above the dust cloud, run very close to the ground. It was difficult to think of one his size sneaking around anywhere, but he was managing to make it work. He looked forward, trying to find everyone. He knew that Trevor and Annabelle were still behind the rock, but he would have to find the others.

"Dan!", he heard from beside him, and saw Brandy Dash into the smoke cloud. She closed her eyes to protect from the storm, and slid right next to his feet. "You okay?"  
"Yeah.", said Dan, and breathed out. His right fist and arm lit up like a torch, allowing them to see in the dark cloud. "We have to find the others. That thing won't be distracted for long."

"How long do we have?", asked Brandy, looking forward into the dust.

"About… 20 seconds.", said Dan, and prepared to leap. He had a very particular operation in mind, one that required a lot of careful planning. "So be careful."

"20 seconds…", said Brandy, reflecting on those times when 3 minutes had been an eternity. It seemed rather odd now, the structured battles of an Arena next to the sheer chaos of whatever this was. It certainly was no standardized. She nodded, and Dashed off. "Okay."

No sooner had she taken off than she saw the glint of steel from beside her, and changed direction. She slid in next to the rock that Annabelle and Trevor had been hiding under- but she could only see Trevor now. And Bubble upon closer inspection- she was hidden behind him, eyes closed, looking thoroughly miserable. Brandy supposed she could allow that.

"Where's Annabelle?", Brandy hissed, trying to be heard over both the flickering storm, the Dragon's roars, and Dan's returning shouts. "Where's Leon?"

"She jumped out to attack it.", said Trevor, pulling Bubble closer to himself. "And I don't know."

"She did what?", Brandy shouted, and shot around to the other side of the rock. She looked up- now the smokecloud was fading. She could see Annabelle standing right there, bow drawn back, aiming right at the Dragon. Brandy cupped her hand around her mouth, about to shout- then she saw it. Two other pairs of footsteps, right in the dirt next to her.

Brandy pulled herself back into the cave, hugging Bubble tight. This was no longer a battle for melee fighters, and Bubble looked unable to fight. She had to trust the rest to the three ranged of the group. It was frustrating not being able to do anything to the Dragon, but it was what it was. She gripped the two a little tighter, and tried to wait out the storm.

The Elecfirno Dragon bellowed, beating its wings ever stronger. The ferocious, wind-filled flaps beat what little remained of the dust cloud into nothing, revealing the two bleeding lines down its stomach. The Dragon stared at the blood dripping onto the parched sand, and shrieked.

Dan thrust his fist into the air, faint lines of spent Rotation still running around it. Even now, a pair of small cutters were still working their way down the Dragon's skin, slicing apart the scale wherever they found it. "Ha!", he shouted, and quickly tried to prepare another one. "How do you like that, you idiot?"  
The Elecfirno Dragon screamed, and opened its mouth ever wider. It began to suck in immense amounts of strength from the ground, the steam vents on top of the hidden river flowing into its maw. Its entire body started to shake from crackling lightning and intense flame, an aura of yellow and red burning all around it.

Then it stopped its screaming for a second, almost falling out of the air. Once it began again, it was almost doubled in size and intensity, the burning aura around it multiplied to blazing. But all its fury did nothing to reduce the pain of the arrow that had landed right in its eye, shot straight from Annabelle's bow. Nor the peppering of metal shots in the area all across its face, the blood trickling down that side of it evaporating lost instantly in the insane heat.

Annabelle inwardly rejoiced as her arrow hit its mark, but knew she should take that opportunity to retreat. She ducked down, grabbed the lip of the rock, and swung downwards. She misjudged the gap, however, from her distractedness, and was sent flying right towards the ground at top speed. She barely even had time to scream before she was caught by a pair of invisible arms, an audible groan coming from Leon.

Leon gently set Annabelle down on the ground, then slinked back into visibility once again. He gave his arms a rub, and experimentally flexed his shoulder muscles. He winced in pain and stumbled to the ground- the effort of catching Annabelle had strained his shoulder muscles.

"I got him!", shouted Annabelle, then rethought her statement. "I mean, we got him. Right."

"Right…", said Leon, and breathed out. He let Hunter Killer fall back into himself, taking a peek around the rock. "I just hope Dad can finish that thing off."

Dan stood alone against the Elecfirno Dragon, just the way he had figured it. No one else was strong enough to take the monster on- it had to be him. He stared the Dragon down, daring it to attack with a gaze that seemed just as crazy as its own.

The loss of an eye had not bothered the Elecfirno Dragon. In fact, it now seemed overjoyed that its combatants had been reduced to a single warrior. It would rather have had it been any other warrior in the party, but a duel was a duel. Blood dripped onto the sand, as it opened its mouth even wider for the most powerful shot it could possibly summon. The spikes on its back began to slowly charge up, one by one, the energy around it almost blinding.

Dan took in an exceedingly deep breath, and held his hands below his arm, behind his back. He gathered the Star in between his hands, in a pulsating, crackling ball of pure force. He thought to when the boy had defeated the Cyborg- what had he called his attack? The… kahameah? Something like that. Dan would work on remembering it- it seemed fun to shout.

"Super…", Dan breathed in, the energy in his body only increasing more. The power swirled around him, giving him a brilliant golden aura of his own.

The Elecfirno Dragon continued to build up energy, the winds of the air bending around him. The dust in the area started to pick up, threatening to build up another blinding storm. Pain actually started to shoot through the Dragon's body, from the power he had been gathering. But if it was enough to secure him a victory, then it would have been worth it.

Dan's blast coalesced into a perfect sphere between his hands, small bolts of lightning escaping and crackling against the ground. He had it figured out by now- every part of the Elecfirno Dragon's body crackled with lightning. But that did not mean it was not immune- no, enough energy would overload it. Dan just had to get enough. "Cannon…"

The Elecfirno Dragon took in one last charge, and tried to close its mouth. It was too full of the gargantuan blast to do so- so it instead just shaped it into the shape of the head of a beam. It had to take a few seconds to aim, right at Dan's head.

Dan took in one last breath, gathering all the energy he possibly could. He closed his eyes, thrust out his hands, and fired, right at the same time the Elecfirno Dragon finally unleashed its own blast. "Overdrive!"

The two immense beams of death launched towards each other at the exact same speed, at around the same level of power- and clashed in midair, throwing up a shockwave that spread across the entire area in less than a second.

Brandy watched from afar, staring at the two clashing titans. It was a bit hard to see exactly what was going on, due to the massive amount of smoke that was being thrown up. But from the shapes and sizes of the beams, it was possible to make out who was winning.

They seemed perfectly matched at this point, both of them pushing as hard as they could to try and break the status quo. The Elecfirno Dragon's skin glistened with the heat of his flame, the exhaustion written upon his face. Dan kept on pushing as hard as he could, a determined grit and frown all over him.

Brandy kept on looking at the stalemate- then began to worry. Now that a few seconds had passed, it seemed as thought the Elecfirno Dragon was beginning to push back harder. Dan's beam was slowly being pushed back, shrinking in size and power. The Dragon's roars and Dan's bellows made it hard to hear, or even think. But as Brandy looked, trying to think of what to do, a single thought kept on pushing its way to the front of her mind.

_We have to make him mad._

Such things had worked before. When Dan or herself had gotten truly angry before, it almost always resulted in the death of an opponent. She had only ever seen glimpses of Dan's rage before- but those glimpses had showed her a power beyond anything she had ever seen achieved by anybody. Brandy's train of thought ran wildly- if she could get him to unleash his full, absolute rage, the Elecfirno Dragon would be no threat. Maybe he could even become strong enough to defeat Rakastamos.

At that thought, Brandy grit her teeth, straightened her hood, flared her nostrils, and made up her mind. She grabbed Bubble, who at this point was feeling a lot more awake.

"Mommy?", Bubble asked, as they jumped out to the side of the rock. The winds buffeted their face and hair, but it was still possible to walk. "What are we doing?"

"Dad needs to get mad, Bubble.", said Brandy, a gleam in her eye. "We have to make him mad."

Dan kept on pushing against the Elecfirno Dragon's blast as hard as he was able to, but he felt his push slipping. His arms were starting to get sore from the constant beam, as he had never done one this long or this strong before. Sweat dripped down his face, both from the effort and from the heat. The edge of the Elecfirno Dragon's beam was getting dangerously close.

"Dan!", he heard, and saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He allowed himself to look- and saw Bubble and Brandy both running towards him. "Dan!"

Dan growled, and somehow found the strength to push harder. The beam of the Dragon was pushed back a bit, but truly not by much. He slammed his legs harder into the dirt, trying to steady himself. "Guys, what are you doing?", he shouted, and spat. "Get back!"  
Brandy cupped her hands to her mouth, and shouted through the sound barrage of the clashing beams, the warring rays. "Dan!", she yelled. "I have to tell you something!"

Dan bit down on his own teeth, feeling one beginning to crack. He took in a breath through his nose, the sudden burst of air allowing his beam to increase a bit more in strength. The Elecfirno Dragon's was pushed back about 5 feet- great. Only 45 more to go. "What?"

Brandy almost said her message- but she never got the chance. Before she could, a beam of Elecfirno shot out from the main one, heading straight for her. She yelped and threw up her arm, a Dash shield appearing around her hand that blocked off the beam. But the power behind it was intense, and both her and Bubble were forced to the ground.

Dan's eyes shot wide open, and he yelled in panic. "Brandy!", he shouted, trying desperately to push away the opposing beam. He made a quick calculation- his legs were too short to reach her. Now he wished he had taken the time to fire from his legs, but it was far too late for that now. "Brandy, just hold on! I'm gonna get you out of there-"  
"Dan!", Brandy screamed, in absolute terror. Her arm shook from the pressure, and Dan could see that, horribly, the Dash shield was rapidly weakening. "Help me- I can't hold it- I can't-"  
"BRANDY!", Dan shouted, but it was too late. With a terrified scream, the Dash shield broke. The solid ray of Elecfirno slammed down onto both Bubble and Brandy, tearing them apart and turning them both into Elixir within an instant.

For a moment, Dan stared. The sounds of the battle, the heat right in his face, the pain of his screaming body, the desperation of his struggle- they all faded away into a quiet nothing. The only thing he could sense was the slight smear of Elixir upon the ground that had once been his wife and daughter. Right there, cut down and destroyed. Right there, when he could not save them.

The Elecfirno Dragon began to feel alarmed, the panic building up inside its body. It didn't know why, for its brain and mind were simple. But deep down, it knew. Deep down, all things know. There are three things all living beings should fear- the storm at sea, the night with no moon, and the anger of a gentle man.

Dan felt something start to gather, from so deep within him he hardly recognized it. It began to swirl around his body, the green and yellow swirls coming up from both the shattered ground and out of his shattered heart. A low hum started to build, from some unknown source. Dan's face shook, his hands beginning to tremble. Yet even as he did so, his muscles began to swell, the hair on his head starting to wave in some metaphysical wind. His vision blurred, gradually becoming less and less visible, and more and more a blazing, crimson red.

His back spasmed, his head flickering with intense energy. His hair shot upwards, then back down again, the lightning within shooting outwards and striking the ground. A sensation of absolute nothingness filled him- yet, tinged with total, complete, all-consuming rage. As he continued to stare at the spot where Brandy and Bubble had met their ends, that rage began to grow, pushing out the void, pushing out the sorrow, pushing out all other feelings and emotions, until the only thing left in Dan's head was just what all living beings had a right to be afraid of. The total, unending rage of a gentleman, with nothing left.

Dan's eyes snapped open to the fullest- their once ivory whites replaced with nothing but a deep red haze, straining to overtake his azure pupils. As Dan felt the full rage within completely overtake him, his hair stood up on end. His muscles bulged to gigantic proportions, and he finally, finally snapped.

Song: Broly's Rage and Sorrow- Triple Mix

The single most powerful roar he had ever unleashed in his entire life erupted from deep within his very soul like an exploding supervolcano, boiling the very air around him with its raw intensity. A shockwave of raw sound and fury blasted outwards, slamming into the beam that the Elecfirno Dragon was still firing, and ripping it apart almost instantly. The Dragon itself was flung back just from the power of the shout, flipping and turning over in the air.

The ground started to buckle from Dan's outrage, the dirt beginning to melt and the rock dissolving into nothing. Dan grabbed the sides of his head and continued to roar, pulling at the skin of his face like he was trying to tear it off. Blood dripped from the spots where he scraped with his almost flaming fingers, yet he did not notice.

He could barely even see now, see the spot where the Elecfirno Dragon had struck Bubble and Brandy down. The absolute, unending intensity of his rage was blinding, yet freeing. He felt the power well up deep within him like an encroaching tidal wave, pouring out of his mouth and into the air in the form of a sonic boom. It tore at his throat the way he screamed, but he could not stop. He would not. He did not know if he was ever going to be able to.

As he threw his head back into the sky, Dan's last bit of self control fell away into nothing. He let his voice ascend to even louder heights of rage, the edge of it tearing past all vestiges of reason and blasting off throughout the entirety of the War Fields, shaking the world with his loss. He narrowed his eyes, the pupils of each at last replaced with nothing but pure crimson fury, snapping away into nothing.

As he threw out his entire body in every direction, caring not for his own survival, pure Star streamed from him like the breaking of an ancient dam. A low whine built in the air, as the gold and red blasts tore out from him like a dying star, slashing up the ground all around him. The Elecfirno Dragon struggled to right itself, against the immense buffeting winds of Dan's total breakdown. It stared in fear and wonder, at the titan before him.

Dan's screams of pain only continued, slashing through the world like physical attacks. His loss of his wife's death cut through a huge boulder, reducing it to dust in less than a second. His agony at the death of his daughter hit a dead tree right on, blowing it so far apart there was no longer any evidence that it had existed in the first place. He tore and scraped at his face- yet there was no solace to be found. And as his rage grew more and more powerful, his true power began to be unleashed.

The ground below and around him started to buckle, the stone undulating up and down like waves in the ocean. Entire sinkholes collapsed and vents opened, lava erupting out of them in destructive pillars that aimed up towards the sky. The blood red hues of the magma attempted to mirror Dan's emotional turmoil, but nothing in the world could even come close to the sheer pain flooding through his mind. He did not even notice how his own aura followed the magma's path, shooting upwards in a brilliant arc that burned just as hot.

Multiple places on the ground followed suit, bursting open and releasing huge magmatic jets that shot into the air as if fired from a Cannon. The ground continued to buckle and burn from the intensity of Dan's rage and sorrow, burning like a Dragon's throat. But the rage of the ground was nothing compared to Dan's own fury, as he too continued to heat up.

Tears flew off upwards from his tortured face, evaporating almost instantly from the heat, like that of a raging Inferno. Dan threw out his limbs and let his Star erupt in equal measure, shooting out in five directions like a star- from his arms, legs, and head. He started to lift off of the breaking ground, as the sky darkened.

Clouds began to form, drawn to the area from the gravity and power Dan was emitting. Lightning flashed from them all, striking the ground and Dan just as much. The ground exploded each time it was hit- but Dan merely absorbed the thunder, his magnificent golden aura growing stronger and stronger with each one. After about 10 bolts, Dan opened his eyes.

A solid column of pure Star flashed upwards, reaching the clouds in almost an instant. They burst open upon impact, the shrieking star spreading through them at incredible speed. This caused even more Lightning to be called down, spreading across the ground like a storm summoned by the very gods themselves. But this was no divine intervention. Everything that was happening was caused solely by Dan's overwhelming, all-consuming, rage.

Dan rose up in the column, his hair floating off of his back. Any armor that had somehow managed to remain on his upper body blew away and snapped into pieces, burning hunks of metal tossed around in the cataclysmic wind. His metal skirt strained a bit- then it too was burst into bits, hundreds upon hundreds of steel discs flying outwards from the epicenter of the storm. Each one was a bullet, carving a meter deep into the ground below upon impact and slashing against every rock they hit. Now Dan wore only his tight shirt and his shorts- but even that went soon. As Dan's muscles swelled again, his shirt burst open in a flash of fire, pure heat flooding outwards from every part of Dan's skin. His shorts, miraculously, remained intact.

Green and yellow light shone out from Dan's mouth and eyes, the swirling whirlwind of utter destruction and pure energy colored the same way. The buildings in the Villages around his majesty began to be yanked from their tethers, being sucked into the apocalyptic whirlwind that Dan had become. He could no longer hear anything but his own screaming. He could no longer see anything but flame, and death. He could no longer feel anything but his wrath, blasting outwards from him in a strength and raw intensity that defied description.

A massive blast in the form of a ring emanated outwards from him with a colossal sonic boom, tearing through the air like a blade through wet cardboard, leaving the world purple behind it. Everything that the edge of the ring touched- the ground, the flames around Dan, the odd rock that had managed to stay standing- was cut right down the middle, falling apart and crumbling into bits. Another circle erupted from Dan's enraged soul and body, slicing apart everything it encountered in a different direction. This one left the world green behind it, and the next blue. All three of them were equally destructive, yet incredibly sound that followed them was unlike anything else- a vibrating roar, sounding like the fall of a metal castle into a bottomless, hungering ravine.

The real Bubble and Brandy, not the clever illusions that the former had summoned up, lay crouched behind the rock that everyone else was hiding behind. So far, aided by Brandy's Dash shield, it had been the only structure in the surrounding area to avoid total annihilation. Brandy breathed in and struggled with her eyes, forcing them to stay open and watch. She had not expected for Dan's rage to transform him into something like that. It scared her, watching her normally gentle Dan turn into a berserk engine of death- but it excited her at the same time. He had so much power, far more than she had ever even thought possible in any living being.

"Mom?", asked Bubble fearfully, crouching down and holding her legs to her chest. "Do you think we overdid it? He seems really mad."

Brandy paused for a moment, then reached over and gae Bubble a pat on the head.

"No.", she said, squinting against the powerful dust storm. "I think we're good."

After a fourth ring shattered even the clouds of smoke and thunder that still hung around the area, turning the world back to the colors it was, Dan turned his head around. He focused his blazing, pupil-less gaze on the Elecfirno Dragon, mouth pulling down far past any mere snarl. Burning red erupted from every part of him, as he started to pull back his hand. The energy seeped in from around him, spiraling into circles from the way he pulled it to him.

The Elecfirno Dragon noticed, and once again started to gather energy from all around. Its blast built up to mighty proportions, with both the damage of an Inferno and the hitting of an Electro.

But Dan did not think about such things. He did not bother himself with theory most of the time, especially not during times such has this. The only thing he thought about was throwing his charged hand and attack forward, his blast streaking through the air and directly towards the Dragon with all the subtlety and grace of a collapsing mountain. It multiplied in size and strength as it shot forward, spinning red and gold.

The Elecfirno Dragon did its best to counterattack, shooting forward all the strength that it could possibly have mustered. But once its relatively minor shot collided with the sheer cannon of concentrated force that was Dan's, the winner was already decided.

The Elecfirno blast strained intensely against Dan's over the top assault for all of half a second before Dan's overwhelming power proved itself. The last vestiges of the Elecfirno Dragon were swept away in an instant, the skin peeling off the flesh, the flesh peeling off the bones, and the bones starting to dissolve. It did not last long until the bones peeled away into ash, floating over the sky like black snow. Or they would have ,if the ash had not been blasted along in a beam of energy so powerful it defied description, lighting up gold, coming straight from Dan's hands. The Elecfirno Dragon did not even have time to scream before it was dissolved straight into nothing, Dan's blast continuing onwards like a raging angel. It shot right into space, punching through the atmosphere and inner clouds like they were nothing. It did not stop until it hit the far edge of space- and then, perhaps, it did keep on going. Even though its light was gone, its momentum was legendary.

Dan just stood there for a second, his utterly berserk mind gently reflecting on the day's events. The Elecfrno Dragon was dead. There was no way it had survived such a blast. And yet, Dan's rage was not even close to quenched. He still stared at the ground, still stared at the sky. His muscles began to twitch, as he, somehow, grew about a few inches or millimeters in size. His rage was still flowing unchecked- and no there was no one to calm him down.

"Yes!", Brandy whisper shouted, then gestured to Bubble. "I'm gonna go try and gain back control of him. "

"Mom, no!", Bubble hissed, trying to grab Brandy back. "It's too dangerous-"

"I have to.", said Brandy, a serous look in her eye. "It's the only way."

Song: The World in Danger

Dan drew back his head, not even bothering to aim. He was back down on he ground again, ready to cut loose even more. Every breath was that of blazing steam, scorching the ground below him with heat. Not only the heat of the Star, but also the heat of his unimagined rage.

Nowhere in his entire life had he ever felt so wrathful. Nothing had ever quite awakened this much latent power in him. Some part of his brain was still a little bit lucid- enough to measure just what immense strength poured through him. But he felt nothing to do with it- save the now overpowering, burning, impulse to destroy. Destroy the fields, destroy the War Bases, destroy Rakastamos, destroy everything. Nothing any longer mattered.

He drew back his arm, his eyes glowing with molten power. Absolutely massive amounts of Star flashed between his fingers, burning and coiling like a star's miasma. The ground cracked underneath the powerful load- then Dan gave a roar that sounded like a cracking continent, and thrust his fist forward. The Star Cannon Overdrive blasted forward at speeds that left sound itself far behind, creating yet another sonic wave that tore up the landscape with its force. The blast itself tunneled cleanly through the dirt, blasting out into the nearest Village- and it kept on going, rushing through to the other side with intense rage, rivaling its creator's.

All down the middle of the Village, buildings vanished. They did not explode, or crumble- no, they were simply gone. Only a single light green square of not-quite grass remained to mark the fact they had ever been there, although that was burning as well. About a second after the buildings vanished, the shockwave hit- slamming against the rest of the defenses and storages, crushing them to atoms, and flinging them apart on the burning wind. Nothing in the village survived the blast- not the defenses, not the Town Hall, not a single wall was spared. Even the Builder's Huts in the corner and the traps underground were utterly annihilated by the absolute destructive force that Dan was now unleashing. The entire process took less than a second, the three silver stars appearing above the village in a flash of age-old sorcery.

"No…", Brandy breathed, running towards Dan's position. She saw the smoke rising from the speed of Dan's rampage, and its terrifying scope. "He's… out of control."

She leaned down, and put everything she had into her running. Flashing along the shattered ground with insane speed, dust flew up behind her almost as much as it did behind Dan. Although his mental breakdown had begun near where they all had been, it was now much further away. Perhaps he had traveled, perhaps the ground had just shifted that much. But either way, Brandy knew she had to run before he grew too wild. She had no idea that Dan, her Dan, was capable of such things. It made her shiver- and yet, somehow, it made her a little excited.

Dan took in the sight that a single attack had caused. His blast had echoed beyond the first destroyed village, plowing through another, then another, then dozens more before it finally stopped in a gargantuan mushroom cloud, spreading over the horizon. Seeing such destruction somewhat calmed the anger in him, somehow. But it was only a small bit- there was still far more still swirling around him, boiling the air and melting the ground. He snarled, blood spurting out of his face from the force. He raised his fist, not even bothering to surround it with Star. He wanted to see how strong he was alone. For even in such rage, some part of him remained.

With a motion that seemed impossibly fast, Dan slammed his fist down into the ground. There was a slight bend of the light as the world moved to accommodate the power, then the sonic boom sounded. The wind ripped outwards from him at hurricane force, blowing away the topsoil of the area for a half mile in all directions. The clouds that he had gathered parted slightly, the energy reaching all the way into the sky.

The ground reacted in a much more drastic way, the sudden channel that appeared in the ground testament to that fact. It was practically a river of its own, sweeping towards the closest village at nearly instant speed. It slammed into the rocky borders and continued again on the other side, flashing on for hundreds of meters past. But the Village that it had passed through was not unaffected- no, it lay in absolute ruins. Even just a regular punch from Dan at this level of power was enough to split every building in the Village in half, even cracking open the ground the Village was on like an Earthquake. Dan saw it, the destruction he had caused. He saw the destroyed Villages, whoever was in them no doubt killed. Normally he would abhor such things- but in his primal, unleashed state, all he could do was smile. His razor sharp, elongated teeth glinted at the sight of his power, trying to think of all the things he could do with it. But once again his rage overtook him, as he remembered there was no longer anything left for him.

Brandy jumped over a broken boulder, panic fully written on her face as she saw Dan, standing in the middle of a dirt mound. Terror struck her heart, as she saw his face. No longer was it kind, and gentle, his soft blue eyes telling her how much he loved her and that everything would be alright. No, his face streamed crimson anger, with a snarl of a grin that defied sanity. His hair glowed a bright green, in contrast to his usual blond. She hardly even recognized him- but that thought inspired her to keep going. She had to stop him. In his state, he could cause a disaster unprecedented, something that would be worse than the calamity they were trying to prevent.

Dan closed his eyes for a brief second, knowing what he had to do. If he could not live any longer, than neither would anyone else. It was a desperate, selfish move, but the only thing that could bring his broken mind solace. He thrust his hands into the air, and jumped high into the sky. His Star allowed him to stay there, hands raised, hatred searing patterns into the ground below.

Energy began to pour into him from all around, his corrupted energy stealing the force from his surroundings. The ground started to crumble, bright red rock turning into blackened ash. Raw, untamed energy slipped out from between the cracks, streaming into the rapidly growing sphere that Dan held above his head. It crackled with lightning and death, evil faces flickering into being around the destructive orb. As the remaining villages in the area broke down, their resources pouring into Dan's Ultimate Destruction Overdrive, the continent itself began to shiver from the imminent fear of death.

Annabelle stared forward, barely able to see over the storm. "He's… going to destroy it!", she shouted, her face turning white. "Brandy, please make it in time…"

"It?", Trevor asked, holding Annabelle's skirt to prevent her from flying away. "What do you mean, it?"

"Everything!", Annabelle shouted, and covered her eyes in terror. "He's going to destroy everything!"

Dan took a deep gasp, as he felt his attack complete. The gigantic green, red, and black orb rotated at diabolical speeds above his head, ready to destroy everything within sight. He looked down one last time, in order to say one last silent goodbye- when he saw a small figure leaping off the ground, waving her arms, shouting to him in utter desperation.

"DAN!", Brandy shouted, at the top of her lungs. She hoped she could be heard over the storm- it was her only hope. Tears streamed from her eyes, yet her determination did not falter. "DAN, IT'S ME!"

Dan, far above, was given momentary pause. His Ultimate Destruction Overdrive still hovered in his grasp, yet he did not throw it just yet. Something about that voice seemed familiar, beginning to break through his mental fog.

"DAN, IT'S ME!", Brandy shouted one last time, trying in vain to access their mental link. "BRANDY!"

At those words, Dan's pupils suddenly once again became visible. The red that had consumed him began to flicker, giving way to the soft blue once again. The multicolored sphere of destruction still hovered, yet he no longer had any desire to throw it. His mouth opened, and he uttered a single word in response.

"B… Brandy?"

"YES!", Brandy shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. Even though the storm was loud and intense, her ears had just barely managed to pick up Dan's words. "IT'S ME! I'M ALIVE!"

Dan slowly began to float down to the ground, feeling his rage flickering. It was calming, the feeling of such overwhelming anger slowly drain out of him, and back to wherever it had come from. But of course, it did not want to go back. Everyone had internal demons, Dan very much included. They had manifested themselves in his anger, and highly resented the thought of returning. They pulled at him, telling him to go back up, to throw the attack and end everything. But Dan resisted- his rational mind fighting back against the mighty rage. He forced himself to descend to the ground below, the storm slowly weakening. His eyes kept on flickering back and forth between blue and red, his pupils and irises phasing in and out of visibility.

"Dan!", Brandy shouted again, a little quieter this time. "Come down!"

Dan's hair still flowed wildy above his head. Dan's eyes still raged. Green and yellow Star still flashed around his body, burning any air that got too close. But still he slowly, surely, descended to the ground, breaking it apart as soon as he landed. The sphere of death he had built had dissipated, blowing apart all the clouds for hundreds of miles with its diluted, yet still mind boggling power. And as he slammed down onto the ground on one knee, he saw the tiny figure before him. His demons pulled at his mind, begging him to return to Rage- until Brandy put her hand on his, and looked into his eyes.

"Bran...dy?", he asked, his voice a deep, hoarse rumble from all the screaming. He took deep breaths, struggling to keep his rage inside- until Brandy gave her response.

"Yes.", she said gently, and rubbed his hand. "It's me. I'm alive. Bubble's alive. We're both fine."

Dan gasped, as his eyes finally stopped flickering. They turned full on blue, as his hair finally fell to his back. His demons retreated for another day, and the aura of sheer Rage around him dissipated at last, replaced with a shower of sparkles, and an explosion of gold.

Song: Jonathan Joestar theme

"You're… alive.", Dan said, and his eyes began to water. "But- I saw you die. How did you-"

"Bubble.", said Brandy, and looked up into his eyes apologetically. "Bubble faked our deaths. It was to get you angry- but I didn't mean for you to be like that. I mean, I did, I knew you would get a lot stronger if you saw us die, but I didn't mean to hurt you like that, but-"

Dan stared at her rambling, and knew he could contain it no longer. Rather than listen, he just closed his eyes, threw his entire body forward, and enveloped her in a massive hug. Her words were cut off as Dan surrounded her with himself, suddenly plunging her into a dark cave of embrace. She realized what was happening, and wrapped her arms around his torso as best she could to hug him back.

"Don't…", he said, his voice trembling with overwhelming emotions. "Don't do that, okay? I didn't know you were faking it. I… I can't have you die."

"I guess I know that now.", said Brandy quietly, her own emotions beginning to get the best of her. "How about we both agree on it. We never make each other think we died ever again."

"That sounds good to me.", Dan breathed, and let his eyes close, just feeling Brandy safe and sound within his arms. After such legendary rage, it was good to rest.

Neither of them knew how long it was that they stayed there. Neither of them was paying attention to the time elapsed of them just on the harsh and broken ground, feeling each other breathe, feeling each other think, feeling each other live. It was a wonderful feeling, for both of them. Dan was overjoyed that not only were his wife and daughter safe, so was his confident, his very best friend, his precious thief. It warmed Brandy's heart to near bursting to know that despite his terrifying rampage, Dan was still Dan. His rage had been unleashed to its fullest, leaving behind the gentle person she both knew and loved.

As the minutes passed, silver began to gently flow out of Brandy's body. It mixed with the gold floating above of Dan's head, the two shimmering auras mixing together and dancing in the air. It would have been a true spectacle to behold, if there was anybody around to see it. But sadly, there was not- no one was there to see the dance of the lights, the gentle swirling of the silver and the gold. No one was there to see this physical embodiment of Dan and Brandy's eternal love for each other, glowing above their heads in the light, casting impossible shadows and ethereal glows on the dewdrops below. It was impossible to say what the lights truly were. Perhaps it was the force of Brandy's Dash and Dan's Star. Perhaps it was the physical form of Brandy's Stand, and Dan's potential for one. Perhaps their souls had, temporarily, left their bodies, stepping above the fragilities of the flesh to dance the true dance of the beloved.

But of course, such things cannot last forever. And as the lights slowly faded back into their bodies, a slight cough sounded from the two's immediate right.

Song: Calm Sightseeing

"Oh.", said Dan, but quietly, so as not to disturb Brandy, still tight in his grasp. He looked up to see the rest of the group, in various states of disarray. Bubble's eyes were wide open, almost haunted looking at seeing Dan after what had just happened. Annabelle and Trevor had dust all over their faces and torsos, blown on to them from the storm. Leon's hood lay off of his head, his hair mussed up and a shock of white down the very side. It was most likely from the terror of the experience. He still shook a bit, but was mostly able to keep it under control.

"Hey guys.", Dan said, and offered up a tentative smile. "I'm uh… sorry that you had to see me like that. I just kind of lost control, is all."

"Don't worry, Dan is fine.", said Brandy from underneath his arms, wriggling to get out. Dan noticed and unlocked his grip, allowing her to jump out and into plain view. She adjusted her hood and flicked a thumb off her forehead. "He just had to calm down. Sorry."

Bubble took a tentative step towards her father, still not sure what to think. Dan slightly twitched, and Bubble jumped back with a terrified yelp. She stuck out her hand in some token gesture of defense, skirting behind Annabelle's outstretched arm in underlying fear.

"Woah, woah, don't be afraid.", said Dan, and crept a little closer. He almost smiled, but decided that it would be a better idea to not show his teeth if at all possible. "It's me. Dad."

"But you were scary.", said Bubble, and audibly sniffed. "That was really scary."  
"Yeah, but I'm not scary anymore.", said Dan, as gently as he could. "I got all of that out of me once I… you know. Went berserk."  
"Are you sure?", asked Bubble, and gently waved her hand. A small neon sign appeared right in front of Dan, with two options highlighted- a bright green Yes, and a dark blue No. Dan rolled his eyes, but gently tapped on the Yes option. The sign disappeared, and Bubble managed to weakly smile. "That's good."

"I'm still a little blown out.", said Leon, and sighed. He sat down on a pile of dirt, seeming to not notice his new streak of white hair. He let all the air in his lungs slowly dissipate into the area, closing his eyes and falling onto his back. "That was an exhausting couple of fights."

"Well.", said Brandy, and a sly smile began to creep its way up her face. "If you guys are feeling tired, then I guess you all could just stay here for a bit."

She looked up at Dan, who looked back down at her with some degree of confusion. "Because me and Dan are about to go somewhere else…"

"What?", asked Dan, not really sure what Brandy was getting at. She stared at him in a way that she had not for a few days, but-

"Dan.", said Brandy, and Dashed up onto his chest. She could not keep her eyes off of him even for a second. He had lost almost all of his clothes in the battle with the Elecfirno Dragon and his enraged transformation, leaving the only thing he was clad in a pair of blue shorts that he normally wore under his armor. Brandy stared at his massive muscles, his skin glimmering with both Star and sweat. She felt her own chest grow tighter, and her face grow hot. Brandy pressed herself right up against Dan's upper chest, and looked up right into his eyes. The look on her face was one of absolute hunger, although not for any food.

Brandy turned to the group, hardly able to keep herself contained any longer. Now Dan knew what she as getting at, and slowly began to get up off the ground.

"Me and Dan are gonna…", she said, looking around. Upon finding a suitable surviving boulder to go behind for a while, she grinned. "Go behind that rock for a bit. Don't go anywhere too far away, okay?"

Dan stood up, and started walking over to the boulder. He prepared himself for what he knew full well was going to happen next- it had not happened for a few days. Perhaps such a thing now would help to fully take care of the stress and worries that had been building- not to mention provide what he thought was the perfect capstone to such a tender moment.

"What are you going to do behind the rock?", asked Bubble, tilting her head. Leon's face grew stiff, both Annabelle and Trevor noting just how interesting the dirt in the area really was.

"Nothing.", said Leon, as he saw Dan carry the increasingly hyper Brandy off towards the rock. "Now let's go off somewhere else and… uh… look for bugs."

"But what are they going to do behind the rock?", Bubble asked, resisting Leon's brotherly pull. "Is it fun? Are they gonna do something? I wanna go!"

"They're going to do… uh…", said Leon, and looked to Trevor for assistance. He knew what they were going to do, but he did not know how he would go about explaining it to Bubble. He briefly considered telling her the full truth, but decided against it pretty quickly.

"They're going to go do boring adult stuff.", Annabelle said, one finger pointing up in the air. "You wouldn't want to go, Bubble. You would just be bored."

"Boring adult stuff?", asked Bubble, with a frown. "Like whaaaat?"  
"Taxes.", said Trevor. Nobody said anything for about 15 seconds after that, just letting the word hang there in the air.

"That's… right!", said Annabelle, shooting Trevor a dirty look. He shrugged, but Annabelle retorted with a glance that said _I will talk to you about this later._

"So let's not worry about that, shall we?", Leon asked, and took Bubble by the hand again. He started leading her off towards the top of the devastated hill, gently turning her face away from the rock that he could see Dan and Brandy duck behind. "Let's see what's in the area. I bet there's all sorts of bugs and spiders and stuff."

"Ew, but I don't like spiders.", said Bubble, and pouted with a fold of her arms. "Aren't there any frogs around here?"

"Probably not.", said Trevor, and wiped the sweat off of his brow. "It's too dry and hot for frogs. We might see some Skeletons though. Just out here in the wild."

"Frog skeletons?", asked Bubble, perking up hopefully. "I wanna see a frog."

"Sure.", said Annabelle, giving Trevor an elbow nudge. He looked at her in confusion, but accepted it. He didn't want to make her mad for any reason. "We'll probably see some frogs if we look hard enough around here."

"Yay!", Bubble said, and jumped over a rock. She looked around for the river, seeing the broken and shattered part of the ground that Dan had split. Through it ran the Clashcrush river, now able to be seen without its protective layer. Trevor figured they should probably have put it back, but that could wait. Apparently Bubble Needed to find a frog, so find a frog they would.

"I think there could be a frog in the river.", said Leon, leaning over Bubble. "We just need to sit here and wait for one to show up."  
"Woooahhh…", said Bubble, staring right into the most likely deep water. It was impossible to tell its true depth, with the lighting so low in the crack. "What kind of frog?"  
"Desert Bowstring.", said Annabelle, sitting down right next to Bubble. "They're special frogs that live in places like this one. They can also shoot small barbs of venom with their specialized feet, hence the name."

Bubble stared up at Annabelle's knowledge, and her eyes sparkled. She immediately threw her face right down up against the crack in the ground, keeping her eyes peeled.

"Sheesh.", said Leon under his breath, and flicked his lollipop around in his mouth. He looked up at the sky, seeing how close the sun was to the center of the sky. It had actually left it behind a little bit ago- he estimated it was now around 1 o clock. "I hope this doesn't take too long."

Song: Propaganda

At around the same time those events shook the War Fields, a very particular and rather peculiar meeting was happening rather far away, inside of a secret building, inside of a secret valley. The valley could not be found on any map that was not inside the area itself- but the person visiting there had methods of finding his way. He always did.

The secret building was not one known to the majority of the world's population, save every single Builder. They all knew it by heart, from the moment they were born. This was the place where the All Clan Annual Eastern Conference Builder's Thingamajig was held, it was the place where the Primal blueprints for all buildings were theorized, drawn up, finalized, and finally produced. This was the location of what some believed to be the very first hammer ever used to upgrade a building, and the very first Gems that had been painstakingly recovered after being used to complete it. This was the place where innovations were made on a daily basis, where invention was the norm, where it was rumored that even strange, mechanical heroes were beginning to be built. This was the counterpart to the Ivory Tower- the Builder's Bunker.

And in the very mechanical heart of the building, pistons and gears abounding in gaudy gold and scintillent silver, there sat a circle of chairs. Seven shadowed figures sat at one end of the circle, their short builds and bald heads not making them less intimidating. Or at least, they would have been intimidating to anybody but the one that sat before them- the one and only Askari the 15th.

"Sirs.", he said, his slightly mechanical voice ringing off the walls. The shadowed checkerboard of the walls reflected the tones back towards him, creating a strange sounding echo. "I do believe we both know why we are here."

He stared forward, and mentally changed the mode of his eyes. WIthin a second, the darkened gloom that had been hanging over the Builder's dark forms vanished, revealing their less than threatening selves. Other than the single beard among them, they looked just like regular Builders- but Askari knew the truth. These were the only Primals that had not left on the spacial journey with the others. The Primal five Builders- and their undisputed leader, the Primal Master Builder himself. The seventh figure that remained was that of the Primal Villager, who was taking careful notes of the meeting, flying across the paper she used with her Lightning fast hands.

"Ay.", said one of the Builders, and leaned forward just a touch. He knew full well that Askari could see him, for he had designed that particular model of eyes himself. He knew what mode they were on. "We do."

"But we are not sure we can devote any of our resources to helping you.", said the Builder on his right, and shook his head slightly. "This… Dragon Cannon, was it… seems rather outlandish. Frankly, I am not sure that such a thing is even possible to be built."

"It is far beyond what your ancestor constructed.", said the third, remembering to that fated time. "That was a relatively simple design, being based upon the Inferno Tower and Eagle Artillery. But this seems to not really be based on anything. How are we supposed to build it?"

"Well, you are builders.", said Askari, tapping his fingers on the table impatiently. A shiver ran up one of the Builder's backs, and he tried his best to hide it. "So build it."

The group, unsure, looked to their leader for guidance. He hiccuped, gave his beard a few soft scratches, and looked forward, his eyes almost glazed over. "Sir, what do you think?"

The Master Builder thought for a few things, the ancient gears and pistons in his mind twirling and whirling. "Well.", he said, and looked up. "The way I see it, he's sort of right. This is a complicated design, but I do think we can build it. It'll cost us, of course."  
"What is your price?", Askari asked. "The resources of the Silver Tower can provide it, I promise."

"Hmm…", said the Master Builder, once again looking over the plans. His eye twitched, and his beard gently waved back and forth under its own accord. He took in every bit of the blueprints- the way the wheels were to move. The exact weight that it needed to have. Every single dimension, every single exact material and type- even the markings and decorations on the outside. Even the color was taken into effect, all swirling together inside of the Master Builder's mind. Finally, he nodded, and looked up. "That'll set you back about a billion Gold."  
Askari's eyebrows raised, but he understood. There was no way his absolute masterwork could come up to costing anything less than a true fortune. "Alright. Once it is built, I will have the Gold delivered. And do not worry, it shall be."

"Hold it.", said the Master Builder, and turned to one of his partners. "How much we got in the back?"  
"How much what?", asked the Builder, and looked around. "Gold?"  
"Nah.", said the Master Builder, and inhaled deeply. "Fuel."

"Uh…", said the Builder, thinking back to the last time he had been there. "About a few day's worth. Should let us finish it in time."

"Good, good.", said Askari, and began to stand up. "But, if I may ask… what do you mean by fuel?"

"Builder Potions.", said the Master Builder, and coughed. "Or, if you're being technical, we got some bottles with a mix of crack, sugar, and Elixir. It's the good stuff, you know?"

"I see.", Askari said, and turned around. "Well, don't let me keep you dawdling. I'll be off-"  
"Hold it right there.", said one of the Builders, and Askari paused with his foot off the ground. "How can be sure you're the real Askari?"

"What?", Askari asked, and turned around. "What do you mean, ask if its the real me? What other Wizard can do… this?"

Upon his words, Askari's hand suddenly turned to metal. It shot out and grabbed a drinking cup off the Elixir cooler, taking a deep, refreshing swig before crushing the cup entirely.

"I assure you once again, I am Askari.", he said, and nodded. "That is fact."

"Well then, Mr. Askari.", said the Builder, and grabbed something from above him. "I'm sure you won't mind a little test? Just to see, to make sure, to prove."

"By Ill'ka.", said Askari, and started walking towards the Builder. "Administer this test."

The Builder said nothing, and slowly produced a gun, to the gasps of his fellows. It was a rather simple model, much like the one used by Colts. There were no markings on its side, save a single red X. From the rattling it made when the Builder set it on the table, it had at least one bullet.

"The mighty Askari has been said to never lose a game of Death Roullete.", said the Builder, all eyes at the table staring at him in shock. Except for those of Askari, who merely peered in glee. "But we shall see if that is true. Are you the real Askari? Or are you just one of those fakes that's been hammering around lately."

Askari sighed, and grabbed the gun. He swiftly brought it up near his head, and pulled the firing mechanism into place. He did not even bother to close his eyes.

"You should know better than this.", he said, directly to the Builder who had given him the gun. "Such an odd test…"

He suddenly pulled the trigger- and there was a bright flash of light. The Builder slightly smiled, one of his targets down at last. For he had placed a bullet in every chamber prior to Askari's coming. There was no way he could avoid getting shot.

But as the smoke cleared, there stood Askari, the same insane grin still on his face. A very slight dent had impacted the part of his face where the bullet had hit, but disappeared just a second later. The rest of him wasn't even injured in the slightest, for it was just a regular bullet that had shot him. It was nothing before his perfected mechanical body.

"There.", he said, and threw the gun down to the table. "I proved it, did I not? For as you can see, I am indeed alive."

"So you are.", said the Builder, and the Master Builder gripped the plans tightly in his hand. "Well, looks like everything is sorted out. We will build your Dragon Cannon, Askari, and have it ready as soon as we can."

"Excellent.", Askari said, and let a grin slowly creep up the side of his face. "You and your fellows will be a valuable asset to my armies indeed."

"We can only hope.", said the Master Builder, and shook his head in exhaustion. He began to head down the interior row to the Grand Forge, as Askari decided to head out. He had a lot of places to be, and worryingly less and less time to be there.

Song: Space of a Lone God

But before he could leave the building, just as he entered into the hallway, a mysterious light shone from the space in front of him. Askari had no idea what it could be, and he brought up his hand for protection. A few stray guns automatically popped out of it, taking aim at the light.

"Who are you?", he barked, taking a step back. He didn't want to take any chances with the mysterious light, especially considering the number of times he had been ambushed by Forgotten lately. "Identify yourself!"

The white light opened wider, revealing a shimmering corona of power. A gloved hand reached through it, the fingertips glowing purple and the stitching shining with white light. An aura of deadly seriousness emanated from the strange hand, tearing at the air itself.

Askari looked down at the mysterious hand, and raised the guns on his hand. But he did not yet shoot, for his curiosity was beginning to outweigh his caution. There was something about the hand that seemed… familiar to him. Like as if he knew the person on the other end of the portal, even if he didn't know who were quite yet. He felt his own energy gently move forward and touch the glow of the hand, intermingling quite peacefully.

"Who are you?", he asked again, trying to make sure he was not making a mistake. "Did I call for you? Because if I did not, then I do not think that-"

But his words were interrupted by the glowing white crack in the air opening a bit wider once again, a face becoming visible through it. He wore a splendid white beard, and a stern expression that seemed hewn from solid rock. His famous Wizard's Eyebrows seemed almost to be glaring with a life of their own, staring down at Askari with both patience and contempt.

Askari stumbled back, in utter shock. The guns went back in his hand, and he found himself taking a bow. "Father?", he asked. "What brings you here to me?"

"Askari, my boy.", said Askari the 14th, and placed his hands on the side of the crack. Pushing mightily, he managed to separate the walls long enough for him to walk out, and land on the ground of the complex. It closed to a smidgen almost as soon after, the crack not able to keep such size up for very long. "I have come. For you need help."

"Help?", Askari the 15th asked, and stood back from his bow. "I do appreciate the offer, but I do not need help. I got the Goblins on our side already. And the Builders are building me the great weapon."

Askari the 14th shook his head, and put his hand on his son's shoulder. "Yes. That is good.", he said, his massive white beard moving with every word. "But it is not all that is needed."

"Oh.", said Askari, and his visgage grew slightly weaker. "Well then, what is needed?"

"You need to get more help, my boy.", Askari the 14th said. "There are continents that require your attention. You have spoken to Lady Chuqalita, correct?"  
"Right.", said Askari the 15th, remembering if he actually had. "She might even end up coming."

Askari the 14th stared straight forth but intensely. "She will almost certainly know what to do better than I do. Seek her out, find her, recruit her if at all possible. For whatever reason, she is the only Dragonlord currently awake. She is very powerful indeed, and commands legions of strange, new troops."

"Yes.", said Askari, and took the plan to his head. He let it clink around inside of there for a few seconds, settling down into his mechanical nature within a second. "I can do that, father."

"Good, good.", said Askari, and looked up. "Then let us be off there at once, Father! Merely tell me where it is you now live, and I shall make sure to visit there soon."

"Of course, of course.", said Askari the 14th, and performed a small nod. "I am in Brawltopia at the moment, beginning to gather warriors. Swing by anytime. I'm sending you my exact coordinates. You should be able to get there easily."

"Good.", said Askari, and stood up. "I do have some other places to go, however. As much as it pains to me to say so, and leave you behind for a while."

"Very well.", said his father, and bowed. They both took one last look at one another, then Askari the 14th saluted. "I look forward to your arrival."

The portal closed, leaving Askari the 15th alone in the hallway. He closed his fist, looked up, and ran off- intent on meeting his father as soon as he could.

That meeting, all things considered, had taken place in the span of about half an hour. That had left plenty of time for the slightly less than important things happening in the War Fields to run their course, and begin to reach their close as well. And while one group of the fated travelers were still out in the mounds of dirt looking for frogs, the other two finally stepped out from behind the rock, exhausted but happy. Dan carried Brandy with one arm, the other held over his brow.

Brandy looked up into Dan's face, still shaking a little from what they had done behind the rock. She tried to form words, but failed, only softly breathing out. But that was okay with her. Exhaustion of that type was to be expected after such vigorous activity.

"Brandy.", said Dan, and took a huge step over a rock. "Thanks for that. I really needed it. And I guess that you needed it too."

Brandy nodded, and took a deep breath. She prepared herself to speak, trying to push the words through her mouth. "Of… of course we both needed it.", she said, and uncrossed her legs, intense as that movement might have been. "Why else… would we do it?"

Dan smiled, and reached out with the arm that was not holding Brandy. He gently stroked the top of her head with the single tip of a delicate finger, causing her to close her eyes. "We did it because we love each other.", he said, speaking in the deepest, most gravelly voice he could. Brandy closed her eyes and purred, feeling Dan's touch. "That's why, silly girl."

At those words, Brandy went limp in Dan's arms. She closed her eyes again, and almost fell unconscious. But she managed to stay awake, flexing her worn muscles to sit up in Dan's grasp. "We should…", she said, and blinked her eyes open. "We should check up on everyone else. See what they're up to."

"Right.", said Dan, and gave Brandy one last gentle tap on her back. She let herself fall completely into his hand, feeling his pace quicken over the dirt. "We should probably run now."

Brandy agreed, although she did not say so. Having her face pressed into Dan's skin might have prevented that.

"A frog!", shouted Bubble in raw excitement, jumping up from her crouch above the river. She pointed eagerly in, the heads of the group all turning to see. "A frog, a frog!"

"Wait, you actually found one?", asked Leon, jumping over. He hadn't expected to ever see a Frog in a place like this, but he guessed that he had seen many things he never would have expected to see. Bubble was one of them- so why not a frog? "That's cool."

As Leon landed right next to Bubble, he looked right where she was pointing. He too had been excited when she announced her discovery- and yet, there was nothing. No frog adorned the spot that she was showing. There was no frog anywhere within the entire area.

"Uh…", said Leon, and cast a look of confusion to Bubble. "Where?"

"Where what?", asked Bubble, and pointed harder. "It's right there!"

"But it's not.", said Leon, and squinted. There wasn't even a camouflage frog that he could see. There was just nothing but the slowly rushing water and a small bit of stone, too small for most frogs to sit. "There's not a frog there, Bubble."

Bubble rolled her eyes, a soft "Boys" coming out from under her breath. She pointed down into the water itself, and insisted louder. "Not there. There! Look!"

Leon looked harder, a touch concerned for Bubble's sanity- when then he saw it. She had not been pointing to a frog down in the water, she had been pointing to the reflection of one upon the surface. Leon immediately looked up- and saw a frog hanging there in the air, in a classical mediation pose, eyes closed and dewlap vibrating like a hyper Ice Spirit. Somehow, Leon had missed it until now.

"Huh.", said Leon, and scratched the top of his hood. "Well, would you look at that. A frog."

"Amazing…", said Trevor, coming up from behind them. He stared up at the frog as well, his biology training finally coming into effect. "That's a Floater Frog. Very rare, especially around these parts. Nice find, kids."

Bubble beamed, and tucked one lock of hair behind her ear. She reached out tenderly with one hand towards the Floater Frog, intent on giving it a pet- when she heard the panicked scream of Annabelle reach her ears.

"Bubble, don't touch that!", she yelled, diving into the way. Bubble retreated in dismay, watching Annabelle spread her arms out open wide, making sure not to touch the frog. Her breathing was hard and her eyes wide from panic. "That's not just a Floater Frog, Trevor. See, look at its legs."  
Trevor looked down at the legs, and his eyes widened in alarm as he saw a distinct red mark on the interior sides. "Oh, shoot.", he said, and took a step back. "Yeah, that's the highly toxic kind. Keep your distance, guys. Sorry Annabelle, not sure how I missed that."

"No, no, it's fine.", said Annabelle, and put her hand on Bubble's back. "Come on, everyone. Let's leave the Floater be. We should probably go check up on your parents now, shouldn't we?"

"Right.", said Bubble, and pounded her little fist into her hand. The thrill of the search for the Frog seemed to be fading from her mind and memory, this new quest suddenly far more important. "We need to find out what they were doing behind that rock."

"Let's not, okay?", Annabelle asked, at the same time that Trevor said "Taxes."

They both stared at each other, Annabelle politely asking Trevor with her eyes to cut it out. Trevor just shrugged, as if implying his innocence. But Annabelle ignored the plea, choosing instead to just focus on ahead, guiding Bubble down the hill and back toward the fields. She saw that Leon needed no directing, for he was already far ahead of her. He had the fastest speed out of anyone in the group, more so now that he could activate Smoke Trails.

Song: Cheerful Journey

"Hey, kids…", Brandy said, still a little woozy. Dan stepped over a huge dirt mound, appearing in front of the group on the hill. Only one of her eyes was open, as she hung loosely in Dan's tight grip. Or at least it appeared that way- Dan would never let her fall. "You uh… you find any frogs?"

"Yes!", shouted Bubble, and started to run forward. She almost tripped on a leftover rock, but jumped over it just in time. She looked up at Dan and Brandy with an excited expression, light of happiness beaming from her face. "We found a super cool floating frog, but Annabelle said-"

"Wait.", Dan said, sudden alarm crossing his face. "A floating frog? You didn't touch it, did you?"

Bubble sighed, and looked back wistfully to where the frog had been. It was gone now, having since floated away upon the wind. "No. Annabelle said it was bad to touch it."

"Well, thank goodness.", said Dan, and slowly leaned down. He offered his open shoulder for Bubble to climb on, and she stared at it in caution. "Those can be dangerous."

They both stood there for a few more seconds, as the rest of the group advanced. Dan stared in confusion at Bubble, who stared in worry up at him. "Bubble?", he asked, as unintimidating as he could. "What's wrong?"

"What happened to all your clothes?", she asked, staring at his face. "You're in your underwear."

"Yeah…", said Leon, and frowned. "You kind of burned off everything, Dad. Almost."

Dan looked down, and frowned at his current state. They were right- he no longer wore anything but his bright blue undershorts. All other articles of clothing- his upper armor, his helmet, his metal skirt, his undershirt- they had all been destroyed along various parts of the journey.

"Oh.", he said, and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well uh… yeah, I guess I can't really go around looking like this, now can I. Brandy'll keep on getting distracted."

Brandy laughed, and nuzzled her face deeper into Dan's hand. Dan smiled, and squeezed his hand just enough to give her sides a bit of a nudge. He looked up, and back towards Bubble. "Do you think you could make me some illusion clothes? Just for now, until we find a more permanent option."

Bubble took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She stuck her hands out in front of herself, and began to concentrate. Such an order was very complicated indeed, and hard to pull off. She had to understand perfectly how such a thing would look in every light, and every stance that Dan could take. It was on her pride as an artist that such things rested.

For a few seconds, nothing happened. Bubble merely sat upon the ground, waving her hands around and making odd mumbles. Dan looked at Brandy, who winked for some reason.

"I think it's working.", he said, and shrugged. "Otherwise, why would she be making-"

As if waiting for him to say such a thing, Bubble's eyes shot open. They were shining a bright and wonderful blue, sending light and casting shadows onto the ground below. A stream of blue shapes flew forth from her opened palms, rushing towards Dan and hitting his skin. It was a far more open presentation than the illusions she usually cast, but this was a far more complicated job. Dan felt a tingling run across his skin, as the power of Bubble's illusions slowly became exactly what Dan had known he had asked for- a curved, layered metal top piece across his torso, some spiked covers for his limbs, and a long blue cape trailing out behind him.

"Awww, thanks Bubble.", Dan said, and reached out. He gently tusseled her hair, so as to not hurt her. "Now we can keep on going."

Dan reached out his hand, gesturing for everybody else to get on board. Everyone knew the drill by this point- get on Dan, keep on walking, fight some Forgotten, get on board again, and keep on going. That is what they had been doing for quite a while now. But really, only Brandy was any bored of it. Dan relished the combat, taking each encounter as a chance to further hone his skills before he took on Rakastamos himself. Leon saw it mostly the same way, as a chance to properly get himself ready. Bubble didn't care much for the whole fighting thing as much as those two, but she very much liked the hanging out with her family part. Trevor and Annabelle both enjoyed the combat and knew that it was making them stronger. Already, they had felt each of their levels go up a few times. "All aboard!"

Once Bubble jumped up onto Dan's hand, completing the stack, he knew it was time to head out. With an authoritative gesture of his fist and a few decisive steps forward, the group struck out once again, following the hints of the River towards the Mountain.

"Hey guys?", asked Annabelle, and Brandy looked up. "Yeah?"

"What should we call ourselves?", Annabelle asked, and gestured outwards with her hands. "I mean, most cool groups have some sort of name. So what should we be?"

"I don't kno-", said Leon, but Dan rumbled, as he had something to say.

"Blue Justice.", he said, then almost stopped walking as he finally heard it for the first time outloud. "I mean-"

"Let's figure it out later.", said Brandy, slurring her words. "When we're not all so tired."

"That sounds like a good idea.", said Dan, and kept on walking. "Let's do that."

Song: Ancientry

The mood was unfavorable in the cave of Rakastamos during that particular morning. He had entered one of his famous fits a few hours earlier, and an entire section of cave wall now lay shattered and broken, felled by a single mighty blow. Reports of an earthquake had reached as far away as the Rushlands, no doubt attracting the attention of Chuqualita. But that did not even weigh upon Rakastamos's mind in the slightest at this point. No, he had much larger things to worry about. Things that pressed onto his mind like a heavy weight presses through a cloud, or the ocean's weight presses upon a deep-sea flatworm. It tore at him, causing his own claws to dig imprints into his own flesh. For as impossible as it might as have seemed, the great and mighty Dragonlord Rakastamos was stressed out.

He sat deep inside his personal cave, staring deep into the shards of broken glass that served as a Mirror. They dripped with blood on every edge- but the spilled blood of tortured, passed on Troops, and some of his very own. That blood still glowed bright, shimmering with the surface of the mirror itself. Sometimes he considered fixing it, putting the shattered bits back together again- but he knew without a doubt that every time he stared into it, it would just shatter again. For he was the almighty, truly chosen Dragonlord Rakastamos, he told himself. He broke the sanity of lesser beings from his sheer presence alone. His breath was that of a volcano. His strength was that of mountains, and his knowledge that of oceans. His swiftness was that of a hurricane, and his raw untempered might truly had no equal.

His sister Chuqalita called herself "The Wise." That thought made him spit, the acidic liquid bubbling and fizzing into the ground below. How wise did she think she was? She had gone so far as to not only reject his message of worldwide prosperity, but even to suggest that somehow, he was wrong. He, the savior of Dragonkind. The very notion made him furious, boiling over with anger towards his sister. He raised his hand, dripping with shadow, to smite some other part of the cave clean off the face of the planet- but something gave him pause. A memory, even just a sensation, of when he was young. He remembered that he had always been the closest with Chuqalita among his siblings, a very long time ago. His eyes softened a tiny bit-

Then he roared, and slashed down. The side of the cave hesitated for a bit, not sure what to do- then it fell away, the entire subterranean plate sliding down the cliff and shattering upon the ground. A great noise spread throughout the cave, all alerted to their master's rage.

Rakastamos sat there, huffing puffs of pure anger through his nose. Who was anyone to deny him his victory? Who had the right to cease the world's rightful cleansing?

"Master Rakastamos?", he heard something say far below him. Rakastamos ever so slowly turned to look, the majority of his gargantuan form hidden from view of the Troop. The messenger put his hands in front of his head, and bowed. "Yes?"

"I bring news, my lord.", said the Messenger, and bowed again. "Yes, very important news."

"Is it about the deaths?", asked Rakastamos, and ever so gently, ever so lightly, scraped the top off the rock below him. "Because trust me, I already know."

"No, no, it's not that,", said the Messenger, and Rakastamos slowly looked down.

"Oh?", he asked ,and slowly began to turn around all the way. His colossal, menacing form even intimidated the Messenger- he was the one that talked with Rakastamos all the day. And yet their connection was still incredibly shallow. "Then please, Messenger. Tell me what happened."

"Well.", said the Messenger, knowing that he had to tread his next words carefully. "I know you already saw the defeat- temporary, of course- of the Cyborg. And then there's the Singer and the Dancer-"

"What?", asked Rakastamos, in genuine confusion. "Who are the- I don't remember them."

"Oh, they were recruits", said the Messenger, feeling panic begin to drip down its brow. "We hired them, but now they were defeated. By the Tailbiters-"  
"Oh, the Tailbiters!", Rakastamos suddenly shouted, and jerked himself to an upright position. His eyes burned with orange flame, and his teeth were pulled back in a ferocious snarl. At the mere mention of the group's name, Rakastamos's rage had been stoked.

"They truly will not leave anyone alone, will they?", he shouted, and bashed his tail against the wall. Several ancient runes that had been put there long ago crumbled to dust, the Messenger jumping to avoid the falling debris. "Of course, my Forgotten are hardly any better. They keep on splitting up, they keep on avoiding their assigned roles, and they just keep on dying! I assigned Trevor to Balkstrassen, and what does he do? He goes off with William, and he _dies_!"

He glared at his mirror in pure fury, and several of the shattered bits broke even further. They fell onto the ground in tiny shards and powder, the noise unable to be heard against Rakastamos's intense rumbling. His jaw hung open, his hundreds upon hundreds of teeth glinting in the low light. They were one of the only things that could be seen.

The Messenger waited a few more seconds before delivering his next message. "But on the bright side, the team has gotten your Blood Elixir Pump just about up and working again. Once we go out and get some new sacrifices, we will be on proper schedule once again."

"Good.", Rakastamos said, his mouth's snarl pulling up a little bit. "How far along are we on the schedule, by the way? How much time do we have left?"

The Messenger, ever the dutiful servant, told him just how much time was left. And upon hearing that number, Rakastamos's eyes lit up. His mouth turned from an enraged snarl to a genuine smile, practically able to taste the success within his grasp. He had waited for so long to finally, truly, ascend to the perfection that the Blood Elixir would bring him. He had overestimated the amount when he had awoken earlier, as well. He had thought that it would have taken a million- but it would only take around 50 thousand. Quite the acceleration, indeed.

"And of course, there is one more message…", said the Messenger, and Rakastamos slowly looked down. The Messenger trembled, as he was oft to do- but Rakastmos just sighed. He would never hurt his most trusted source of information. Besides, he already knew what the Messenger was probably going to tell him. "Yes?"

"There are more attackers, here to see you.", the Messenger said, then scrambled into his hole in the wall. Rakastamos grinned, and clenched his fist. "Goooood.", he growled, and slowly began the long walk towards the entrance of the immense system of caves that made up his lair. "I've got some things to work through."

Song: Frieza's Horrific Power

That particular group of assassins the Messenger had been referring to was a strong one indeed. The information that had desperately been relayed in the dying moments of the last groups had been carefully analyzed, studied, and put to good use. Rakastamos's power had been seen, and the agents of the Silver Tower had gotten a good estimate on just how strong he really was. His fighting style had been written down and drilled into the heads of everyone in the group, counters being taught to each and every one of them. It would be hard to try and counter such an immense beast, but the Troops of the Tower had been trained for any eventuality. They tried to keep the mentality of just a normal day of work, merely a routine assassination, even as they walked through the lair of true evil. They all tried to cut down on the air of fear, but it hung over them like a sickening cloud. Shivers ran up and down not only the spines of the party, but the air and even the very space itself inside the cave, what seemed to be evil voices making themselves heard. What they whispered was not a mere language, but the core sounds of evil itself. It scraped upon the ears like vile poison, a rot tipped dagger against pale flesh.

The group was a particularly strong one, for it had to be at this point. There were no mere Barbarians, or Archers. There were no weak links, such as a Wizard or a Musketeer. No, this group was far stronger. This group did not merely have heavy hitters, it was made entirely of them. There was to be absolutely no mercy visited upon Rakastamos upon that day.

The first and most powerful member of the group, the leader, was a level 75 Archer Queen named Saliah. Usually, levels did not go that hight for Heroes- but Saliah was different. She had been a mutant since birth, able to access strength far beyond her normal level. She had chosen the skin of the Gladiator, ready to take down Rakastamos by any means necessary.

Behind her was her second in command, Mary, who was also an Archer Queen. She was not nearly as high of a level, being only 40, but her strength in combat was still incredible. She had no special skin, but she was still ready and able to fight for the world's safety.

Coming up third in the battle line was Chris, a veteran Builder perched atop a Sparky. It hummed with sheer electrical power, ready to unleash lightning and death upon the mere touch of a button in Chris's hand. Chris was alert and waiting for anything, no matter what they might be. Any threats would be dealt with as quickly and painfully as possible.

Bringing up the rear were a pair of Super Pekkas, their electric bodies crackling and spitting sheer, absolute energy. Their twin swords shone brightly in the cold, old light, casting shadows onto the deeply haunted ground. The entire group could still see how the death Elixir of no doubt dozens or even hundreds of previous would be assassins covered the stone like a carpet. But this time was different. This time, they would kill Rakastamos for good.

In the very back was a level 30 Battle Machine, piloted by its own workings. Its massive hammer hummed with hidden electrical surges, able to summon up a ferocious bolt at the slightest notice. It took careful steps along the rock, trying to make sure not to trip.

One of the Super Pekkas looked up, her robotic eyes searching for Rakastamos. It was odd how little the nothing she found was .Normally, Rakastamos would have shown up by now- that was the information collected by all the other doomed teams. Perhaps there was something wrong. Perhaps he had left the cave, or just gone far deeper into it. But whatever the case, she would have to keep looking. She brought her head back down, staring forward, and felt a rather odd sensation in the middle of her mechanical torso. Something tickled.

Carl looked lazily over, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. He saw that one of the Pekkas had stopped, staring at its own stomach in amazement and concert. He yawned again, accepting it this time, thinking about what could have happened. Perhaps it had tripped over a rock, or perhaps it was just old. With a horrible creaking of metal, the Super Pekka's entire top body slid off and fell onto the ground, suddenly becoming half a Pekka. Carl decided that it would best to take a look at it in a few minutes, maybe once they located Rakastamos.

Something that he had seen, but not fully processed in the last few seconds suddenly took effect, and he turned once again to see the Pekka. There it sat upon the ground, the top half beginning to turn into Elixir. Its bottom half just sat, largely starting to do the same.

"Uh.., guys?", he asked, staring at the spot where the Super Pekka had fallen. He saw no traces of weaponry anywhere around it. "What was that?"

"What?", asked Mary, still keeping her bow extended and her ammo ready to fire at any sudden moment. "What just happened-"

Then she saw the Super Pekka, and audibly gasped. She watched as it let out one last, sad-sounding "Bu...tter… fly…"

Then it dissolved into Elixir, spilling out into the stony ground. The entire group stared in horror, unable to fully comprehend what had struck it down.

"What just happened?", asked Mary, looking up at Saliah. "What's going on?"

"It appears to be an enemy with incredible speed.", said Saliah, her eyes glistening with the knowledge. Such speed can only be truly stopped by a matching force."

Mary stared up at Saliah in wonder, as the other Super Pekka too felt the sensation of a hole in its chest. It looked down to confirm- and saw a gaping blasted out chunk indeed, apparently done when nobody had been looking. Or, it thought, perhaps they had all been looking, and it had truly been too fast for anyone to tell. That train of ideas was the last thing to go through its head, as the Super Pekka slowly collapsed into Elixir upon the ground.

"Holy crap.", said Mary, and gripped her queenbow tighter. Her face was white as snow from fear, and her hands were shaking. "What was that? Why did they just die?"

"I-", said Saliah, as she noticed something right below and in front of her. It was what looked to be a single footstep, similar in shape to a Dragon's, although there was something very off used about it. For one thing, it did not have the distinct back claw that all other Dragons had. The second thing was probably its absolutely colossal size, far larger than any other Dragon anyone had ever before seen. It sent a real chill down the spine of the entire group, or at least those who were still alive.

"Yeeesh…", said Chris, and gripped his hammer tight. "What a nightmare of a beast. Good thing we will soon be facing him in open quarters!"

Then he noticed something odd in his jaw. It didn't' seem like that much of a pain at first, but the more he focused on it, the more painful it became. He gently poked at it with one finger- then almost fainted as his entire jaw just suddenly came off. He tried to scream, but found that he had no connection to his lungs. He tried to writhe, to escape, to run away- but the only thing that happened was he found the pain growing in his neck to just be too much. He looked down and saw the ground, his head rapidly falling towards it from where he had been decapitated before there had been a second.

The two Archer Queens watched the slaughter, as did the level 30 Battle Machine. It sent shivers of fear up and down both their spines, hearing the terrible laugher of Rakastamos echo throughout the cave. For there was no longer any doubt about what it could be. No other being could visit this level of sheer destruction so quickly. Dragonlord Rakastamos was no longer merely waiting for others to battle him. He was now doing it up front.

"Duck!", Shalia screamed, knowing the hand of the Dragonlord would soon be coming up and around again. "Get out of the way-"

Her words were interrupted, as Shalia suddenly vanished. Mary screamed and jumped backwards into the arm of the Battle Machine. A bolt of lightning shot down from the ceiling and right into the path of its hammer- but this was not the one it had summoned. This was one that had been sent to destroy it. It still held off the lightning bolts with the power of its hammer, but its strength was beginning to tire. There was only so much that a single Battle Machine could take, and the power of Dragonlord Rakastamos was not one of them.

Mary stared in abject horror, seeing what was going on up above. She could see Rakastamos now, albeit very unclearly in the low light. But what she did see was the most terrifying thing she could have possibly imagined.

Illuminated through the smoke, Mary could see Rakastamos had Shalia firm in his grasp. She pushed mightily to escape, but her efforts were for naught against the great Dragon. Even though Mary could barely even see her, she was still horrified beyond conventional belief as she saw Rakastamos gently snap Shalia in half, take one half and gulp it down, and toss the bottom half down to the ground below. She could hear the cracking bone as Rakastamos crunched down, could feel the spray of blood upon her face.

As soon as the severed legs dropped onto the stone, Mary cried out in unbelievable terror. She could not tear her eyes away, even if she tried as hard as she could. For there were the severed legs of the strongest member of the team, tossed on to the ground like refuse.

"That is bad…", she said, her eyes wide open as if glued to the wall. "That is very bad."

As the legs continued to bleed out over the floor, and Rakastamos slowly reared his head, Mary took off in a blind panic. The only one who was not either dead or running at this point was the Battle Machine, who stood there as a last bastion. It raised its hammer to attack-

Only for his hammer, like those before it, to be blown utterly to bits. A loud crack of thunder accompanied the blast, sending the Battle Machine back staggering and removing a lot of the fuel in the chamber. Most Battle Machines worked on clockwork, but this one did not.

"Shoot…", said Mary to herself, having landed right to a broken Golem. She looked absolutely terrified to be there, for no small reason. She had just seen her entire group cut down within moments. "This speed, and this power… it was far beyond anything we had been prepared for. I have to… to tell them! I have to tell someone!"

"No.", she heard, and stopped all activity. All moving, all running, all speaking, all everything. For there in front of her, glaring with unmatched ferocity and legendary intensity, was the mighty Dragonlord Rakastamos himself. He stared her down, split blood still covering his jaws.

"You…", Mary whispered, and felt insane courage suddenly grip onto her. She grabbed her queenbow tighter, and rushed forward. A low growl built up in her throat, the savage look up on her face a silent warcry."You killed Shalia!"

If Rakastamos cared, he would have shown it. Instead he just flicked her like an insect, flying through the air like shot from a Cannon. Once she landed, death would soon follow.

The Battle Machine alone now stood against Rakastamos, but it was heavily damaged. Sparks flew from most of its body, the artificial brain trying to decide between standing there and running for safety.

"My, that was certainly disappointing.", said Rakastamos, drawling his words in a lazy manner. "I would have thought that such powerful fighters would make a challenge…"

Then he laughed once more, the immense tones filling the cave with the terrifying sounds of utter destruction. He spread his wings in boast, tapping his claws rhythmically on the cave floor and walls. "Oh, well. I suppose that my new power is far too much for anything to present a challenge. But I'm not complaining… much."

He took his foot off the ground, ready to return to his planning. Even if the fight had been a enjoyable, brief distraction, there was still much planning to be done. And, if he hoped right, not a lot of time in which to do it. He had almost turned around, when he suddenly found himself remembering something.

"No, wait.", he said, and looked to his left. "There was one other-"

Even though its Builder driver had died, the Sparky still had a mind of its own. And it had been building up vast amounts of electricity the entire time that the fight had been going for, crackling and sparking along the ground like a river of thunder. Rakastamos turned to see it ,and brought up his hand to block. He prepared a shot of his own while he did so, a burning jet of flame deep within his throat hot enough to melt through diamond.

The Sparky reared up, gave a mechanical war cry, and unloaded its devastating blast. It streaked through the air like a missile, heading straight for Rakastamos, and detonated right onto his raised hand. There was a flash of light like an exploding star, followed by a rush of wind that blew dust all the way out of the cave front, a hundred meters back.

Once the remnants of the explosion cleared away, Rakastamos stared at the Sparky in wonder. The blast had not harmed him for the most part, only sending a crack up a few of the scales in his hand. But he could still feel the strength of the machine before him, and it started something deep within his mind. "The machines of this world have grown strong in my absence…", he muttered, and grinned. "Perhaps I should use that to my advantage."

That thought reminded him of something else that was still in the cave, and a tinge of alarm was sent through his heart. He quickly turned around to see the Battle Machine charging towards him, a huge chunk of rock clutched in its hand, lightning crackling around its arms.

"Not this time!", Rakastamos shouted, and put his hand in front of his mouth. As the Battle Machine charged him and the Sparky revved up for another blast, Rakastamos unleashed his torrent of flame right into his palm. It soured right over his hand and in between his fingers, four individual jets blasting in multiple directions. One punched directly through the chest of the Battle Machine, piercing its main processing unit, sending it falling to the ground and collapsing into planks, wires, and hundreds of bits. One other flashed right over the Sparky, disabling the main firing unit and sending the gathered electricity in every direction, scattered upon the ground. The other two were sent towards the spot where Rakastamos had last seen the Archer Queens, just in case they had managed to survive.

Rakastamos put down his hand, and looked around. That was it that time. All the opponents had been defeated. The Super Pekkas had been destroyed before they could even do anything, their explosions only denting the ground. The Builder's head had rolled to a stop along the cavern wall, his body dissolved. One Archer Queen had been halved and turned to Elixir, the other no doubt dead as well. The Battle Machine lay like so many scattered building blocks along the ground, and the Sparky was no longer able to fire.

"Ah, that was much more entertaining.", said Rakastamos, and sighed. He turned go to back to his lair at last, a little happier than he had been a few minutes ago. "I'm having fun destroying all these assassins… I do wish I could just complete my plan, however. That Blood Elixir is certainly looking very tempting…"

He deeply desired the chance to once more taste it. The small drink he had allowed himself was one of the most delicious things he had ever tasted, and the boost in power it had given him was far beyond what he could have imagined. And yet, he knew he had to resist the urge. Drinking the full, magical amount would produce a reaction in him for truly limitless growth.

He clenched his fist in anticipation as he thought of the day when the gods would return, to find only him. He could destroy them all with his future strength- perhaps even toppling mighty Ill'kaa himself. But he had to wait, he told himself. Yes, he only had to wait. Wait for his Blood Elixir Drill to-

Rakastamos stopped, and spat an ancient curse. He slammed his fist into the floor, and growled. "Did I not fix that?", he growled, and his eyes narrowed. "No, its still broken. Curses… I suppose that will have to be fixed. I wonder if my Builders are done yet."

The Messenger had, in fact, told him that it would soon be fixed. But somewhere inside of Rakastamos's mind, that information had gotten lost. So as he strode away, the Sparky following him for some reason known only to itself, his tail brushing away any traces of the battle in the loose sand that covered the black rocks, the cavern gradually grew to silence.

It was with great caution that Mary poked her head up above the rock she had been thrown behind, keeping a careful eye out for any sign of Rakastamos. After 10 long seconds of waiting, she thought it was finally safe to move. So she stepped up- and immediately fell, due to her snapped femur. She almost screamed from the white-hot pain spreading up her leg, but managed to keep herself quiet. She had to, for fear of death.

Hobbling slowly down the rocky slope, she tried to look for the exit. The entire cave was dark, the dust thrown up during the conflict blocking out the light. There was no way to tell where the group had come from, no way to tell how to get out. She looked around in desperation, and felt her face start to get hot. She looked down-

And gasped at the horrific sight of Shalia's legs still lying on the ground. Her heart jumped to her throat, and she felt her eyes began to water. "Shalia…", she whispered, gently climbing over to the legs. "Why did you have to die? I thought… heroes were immortal…"

_We are, _Mary heard in her head. She gasped- that was Shalia's voice. Was it her spirit talking to her, or something else? "Sh- Shalia?"

_Look at my legs, Mary, _continued Shalia's voice, and Mary blinked. She forced herself to stare, even through the pain that such a memory brought. _They are not Elixir yet. I, in a way, am still alive._

"Shalia…", said Mary, and stood up. She stared at the cut off point of Shalia's torso, noticing there was no longer any blood. "In… in a way? Is there some way I can bring you back?"

_Yes, _said the voice of Shalia. _Touch me. Give me just a little bit of your life energy, and I will be reconstituted. _

Mary did not even hesitate, or think about the obvious trap-like undertones this statement held. She just nodded, tried not to cry, and threw herself forward onto Shalia's legs in a huge hug. Wrapping her arms around Shalia's thighs, she closed her eyes, and tried to somehow lend her energy. She stopped, when she realized she had no idea how. She hugged again and again, just feeling the cold sensation of the dismembered legs below her. Hopelessness began to set in, as she felt her aloneness once more.

"I'm sorry…", she said, and started to cry. "I can't-"

"No.", said Shalia, out loud. Mary's eyes snapped open, as she felt her friend's familiar arms upon her back. There sat Shalia, still dripping Elixir, but alive. "You did alright."

"Shalia!", shouted Mary, and hugged her as tightly as she could. Shalia allowed the hug, but broke it off after a few seconds. They had to get down to business.

"There are other Queens in here.", said Shalia, looking forwards into the darkness. "That's partially why I came… to rescue them."

"Other Queens?", asked Mary, confusion clear across her face. "How many? Why?"

"Rakastamos likes to… collect them.", said Shalia, and her face grew dark. "Now come. We failed to kill him- but we can still work."

"Right.", said Mary, grabbing her queen bow from the ground. The two charged off into the dark- but quietly, so as not to be heard.

Song: Perfect Cell- Saiyan Enigma

Rakastamos had already arrived at the central cavern in his mighty lair, the one where he held all of his business. Scattered bits and pieces of various robots were scattered around- even though he had only ordered his underlings to get to work on his new Robot Program a few minutes ago, they were already far along. Such was the way of Skeletons.

While his vast scores on underlings toiled tirelessly on hundreds of mysterious projects around the cave, Rakastwmos himself sat in the center, overseeing everything at once through some ancient magic. His old, scarlet and gold eyes saw the Skeletons in the upper right north corner, manipulating several spells together into one bizarre concoction. Another group watched over several Baby Dragons, teaching them the ways of common language and magic. To the rest of the world, they were just simple Baby Dragons, unable to grow- but Rakastamos knew the truth. He fully knew the mysterious ways of Dragonkind ,and knew they were fully capable of turning into adults. All it would take was the proper training, and they could transform in just a few hundred years. It was a long time, but Rakastamos was prepared to play the very long game.

Past that group was a bundle of Skeletons that were busy making helpful adjustments to the captured Sparky. Despite its whirs and sparks of protest, the Skeletons had already replaced some of its wires with high-voltage crystals found growing on the far side of the mountain. Rakastsmos thought that with enough alterations, the mere Sparky could grow to a true Forgotten, eventually able to aid him in battle. But that time was a few days out, he thought. But maybe once the Builders he had taken were finished with their current project, he could assign a few of them to start on that. Speaking of the Builders…

Rakastamos cast a lazy look over towards the Blood Elixir Pump on the other side of the room, still under construction and repair. It was not in a village, so it had to be repaired fully by hand. He had also issued forth the order to upgrade it, for Rakastamos had sensed there was not much time in which to complete his goals. He had only about the time that the Messenger had told him- not a lot indeed.

Once he laid eyes on the Blood Elixir Pump, his face fell. It appeared, from the large green readout bar above the infernal machine, that there was still about 3 hours left. That would prove to be insufficient, he figured. He needed that machine up and running as soon as he possibly could. Anything else could potentially lead to the ruining of his plan.

"Builders!", he boomed, sending every Skeleton in the room to jump and the Builders to collectively experience painful shivers all the way up their backs. The Builders all looked over in terror, to see Rakastamos's mighty glare. They all knew Troops who had died from less.

"Is there any possible way you could speed that up?", he asked, not so sudden subtle undertones of _do this or you'll die_ permeating his voice. "I need it to be done far before that. In fact, now would be the best time."

"Now?", asked one of the Builders, putting his hands on his hips and scalp. He stared up at the massive spout of the Dark Elixir Pump, scratching his head in puzzlement. "Well, I don't think I can do that, sir. It says about 3 hours left, and I don't think we can have it done any faster than that. Industry standard- well, not exactly standard, but-"

His words were suddenly cut off, and he gasped in terror. That was the only thing he had time to do before he was torn utterly apart by a sudden strike from Rakastamos, sending his Elixir all across the walls with a splatter. It was far too strong for anyone in the room to notice at first, but they all recoil in terror once had had done so. "Does anyone else wish to question me?", he asked, glaring intently at each every Troop in the area. There was no action, all the Builders staring at him in both shock and terror, which seemed to be an occurring thing.

"Uhh…", said another Builder, and Rakastamos instantly was up by his side, the small Bulder child waring sweating under the pressure. Rakastmos stared at the wall, the Builder staring right at him. "That is a terrible strategy ,and an even more mindset."

"Apologies, sir.", the Builders said as one, and went back to their construction. It was tricky business, no doubt about that. "We'll get it fixed up instantly, in fact- provided we have some Gems."

"Good, good.", said Rakastamos, and reared up. He once again vanished into the upwards part of the cavern, leaving the spot where he had been totally empty.

"Wait, did you say… Gems?", Rakastamos asked, slowly looking down from his interior spy positions. "Gems for free upgrades… yes, I do suppose that I have found many of those."  
Rakastamos yelled to a Skeleton in the corner, and slowly reached for the ground. "Skeletons!", he shouted, the bare amount of history in his entire body shivering at the sight. These were far from the clean,sanitized Skeletons they had in the Arena- no, the ones summoned by Dragonlord Rakastamos would only ever get in the way. The Dragonlord's eyes narrowed.

"Here's how it goes.",said Rakastamos, holding his fist out over the area. "I will obtain the Gems,and then give the to you. In return, you will finish that upgrade instantly."

"Sure enough.", said of the Builders, and nodded. "This'll be done very soon, Lord Rakastamos. We just have to get this one little bit working, and…"

The Builder slammed his multi-tool that had been cleverly disguised as a hammer onto the side of the piston near where he was working, an the machine started to slowly, creakily, shakily, stumble back to life. It was still far from done, of course- it had to be loaded and primed, measured over and looked for by a team of elites. But it had been a major step, much larger than the other ones that had been happening. And as the Blood Elixir Drill began to once again take on its characteristic shine, the corners of Rakastamos's evil mouth slowly curled up into a smile. This was a perfect happenstance.

"Good, good.", said Rakastamos, and opened his hand. A rain of shimmering green Gems fell out of his grasp, shooting towards the Blood Elixir Pump that was still in repair below. Several dozen of them bounced off the woodwork, others careening off the metal. Some bounced off and hit a BUilder right on his head, knocking them out instantly. A few even shot right out of their path and took off across the cave, apparently in a mad search for victory. But most of them landed right on the murderous machine itself, sinking into the material and sending up small puffs of green and blue smoke. Once the magical amount of 88 Gems had been absorbed into it, there was a great flash of blue light. Dragon and Builder alike covered their eyes- until the blue flash faded, revealing the treasure and wonder that was now clearly visible to everyone in the cavern.

"Yes… yes!", shouted Rakastamos in triumph. He clenched his arms and shot upwards, blasting a stream of flame from his mouth in celebration. Rakastamos stared at the unholy mechanism before him, brought back to life at last. It may not have been as good in some areas, but it still worked, it still was his- and that is what mattered.

"Thank you, Builders.", he said, and stared at his now fully upgraded Blood Elixir Drill. The glinting chromium shone absolutely evil in the low light, Rakastamos almost hearing the death and suffering that came off of it droves. "This is a good thing… but it does need something to start it still. A little primer, if you wish."

"What?",asked one of the Builders, not really thinking about questions. This would soon prove to be his doom, as Rakastamos swiftly grabbed the Builder within a second, crushed several of his bones so his movement would be hampered, and tossed him right towards the central processing unit of his horrific chamber of death.

The mechanical horror made sounds straight from a nightmare. Deeper than a whale, elephants, or even a planet's. Louder than an industrial boar machine, louder than a Rocket. It terrified everyone- except for Rakastamos, who just laughed and looked absolutely ecstatic.

"You have all done very well!", he shouted, and beat his tal against the ground like a bell. He knew that in just a little bit of time, his plan would be at last complete. "Now let us begin the final stage of the plan. I shall call my strongest Forgotten, and-"

He looked up, into a crack in the ceiling of the cavern. "The Tailbiter group shall be no more. If anybody left on this world could possibly put a damper on plans, it would most certainly be them."

The deafing cry of _Yes, Lord Rakastamos_ echoed throughout the entire mountain, leaking into some valley beyond. Rakastamos howled, shooting a jet of flame to the ceiling.

"The end is beginning, my faithful!", he yelled, preparing his speech for the final day. "And we shall all be here to enjoy every bit of it."

A single tinkering sound at the very edge of Rakastamos's hearing suddenly sounded from the edge of his cave, as if a single person fell a single foot onto a lower ledge. It was not an important sound at all, or at least it did not seem to be so. But for whatever reason it pierced directly through all other sounds in the cave and landed directly into Rakastmos's ears, announcing its presence in the world. And it was for that reason that Rakastamos slowly, surely, turned his head to see what the sound was, staring at the furthest recesses of the dim cave.

He looked, and saw very little. Merely the scittering of two small shapes, pulling each other up and over rocks, desperately trying to move through the cave unseen. As soon as hey noticed the immense head of Rakastamos staring at them, the two small figures frozen in absolute terror. For some thought that if you were not moving, a Dragon could not see you. But they could not be more wrong- the sight of a Dragon was advanced indeed, even more so if that Dragon in question just so happened to be a legendary DragonLord.

"Who goes there?", he boomed, and slowly raised his front paw, taking a step towards the back of the cave. The movement of his titanic tail almost slammed into the newly reconstructed Blood Elixir Pump, but missed by a few dozen feet. "Show yourself! Reveal yourself unto me!"

Once he moved, the figures in shadow knew they had no chance if they were to just sit there and hide. They redoubled their efforts to flee, scrambling over the rocks as if escaping from a rising flood of lava- or Rakastamos, which was probably worse.

"Hold still!", Rakastamos shouted, and narrowed his eyes. A single thin beam shot out form each of his pupils, zapping onto the rock and dissolving a small amount of it into grey dust. "If you are one of my minions, then stop running! Otherwise, stop running so that I may kill you!"

This was, of course, not something that one would say if they actually wanted to stop someone from running. What it was was a test of loyalty- one that these two invaders clearly lacked. They just kept running over the rocks, ignoring Rakastamos's words, heading for the far back of the cave. Rakastamos snarled, and clenched his muscles to jump forward.

As he did so, it was enough to dislodge the rocks in a certain port of the ceiling that had been hanging there precariously for quite a while. With the sound of a mighty crash, the rocks fell- right onto the area where the figures had been escaping. But it landed directly where they had been about a few moments ago, blocking off any viewpoint of them.

Rakastamos, however, and of course, did not care. He merely rushed forward like a tidal wave and rammed the ridged top of his head into the pile of rocks, sending a dozen or so tumbling down. The rest of the entire cave shook from the force, dislodging more rocks and small pebbles from the top of the cave below. He snarled as he stood back up, sand raining onto his face, still searching for the figures that had managed to escape him. He swung ihs mighty head back and forth, trying to even just what they could have been.

But any such gaze eluded Rakastamos, and he snarled. It chalked it up to most likely just some Goblins running around, deaf or particulary stupid ones who, for whatever reason, had not heard his commands. Rakastamos snarled- he did not know why he even kept Goblins around as servants. They had very little intelligence, are vulnerable to anything, and-

Rakastamos blinked, and looked forward. The logic of that last train of thought all but left the station, and he slowly opened his eyes.

"I don't have Goblins working for me.", he said. "So what were those…?"

He looked at the wall where the shadow figures had vanished, and a mural showing an ancient pyramid. It depicted several scenes, none of which were really relevant to his problem.

His mind admired the artwork for a few more seconds, before he suddenly came to a conclusion. His eyes narrowed, and his fist clenched. "Humans…"

Even though it stood no chance of working, Rakastamos decided to fire off a few more blasts. Even if they're wouldn't do much to the missing targets, it was really the thought that counted.

And so even though the torrent of pure destructive energy rained down on the entrance to a very secret tunnel, the two Archer Queens were able to slip through a small tunnel leading into the safe room and escape utterly unnoticed.

But even though the mischievous and happenings of Rakastamos were very important and likely devastating, he was not the only Dragonlord that was going around and attempting to further their goals. He was the only Dragonlord that was currently stuck in his cave, that was to bertain. The other ones were stuck asleep underneath various things, guarding their continent from dangers like Earthquakes and volcanic distortion. But to Rakastamos's great relief, they had not come awake for his plans quickly approaching completion. That was good for him.

But, of course, there was on certain individual who was counting very much on the other Dragonlords awakening for battle.

This individual was not, as many would think, Askari. He was indeed busy gathering forces to help defeat Rakastamos, but petitioning the sleeping Dragonlords had never even come within his frame of mind. It would take someone who knew them well to pull off such a thing. And who better that knew them than the mighty Dragonlady Chuqualita herself.

As she flew over the ocean from her home of the Rushlands to the home of her strongest brother, she hoped beyond conventional hope that he would be awake. In times of old and antiquity, Auinraur had always been the one to put Rakastamos away if he ever tried something. Chuqualita needed that power now- the entire world did. For who could defeat Rakastamos at his height but his stronger brother?

Chuqualita looked down, and saw what was laid out before her. A huge tapestry of water, the slightly different greens, blues, and the odd purple dotted the water. There was nothing to say out here, just her and her Zeppelin, a trio of Zappies that had gotten some sounds stuck in there head. She just had to keep going for a little while longer. She was not far away from the ultimate goal of where Auinraur slept, deep inside of a volcano near Pekka's Playhosue, if she remembered correctly. She just had to keep her eyes focused and locking onto the goals. Everything else could wait. She thought- only for something to slam right into her side, almost knocking her off of course. She looked to see her opponent- a massive golden Dragon, a huge deep scar running down the side of his head.

"Sorry about that.", the Dragon winced, and closed his eyes- the universal Dragon gesture for "I'm sorry.". "I- well, I- I just saw you, and knew that I had to stumble all over the clouds to find you. To come and see you up close, I mean. Really, it is my honor."

"Uh huh…", said Chuqulit, not trusting the Dragon in the slightest. The distinct smell of Rakastamos still lingered all over his body, and his proportions seemed to be weird. Almost as if they, no, his entire body even, had been altered through some use of dark magic. Chuqualita would definitely have to be careful around this one, that was for sure. Her eye twitched. "I see."

"So, uh, Chuqliata.", said Terabos, and nodded. He looked up at her hopefully, trying to appear as innocent as possible. "Where are you going for today? What are you doing? Pardon me if I seem intrussing, but I am really a huge fan."

"Yeah, actually, I was planning on going someplace secret.", said Chuqualita, and looked off towards Royale. She knew she could not land yet, or Terabos would know what she as up to. Then Rakastamos would know what she was up to, which would mess everything up. All she had to do was stay in holding pattern for a few hours, trying to stall.

"Someplace secret, eh?", asked Terabos, looking Chuquliata up and down for vital points. He thought they would be weaker, due to the way that basic logic worked. "Well, what's so secret about this whole thing awe're about to go seee."

"Alright ,that is it.", said Chuqualita, and sighed. "I've enough of this for you. Terabos, drop the pretense."

"Pretense?", asked Terabos, but he too knew it was time. "Why, whatever do you mean?"  
"You're working for Rakastamos.", said Chuqualita, fire beginning to build in the back of her throat. "You've been sent her to kill me, weren't you? And those black scars are places where he gave you some of his power from."

"That is correct.", said Terabos. He chuckled, and spread open his wings wider. "My master has given me strength- strength enough to defeat even you!"

"Oh, get real.", said Chuqualita in an odd display of sass. She snarled, and flashed her claws. Terabos knew he had no choice but to attack. He threw back his head, gave a ferocious war cry, and shot forward, right at Chuqulita's throat.

Song: No More

But of course, Terabos had expected Chuqualita to try and dodge. He had started out with a basic attack, one that would only hurt a little. Chuqulita did dodge, raising into the air so fast a bystander would hardly be able to tell she had not actually teleported. Terabos's bite hit empty air, his burst of flame continuing onwards to hit nothing. Chuqulita figured that it was now her turn to attack, and closed her mouth. The fire of a Dragonlady soon grew- and right as Terabos looked up, Chuqulita released it. Terabos tried to dodge, and just narrowly did so, the edge of the flame leaving singe marks on his wings.

Terabos growled, and slashed forward with his tail. Chuqulita shifted her weight to avoid it, turning onto a bipedal stance. The tail continued on past her, allowing Chuqulita to open her wings to the fullest and take a position flying directly above Terabos.

This was the true ariel combat. There was no charging of positions, nor the formations. There was only the outmaneuvering your opponent, attacking them from all angles, attacking and attacking until you knew for sure that they were dead.

Terabos spun around and charged up a particularly massive blast of fire, intent on hitting Chuqulita right in her weak point. He knew precisely where that point was due to his new powers- a very small point on the base of her neck where her scales were missing, torn out hundreds of years ago in a sibling spat. For some reason, they had not yet grown back.

But Chuqulita, of course, saw exactly where he was aiming. She grit her teeth and spun around, bringing up her wings to block and sending her tail flying right at Terabos. Terabos almost released his shot of flame, before he realized that unleashing it right into Chuqulita's attacking tail would have a worse effect on him that it did on her. So he held off on shooting the flame for now, and unfurled his immense wings to dodge out of the way.

"You're stronger than I expected.", said Terabos, hoping to catch Chuqulita off guard.

"I'm one of the Primal Dragons.", said Chuqulita, and scoffed. "I rule over an entire continent. How strong did you think I would be?"

Terabos snarled, and knew it was time. He opened up his mouth wide and fired off the shot, sending it barreling through the air like a missile at high speed, straight for Chuqlita's head.

Chuqulita narrowed her eyes and opened her mouth as wide as she could, beating her mighty wings to stay in the air while she held in one place. As Terabos's shot roared towards her, Chuqulita's mouth began to howl, a curious wind being both expelled outwards and sucked in.

The fire came within a few hundred feet of her, nothing to both of the Dragons' immense sizes. As soon as it reached the beginning of the vortex inside of her mouth, Terabos's fire was sucked in. It whirled around the event horizon, vanishing as a string of orange and red deep into Chuqulia's mouth. She slammed her jaws shut and expelled a huge puff of smoke from her nostrils, her eyes telling Terabos to just try it again.

Terabos roared, and leaped towards Chuqulita in the air. Chuqulita took a careful stance, thinking she could predict where Terabos was about to go. But to her surprise, he instead shot upwards, flipping over her in a perfect arc.

Chuqulita looked upwards, as Terabos breathed out a cone of pure flame. It washed over Chuqulita's scales like wind upon rock, only tiny bits of damage registering upon her ancient form. But that was enough- Terabos smiled, and Chqulita scowled. He had actually managed to land a somewhat decent hit on her. And that was something that she could not allow.

"You would dare?", she bellowed, and her eyes began to glow. She spread out her wings and reverse dived upwards towards Terabos, only for his smaller form to tuck and roll out of the way. She opened her jaws and unleashed a torrent of fire that seemed like a natural disaster. It burned and twisted through the air as Chuqulita turned her head to follow Terabos, who swooped and swerved as much as his gigantic body would allow.

The two titans swerved around each other in the air, each blasting huge streams and rivers of flame that only barely missed hitting their prey. The air boiled and the sea recoiled in fear around their battle, Chuqulita the Wise vs Terabos the Black.

But as much as he was enjoying the battle, Terabos knew that it was time to end it. He clenched his jaws down as hard as he could, gathering strength for one lethal bite. He scouted out a good spot right at the base of Chuqulita's neck- one shot to her most vulnerable area would do so.

Terabos roared, and lashed out with his tail. Chuqulita raised her leg to block- at the very same instant that Terabos rushed forward for her exposed neck, mouth wide open and ready to kill.

Terabos had put all his power into that attack. He had been so absolutely sure that it would hit. So much strength slammed down on that bite it turned around and hurt him, as Chuqualita dodged without even so much as a hard breath.

The second that Terabos's jaws clamped down on mere empty air, Chuqulita had already begun her counterattack. She sucked in a breath, quickly converting it to a rush of flame- and launched it right at Terabos, aiming to kill right away.

But Terabos was no slouch in combat either- he had known the attack was coming. He closed his eyes and concentrated his power, his body twisting in unnatural shapes in order to dodge the attack. His spine bent almost in half, yet caused him no damage. He was far beyond that.

The blast of flame traveled past his body and continued down into the ocean, creating a massive explosion filled with steam. Thousands of tons of vaporized water shot upwards like an eruption, turning the Dragon's impromptu battleground into a misty cloud of combat.

Terabos could no longer see with his eyes, but they were no longer an important sense. He let them close, now able to detect Chuqulita by her vast aura alone. He gathered up a huge column of black fire within his throat and leaned back his head, about to fire-

When a devastating clawed punch from Chuqulita suddenly connected with the side of his head, knocking the black fire back into his lungs and throwing him aside. Terabos coughed in agony from the sensation of his returned fire, and spat out a bit of draconic blood. It fell from up high and hit the water with a splash, sizzling like boiling oil.

"You're not tough.", said Chuqulita, hovering in the air in front of Terabos. Compared to the Black Dragon's weakened state, Chuqlita was hardly even winded. "Where's that confidence now, huh?"

"You…", Terabos spat, growling in uncontrolled fury. Lunging forward again, he let his black fire overtake him completely. The heat rushed across his entire body, boiling the air around them, turning the steam into ash. He roared with a sound that was no type of natural, one that turned the vision purple and the hearing black. His teeth grew into shapes that shouldn't have existed, snapping like froth. "You die!"

Chuqulita brought her arm up to block, a shimmering silver light appearing around her scales. The rampaging force and the unmovable bastion met in the exact center of the steam cloud, blowing the rest of it away and blasting away hundreds of more tons of water hundreds of feet below.

Chuqlita's arm had been blown back a bit, but was otherwise fine. Terabos had almost crushed his entire snout underneath his own onslaught, as he backed up in severe pain. Black steam slowly seeped out of his damaged body, as the power that had been granted unto him began to leak out. He gasped in disbelief, unable to accept that such a thing was happening.

"You were a strong opponent.", said Chuqulita, and started to charge one final blast of flame, deep in the back of her throat. "But the second you went up against me was the second you died."

"Oh really?", asked Terabos, and snarled again. He too began to concentrate energy within himself, bright fire leaking out of his wounds. Other than looking cool, it didn't help much- in fact, the leaking fire actually damaged him, for it made him more open to attack. "Then how do you explain this…"

He opened his eyes all the way, and jumped forward. Sparked lightning surrounded each of his hands and his jawline as he opened it, thundering force emanating from his being. He growled, and almost unleashed his attack. "You're dead!"

But before he could shoot his own ray of destroying flame, Chuqulita had already anticipated the move. She shot a withering glare of ancient anger at Teraboss' heart, piercing right through the scales and physical body to affect his very soul. This, of course, distracted him to no end, the power that still surrounded Terabos now starting to break down.

The effect was further compounded by the painful shock of a fist through his torso. He looked down and saw that something pretty close to that had happened- three long lines suddenly appeared across his scaled belly, each one cutting fairly deep. Terabos gasped in shock, trying to fire off his final attack- but Chuqulita would not let him. Her fist came crashing right into his face, shattering at least one bone and breaking his concentration. He spat out a burst of blood and tried to retreat- but Chuqulita's grip was far too strong. She delivered another shot right to the chest without any warning, collapsing at least one bone system and drilling a hole through several vital organs. Terabos groaned in agony, and felt his grip on himself slipping. His eyes closed slowly as he relaxed, closed his eyes, and let himself fall.

Terabos fell into the ocean below, the mysterious attack from Chuqulita rendering him unable to move. As Chuqulita watched him plummet, eventually culminating in a loud splash from the ocean below, she wondered just how it was that he had gotten so strong. From the looks of hm to the way he fought, he had once been an ordinary Dragon. Even as his body crashed down into the water with an indescribable noise, turning into a float of Elixir upon the surface, she still knew that. But she was still unsure of why.

"Rakastamos…", she said sadly to herself, thinking of her brother. "He wanted me dead. He truly, honestly, wants me dead."

She looked up into the sun blazing overhead, remembering her early childhood with Rakastamos. It had always been those two playing together.

"Raksy…", she said, the weight of the informal title heavy upon her. "What happened to you? What could have made you like this?"

There was, in fact, a very particular thing and being that had led to Rakastamos's moral about face. But despite her knowledge, Chuqulita had no idea that Grrshknn existed. And so to her ,the question still remind a mystery, as she continued to stare at the noonday sun.

"Right.", she said, and shook her head. Chuqulita turned around to face the direction that the Continent of Royale was in, and narrowed her eyes. "No distractions."

Chuqulita folded her wings up closer to her body and dove, the air rippling behind her with her immense speed, blasting above the water so fast it was torn up by the force. She had someplace to be, very, very soon. And for the fate of the entire world, it was imperative that she did not miss it.

Song: Silver Twist

The landscape at the very edge of the War Fields was one that was quite a lot milder than the one within it, or even the one in the beginning. The volcanic deathrock slowly gave way to soft pebbles and assorted sandstone, the soft and worn rock a byproduct of all the energy that was constantly spread throughout the entire area. The bushes and trees existed in this area, a sharp contrast to the total and complete lack of vegetation in the War Fields. It was a wonder Troops even reached their assigned bases without starving, given how long and far they likely had to walk. But it was, then again, fine. Brandy did not know it at that time, but Troops did not actually stay in their war bases. Only Heroes did that.  
The dark and pale tan sand that covered the surface of the War Fields in almost entirely was a far differing sight than the grass that now grew at the very edge. It was a lot less green and more brown with the fantastical event that had happened the previous day, but it was the thought that counted. And the thoughts of everyone there as they reached the edge of the War Fields was only-

"Finally.", said Brandy, and stretched her legs. She had been sitting in a bit of a cramped position for about half an hour, squished in between Annabelle and Leon. But she had not said anything about her situation, for not anything was needed. She would hate to be a bother.

"That was a terrible place.", said Brandy, and sighed. She ticked the reasons why off on her fingers, as the rest of the group slowly started to slide down Dan's back. "It was hot, and there wasn't any shade, and we got attacked twice, and I thought we were all going to die, and you thought I actually did die…"  
"Yeah.", said Dan, and stood up as straight as he could with all the rock he had stuck to the bottom of his feet. He shook off his heavy boots, ot really paying attention to what he looked like. "But as long as we're safe now, that's all that matters."

"Right, right-", said Brandy, nodding, then something clicked inside of her head. She looked up at Dan to realize that, once again, his clothing had been reduced. Brandy looked around for Bubble- and saw the answer. There she was, hanging off of Dan's shoulder, her arms splayed out, fast asleep. Brandy could not help but smile at the sight. The pressure of keeping up Dan's illusion must have just knocked her out cold- she was even snoring.

"Dan.", said Brandy, and pointed. Dan saw where Brandy was pointing, and looked down in confusion. He saw where Brandy was pointing to exactly, and he stared at her in disbelief, even as Brandy let out a little giggle. "You're being distracting again."

"Oh.", said Dan, and blinked. He turned around, an involuntary flexing of his muscles causing Brandy to become lightheaded. As Dan put a hand to his chin to think, the other members of the group were now staring at him in wonder- except for Bubble ,but she was just asleep. "Sorry."

"No, no, don't be.", said Brandy, and swallowed. She couldn't quite keep her eye off of Dan, no matter how hard she tried. "You didn't-" _wowww _"-do anything wrong."

"Right, right.", said Dan, and nodded at Brandy's trademark expression. "But should we find me some clothes, or…"

He saw where Brandy was looking, and shifted slightly. Brandy's heart jumped, and she dug into the rock that she had chosen to sit upon. Dan lifted up a finger, and Brandy thought she could feel it brushing her chin. "Should I keep it like this just to-"

"Put on some clothes, Dad.", said Leon, pain clearly in his voice. "Please. For the love of Ry'an, put on some clothes."

Dan rolled his eyes, and spread his arms open wide. "Okay. As soon as we have some clothes in my size, I'll put them on. How about that?"  
"Great.", said Leon, and gave a sarcastic thumbs up. "Couldn't be better. Are there any in the area that we can just take?"

"No, but-", said Dan, at the same second that Trevor and Annabelle said "Yes, there are." Dan turned his head very slowly to look at them, and spoke quietly. "Where?"

Ted the Giant had been having an average sort of day. He had gone for a little walk around his village out of sheer boredom, which had turned into a long sojourn far out of his Clan's territory, and down near the War Fields themselves. But that was okay. He knew the way back still, just a quick straight path through the woods. He had his lunch, a delightful turkey picnic with about 3 dozen turkey legs. He had his woods and his view, the Clashcrush River running alongside his campsite a truly lovely sight. He had always been one to appreciate the quiet things in life.

He took a bite of his food, gulping down three or so turkey legs in one go. He took a look towards the sky and sighed contently, not a care in the world. "Say…"

He sat up, and thought for a moment. "I wonder if I could take up painting."

He thought about it for a few more seconds, then his face burst forth into exuberance. "Why, yes I will! I'm going to make the greatest paintings the world has ever seen!"

He spun around, seeing various things to make paintings of all across his little homemade clearing. "I'll paint that log! I'll paint that tree! I'll even paint the river! I, Ted, will even paint-"

In the middle of his spinning around, he stopped. For there stood Dan, his hand lit up with ferocious, burning amounts of Star, aimed like a gun directly at Ted's face. Behind him stood a Bandit, arms crossed on her chest and an apologetic wince upon her face.

"Uhh…", he said, and slowly raised his arms. He had never seen a Mega Knight before, much less one without all his armor. He had no idea who or what Dan even was. "I'll paint… uh…"

"Give me your clothes.", said Dan, stone faced. Ted stared at the titan before him, glowing with ferocious energy, demanding his clothes, and made a solemn promise to not eat the Mushrooms at the edge of the village anymore.

"Sorry about this.", said Brandy, and tried to gesture outwards. "But we're on a mission to save the world. Very important things. And we need your clothes. For official reasons."

"Uh…", said Ted, his brain struggling to comprehend the situation. But after a few seconds he realized what it was they were asking, and he sighed. "Well, okay."

Ted stood there for a few seconds, as the entire group stared at him awkwardly. His face turned a little red as he motioned with one hand, and took a step back. "Err, could you turn around? I hardly thinking it would be proper to change in front of others. There are children present."

"Right.", said Dan, and turned around- but his hand stayed up, ready to fire. "But if you even think about running away, all the energy I have on my hand is gonna be on your face."

Ted gulped, not sure why Dan was being so aggressive in this situation. They were just clothes, weren't they? If he really wanted clothes, he could have just gone to the nearest village and asked. It was a service all villages provided free of charge, new uniforms. But Ted decided not to tell his violent stranger. It would be his little revenge. "Okay."

As the group all turned around and stared at the trees, Ted slowly removed his tunic and belt. He slung the entire set of clothes over a nearby rock, and gently sauntered off behind a particularly large bush. Once he was sure that no one could see him, he called out to the group. "Alright, I'm done! You can have your clothes now."

Dan whipped around, and saw the clothes resting on the rock. Quick as a flash, he grabbed the tunic and stepped right in, sliding into it like his hand would slide into one of his maces, if he still had them. From there it was a simple matter to slip on and tighten the belt, and Dan's new clothes were fitting like a charm. "Thanks. Sorry about that, just needed some new clothes."

"Oh, it's understandable.", said Ted, and waved his hand. "If you really are on a mission to save the world, I guess I could lose my clothes for a bit."

He thought for a moment, then rustled the bush in order to gain the group's attention. "Say, what kind of mission are you on anyway? You didn't exactly say."

"We're going to kill Dragonlord Rakastamos.", said Dan, and thrust his fist into the air. He hoped that would strike the Giant with shock and awe, impressed at the massive adventure the group was taking. But given that Ted had no idea who Rakastamos was, it did not.

"Uh… okay.", said Ted, and hunkered down a little lower behind the bush. "Well, that's a worthy guess I suppose. Go and kill your Dragon."

"Too right, Giant.", said Dan, his mood restored now that the wind was not constantly assaulting every spot on his skin and body. Even though his veins beat with a raging fire, the howling autumn air got a little nippy sometimes.

Dan gestured to the group, now staring at the Giant's clothes he wore. It took a few seconds for them to remember what they were doing, and keep on walking. But once they did, they walked along the path far quicker than they had been doing before.

"Go and find yourself some other clothes.", said Dan, and shot a look towards Ted. Ted nodded, and gave a little salute to the strange individual. "You'll need them."  
"And good luck to you.", said Ted, with a nod and a smile. "You'll need it…."

"Dan.", said Dan, gently scooping everyone up onto his shoulders. He looked forward, and put his hand over his eyes. "And thank you."

"Just watch out for the swamp.", said Ted, and began to scoot behind the tree closest to him. "It's quite a nasty place, that one. It's said that those who enter never come back out. It's also right where you seem to be heading."

"Ah, we'll watch out for it.", said Dan, and stepped over a rock. He had just about reached the edge of the clearing. "Thanks for your help, Giant. We'll give you your clothes back when you're done."

Ted was about to say "_Hey man, don't worry about it. It's cool, I can just get another one anyway"- _but he did not. He sensed that the group did not have that much time to begin with, and he certainly did not want to waste any of it just sitting there and talking. So he nodded and slipped off behind a tree, beginning his frantic search for some new clothes.

Song: Wind in the Wilderness

The group had not gone far before Brandy began to get restless. She already was missing the feel of Dan's bare skin underneath her as they walked, replaced with the dull scratchiness of the Giant's outfit. She reached out to his neck to scratch the skin, but could hardly reach it underneath the thick collar of the GIant's outfit. Brandy sighed, wondering what she could do to keep herself occupied during what would no doubt be the next long phase of their journey. They would probably be attacked by a Forgotten before long, as now seemed par for the course. But before that, there was most likely little to do. She took a look around- everyone else just seemed so tired. Bubble was fast asleep, her little head using Leon's legs as a pillow. Leon too was mostly asleep, just absentmindedly moving his lollipop around in his mouth, leaning up against Dan's neck. Annabelle was asleep as well, having conked out a few minutes ago, almost as soon as they had left Ted the Giant behind. It seemed that only Dan, Brandy, and Trevor were awake- and soon, it would just be the two guys. Brandy's eyelids flipped closed every few seconds, no matter how hard she tried to keep them open.

"Uhh… hey.", said Trevor, leaning in close to her. Brandy's eyes opened up a little wider, and she perked up. "Yeah?"

"I uh…", said Trevor, and swallowed. Brandy could see the edge of his mouth pull down repeatedly, and his eyes squeeze together seemingly of their own accord. It was strange, but perhaps that is why Trevor was talking to her. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Oh?", asked Brandy, and drew a little closer to Trevor. Her face went from bored to excited almost instantly, ecstatic at the possibility of what Trevor was finally about to reveal to her. But she had to play to it safe- one mistake and Trevor would never trust her again. No laughs. No matter what Trevor said here, she couldn't laugh. "What is it, Trevor?"  
The way that Brandy said his name filled Trevor with a bust of confidence. If she trusted him that much, then he could trust her. So he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, tried to clear himself of any negative thoughts, and looked up. "I… have…"

He opened his eyes, and let it all out in one huge burst of breath, "I have this thing called Tourette's. It makes me do things, very small, harmless things, that most people don't do. Sometimes I have to put something on a leash. Sometimes I have to put myself on a leash. It's a bit odd to explain, but you can ask me anything about it, and I'll answer."  
"I… I see.", said Brandy, and took a moment to think. Without even realizing it, her arms started to wrap around Trevor for a hug, and Trevor let her finish the action,

"Well…", she said, and tried to think of something to say. "Thank you for telling me that, Trevor. I guess from your uh… previous reactions that it must have been hard to tell somebody."

"Yeah.", said Trevor, and let himself be hugged tight. "It was."

"I'm not sure what my questions are.", said Brandy, thinking. "But when I have some, I will ask them. Don't you ever worry."

"That's good to know.", said Trevor. He looked up, and nodded, his eyes a bit wet.

"We should probably talk more about this later.", said Brandy, and nodded back. "When I've had time to articulate my thoughts."

Trevor was about to say something, when he realized that not only him and Brandy had heard the confession. Dan was still wide awake, and walking along. He had to have heard everything- they were right next to his ears.

"Hey, Dan?", asked Trevor, and Dan slightly perked up upon hearing his name. "Did you uh… did you hear all that?"

"What?", asked Dan. In truth, he had not heard any of it. His eyes had been focused entirely on the path ahead, keeping an eye out for anything and everything that might possibly pose a threat. His brain had been focusing on anticipation for the final battle with Rakastamos, and exactly how he was going to bring him down. He knew that it could not be long before it happened. There was no way. "I didn't. What did you say?"  
"Uh…", said Trevor, and looked around. He didn't want to admit that he had been talking with Brandy about something, so he just looked for something that could conceivably have been the source of his attention. "That Hunter right there."

"What?", Dan shouted, and brought up his hand. Star flowed into his lungs, then into his palm, as he took aim at the Hunter that had been crossing the dimly lit first path right in front of them. It took a second for the Hunter to notice, his attention being mostly on the aimless tune he was humming. But once he did notice Dan's titanic bulk over his head, he jumped back in shock and grabbed his shotgun, holding it out in front of him.

"Who are you?", they both shouted at the exact same time. "Identify yourself!"  
That was, until, Dan saw a certain patch on the Hunter's shoulder. It was a patch that only belonged to a very elite order of Troops- those that had trained with Juno and Fallon. Dan set his hand down, and his expression changed. "Oh my Se'th… Mike?"

"Dan?", asked Mike in shock, after looking at Dan a bit longer. His gun went back to his side, and he adjusted his coonskin cap in surprise. "Well, step on my toe. It is you."

"What?", asked Brandy, looking down. Trevor looked down as well, in total shock. He had never expected such a thing to happen- he had made the Hunter up. And yet there one was, right in front of him. It was an odd thing to happen indeed. "Dan, who is this?"  
"Oh, right…", said Dan, and gestured towards Mike. "Everyone, this is Mike. He's a Hunter that I met while I was training to become a Mega Knight. He's cool."

"Huh.", said Brandy, leaning forward to take a better look. "You never told me about him before."

"Oh, really?", Mike asked, looking upwards to see Brandy. "Well, he never told me about you! Well, he told me about you, Bandit. Brandy, was it… yes. The rest of you though, I don't belive I've ever heard of you."

"Well, that's cause I hadn't met them yet.", said Dan, and gestured to the rest of the group. "But this is Leon, our son. This is Bubble, our daughter. And Trevor and Annabelle are our guides on this journey."

"Journey…", said Mike, and stroked his chin. His eyes could not be seen through his eyebrows, although they did try at times. "Journey to where?"  
"We're going to kill Rakastamos.", said Dan, and struck another pose. He hoped it would have more impact on Mike, as he most likely knew who Rakastamos was. But to his disappointment, it did not. Mike just stood there, not entirely sure who or what Dan was talking about.

"Ah.", said Mike, and slung his gun back up onto his shoulder. "Well, good luck to you, Dan. I had best be off. One of my friends is calling me off, and I best not be late."  
"Who's your friend?", asked Dan, with subtle curiosity. He too stretched, getting ready for no doubt what would be a long road ahead. "Have I ever met him?"  
"No.", said Mike, after a thought and a shake of the head. "I don't belive you have."

"Well, what's his name?", asked Dan, and took a step forward. Mike turned to look, as Dan was about to head off.

"Askari.", said Mike, and too began to walk. "Well, see you Dan! May you have good luck upon your journey!"  
"You too, Mike!", said Dan, waving as they both began to fade from each other's sight. "And may you have good luck upon yours!"  
Then the two headed off, in opposite directions. The news and name of Askari had reached the group's ears- but without any knowledge of who he was, the information was lost. Had it not been, perhaps many things would have turned out differently.

Song: Dawn- Phantom Blood

The faraway shores of Royale now seemed an old friend to many who were upon the journey. The golden beaches near Spell Valley and Pekka's Playhouse shone with a brilliant light, the sun high over the surface of the world radiating brilliance. Although the darkness over the Continent of the Clans was a terrifying presence, hardly any of its influence was felt in Royale. The only evil anyone there- besides an observant few- was the pretend evil and mock terror of the season. For the celebrations of Shocktober were in full swing, Royal Ghosts and Witches roaming around at night unabated, paid to do so by the Gods themselves, in their absence.

For many on the continent, life was continuing just like any other October day. There were battles to be won, trophies to be collected, and Troops to be upgraded. The new Triple Draft had proven to be one of the most popular modes introduced, and many Kings were eager to get their hands on it.

The atmosphere at Pekka's Playhouse in particular was one of joyous occasion. Now that it had gotten colder, due to the official onset of Autumn, many Troops found themselves visiting the comforting heat and warming volcanoes of Pekka's Playhouse more and more often. It had expanded its seating from 3000 to 4000 housing space, which was a great boon as well. There were more battles being held in it every day- and yet, none of those were quite the reasons that one particular honored guest decided to show up that fateful day.

There was, of course, a battle going on that very moment. It was not anything special- no, it was between two Kings, who had been having a battle in that particular Arena. The sparks had been flying, the crowd had been cheering, and the Blue King, Tiktavik, was busy beating down his Red opponent, Viritas. Jimmy Firecracker, of course, was narrating.

"It looks like it's gonna be a close one today, folks!", he shouted, holding out his microphone to the scene below. It was one of chaos, the smoke and explosions rising from the Arena floor blinding several of the front row Troops. But that, of course, is how it was every day. "Tiktavik has been merciless with that Giant Skeleton of his, far more than Viritas's Rocket Cycle can keep up with! It looks like it's going to be-"

He was about to say _a clear victory for Tiktavik. _He had been about to say those words, but something stopped him. It felt like an odd chill running over his body, over his mind. It was difficult to place just exactly what it was, but it disturbed him on a way he had never felt.

Then, once Jimmy looked down, he could see a shadow below him. He looked up out of curiosity, and-

Not a single noise came out of Jimmy Firecracker. He just stood there, looking straight up, utterly transfixed at the otherworldly sight that was flying above him. Several members of the assembled crowd, too, noticed their bodies obscured with shadows, and looked upwards. The gasps from them were enough to alert the friends they had brought with them, which alarmed the Troops around them. This, of course, set off a chain reaction throughout the entire Arena, every single audience member and now even every single fighting Troop in the Arena floor itself looking upwards in awe at the majestic sight before them.

The news cameras, one by one, turned upwards to try and capture the sight that was unfolding right before them all. They were live, so some footage was certainly released- but for the most part, the footage was lost. The cameras pointed up into the air were simply too weak to contain the majesty, and thus shattered into spare parts after just a few seconds. This was met with sighs of disappointment from most of the camera workers- but Jimmy's one cameraman, Larry, was far angrier. This had been his third camera in just as many spectacular instance that had been broken, and he was not sure if he could afford a third one. But then he chanced to look up- and that utterly changed his mind. All the anger he had been holding on to just simply, quietly melted away- unable to cope with the sight before him.

There, in the air, descending slowly, was the absolutely immense form of Dragonlady Chuqulita. Gold and green fire burned around her, indicating her status as one of the first troops to ever exist. She had waited quite a long time to get her own continent someday, and now it was something to use. But she was not there- she was in Royale. She was in Royale for a very specific reason- to attempt to wake the mighty Aiunraur. If anyone could take down Rakastaos, it would be him. He was the two's bigger brother, always able to defeat them both. Chuqulita just hoped that this time would work as well. She didn't know what she was going to do if it didn't- but she could not worry about that. Right then, she had to find him, tell him what was going on, and finally do… something. Chuquilita figured she was ready to to do something of value, rather than just sitting on the sidelines and letting Askari hog all of the glory .

As Chuqulita adjusted her position, slowly but surely getting ready to land next to the Arena itself, Jimmy Firecracker gasped for words. "You…"

"Mortals.", said Chuqualita, and closed her eyes. As much as she quietly enjoyed the awe-stricken gazes of those around here, she knew that word of her visit here could not be allowed to get out. She flashed a secret gesture towards the crowd, a burst of silver light echoing throughout the entire area. "Sleep."

At once, the command went through the heads and souls of everyone in the entire Arena. The Troops in the battlefield itself blinked, stumbled around a bit, and fell onto the ground. In just a few minutes they would reawaken, to find absolutely no memory of what had transpired. No memory of Chuqualita could ever leave the Arena, if it first left the heads of everyone there.

Once the Troops in the Arena fell, it took only seconds for the stands to follow suit. Every single Troop that had been watching the fight spun around and fell right on their backs, Chuqulita's magical abilities making sure that nobody fell on top of or hurt each other. As the magnificent Dragonlady touched down on the volcanic ground near the Arena, the entirety of the would-be audience was fast asleep. Even Jimmy FIrecracker had passed out right on his announcer's podium, his microphone still clutched in his hands.

Chuqulita huffed, and looked around. She had to find the secret entrance that would allow her access to her brother's long lost lair. He had not been seen for many centuries on end- but she was confident that she could wake him up. If not her, if not here, then who?

After a few seconds of searching, her eyes landed on a single crack on the lava floor. But this was not a regular crack, brought upon by volcanic activity- no, this was straight as a ruler, deeper than sight could see. This was a crack that could only have been made intentionally, to conceal a secret entrance under a cover of stone.

Chuqulita drew back her immense paw, and took a deep breath. Faster than the eye could see, her hand slammed down onto the ground, in a massive peal of sound that echoed for miles. Many would wonder what it was for hours on end- but none knew. The only one that did was Chuqulita, as she saw impact lines of tremor spread out from where she had hit the ground. Her suspicion was correct- the lines glowed upon impact, to reveal the shape of a door. Chuqulita suppressed a smile, as the ground began to retreat into the rock. Such things could come later- after Rakastamos was defeated.

Song: Crucial Situation

The rock moved ever so slowly into the ground, clearly meant to grant a sense of awe should anyone come looking. But Chuqulita did not have time for awe. She knew this place well, and had been here many times before. She just wanted to get there as soon as she could.

Chuqulita slammed the bottom of the rock, and a jangling sound of running chains was heard from beyond the walls. The downward speed of the transport increased, and the true inner chamber of Pekka's Playhouse became visible.

Chuqulita's tired eyes were met with a truly gorgeous sight. The vast cavern was lit up red and orange from the thick river of lava flowing through the center, bubbling and boiling over with sheer intense heat. It started at one end and flowed all the way through to the other, its export of magma the main power source for much of the Arenas of Royale. But it was within what truly caught Chuqulita's eye- the plant life that seemed to thrive under the volcano, despite the intense pressure and heat. The hanging gardens of it defied all logic, tranquil life in a place of chaotic destruction. The various precious ores and metals that lined the walls glimmered and sparkled like polished Gold, only a hundred times more so. It was a gaudy sight- yet, one that its owner was very rarely around to admire it. And as Chuqulita looked around, she finally saw the one flaw in the mission.

There lay Auinraur, the mightiest Dragon on the planet. Although he had been smaller than Rakastamos when they last fought, the colossal bulk of his body had increased. He had been around half the size, but triple the fight- now he was twice the size, no doubt many times the fight. If all had been going well, Auinraur would have woken and defeated Rakastamos- but things were, of course, not going well. For Auinraur was still very fast asleep.

Chuqulita slowly walked across the blasted volcanoscape, dodging past stalagmites and stalactites galore, keeping her eyes her target. She absolutely had to get her brother's help- there was no other option. So once she reached his side, she very gently placed one hand on his snout, squeezed tightly, and spoke. "It's time to get up. Let's do this, brother."

She would have thought that would gain his attention. But it did not. The mighty Dragonlord, only continuing to slumber. "If only…"

Chuqulita bowed, stretching out her wings hundreds of feet in all directions, speaking right to Auinraur's sleeping form. "Brother, Rakastamos plans to destroy the entire world. Please, wake up, so you can stop his evil plan."

But nothing happened. The lava in the cave still flowed, Auinraur still slept, and Chuqulita's plan still was unfulfilled. She stared at Auinraur, trying to figure out just what to-

Now Chuqulita could see what she had to do. Directly attempting to wake him up did not work, as she had just seen. Sneaking in through the front door would accomplish nothing- she could always just ask for permission to enter legitimately. That's what she always said.

So after thinking for a few seconds, she decided the best strategy to wake him up was the one most typically used by the majority of people in the world. Chuqulita took a deep breath, raised up her entire body, and threw herself forward right onto Auinraur's stomach.

"HEey!", she shouted, and shouted at the top of her lungs. "WAKE UP!"  
She grabbed his arm and shook it, as hard as she was able to, not even caring if he was damaged in the process. They had to win this war- and Auinraur's help may have been the only way to do so. But despite Chuquilita's efforts, Auinraur stubbornly stayed asleep. He did not even move or shift around a bit in his position, instead just staying perfectly still like a mount of bizarre flesh. His breathing was so slow and methodical it was hard to even tell that he was doing it, like tectonic movement observed by mortals.

"Dang it…", said Chuqulita, and drew back her foot. She kicked Auinraur in the ribs out of desperation, to be met with the same result- nothing. Her mouth puled down in a vicious snarl, and a low growl rumbled outwards. Her wings shook with fury, and her entire body boiled over with a shining silver light. "Dang it!"

She grabbed at and yanked Auinraur's unconscious form, desperation awakening from deep within her. She knew she had not tried every method, but had tried any method with a chance of working. That was very bad.

Auinraur just slept there, totally asleep, not a single care in the world. He didn't know that the probable destiny of the world was held within his waking up, nor that his very own sister was constantly yelling at him to awaken. He just kept on dreaming his silent dream, drudging through the space of the head in an infinite universe of his own mind.

"Wake up, Auinraur!", shouted Chuqulita, and finally resorted to biting. She delivered a quick, mostly painless bite to the ear, sending a little bit of flame alongside it. She hoped beyond hope that such a thing would finally prove to be his awakening- but there was no such luck. Auinruar remained totally asleep, not having any idea what was going on.

Chuqualita sat back, and looked around for ideas. She had to find something, someone. Any-

"_There was no troop that truly ate anemones.", said Dan, and let Bubble down the trail. _

Chuqulita blinked, at the sudden vision that just had entered her mind. "Wait, what?"

She sat there for a second, letting it twist and turn around in her mind- then knew it was time to keep on trying. No matter how bad a time she was having of it, she knew that Auinraur could not, or would not, rather, wake himself. There was something that she could use to wake him up, but what? Perhaps there was something in his cavern that could do it- yes, that made sense. Auinraur had always been very wise. He would have left some sort of help, had anybody decided that they needed to wake him up.

Chuqulita turned around, to check. Her vision flew over the floor of the cave, checking for a mystic talisman perhaps, or some sort of ancient artifact, or even just a gigantic alarm clock. She looked up and down, far and wide- yet she saw nothing that resembled anything of the sort. She narrowed her eyes, and jumped across the lava river, to check the other side. There had to be something here. She knew it. There couldn't just be no way to wake him up- Chuqulita had to belive that. There was no other option.

And yet, as she continued her frantic search across the cave floor, there appeared to be continuing amounts of nothing. Just empty jar after empty jar, bare vase after bare vase, random piles of Gold in abundance. There was nothing that could have-

But then, Chuqulita saw something. A single oddly shaped rock, stuck in the middle of a crack in the ground. It appeared to be glowing an odd purple- the color of Auinraur. Her eyes lit up. There it was. That had to be it.

Chuqulita's massive hand crashed down onto the ground, breaking the hard, ancient dirt and dragging the stone talisman along with it. She held it up to her gaze, and nodded. It was in the shape of a Dragon, if she looked at it the right way. Once the dirt had fallen off, it was revealed as a brilliant amethyst, glowing a deep, luxurious purple. Such things did not merely happen- this was it. This was the moment she awoke her elder brother, and put an end to Rakastamos's schemes for good. It pained her to strike her brother down, but she knew that it had to be done.

She brought the Dragon Charm close to Auinraur's sleeping form, hoping that it would work. It had to, she thought as she gently placed it on his forehead, watching the purple cracks start to spread through his scales, watch the-

Watch as a single bolt of crimson and gold energy blasted out from the ceiling, slamming right into Auinraur's forehead, shattering the crystal into a million pieces in an instant. Chuqulita did not even have time to cry out before the light faded once again from her brother's scales, and he fell back into his deep and dreamful sleep. The shattered bits of the crystal soon lost their glow as well, turning into little more than chunks of glorified glass. Chuqulita looked down at the fragments, then up towards where the blast had come from. There was a still smoking hole in the ceiling of the cavern, right where it could have come from. A dark voice echoed from the very air, winding around and inside of Chuqulita's mind like an evil tapestry.

_Oh, my dear sister, _murmured Rakastamos, his tones a spiked fabric upon Chuqulita's ears. _Did you not think that I would anticipate your attempts at waking our siblings? To somehow get them to join your little charade? I don't think that will work out for the rest of them either, now do you?_

"You may have slowed me down.", Chuqulita growled, knowing that Rakastamos could hear her through some dark, forgotten magic. She saw a pahntom image of her brother appear right there in front of her- it was now a two way call. "But even if I fail to wake a single one of our brothers and sisters, my allies will still be more than enough for you."  
"Oh, your allies.", said Rakastamos, and chuckled. "And what allies are those?"

Chuqulita found it a bit hard to breathe underneath Rakastamos's crushing influence. But she still managed to spit out a few all-important words. "Askari. His name… is Askari."

All at once, the memories inside of Rakastamos's head came rushing back. He gasped out loud, at the thought of Askari the first helping to trap him inside of the stone for a hundred years. For some reason, he had totally forgotten that he had known about Askari before this.

"Askari…", said Rakastamos, trying to appear nonchalant. "I don't think I've ever heard of him. But if you think he could possibly just waltz in here, and take what it took me weeks to create-"

But Chuqulita knew the truth. She knew Rakastamos well enough to tell when he was nervous, and this was definitely one of those times. She could see it all over him- the way he scratched his back, leaving actual deep cuts in the skin. The way his wings twitched, the way he blinked slightly harder, longer, and for more often. They were tiny changes in his behavior, but Chuqulita could tell very well. "Oh really?", she asked, and bared her teeth. "I think you are afraid of Askari. He was the one to beat you- with that Dragon Cannon of his."

Rakastamos's entire body suddenly twitched with the mere thought of having to face the Dragon Cannon again. He could feel that that he could no longer disguise his feelings, particular not with his sister ruthlessly mocking him like that. His mouth drew back in a bloody snarl, the pressure of his mouth cutting open his veins. He almost lunged for Chuqulita, but remembered that she was just an illusion to him, seen only through the eyes of a bug.

"Sister, this is your final warning.", said Rakastamos, with deadly seriousness, "Next time you try and interfere with my plans, _I will kill you. _Do you understand?"

"I don't really care.", said Chuqulita, calling her brother's bluff for perhaps the last time. "I am going to raise an army. We are going to come to your lair, and kill you. That is the fact."

"I see.", said Rakastamos, his horned head crackling with bizarre power. "Then I invite you to try. But in the meantime…"

He snarled , and turned off the illusion. Hs words could still be heard inside of Chuqulita's head, echoing over and over again. "Do not trifle with me."

Then he was gone, leaving Chuqulita behind in the cavern, the lava still flowing. But not as fast as Chuqulita's mind, which was now going as fast as she could make it. Now that her first and best option had failed, she had to get more. What was Askari doing, she wondered?  
Chuqulita looked up. Whatever it was he was doing, she could certainly join him on it.

Song: Danger Draws Near

Back at the Continent of the Clans, the time had grown later. Not too late, not too late that one would look at it and think "Wow, that's late", but late enough so that it was no longer early. If one wanted to be totally specific, they would say it was around 3 o clock in the afternoon.

The group, a little winded from the oppressive sun, was currently winding their way around a particularly interesting grotto, right above where the Clashcrush River still flowed.

"Daddd…", whined Bubble, flopped over on Dan's shoulder. "Daddy…"

"What is it?", Dan asked, taking a giant step over a fallen tree. He looked up, putting one hand on his brow to block out the sun. There in front of him was the grotto proper, a quite beautiful sight. They were not able to appreciate it fully due to the exhaustion throughout the group, but the azure water flowed through the emerald stone all the same. It almost looked like a trophy, the overall shape of the formation. Perhaps it was. Perhaps it was some ancient statue, long since lost to time. "Bubble, this is the fourth time in a row you've asked me-"

"Can we get some food?", Bubble asked, looking up into the sky. Her stomach audibly rumbled, soon followed by everyone else in the group. Brandy nodded, misery crossing her face. "We haven't eaten since this morning, and I'm really really hungry."

"Yeah.", said Trevor, and burped. "Except for that squirrel I ate, I haven't eaten hardly anything all day."

"Wait, a squirrel?", asked Annabelle in shock, twisting around from her resting position to stare at Trevor. "When did you eat a squirrel?"  
Trevor looked at his sword, still covered with fresh blood. He tried to wipe it off on his tunic, and then just hid it behind his back. "Recently.", he said, and tried to look innocent.

"Uhhh…", said Dan, and slowly nodded. Putting one hand on the top shelf of the mysterious grotto, he thought he could hear some odd voice from afar. It sounded like singing, but he didn't know quite what it was. "Bubble, you can get some water here. Everyone else, I still do have that rune of Elixir in my back pocket. Brandy, break that out for me, would you?"

"Yeah, but we're hungry.", said Brandy, and groaned. "We need food."

"We can get food at the next village we stop at.", said Dan, a little sternly. "If you drink some Elixir, it can help for now. Trust me."  
"Okay.", said Brandy, the rune of Elixir already in her hand. She had Dashed to Dan's pcket and grabbed it, faster than anyone could see.

"Daddy, this is bad water.", said Bubble, staring down at the river with trepidation. "There's stuff in it. Bugs."

"Oh, those aren't bugs!", said Dan, and gently leaned down, taking care not to disturb anyone on his back. He pointed down at the river, the many things within all looking up. "Those are spiders! They aren't bugs."  
Bubble's face wrinkled in disgust, and she turned around. "Spiders! I don't want to drink that even more now. Not at all."

"Well.", said Dan, and plunged his hand into the river. Scooping up a huge handful of silt, river rocks, and some amount of water, he concentred a cleansing amount of Star within his fingers. WIth a puff of air from his nose and a gentle hiss, the water within his grasp was purified of all the toxins that could have been in it. Bubble, who had been staring at the rocks, turned around and gasped at the magic trick- just like the last fourteen times Dan had done it for her.

"There you go, Bubble.", said Dan, and opened his hand. Bubble didn't even wait a second before diving in and taking a few huge gulps. Dan laughed, making sure she didn't go in too deep. "Dig in."

He took one eye off of Bubble's drinking to check on the others, passing the rune of Elixir around themselves. They had gotten off his back to sit upon the top shelf of the grotto, making sure not to accidentally fall in. Brandy had already drunken some, droplets of Elixir across her cheeks. She seemed a bit delirious- maybe she did need food. Leon had drunken some as well, but the constant presence of his lollipop seemed to give him something, at least. Annabelle and Trevor kept on passing it between themselves, both of them trying to give it to the other. Dan thought about what Brandy had told him about those two, and smiled to himself.

After watching his group for a few seconds, Dan stood up. He grabbed Bubble gently around the waist and put her on his shoulder, letting her finish her mouthful of water. The rest of the group saw him coming, standing up to meet him. Annabelle finally let Trevor take the rune of Elixir, after taking a quick swig herself. With a single motion, Dan hopped up onto the top of the ground above the grotto, towering over 20 feet, taller than some of the trees.

"Alright guys.", he said gently, reaching out his hand to the group. They filed one by one onto his shoulder, taking up their usual positions. "There's a village somewhere over there, just down that valley and between those two mountains. We'll get there in a few, and then we can eat."

"Oh, thank Se'th.", groaned Brandy, and flopped down on Dan's neck. She patted her stomach, and frowned. She felt a little helpless, and that thought unsettled her. "Honestly, I might even eat meat if we got some. I'm hungry as frick."

"I hope there's meat there.", said Trevor, aimlessly shining his sword with a bit of his tunic. He had gotten a lot of blood on it by now, but he didn't care. In fact, he thought it made him look cool. "I need some. A lot."

"You and me both.", said Leon, putting his hood all the way over his eyes. He grabbed a single spinner blade out of his pocket, and flung it into the trees. He did not know why. "We need it."

"Then let's go.", said Dan, and began to walk. "It's not that far away- we'll get there in no time."

But even as they walked, they did not suspect the thing that waited in that faraway village. They did not suspect the thing that waited under the ground, the dirt writhing in its passage, its thin and twisting body scraping through the stone like a cursed drill. Bizarre noises pounded outwards from it, none of them strong enough to reach the surface, but still menacing on every level. A single pair of glowing yellow eyes shone outwards from the very tip of the creature's head, illuminating the dirt and rock it tunneled through at a rapid pace. Its two strong arms, massive mole-like claws at the end, dug through the ground like a pair of steel spoons through a tub of melting ice cream. Faster and faster it went, determined to reach its goal before the ones it was hunting got there first. But that did not mean the village- no, it meant underneath it. There it would wait, until they got settled. Until they had gotten comfortable, until they had gotten something to eat, somewhere to sit down, someplace to become unprepared.

As The Cyborg churned through the low dirt, scraping veins of Elixir and bits of Gold out of the way, he marveled at the marvelous new body that it had constructed for itself. No more did it need to rely on the false village he had constructed- no, this new one could go around and take villages at will. They would be absorbed seamlessly into himself, boosting his power by tremendous amounts. He was no longer limited to the Draconic form of his previous body either- he could now shift and shape change into anything he wanted, be it bipedal, on four limbs, or something else entirely, perhaps of his own making- or his truest form of a gigantic, hovering orb. That was his favorite form, but he hardly ever had a chance to show it off. A fine suit with no occasion to wear it- because every time he did, somebody died.

He felt his internal tracking mechanism beep, and he stopped his tunneling for half a second. That was all the time it took for his massive digging arms to change direction, now propelling him straight up instead of forward. He was right underneath the village now- it was almost time to put his, and his master's, plan into action.

_Remember this, Cyborg,_Rakastamos had told him. _Those Tailbiters always seem to manage to pull something out of nowhere that allows them to win. They're tricky ones. So be sure to attack from underground this time… kill them before they have a chance to. _

_Yes, sir, _he had replied. _I will. _

The Cyborg had temporarily lost himself in thought- then noticed he was but meters away from the surface. He halted as soon as he noticed, careful not to break through the dirt any sooner than he had to. The time for that would come later, once his victims arrived.

Mason the Builder was currently asleep in his hut, as was the usual. The Chief of the VIllage had reached the point in his Town Hall of 12 where he no longer needed all of his Builders, and so Mason was usually the one that got to take naps all the time. He thought it was fantastic, just not having to go anywhere or do anything. Sometimes he wished that it could be that way all the time- perhaps a great plague could sweep over the world and force everyone to stay in one spot. That would be nice…

But his peaceful sometime-in-the-day-time nap was abruptly shattered, as Helena the Villager rushed into his hut. She slammed open the door with a shout, causing Mason to fall out of his bed. He looked up, and saw Helena's stern face. "What? What? What is it?"

"There are weird troops in our Village.", said Helena, and turned around. "Everyone else is busy. So I got you."

"Weird Troops, eh?", asked Mason, rubbing his head and yawning. He stepped forward, grabbing his multi-tool and pulling on his overalls as he did so. "Well, let's just have ourselves a look."

As the two left the Builder's Hut and rounded the corner around the nearest Barracks, they soon came upon just who Helen had been talking about. There stood The Group, looking around, exhaustion and hunger all written upon their faces.

"Oh my-", said Mason, and gasped. "Is that- are those-"

"Yes!", Helena squealed, barely able to keep her emotions to herself. The tale of The Travelers, as they had become known in some circles, was beginning to become a legend. Word of their exploits had traveled far, all the way from the Goblin Hotel to the Villages they had assisted, to far beyond. And word had reached this in the middle of nowhere Village as well.

"Hey.", said Brandy, seeing the two. She gave a little wave from atop Dan's shoulder, attracting the two's attention almost immediately. "Do y'all have any food?"

"YES!", Helena yelled, then caught herself. She smoothed down her skirt, straightened her auburn hair, and nodded. "Yes.", she said, in a more reserved manner. "We have enough for all of you. Just follow me to the Town Hall- it's a bit empty, as all the Troops are battling right now. But we have food to spare- I'm sorry, am I saying too much?"

Dan stared for a moment, before shaking his head. He had started to get hungry too, the mental fog affecting him and his massive body. "No, no, you're fine. Just show us where the food is."

"Alright!", shouted Helena eagerly, and turned around. She pointed towards the Clan Castle, the group following her in hunger and Mason just there for the ride. "Follow me!"

The Cyborg could feel the itch to attack burn deep within his mechanical bones. He had the blazing impulse to just burst out of the ground and destroy everything he could find, assimilating it into himself, building the perfect warrior, the ultimate form of being-

But he knew that, regrettably, he did have to wait. For that is what Rakastamos had told him, and that is what he had to abide by. No matter how much he desired to put down his foes for good, to splash them all into Elixir, he could not. For only one thing took providence over his need for power and victory- his undying loyalty to Rakastamos.

But he did need something to do until he reached that point. Being a hyper intelligent artificial lifeform did not come without its disadvantages- one of them being that he got bored extremely quickly. He needed something to do. He could not just wait there in the dirt, waiting for a signal from his master that he had no idea when to expect. So he slowly withdrew inside his own, vast, mechanical mind, reaching into his vast store of abilities.

He grabbed a single thought ,and spread it out across the entire world. Being constructed of pure light energy, the action crossed the globe in less than a second, boring into the information databases that the Cyborg had been listening for. He blinked in excitement, and reopened his eyes- now finding that what was playing upon them was in fact some current episodes of TV Royale. The Cyborg smiled to himself, and began to watch.

Helena tossed out some bowls full of soup for the 14th time, watching the group eat. Dan gulped down his in a single second, as had he all of the rest. Leon drank his rather quickly, although not as quick as Dan. Trevor and Brandy ate at a quick pace, drinking down the vegetable soup eagerly, while Annabelle and Bubble just sort of picked at their food. It was not the type of soup that either of them particular enjoyed- besides, they had managed to find some bread to eat.

"I've head about you all.", she said cheerfully, and Dan instantly stopped moving. He slowly set down his bowl, giving her a suspicious look, his muscles starting to flex.

"Oh, I mean-", Helena said, and raised her hands. "I didn't mean it like that! I just heard about your wonderous exploits. You really are quite famous, you know."

"Really…", said Dan, and took another sip of the Elixir bottle that had been granted. He didn' really need it due to the Rune of Elixir, but it was the thought that counted. "Tell me a little more."

"Oh, sure!", Helea said excitedly, and her hands started to move. "I first heard of you when I-"

The Cyborg had been fairly deep in to some of his TV Royale viewing when he suddenly felt a buzzing come from deep within his head. He stopped the replay as soon as he could and switched modes to his private communication channel, seeing the face of Rakastamos held right above him. The Cybrog shivered- even though he knew Rakastamos, his face was still absolutely terrifying. Sometimes he wondered what it would be like to see him as an enemy, rather than as a master. But that thought could resolved later, as he could see very clearly that Rakastamos wished to talk. "Yes, sir?"

"The time has come.", said Rakastamos, and the Cyborg felt, deep within himself, something that would be considered excitement. "Kill them all for me, wouldn't you?"

"Yes.", said the Cyborg, and punched his arm higher. He immediately began to burrow himself upwards, the ground beginning to break. "I will."

"So.", said Dan, his elbows on the table. He knew that he wasn't truly supposed to do that, but he was huge. There was no real way to avoid such a thing. "You know about us… but who else knows about us? Does Rakastamos know?"  
Helena just shrugged, not quite sure. "Maybe he does, and maybe he doesn't. I'm not there to check-"  
Before she could finish her sentence, There came an odd rumble from outside. Dan sropped his bowl, and Brandy dropped her spoon. They looked to each other- they suppose that the peace they had managed to get, even if only for a few seconds, was good. "Oh, not again."

"What?", asked Leon, looking up. He saw his parent's faces, and immediately knew what was up. "Oh great, not again."

"Well, here we go.", said Brandy, jumping up out of her seat. She Dashed outwards towards the door, ready to take on whatever might come next. She thought she was prepared- but nothing could have ever prepared her for the terrifying sight she saw, the very ground beginning to burst.

Song: Magnetic

As Brandy watched in abject horror, the titanic new form of The Cyborg burst out from the ground. Huge chunks of dirt and stone flew in a sphere, scraping against all the buildings in the nearby area. A vast mechanical roar echoed out across the entire village and far beyond, buffeting back the leafless trees and slightly disturbing the clouds overhead. As the dirt began to settle, Brandy could see the monster's head- angular, twisted, and overflowing with hate.

"What is that thing?", she shouted, and instantly flipped backwards. She landed on Dan's hand in an instinctual movement, still not taking her eyes off The Cyborg. Fear was written across her face, as a gigantic steel fist burst from underground, landing on a Barracks and crushing it to dust before there was a second.

"It looks like…", said Dan, and narrowed his eyes. "That thing we fought earlier. The Cyborg."

The Cyborg, upon hearing his name, roared once again. He made sure to make it as animalastic as he possibly could, in order to max out his intimidation factor. He had made this body look the way it did for a reason- a gigantic beast with the head of a Dragon, the body of a Giant, and the bottom half of a vast Octopus. He thought it looked rather nice.

"But that's impossible.", said Brandy. She stared at the beast, trying to make sense of it, to come up with some other option. She had seen the Cyborg die, get blown to bits by the alien kid. But the thing in front of her did seem to bear much resemblance- too much to be just another Forgotten. Her heart beat with the sight, faster and faster than was normal or healthy. "We… we saw him die. The Cyborg is dead."

Leon looked upwards, letting his hood fall behind his head in shock. The tail on the back of his jacket stood straight up, through some unknown force. His mouth dropped open, and he slowly tucked his eternal sucker into his back pocket. "Well, what do you call that?"

Bubble did not want to see such a sight. The trauma she had endured during their last encounter with the Cyborg was still too fresh in her mind, too recent. She screamed, ran behind Dan, and buried her face into his leg. She closed her eyes, unwilling to accept the terrifying sight of the Cyborg, now busy crushing a Gold Mine under his massive tentacles.

Brandy swallowed hard, and looked down at Trevor and Annabelle. They seemed to be taking it alright- at least better than Brandy thought she was. They had unsheathed their weapons, and wore expressions of war. Brandy looked forward to the Cyborg, and tried to put on one of her own.

The Cyborg, seeing their offensive stances, turned around his entire body. He stood straight up to his full height on eight massive arms, towering almost 120 feet above the ground. His metal body glinted horrifyingly under the sun, the construction constantly twisting and turning to keep himself upright. He stared at the group with a hard cold eye- then laughed.

"You really thought you could rid yourselves of me?", he asked, and threw his hands into the air. Sparks of Lightning flashed between each one- he had managed to keep some of the power from his previous incarnation. "You fools! For I am The Cyborg, and can reconstitute my body any way I wish, any time I wish, anywhere I wish! You did not defeat me- you merely slowed me down!"

Then he stopped and put his arm to his chin, pretending to think. "No… you let me transform myself into a new body. So I suppose you only ever helped me! Ha!"

He cast another look downwards, his Magical vision activating. He saw the Ring of Three Wishes inside of Brandy's pocket, and smirked. "I see… that is how you summoned those allies of yours. But it appears you have but one summons left… and you're going to want to save that one for my master Rakastamos."

He raised one titanic tentacle and claw, and thought about who he wanted to attack first.

Brandy nodded, building up Dash in one hand. She brought her fist out behind her, feeling the skin start to tingle. She thought she knew his weaknesses by now- if the ones from his previous body were to hold over. She hoped they did. If not, it would be very bad indeed.

"So that's it.", she said calmly. She had not been listening to anything The Cyborg had said- save his name. "That really is the Cyborg then. Dang."

"Guys, we need to take this thing down fast.", said Dan, and took a deep breath. "We didn't even beat him last time, and I assume he's stronger now. I don't know how we can take him out, but we have to do it quickly."

"Daddy?", asked Bubble, peeking out from behind Dan's leg. She still saw the Cyborg towering over the village, and ducked behind again. But she still had something to say. "What about that time you were super strong? Just a few hours ago?"  
Dan blinked, remembering this. He grinned, the idea of his new power now in his brain. "Why, you're right.", he said. "I am stronger now. Let's see how this Cyborg measures up to…"

As the Cyborg looked over the Village, trying to decide which one to kill first, a thought entered his head. It was one of Rakastamos, and his constant raved murmerings. He was always thinking about the group the Cyborg was currently after, and which one to kill first. He had always said the same thing- _get the big one. _

"Quite right, my lord!", the Cyborg shouted, and adjusted his aim to shoot right at Dan. "I will finish him off first."

"To…", said Dan again, and flexed his muscles. He took in deep breath after deep breath, but nothing beyond the usual swelling of Star happened. He tried to summon up the all-consuming strength he had before, but for some reason, it failed to work. He grit his teeth, his face turning a bit red as he tried even more and even harder. "To…"

"Die!", he heard from right above him, and he looked up. There came the right claw of the Cyborg, rushing straight towards his head at high speed, and Dan knew that he could no longer afford to wait. He jumped backwards with his powerful legs, breaking open the ground in a gold explosion. As the claw made impact with the dirt, Dan used the release of force to propel himself even further back- then noticed the mistake that he had made.

As he had jumped back far stronger, he had failed to hold on to the group with that much more force. He shouted as everyone he had been holding was thrown off of him and out of his grip with the force of the wind, landing on the ground in various parts of the Village. Trevor and Annabelle, holding on to each other, landed near a Barracks right in the path of the Cyborg. Bubble rolled away and into a ditch on the side of the village, landing right next to a sparkling blue tree. Leon rolled over the ground for a few feet, then abruptly became invisible. But Dan could still see the marks he left in the dirt as he bumped up against the Spell Factory.

Brandy tried to hold on to Dan, to keep going, but knew that trying to do so would only lead to her arm being torn off. She let go, instantly flying through the air in the direction of the Town Hall. Spinning around, she managed to grab hold of her cloak and hold it in the air, slowing her fall enough to not hit the ground prone. She instead slammed into the side of the Town Hall, right where the Mega Tesla would emerge if it was damaged. She lay there for a moment, trying to get up- then the spot where she was laying gave her an idea.

Dan stuck out one leg, slamming it deep into the ground. He skidded along the edge of the village, throwing up dirt and grass as he went, until he came to a standing stop right in front of a small orange box. He looked up, seeing the terrifying technological titan looming high over the village, searching for every member of his hit list with his multiple eyes. Dan grit his teeth, and righted his feet. He closed his eyes for a second, hoping it wouldn't let him lose track of his target, and concentrated fully on the Star within the air. If he had any hope of taking down the Cyborg at all, he would need absolutely everything that he could get.

Trevor and Annabelle stopped rolling around on the ground and lay there, dazed. Trevor took a moment to try and collect himself, groaning from the impact. Annabelle forced herself to rise to her feet, shakily reaching back and nocking an arrow into her bow. She aimed upwards, right for the Cyborg, and felt her legs begin to shake from panic.

"You two are unimportant.", said the Cyborg, and raised his hand. A strange blue light shone from his palm, even as one of Annabelle's arrows bounced harmlessly off of it. "I would kill you for my Master Rakastamos, but… he did disagree with me in a debate this morning. So I'm letting you live, just to piss him off. I'm not sure he knows about you anyway. Sleep."

There was a pulse of blue light, and a burst of blue sound. Trevor suddenly felt his body shutting down, his eyes automatically closing and the thick haze of sleep moving over him. Annabelle stumbled from the sonic wave, her muscles relaxing, and fell right onto Trevor. They both fell asleep instantly, their weapons by their sides.

The Cyborg looked up, intent on finding his next target. He was searching for Dan- but his battery of eyes lit up once he saw Bubble, hands out, multicolored light shining from them.

"Hey!", she screamed, her anger and adrenaline pushing out all of her fear. "What did you do to them?"

Song: Decisive Battle

"Oh, nothing much.", said the Cyborg, carefully selecting his next weapon. After riffling through the options, he decided on a nice drill. His hand morphed into a rapidly rotating metal screw, and he raised it above his hand to cut Bubble apart. "I just put them to sleep, is all. What you should be worried about is what I'm going to do to you…"

"Haaaa!", screamed Bubble, and put her hands by her side. Golden light flowed into them, the stance suddenly becoming all too familiar in the Cyborg's mind. He experienced a brief surge of panic, before remembering what Bubble's powers actually were. _It's just an illusion, nothing more-_, he said, then Bubble fired right at the Cyborg's face.

He didn't expect it to hurt. He thought it was just an illusion. But as he felt the heat upon his face right before the blast slammed into him, confusion rocked his brain.

"What?", he gasped, feeling the damage sink in. Sensors beeped at him from every corner of his face, some of the metal bent. "How- how did- how did she do that?"

But as he saw Bubble bending down for another blast, he knew that was a question best left for later. He guessed that she had somehow figured out how to concentrate her illusion energy into physical blasts, but-

"You never can know!", he shouted, and threw his drill right at her.

"Wait, wha-", Bubble said, a moment before the drill hit her head on.

The Cyborg shouted in triumph, checking another victim off his list. He turned to check for Dan again, marveling at how easily they were going down. Everyone else had always told him that they would be strong. They had told him to be careful, to watch out for any tricks-

That thought came to him a little too late, right before another blast struck him right at the base of the jaw, blowing explosive energy all over his face and sending him staggering for a loop.

"What?", he spat, looking to where the energy had come from- then realized his mistake. For there stood Bubble, her hands outstretched, right behind a Wall. How foolish he had been, to assume that was the real Bubble. "But I don't make mistakes twice…"

Bubble crouched behind the level 17 Cannon, her hand right on the fire button, ready to let loose. She wondered just how stupid the Cyborg could be, to keep on falling for such obvious illusions. She had heard that computers and robots were supposed to be super smart, but she was not seeing it here. She made a mental command, and the illusion of herself near the Cyborg looked up. "Why do you keep on talking to yourself?"  
"What?", asked the Cyborg, as he drew his hand to the proper angle in which to strike Bubble. "I'm not talking to myself, I'm just-"

Then he devoted a little bit more time to the matter, and his eyes opened wide. "Oh, I am talking to myself. Maybe I should see someone about that."

"See this!", shouted Bubble, proud of herself for thinking that one up. She fired the Cannon once more at the same timer her illusion fired the beam of energy, the blazing ball right at the tip of the ray. The Cyborg noticed just in time and managed to yank his head out of the way, both real and fake attack traveling out into the air past him.

"How about no.", said the Cyborg, and decided that he had had enough of Bubble. He drew back his drill, rotating it up to the highest speed that it could go. He took careful aim, began to move downwards- and stopped. He knew that the last Bubble he thought he had destroyed was merely an illusion, so why would this one be any different? He would have to find out just where the real Bubble was- and fortunately for him, he had a very precise way to do just that.

With a single movement, he flipped his pair of heat-seeking glasses over his belt of eyes. It took only a second for him to realize that the Bubble in front of him was just an illusion, as was the shot she was building up in her hands. That made him feel better about what she was doing. The real Bubble, he surmised as he looked up, was hiding somewhere over-

But his feed was abruptly cut off, as another shot from a Cannon suddenly collided right with the center of the glass. A large crack run up the Cyborg's vision, the glasses automatically detaching for his own safety. An ancient mechanical curse spat from his mouth, and he stumbled backwards a bit. Smoke still rose from his slightly damaged face.

Bubble knew she had gotten lucky with that shot. If he hadn't taken the time for a quick costume change, The Cyborg might have found her. But as she ducked behind a Builder's Hut and looked for another thing to shoot with, she began to grow more and more nervous. Even though she had landed several excellent hits, the Cyborg was barely damaged. He seemed to have an unlimited array of weapons- it was only a matter of time before he found her. And with the fact that no one had yet come to assist her, Bubble had no choice but to assume that she was on her own. She had to, somehow, take out the mechanical nightmare on her own. She looked around, searching for anything that might serve that purpose- until her eye fell on the glimmering height of a fueled, single-target, Inferno Tower.

"Where did you go?", shouted the Cyborg, raising a few tentacles far above the ground. He looked ready to use them, about to resort to just smashing the village instead of finding his victims. "Come out, kid! It won't hurt when I kill you!"

Bubble grabbed the top of the Inferno Tower, deciding where the spot for her next illusion self would be. She knew how Inferno Towers worked by now- Brandy had told her about the many defenses of a village while they had been walking. She just had to catch the Cyborg in a beam struggle- then turn on the heat and watch him crumble into ash. Twisting the side, the structure began to heat up, the air around it turning hot.

"Where'd you go…", the Cyborg growled, turning its head around on its stalk to check for other members of the group. He had already defeated two of them, and was most likely about to defeat a third, when he noticed something. His opponents had all disappeared. They had not been defeated, as far as he could tell. That left only one option- they were hiding something.

"Hey, Cyborg!", shouted Bubble, and gave a great big wave. The Cyborg turned around, outstretching his hands in what he thought was a threatening gesture- only to receive a clear model of what one really was. Bubble blinked, and suddenly a vast, smoky aura of fear appeared behind her. The Cyborg could not tell what it was, nor was he afraid, but it did hurt to look at. Bubble opened her hands, and put them together. "Are you ready?"

"I am ready for you to die!", shouted the Cyborg, and gathered up a ball of energy in both hands. He focused laser tight on Bubble, making sure it would not miss. Even though his tracking equipment had been shattered, he knew that Bubble would leave tracks. The Cyborg pointed his massive gun straight for the smallest member, aiming straight her torso- and fired.

But, of course, that one was not Bubble either. That too was an illusion, created by the real Bubble, lying behind the Inferno Tower, ready to strike. Tears dripped down her face, her feet and fingers shaking. It was mostly out of panic, but also from the fact that still nobody had shown up to help her. She would have assumed that they would have by now.

The Cyborg's blast headed straight for the illusion of Bubble, tearing the air apart with its force. It rolled through the air right towards her- but she had a response. WIth a magical gesture the Inferno Tower roared to life, and the illusion fired the beam from its hands. The beam of the Inferno Tower continued invisibly onwards, rushing towards the Cyborg's blasts, meeting them head on with a tremendous explosion that rocked the trees and sent a peal of sound ringing out through the whole jungle.

The Cyborg noticed the especially strong aura this blast gave off. He brought up his hands to block- but he saw that the shot was far too strong. It would leave him largely handless, and that would take a bit to repair. Time in which he would highly vulnerable. So he just held out his hands right behind his blasts that he had fired, as they pushed against Bubble's Inferno Tower. He grit his steel teeth, trying to figure out how hard it would be to break open the shot.

Seconds went past, the heat from Bubble's Infernal Blast continuing to grow hotter and hotter. The Cyborg started to notice, mainly due to the extreme heat that was now burning his hand. He didn't want to pull his hand back, and risk further damage, but he also knew he could not deal with the Inferno anymore. He groaned in pain and threw himself downwards, his now unsupported blast passing by Bubble and detonating on the ground.

Bubble yelped and pumped her fist, preparing another shot. But The Cyborg's plan to get low to the ground was not out of fear or caution- no, it was to gain insight. To gain control. He could put his head to the ground, and manipulate the non-living things. The dirt, the rock, the Inferno Tower that Bubble was even now preparing to load- they all obeyed his will, beginning to writhe and jerk around.

Bubble yelped, feeling the Inferno Tower start to rise up against her. She almost screamed at the sensation, but managed to keep herself mostly under control- for if she gave away her position, the Cyborg would have her. She just jumped away from the Inferno Tower, running behind a Barracks and practically sticking herself to the wall, her breathing heavy.

"Come out, come out!", he shouted, sweeping his sight back and forth. He smiled to himself, for he know knew what Bubble had been up to. He knew weapons well, and he was ashamed of himself for not having figured it out sooner. "Little girl!"

Bubble tried to collect herself, and failed. Panic still surged through her, and she struggled to stand. In her mind, there was no hope left. He had figured it out, that much was clear. She had thrown all she could at him, with no effect. And now he was coming for her, with no way to be stopped. She clenched her eyes shut, trying to get herself together- then her body saw a way out of the situation. She felt her muscles instantly relax and her body fall to the ground, as she lost consciousness.

"Hmmm…", said the Cyborg, and stopped looking around. "I do think that did it. That thing I felt pop with the Inferno Tower must have been her… yes. That is good."  
The Cyborg stomped off towards where he believed Dan to be- then stopped. He remembered the last piece of advice and gift of the future that Rakastamos had given him, just before he left on this mission. The thing that had started several days ago would come to fruition in this battle.

"Behold", he shouted, and raised one hand into the air, a lightning rod looking device on the very end. "My crushing masterstroke!"

Far away, in the clouds above, an ocean of rot stirred. The thin layer of muck and corruption that had been circling the area for days began to condense, drawn to the Cyborg's mysterious tool. Ugof the Toxic Goblin's final blast of poison was finally going to be used, by the Cyborg himself. And as the cloud began to swirl downwards, headed straight for the Village, the Cyborg-

The Cyborg's head was suddenly hit directly by a huge beam of energy, sending smaller shockwaves out through his body. He gasped in electronic pain, a spurt of oil and blood spitting out from the hit area. He staggered backwards a few times, in total shock. _What?_

One of his many eyes slowly turned around to see what it was, and he growled upon the revealing sight. There was the Eagle Artillery of the village, shining a brilliant blue, gold, and white, several Villagers and Builders climbing all over it and letting it go. When the Cyborg had disabled the Village's defenses beforehand, he had not counted on manual startup.

"Oh, that is annoying.", he said, and focused on one of his hands. It shaped into a colossal claw, almost like a pair of scissors, ready to cut apart the Artillery and whoever was on it. He remembered to keep most of his power on his other hand, still calling down the blanket of poison. He knew it would cause severe damage to everything it hit- except for him, a creature of metal. There was acid too, he knew, but he could survive that. He hoped.

"Get out of our village, you freak!", shouted one of the Villagers, courageously shaking her fist. "Or we'll have to kick you out, scrap metal tower!"

The Cyborg's jaw twitched at the insults, which he took deeply to heart. He had never been one much for insult wars, and so he merely chose to respond by throwing his claw forward, intent on cutting the Eagle Artillery clean in half-

Only for a huge sheet of flame from several Inferno Towers at once to suddenly wash across his face, rendering him blind for a few seconds. His attack went wild, plowing into the ground and cutting apart a few Gold Mines, the Gold within spilling into the air and flying off in the directions of Clashcrush Mountain, where it would join Rakastamos's horde. The Cyborg cursed and shot a spray of air from his face, blowing away the fire and back into the Inferno Towers, creating a feedback loop that temporarily overwhelmed their mechanisms and caused their lava to cease flowing.

"Mortals!", he screamed, in frustration rather than an attempt to impress. "You suck!"

He gave one last grunt of effort, slamming his radio hand into the ground- and Ugof's cloud of festering, poisonous muck came splashing into the village right along with it.

The direct point of impact had been the Eagle Artillery, the gleaming ivory soon melting under the toxic assault. Green and black smoke rushed through every pathway and every pocket like laughing ghosts, the grass turning white and withering. The Villagers and Builders had no choice but to jump off, sprinting as fast as they could towards the Town Hall, the only place they knew how to go when attacked. But even that was beginning to dissolve, the unmatched virality of Ugof's poison wearing down the metal. Some of the Villagers, with their slightly too slow run, were feeling the backs of their shoes start to dissolve, their panicked screams sweet music to the Cyborg's evil ears.

"Hahaha!", laughed the Cyborg, and spun around his torso on a gigantic screw. "That is it, fleshbags! Taste your weakness! The weakness of-"

He immediately regretted his words, as he saw something he did not expect. The gas began to abruptly thin, suddenly disappear, the force concentrated at the edge of the village. He looked over- there appeared to be a tall figure actually blowing it away. "Breath?"

As Dan continued to blow, the virus-ridden air further dissipated. What had previously been a choking cloud that obscured vision and melted rock was now just a thin mist, barely able to be detected, only chipping at the paint of the various buildings that it touched. The Cyborg watched in frustration as his hard work all went to nothing, a plan days in the making ruined in just a few moments. But that, he guessed, was life. And Dan had just revealed his location…

The Cyborg now knew exactly where to hit. He raised his claw hand once again, not even suspecting the silent assassin that even now crept up his shoulder to the weak point, right on the side of his head.

"Oh, Dan!", he shouted, and Dan looked up. His breathing was a little heavy, as he tried to prepare an attack under all the pressure. "You've left yourself wide open-"

The rest of whatever he was going to say suddenly died mid-transmission, with a sharp burst of pain. It took the Cyborg to think of exactly why- then he realized that a storm of bullets had, out of nowhere, pierced his throat and blew his voicebox to shreds.

The sound that cameo ut of the Cyborg's mouth was not anything that could be recognized as words. It was more of a high-pitched, awful, wavering screech that tore at the ears and wore down on one's brain like a storm of TV static. The Cyborg's eyes narrowed in rage, as he realized that he was no longer going to be able to craft any witty one-liners. But he could still kill- so he was definitely going to have to do that. He could repair himself once he got back to his lair anyway. But first, he had to find out just what had broken his voicebox like that…

The Cyborg, with a powerful thought, activated the cameras all along the right side of his head. Another thought, and the ones along the left turned on as well. They moved their vision all along their regular parameters ,but were unable to detect anything that could have shot at them. This was, of course, due to the fact that Leon had gone invisible.

Even now, he crept up along the Cyborg's metal head, grateful for the lack of sensitive nerves along the steel skin. He grabbed onto the lines and folds of the metal construction, using them as temporary handholds as he got closer to his target- the Cyborg's main energy reactor, right on the top of its head. Leon figured that if he shot right there, then the Cyborg might be defeated. But he had to act quickly, and keep on harassing the monster, or it might end up destroying the entire Village.

"Over here, metalhead!", Leon shouted, and drew out Hunter Killer once again from jacket sleeve. He supposed that it wasn't really the best line he could have done, but he was working under pressure. The Cyborg's eyes all turned to face different directions, most of them going towards the direction where Leon had thrown his voice. Leon silently chuckled to himself, as he placed Hunter Killer right on the lip of the Cyborg's mouth. Maybe if he shot right, he could disable some of its weapons. _Man, this guy's an idiot!_

But despite the obvious direction in which to attack, The Cyborg was not entirely fooled. He had heard of Leon, and heard of his ability to turn invisible. So he figured that if Leon was shouting out loud like that, there would have been some reason. He wouldn't have just wanted himself to suddenly become findable, now would he? No, there had to be some other reason. Perhaps if he was hiding somewhere else on the Cyborg's body…

But those thoughts were shattered out of the Cyborg's head, as Leon pulled the trigger. A few dozen rounds all shot at once through the Cyborg's front snout, each one of them causing both a small explosion and a burst of oil-blood-elixir fluid. The Cyborg winced in pain and shook his head- he could now feel where Leon was. The painful sensation moving around on him had to have a logical source, and the Cyborg was intent of finding it. He just had to turn on his higher sensitivity, particularly his head and skin, and the search would be over. One might question the thought of putting pain receptors on a mechanical body- but there was no better damage report or alarm system in existence.

But right before The Cyborg began the search, Leon noticed a small lever right where he had been pointing Hunter Killer. "Well, alright!", he shouted, and pumped his fist into the air. Without waiting for a thought about what he was doing, he pulled down the trigger again, and shot the red lever as much and as loud as he possibly could.

There was a horrible cracking sound, and the Cyborg almost screamed from the pain. The sensor lever that he had been about to employ had turned on him, and a shock of agony spread throughout his entire system. Only a horrifying screeching sound erupted from his body, as he writhed around in the air. One of his hands grabbed desperately at anything around him, slashing out at clouds high above and trees down below. The other opened and closed at rapid speed, almost like a fanatic revolving door of death.

"Guys!", shouted Leon, a bit hasty to celebrate. He figured that such devastating strikes had rendered the Cyborg mostly brought at that point, and it would be okay to shout. But such assumptions very rarely had a basis in reality, as Leon was about to see. "I think I weakened him! Come on, let's take him down!"

As those words slowly wound through the air and into the mind of the Cyborg, he laughed internally. Even though his thrashing around had yielded no targets, it had yielded the full crop of a Spell Factory. And what could be in the middle but 4 full-size Heal Spells, just ready to be used. The Cyborg knew this, and knew that such healing could repair the damage that had been dealt to him.

Leon jumped over the Cyborg's thrashing arm, and raised his hand once again. He began to aim Hunter Killer straight for the nest of mechanical eyes, faintly remembering something about having eyes once. When he was a regular human, or perhaps something of that sort. It made him a little sad, not having them.

But once that sudden character ambush had faded form his thoughts, the Cyborg was once again ready to attack. With a movement speed that belied his massive size, all four Heal spells were grabbed, uncorked, and held up to the light.

_Shoot, _thought Leon to himself, running along one of the crashing tentacles. His arms were out behind him as he ran, back level to the ground. _That's not good… I just damaged him._

As the Cyborg continued to drink the heal, the shine returning to most of his head, an idea occurred to Leon. Time slowed down for a second, and he gripped his fist as he went over it in his head. It was a good idea, he thought. If he pulled it off, they could potentially beat the beast.

"Hey, Cyborg!", he shouted, and jumped up into the air. He concentrated all he had within Hunter Killer, aiming right at the base of the monster's body, where the thick trunk split off into the forest of tentacles. "Whaddya got?"

"What?", asked the Cyborg, and felt his throat, relived to have his voicebox back. But he knew that he had to pay attention to the battle, and looked up at where Leon soared.

"That ain't craaaaaap!", Leon screamed, as he pushed all he could from deep within himself into Hunter Killer's blast. A vast storm of metal blasted outwards from the barrel, followed by a streak of fire, a blast of lightning, and then as the gun itself slowly began to change shape, a single rocket, similar to that of a Brock's. His eyes closed as he felt himself losing consciousness- but he managed to hold on, just barely. He would not go out the same way Bubble did. He was strong. He was legendary. He was Leon.

The Cyborg raised its arms to block the massive attack- only then realizing that Leon had not aimed for his head, or even his torso. The vast destructive energy that Hunter Killer's full power had unleashed instead hit the top of the Cyborg's tentacles dead on, resulting in a massive explosion that kicked up a storm of dust, obscuring everything in the village for several seconds among a white wall of sound.

Once the storm cleared, Leon stood on the broken ground, hands out by his side, panting hard. A thin stream of blood ran down one side of his face, and a lick of flame was slowly working its way up one side of his jacket-

Leon blinked, and looked down. A lick of flame was slowly working its way up one side of his jacket. He shouted and grabbed the offending sleeve, undoing the zipper in one swift motion and tossing the jacket down onto the dusty ground. He tossed and whipped it around in the dust, rather having it be dirty than burned apart. He seemed not to notice the still- gargantuan figure of the Cyborg rising up behind him, nor the fact that without his jacket on, his torso was totally bare. He kept on stomping on the bite of fire until it was out, then stopped to rest. He still panted from exhaustion, the final strike with Hunter Killer having taken everything he had.

"Boy!", he heard from behind him, and he turned around in shock. In his weakened state, he didn't even have time to react before a massive fist of steel pushed its way out through the smoke, grabbed him around the legs, and threw him into the air, taking the breath from his lungs and leaving it far behind, down on the ground as Leon soared through the sky. He felt his eyes close from the pressure and the pain, all the sound disappearing from his mind, moments before he landed right on an Elixir Storage. The grass cracked as he made impact, Leon falling asleep into the Elixir itself. There was not much left in it, fortunately for him- it was not enough to drown, but only enough to cover his lower body and most of his torso, shielding him from view and providing a comfy bedding as he fully lost consciousness.

The Cyborg blew away the rest of the smoke with one hand, revealing the damage that had been done. Leon had removed his tentacles, leaving his body scraping against the ground on a steel shard of a body. Smoke rose from several parts of him, his yellow eyes searchlights through the gloom. They turned as he focused on his next target, who was now running towards him at top speed. "Ah… the girl."

"You piece of crap!", screamed Brandy, as she sprinted towards the Cyborg. After slowly getting up from the spot where she had landed, she had seen what the Cyborg had done to Bubble and Leon. Pure rage flowed through her, bits of purple sparking at the edges of her eyes. A stolen piece of electricity jumped behind her, taken through an ancient Bandit technique. It had been lifted straight from the Mega Tesla, once Brandy figured out she could not actually pick the entire thing up. "I'm gonna kill you so much you die!"

The Cyborg concentrated, and focused on his lower half. He felt the bottom of his body begin to turn into his personal favorite form of locomotion- the wheel. Perhaps, if he-

"Doraoraoraoraora!", Brandy screamed, as she suddenly Dashed right up to the Cyborg. She screamed in absolute anger, simultaneously slamming into his side with a barrage of fists, and slinging her held ball of electric death right into the monster's wires. There was a snap, a crackle, a pop, and then a vast bolt of lightning that flashed right up the Cyborg's side and continued far into the sky.

"Gah!", screamed the Cyborg, and closed his eyes. "Mother-"

"Die!", Brandy roared, and continued to pummel at the Cyborg's side. Dozens upon dozens of Lightning-fast punches collided against the metal skin, Brandy's Dash shield protecting her from harm. Her utter fury at what he had done to Bubble and Leon coursed through her, adding increasing power to every punch. They went from unnoticeable, to tickling, to annoying, to threatening in just a few seconds, the side of the Cyborg cracking from the pressure.

"Doraoraoraoraoraoraora-!"

"Begone!", the Cyborg shouted, and moved his entire bottom half upwards to meet her. Brandy crossed her arms, her Dash automatically shifting from offensive to defensive. She was protected from harm, instead using the energy to fly back into a better stance. She thrust out one arm as hard as she could, the burst of air from the movement shooting forwards and slamming into the Cyborg's face. There was a deafening crack, and a visible break appeared in the metal.

Song: Figlia

"You little brat…", growled the Cyborg, and focused on creating his wheel as soon as he could. Parts of his jaw dropped off, better to ignore the pressure than try and tank it. It left him without a lower mouth, only an angular shape making up his head. "Now I have to kill you."

"You'll have to try!", shouted Brandy, not even caring enough to make clever comebacks. Her eyes steamed with rage, and her muscles boiled over with sheer adrenaline. She picked up a rock from the shattered ground and spun around, the stone flying out of her hands at incredible speed. But it was still just a rock, and so burst upon contact with the Cyborg, who had finally finished his final form. He was now a rather simple form- a wheel at the bottom, an angular head and torso, and two gigantic claws for hands.

"Then I will.", said the Cyborg, and thought about the best way to do so. She appeared to be almost impossible to kill with that Dash Shield of hers, and he doubted he would be able to beat her the same way he did last time. She must have grown by then- she was a tricky one.

He looked to the village for inspiration- then an idea struck him.

That was the first thing to strike him, followed by an entire tree trunk. It hit him right in the eye, sending pain shooting through his body and a curse appearing in his voicebox. He looked down, to see Brandy yank an entire bush out of the ground and hoist it high over her head, preparing to throw. A single Gem popped out, and spun to a stop on the ground.

The Cyborg growled, and thrust one hand into the ground. It traveled through the dirt, seeking its many targets, sending vibrations through the ground like the signals of a communicator.

Brandy screamed, and threw the bush. She shot out her hand less than a second afterwards, imbuing it with a bust of Dash energy that made it glow blue. It spun through the air like a missile, bursting upon the Cyborg's vision in a flash of green.

"You are truly annoying!", the Cyborg yelled, and kept on seeking the things it needed. It held up its other hand like a knife, beginning to spin it around. "Killing you will practically be therapy."

Brandy paused in her rage a bit, wondering just where Dan was. She knew that he had blown away the toxic air, and knew that he had not yet gone up against the Cyborg. She knew that he would not just abandon them. No. Knowing him, he was probably preparing an attack, one that could wipe out the Cyborg in a single blow.

That thought gave her hope, and power surged through her. She leapt forward, her intensified brain seeing a way to hop up the Cyborg's body and sink her fist right into his power core, a glowing jewel right above his eyes. Just a hop, a skip, and a jump to victory.

The Cyborg's eyes lit up, as he found what he was looking for. One of the tentacles he had turned his hand into connected with the bottom of a Cannon, and it suddenly jerked to life. Another found the base of an X-Bow, and it beeped awake like the hand of a puppeteer grabbing a puppet. They both turned to face Brandy, her peripheral vision becoming aware of a lot more than just the Cyborg she now had to watch out for.

"That is how you die.", said the Cyborg with a sneer, as his tentacles connected to an Inferno Tower and another Cannon. Curiously, the Archers and the Wizards that would normally be atop their respective towers were nowhere to be seen. Brandy guessed they must have been removed by the Cyborg before the battle had begun, but she hoped they were alright. "The defenses of the very village you thought was safe!"

As a Hidden Tesla popped up from the ground right next to her, and a Cannon swiveled around to shoot, Brandy knew it was time to move. She slammed her feet onto the ground, activating her Dash- and jumped, high into the air.

She immediately realized how much of a mistake that was, as she saw the cannonballs heading right for her. She had not jumped high enough to get out of their way, and now she would be forced to use her Dash to dodge.

Brandy concentrated, and pushed against the air itself. There was a thin white shockwave that blasted out towards the cannonballs, splitting one in half and robbing the rest of their momentum. But they still continued onwards, crashing into each other right where Brandy had been, hitting her feet with tiny shards of metal. She did not feel it, due to her Dash, but she still knew it had happened. She narrowed her eyes, attempting to think of a plan.

Brandy looked over the village from her lofty vantage point, trying to keep tabs on everything at once. She saw that Leon had landed in the Elixir Storage, and felt a touch of relief. He was not drowning in the vat, but he had lost his hoodie for some reason. That was odd.

Brandy looked to the left, where Bubble had gone down- and yelped, as she saw a trio of high-intensity rockets zip through the air, straight at her location.

Apparently, Brandy's second Dash had put her so high into the air that they Cyborg-possesed Air Defenses were now able to target her. They roared through the sky like Dragonfire, each of them holding terrifying amounts of power. Brandy knew that a direct hit from any of them would cause her far too much damage to survive. _Shoot…_

Brandy looked to the right, and saw a clear opening. She tucked her leg up right close to her body, concentrated again- and Dashed out of the way of the incoming rockets, as they exploded just a foot behind her. She could feel the twinge of heat right on her back, and she grimaced.

She did not exactly know what to do now. She hadn't really come at the Cyborg with a plan, more just attack and hope he died. But now her Rage was beginning to fade, both through exhaustion and her knowledge of Leon's safety. She looked for something to become angry about- then realized she did not know where Bubble was. That thought once again surged a flood of Rage through her entire body, and her eyes lit up a dark violet.

She saw another Cannonball coming straight towards her- and she lashed out with all the fury she could muster. Her fist hit the metal dead on, breaking it to dust in a single blow. She turned towards the Cyborg, her breath hot and rapid, feeling herself heat up.

"You will fall…", the Cyborg muttered, observing her flight path. "You cannot stay up there forever. And once you fall, I will have you!"

He knew this- and once Brandy saw the ground, she knew this. A vast array of spikes had been lain across it, all rotating and stabbing upwards. She had no idea where they had come from, but they did look deadly. She also knew that she was heading straight for them.

That was, until something happened. A tiny bit of her eyes turned from purple to a mysterious silver, and a hint of a musical note hung in the air, for just a tiny second.

The Cyborg saw her. He saw the silver in her eyes, and the sudden increase in aura- and he felt something that, if he had a heart, would have made it drop all the way into his stomach. "No…"

The Cyborg screamed, and all the defenses he was controlling hissed in harmony. A surge of overlocking energy poured through them, his motivation to get rid of Brandy suddenly doubled. "No! You will not!"

As Brandy fell towards the spikes, she could feel everything sort of… slow down. Become more visible, easier to see, almost before it happened. Brandy, ever so casually, turned herself right side up, threw her arms out to her sides, and roared, a solid wave of sound almost visible spread out across the entire village, shaking the buildings and trees.

"Nooooooo!", the Cyborg bellowed, every bit of him now determined to stop her. He gave the order to fire to every single one of his defenses, and they began to open fire. A rain of cannonballs, Tesla bolts, and X-Bow arrows shot towards Brandy, and-

And something else happened.

For a single second, Brandy's eyes turned completely silver, shooting wide open.

For a single second, the faint aura of purple and blue around her was replaced with a scintillating cloud of silver, small flecks and particles winding around her body.

For a single second, her hair stood up off of her head, floating in some ethereal wind. A deadly expression of pure seriousness came onto her face, unlike anything she had ever been like before.

And for that single second, the world went dark in her shining eyes. The only thing she could see was the projectiles heading towards her- she could not even see her own body. But she hardly needed to, with the unmatched speed and focus she had attained.

With a single flick of her wrist, one of the cannonballs was suddenly turned around. It headed back at its source with actually increased velocity, a silver wind whipping around it.

For a second cannonball, an even smaller movement was needed. There was only a tap of a finger, and it split all the way down the middle, the two halves redirected into opposite directions- one towards the Cannon that had fired it, and the other towards the Cyborg.

She moved upwards in the air, both of her feet striking a cannonball. That was all it took for the shots to curve wildly, both of them shooting straight towards the Cyborg's face, their movement increased by whatever Brandy was doing. Even she did not know.

Not even half a second had passed in these actions- Brandy's speed was that of a bolt of lightning. No, even beyond- for the Tesla bolts that had been shooting at her were now moving at the speed of syrup, Brandy easily able to step aside and dodge out of the way. She actually grabbed a bolt in one hand, the vast aura of Dash surrounding her protecting her from all harm.

With an effortless toss, it had gone both back the way it had come and straight towards the Cyborg, the bolt forked in two. It hit its fellows along the way, turning what had once been sleek bolts of death into a jumbled up electric mess.

Brandy saw the X-Bow arrows, and knew exactly what to do. She grabbed the first one right out of the air, turned it around, and sent it back with an increased velocity. She did not need to jump- she merely stepped on what was almost the air itself, her momentum preserved by the molecules. She looked up towards the Cyborg, her blind eyes somehow seeing.

Song: Cornered

Then the moment was over, and Brandy's eyes once again turned to blue. The silver around her disappeared, and she felt her muscles relax. She fell straight out of the sky, falling towards the spikes below.

The shots of defenses she had altered all happened at once, in a truly chaotic display. Each and every one of the Cannons exploded, their own ammo jammed deep into their barrels. The Cyborg felt the pain in his fingers- but not as much as his face, which had also taken heavy fire. He felt the bolts of lightning strike his forehead, as the Teslas exploded. He felt X-Bow arrows tink against his skin, as the one that had been sent back crushed the forward shots. That too struck the firing mechanism, tearing off the wires and rendering it useless.

"What?", the Cyborg gasped, as he retracted all his arms at once. The spikes that had been on the ground disappeared, and Brandy fell onto the dirt unharmed. Except for the fall, but that she could shrug off. The Cyborg stared at her in shock, almost unable to believe what he had just witnessed. He could feel his mind shaking, in cold fear.

"That power…", he said to himself. "That speed… there's no way."

But as he saw the way Brandy just lay there on the ground, defenseless and most likely unconsciousness, he smiled to himself. Even if she had attained that power, she was unlikely to be able to repeat it anytime soon. And in the meantime, he could easily finish her off. He reached out his aboveground hand, his massive claw reaching for her, about to-

"Hey!", he heard from the far side of the village, and looked up. There, in resplendent glory, stood Dan. He held his hands together, charge that he had been building up for minutes sparking in his massive hands. The ground around him seemed about to melt from the pressure, the walls behind him already having done so. "You!"

The Cyborg briefly considered retorting- but knew that there was no point. Instead, he just reached forward for Brandy, about to crush her sleeping body. He slammed his hand down onto the ground- only to notice that she had suddenly been lifted into the air, high above his fist. She floated over to the Town Hall, and was gently deposited on its surface. The Cyborg looked back at Dan, and regretted not trying to block.

"Maxicharged Overdrive!", Dan shouted, and unleashed his blast. It surged forward like a bolt of godly thunder, searing the ground underneath it, blowing away the smaller buildings that were still standing, and heading straight for the Cyborg. The Cyborg stuck out a few instruments, and realized that, fearfully, he had no chance of surviving such a majestic blow. He chose instead to yank his body out of the way, just as the blast reached him- and losing a sizable chunk of his right arm. It tore through his metal and wires like a heated knife tears through butter, turning them to black and purple dust within a second. But the Cyborg's dodge had mostly worked- the shot continued onwards, and into the air beyond.

"You missed, fool!", shouted The Cyborg, and leaned down. He charged straight for Dan, head down like a Bull, remaining hand down to crush. "Now die!"

Dan held up his hand, two fingers extended, trying to reach his beam. He would have grabbed it, turned it around, and shot it right into the Cyborg's back, finishing it off, where it not for one tiny little detail. Two, actually- one was that he actually needed to see the beam to properly do that, and it was hidden behind the Cyborg's charging bulk. Two was that his opponent was far too close, and his beam would not make it in time. He had to use other means.

"ORA!", Dan screamed, and threw his right fist upwards, putting all the power in his entire body into the colossal blow. The Cyborg had not seen such an attack coming, and so was totally unprepared as Dan's mighty fist crashed directly into his head. The metal cracked under the intense pressure, and The Cyborg felt pain through his entire body.

"You little worm…", the Cyborg growled, real hatred staining his mechanical voice. He stared at Dan in anger, and brought his gigantic claw over his head. "You will die!"

"You sure say that a lot.", said Dan, and brought his hands back. He jumped backwards in an agile flip, making sure to size up the Cyborg once more. He thought he saw a weak point right at the top of his head- if only he could get there. "Be careful there, wouldn't want to sound like a broken record."

The Cyborg shrieked, an extremely sensitive nerve suddenly touched. His claw hand suddenly grew somewhat larger, and his other hand began to regrow from Dan's shot. He loomed as high as he could above Dan, a heat difference of almost 20 feet. But Dan was not afraid- he knew what he had to do to win. And that was just to-

But his thoughts were cut off, as the colossal metal hand of the Cyborg suddenly was whipped down at him, and his arms shot up automatically to block. He pressed against his opponent's overwhelming pressure as hard as he could, but it was extremely difficult. He had underestimated his foe's intense mechanical strength, and had failed to follow up with the proper grip. The Cyborg's hand was pushing down on his arms, and appeared to be winning the shoving match. That is, unless Dan acted quickly. He knew he had only once chance to get this right, so he had to be extremely careful. Dan sucked in a quick breath, gaining some Star within his lungs, and-

And Dan felt his right leg stumble, becoming a bit weaker. In his haste to destroy the Cyborg, he had forgotten about the way lungs worked. If he sucked in a breath, he denied himself the regular passage of air, and thus made his lungs, and muscles, slightly weaker.

_Shoot, _thought Dan, trying to push back as hard as he could. _This isn't good. Everyone else is knocked out, I just made a mistake, and I'm pushing as hard as I can, but this guy won't budge! Got to… got to…_

Dan's mind raced, but no ideas that were very good came to him at that moment. Perhaps he could call upon Jonathan, but he had no idea how. Maybe he could try again with the Star, but that was far too risky. Maybe he could try some Rotation-

He could use Rotation. He hadn't done it for a bit, but it was worth a shot. Dan focused on his fingers, trying to get one to spin. He needed to actually spin something for it to work, it wasn't just within his breath like the Star. But try as he might, his fingers were locked in tight. The Rotation wasn't going to work.

_Dang it, _he thought, and felt the Cyborg start to push harder, overcome with fury. _What do I do, what do I do? Am I… too… too weak?_

Dan growled, holding on to that thought. He felt the Rage build up from inside of him, and a faint green aura appeared around his head. He felt the incredible power that had allowed him to defeat the Elecfirno Dragon begin to spark up once again- until the Cyborg pushed more, forcing Dan's thighs to try even harder. He grunted, and closed his eyes, feeling the crater around him grow. _Dang it dang it dang it-_

But then, something else happened. He felt the pressure on his hands suddenly lift, reduced by almost 50%. He saw another pair of hands next to his, just as large as his were, holding up the Cyborg's claw. And as he saw just who those hands belonged to, his only reaction was that of shock.

Song: The Hand

"Ayy, you wee bloody bastard!", shouted the familiar, formidable Barbarian King next to Dan. His muscles swelled with unnatural vigor, as he pushed the claw of the Cyborg up into the air. His crown hung loosely upon his head, his body the chosen skin of the Pekka. One would not normally be able to wear just part of a skin at once, but apparently this King was different. "Get off my land!"

Dan took another astonished look at the Barbarian King, before redoubling his efforts. A low growl built in his throat, eventually turning into a mighty roar. Sweat dripped down both of their faces, as they pushed the previously overwhelming force of the Cyborg back into the air, foot by foot, forcing him away from them. The Cyborg screamed in confusion, unable to see what was going on in his insane mindstate.

"Ya shoulda gone back to wherever ya came from, eh?", the Barbarian King yelled again, with a glint in his eye that shone with the brightness of a brilliantly irregular mnd. He dug his feet in low to the ground, and bent back his arms slightly. "Then I wouldnt'a caught ya!"

_Who is this guy?, _thought Dan, trying to think about where he had seen him before. He was maddingly familiar, although Dan could not quite place why. Who was he?  
"You…", the Cyborg screeched, looking over his claw hand. He tried to push it towards the two again, but their combined strength was now far too much for him to handle. Even though his metal pistons and wires pushed as hard as they could, they were all but useless before the pair's own might of muscle and bone. Or, in Dan's case, Star. And also muscle. "What are you?"

"Ah, you don't know who I am?", asked the Barbarian King, and grunted. He built up one final push inside himself, one holding the power to throw the Cyborg right off his feet. "Then ya shouldn'ta come here, all prancing about like that! This is our land! Not yours!"

"Ours?", asked the Cyborg, and looked around. He could not see anybody else for a good large while- the mysterious Barbarian King apparently the only one that had come to help.

"Yes, our!", the Barbarian King shouted, and drew back his fist. He snarled, and it swelled with the power of Rage and iron, several dozen Barbarians all popping into existence. "Me… and my fists!"

The Barbarian King, with that one-liner, swung his fist upwards, right into the Cyborg's midsection. The Cyborg bent backwards to try and avoid injury, only for the fist to once again slam into his gut.

The Cyborg, in disgust and slight fear, chose that moment to make a retreat. He didn't know where or how the Barbarian King had gotten such immense power- but very few things in his life seemed normal anyway. So he growled, took the pressure off of his claw hand, and-

A charged shot from Dan suddenly slammed into the middle of its chest, exploding with a bright golden light .The Cyborg, having taken that moment to try and readjust himself, was helpless before the light, and several of its smaller eyes just burst. The rest of them, however, adjusted fairly quickly. They could see again after a few seconds, only to find that the attack had blown the body backwards. It now lay against the ruined side of the Clan Castle, having been destroyed some time in the raid. Its eyes twitched and turned every which way, except for the ones that were broken. Those just steamed, sending up smoke that would have blinded anybody nearby. The Cyborg itself lay in a heap, his claw hand smoking and his tentacle hand all tangled up. It stared at the two in utter disbelief, confusion crowding his mind.

"You're…", said Dan, and stared at the Barbarian King in wonder. He looked a touch different, because it had been a little bit of time. He also sounded a lot different, but the first time he had met him, he could have just been messing around. But either way, he knew it was him. The way he dressed, the way he acted, the constant humor in the situation.

"Holy Se'th.", said Dan, staring again. He knew it was a bit rude, but he could not help it. "You're… you're…"

He jumped up, and shouted. "Orfox?"

Orfox's face was suddenly one of confusion. He turned an eye towards Dan, stared at him too for a few more seconds, then opened up his memory. His mouth opened wide into a smile, and he opened up his arms for an arms crossing. "Daniel?"

Dan sputtered over his words for a moment, before spreading out his arms in wonder. "Orfox, how did you get here? Where you on the trail of that thing for a while?"  
"What?", asked Orfox, and waved his hand. "Nay. For I Iive here, Daniel. This be my village."

"Oh.", said Dan, and nodded. "Well, I guess that it is a good point."

Both of the battle-hardened heads turned as one, to see the Cyborg slowly getting up, rising to his wheel. He pushed a part of himself back on with a painful-looking crack, and snarled at the two. Both Dan and Orfox took stances, staring the Cyborg down.

"Now die!", shouted the Cyborg, and concentrated. He had quite forgotten that it was an endurance test to reshape his body into the form that he wished, and this time was no golden. He still had a mission to complete, and that mission was killing the Tailbiters, regardless of how many people got in his way. "And perish forever!"

"Nay, thee!", shouted Orfox, and focused. Right directly as the Cyborg flung itself towards Dan, Orfox's sword slashed out at the same incredible speed and timing as Dan's fist.

There was a horrible cracking sound, of twisting metal and splitting wires. It stabbed through the air like a sword through paper, the dry, sparking gasp of the Cyborg the only other sound to be heard.

They both jumped out of the way, as the exhausted and largely destroyed Cyborg toppled to the ground in front of them. There was a large sounding explosion, as the entire mechanical body of the beast split up the middle, the sides of it pummeled into total oblivion from the beating that Dan had delivered. Wires still hung to Orfox's sword, and Elixir still dripped from Dan's fist.

"You… we…", said Dan, and stared at the spot where the Cyborg, had, evidently, fallen. "We did it. We killed him. If only there was some way to keep him permanently dead."

"Ay, but there is.", said Orfox, and looked down low to the ground. "There we'll find clues. And maybe his soul, if we look hard enough. But if we don't… I still know a guy."

The Cyborg's body suddenly twitched, and they both held up their fists- only to see that it was just a small ant, having stepped into the melting Elixir. That was a relief. They just stood there, waiting for it to be done- until at last, with a horse cry of disbelief and anger, the Cyborg faded into the ground, and withered away.

Brandy had been looking over at the sight in disbelief, from where she had been dropped on to the Town Hall. She saw the Cyborg become suddenly cut in half by Orfox, and her face became one of exhausted victory. She lay spread-eagled across the roof, letting herself fall asleep from the total exhaustion that ran through her entire body.

"Ayy, tis' not over yet, lad.", said Orfox, his almost unbelievably thick accent. "We've got to catch his soul while its still here. Or he's gonna get away again."  
"Catch… his soul?", asked Dan, and stared in confusion. "Well, how are we going to do that? Isn't the whole point of a soul that is something you can't catch?"

"I said, watch.", said Orfox, and knelt down close to the ground where the Cyborg had gone down. He flexed his ears, as if looking for something, that no one else could see. Trying to detect something that, against all logical rules could not be.

Something gently stirred some metaphysical form of the dust below, and Dan whipped around. There he saw Orfox, deadly seriousness on his face, about to jump to where Dan had seen the dust. He stepped aside and let him, as Orfox gently bent down next to where the movement had happened. He put one hand on the ground- then jumped up, turning his hand to alert the one on the far side of the village. "Ayy, laddy! Shield!"  
"Shield!", shouted the Grand Warden. He was in charge of leading the rest of the troops of the village back home, but Orfox had gotten there far quicker. He was, after all, a mutant. The Grand Warden slammed his staff deep into the ground, a burst of energy that drove through the dirt and cracked open all the walls in the affected area. It covered Orfox and Dan with a golden light that would protect them from all harm- but that is not why he had made it. He had just installed an anti-soul shield, one that had been specifically made in order to combat the Cyborg.

As long as it was active, no souls could go in or out- that included the Cyborg.

Sure enough, within just a few seconds, there was the imprint of a mechanical man on the inside of the shield. It staggered backwards, before howling and turning red.

"Thar he is!", Orfox yelled, and pointed his sword. There was the Cyborg, still trying in vain to press his way out of the shield and into safety. "Daniel, crush the bugger!"

Dan took a deep breath, and focused the lightning into a small circle on his chest, barely bigger than even a human hand. That much destructive force concentrated in that small of a space would no doubt deal massive damage to the single thing it hit, even if from range. He just had to figure out best to use it, against the still-tanky monster they were going up against.

The Cyborg pushed one last time, then gave up. He now figured that if he could not escape, and so his plan changed. Kill the ones inside, exhausting the one holding it, then fly off towards Rakastamos. It was not a good plan, but it was the only one he had.

"Fire!", shouted Orfox, right as the Cyborg's true, spiritual form became fully visible. He seemed almost to be a young man, with a stylish beard, metal implants all over his body, and a circular object above his head, blinking all sorts of mysterious light. He didn't look like any troop that either Dan or Orfox had ever seen before- but that is why, of course, he was a Forgotten.

Not a single one among them really had time to rectify this act, however. All Dan knew was the enemy, trying to get away, and Orfox, telling him to fire. So he did- a gargantuan blast of Star that whipped through the small shield they were in and curving inwards upon impact with the other side. The Cyborg held up an arm in order to combat it- and it almost worked. But the sheer power the blast held was simply far too much for the arm, and it dissolved upon the spot. It burst open the Cyborg's fragile soul like a roll of toilet paper, truly unimaginable pain inflicted upon the unfortunate individual for just a few seconds. Afterwards the pain was gone, as was the rest of the Cyborg's soul. It was impossible to tell where exactly it went, but most likely someplace not very good.

Dan stopped firing, and started his heavy breathing. There stood the mangled back of the force field, the broken rock that The Cyborg had been close to, and the sounds of the Cyborg's last scream, still flying through the air.

"We… we did it.", said Dan, and looked up. He turned his hand towards the village, and waved for everyone else to come and join him. "Come on, we won!"

"He's…", said Brandy in near disbelief, looking down at the wreckage below. She could hardly belive it. After all that, after coming so close to death she still tasted it on her dried out tongue, the Cyborg had been cut down. Cut down by both Dan and the just-in-time, almost like a miracle, Orfox. "He's dead. We did it."

She placed one hand on the lip of the Town Hall, and jumped down. Once she hit the ground, she just lay there for a bit, trying to wrap her head around the chaotic events of the last few minutes. "He was a real tough one, wasn't he? That was too intense…"

She walked off towards Dan and Orfox, then ran. Her legs still shook from the sheer intensity of the battle, the near-death experience still burning fresh in the right front of her brain. She knew that everyone else was still out there somewhere in the village, but she knew they were all alright. She could not quite explain why- she just knew it.

Bubble looked around a corner, peeking out through half a Barracks to see the scene that was unfolding in the center of the village. A small clearing had been made out of the wreckage, Dan and Orfox's conversation clearly visible within it. Bubble had no idea who was talking to her father- this was the very first Barbarian King she had ever gotten a good look at. If she noticed the resemblance he held to Trevor, she did nothing to signify it.

Leon could feel himself beginning to wake, stirred back to consciousness by the gentle sloshing of the Elixir right up next to his ears. His eyelids fluttered open, to see the face of the Grand Warden looming high over him. It took only a second of their direct eye contact for Leon to jump right out of the container and backpedal through the air, landing on the dirt behind the storage.

"Woah now, don't be afraid.", said the Grand Warden, and held up his book. "I'm here to help. You look quite damaged… and I can heal you."

"Oh.", said Leon, and unclenched every muscle in his body. The spinner blade that he had nocked into his hand vanished, back into-

Leon blinked, and looked down. The slight embarrassment at having been startled was turned into a red shock, as he saw his lack of a shirt. He looked up towards the Grand Warden, nodded, and turned invisible, leaving footprints on the dirt as he sped away.

"Dan!", shouted Brandy, and Dan turned away from his conversation with Orfox. He saw Brandy running towards him at top speed, arms open, jumping forwards for a hug. Dan let the hug connect, Brandy wrapping around his torso in a loving embrace. "Dan, you did it! He's dead!"

"Yes.", said Dan, and gave Brandy a playful little pat on the head. "The Cyborg is dead. That was a pretty tough fight. Might have been in trouble if Orfox here hadn't shown up."

"Ayy, that's right!", shouted Orfox, in his accent that had been even thicker than before. "I shewed up an beat the Elixir right outa that bugger! Me and Daniel, of course."

"Right, right.", said Dan, and looked down. There was Leon's hoodie, right upon the ground, totally empty. His heart went a little cold, and he looked down at Brandy.

"Uhh…", he said, trying to keep his voice calm. He had heard that when a Brawler died, they left behind all their clothes- he just hoped it would not one of those times. He didn't know how to say the next words to Brandy. "Brandy, I-"

"Hi Mom.", said Leon, suddenly materializing right next to Dan's hand, still near the ground. He grabbed his hoodie in a flash, pulling it on over himself and grabbing his face. "I'm alright."  
"Okay, good.", Brandy said. She had known he was alright- she just thought it was nice for it be confirmed. She looked up at Dan. "What were you going to say to me?  
"Uhh…", said Dan, then got an idea. He just brought Brandy up closer to his chest, and gave her even more of a hug. "I'm just glad you're alright. That everyone's alright, and that nobody died."

"Where's everyone else?", asked Brandy looking around. There was the ruined village and the two heroes, but the only members of her group she could see were herself, Dan, and Leon. Trevor and Annabelle were nowhere to be found, and she could not see Bubble right to Dan.

"I'm right here!", said Bubble, and jumped out from behind Dan's legs. She was still visibly very shaken up as well, but nobody could really blame her. They had all just been through terror.

Brandy, the second that Bubble went outwards further towards the middle of the group, Dashed over. She picked her up in both hands and held her close to her shoulder, letting her eyes fall closed. For a second they both just stayed there, feeling each other, Brandy glad that Bubble was safe.

"So.", said Dan, looking over at Orfox once again. "This is your village, eh? Pretty nice-"

A damaged Gold Mine gave a pathetic-sounding cough, and collapsed into a pile of metal and boards. Dan took another look, and winced. "Yeah, fairly nice."  
"Oh, ye don't like my village?", asked Orfox, and laughed. "No, just give it a place and a time to clean up. Buggers will have it looking spotless, that's a fact."

"Good.", said Dan, and put his hands on his hips. "A pity we won't be here to help… we'd best be off soon anyway."

"What?", asked Orfox in genuine shock. He had just seen the two after a long separation- he thought they would have had time to sit and talk for at least a bit. He furrowed his brow- there had always been something odd about both of those two, and now he was feeling it firsthand.

"Why, won't ye be talking with me for a while? Your little children can join in too."

"They're not my ch-", said Brandy, before realizing, once again, that the two were in fact their children. Trevor and Annabelle Orfox did not see as children, because they were not awake yet.

"Oh, right. They are. Well then, I suppose that you could all speak together."  
"Good, good.", said Orfox, and waved his hand at the two. Leon and Bubble just stared, not at all sure what to make of him. Leon had seen Barbarian Kings before, but not anything like this level. Orfox was not a regular Barbarian King by any means- although the number above his head read 50, it was more along the lines of 112. He was a great mutant, able to soar past many times his perceived strength. Leon could not sense the true upper echelons of his power.

"Now, come! Tell me. What brought you to my village?"

"Well…", said Dan, after seeing that nobody else was going to talk. "We're on our way to kill a giant Dragon that plans to wipe out all non-Dragon life on the planet. You wanna come?"  
Dan hoped, knowing that Orfox's strength would be a great boon to their cause. It appeared this his raw physical might was unparalleled, even if he lacked anything for range. But, unfortunately, Orfox shook his head. "No. You see, I'm busy gathering Troops for a grand mission. It's very important. Maybe even as important as yours."

"Oh?", asked Dan, and raised an eyebrow. Orfox shook his head, and a single jolt of pain suddenly appeared right down his hand. "What sort of troops? Strong ones?"  
"Well, of course.", said Orfox, staring down Dan from across the table. "I would only think they would be."

"Woah, woah, woah!", said Brandy, ducking in between the two. "Both of you, calm down. You are both friends, right? So don't fight."

"Right.", said Dan, and nodded. He looked down at Brandy, giving her a little pat. "We shouldn't antagonize each other this early in the day, Orfox."

"Early?", Orfox asked, and checked his thick stone watch. "Why, tis only half past rock. We're fine."

Dan tried to ignore the fact that Orfox had just checked the time on a rock, and blinked. "Well, we should be heading out anyway. We have a lot of ground to cover, and not a lot of time to do it. It was nice meeting you again, Orfox. May we meet after the journey is complete."

"Right.", said Orfox, and saluted. He thought again to his mission that he had agreed upon to take for Askari- his main army of specialized troops was right over the hills. If only they had stuck around long enough to see it, some of the impending future would have played out very differently. But they did not, and so they happened in a very specific way.

"Dad?", asked Leon, and Dan looked down. He stuck out his arm, but Leon did not get on. He just stood there, in disbelief. "Yeah?"

"You can fly now.", said Leon, pointing up towards the sky. "And if you can fly, then why don't you just pile us onto your back like a Dragon and fly right towards Rakastamos?"  
Dan could see exactly where such a thought was coming from. He also knew the reason why they hadn't tried to fly- several of them, in fact.

"I can't really do it on command.", said Dan, and shrugged. "It's more of a desperation thing. I might be able to do it command someday, but not right now. And two-"

Dan looked up into the air, remembering that time when they had tried to ake a Balloon to their destination. "The last time we air traveled, we were shot down. You were there. So we are not taking the sky."

"I guess that makes sense.", said Leon, and shrugged. "Seems like it just sucks to keep on going over the ground like this, though. If only there was some faster way."

"Trevor, what's our fastest route?", asked Annabelle, who had come up behind the main group, all sitting around the Center Marker. They had found rocks. Trevor pulled the map out from behind him, and began to try and read it while he was upside down. "Let's see, you need to-"

Then he noticed his mistake ,and turned the map right side up. "We'll need to go straight across this evil canyon for a few dozen hours. Real nasty place, full of evil stuff."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful!", said Brandy, practically dripping with anticipation. "I can't wait for 22 more hours of what we just experienced. We'll not get there too late or anything, either."  
"Hold it.", said Orfox, and stood up. He pointed off towards the horizon, where the sun's influence was beginning to lengthen, in contrast to the other side. "I know a place. A place where the Clashcrush river flows, a place where-"

"Wait, the Clashcrush River?", asked Dan in surprise, and turned to Trevor. "So that canyon wasn't in our way?"  
"What?", asked Trevor, and turned the map around. Sure enough, there it was- the Clashcrush RIver, flowing between the immense black canyon and the smaller green swamp, off to one side. "It just splits, is all."

"Oh.", said Orfox and Dan at the same time, then turned back to face each other. "Well, that works out fine, I guess."

Brandy figured it was her time to speak. She had felt kind of squished down ever since the battle with the Elecfirno Dragon, and she didn't want to take it anymore. She stood up, and cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. With everyone turning their heads to look at her, she decided to deliver her speech.

"Guys.", she said, and spread out her arms. "We need to go through the swamp. I feel it. The Dreamer tells me… the swamp is the only way we'll survive. If we go through the canyon, we will all die."

The grim message slowly sank into the brains of everyone there, one by one. Their faces were those of understanding, the depth of Brandy's words hard to deny. Dan stretched, popped his neck, and spread out his arms, onto the ground.

"Well then, let's go.", he said, and motioned for everyone else to climb on his back. As soon as they did, they would be off. He nodded a goodbye to Orfox, who returned it. "We can't be waiting here and making plans forever."

Song: Pensare

"Wait a second.", said Orfox, and held up his hand. Dan looked up, to see that Orfox held an expression of deadly intensity. He stared at Brandy with a tense curiosity, almost as if she was a rare treasure, unsure of whether or not he should pick her up.

"What?", asked Dan, fully noticing the way he was looking at her. He almost shifted into a defensive stance, but he decided against it. He did trust Orfox, and figured it was probably nothing. All Barbarian Kings had a Queen, or at least most of them. "What is it?"  
"That… thing ye did earlier, Brandy.", said Orfox, and stood up. He drew a little closer to Brandy, who shifted back on the dirt. She looked up into his face, but saw only intense wonder. "Ye seemed almost to vanish, yet in the air you were. Faster than anything I'd ever seen."

"Wait, how did you see that?", asked Dan, remembering when Orfox had arrived to the battle a few minutes after that had happened. That was suspicious. "You only came to help after she had already fallen unconscious."

But Orfox merely tapped his head, and nodded. "Mine eyes are a gift, Daniel. I could see the entire battle from where I was. Great job ye all did, by the way. It was good."

"Oh, thank you.", said Brandy, and smiled a bit. She always liked attention, usually regardless of where it was from. "But… what were you talking about? The thing I did back there? Yeah, I-"  
She had been about to say _I don't really know what that was, _but Orfox's words interrupted her. "That was a true sign of strength, Brandy. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but it was not like anything I've ever seen in any Troop, let alone in any Bandit. If you had kept that up for just a few more seconds, it no doubt would have meant the end of that metal beast."

A shiver ran down Brandy's spine at Orfox's words. He was not exaggerating- Brandy knew that he was telling the truth. Her hair lifted up into her hood at the thought of such power coming from her- not even Dan had been quite enough to defeat the Cyborg. And yet, if what Orfox was telling her was true- which she had no doubt that it was- she could have brought him down in just a few seconds? That thought ran through her head, wonderment settling in.

"Woah…", said Brandy, and shivered again. She let herself grin, eager for the next opportunity she got to unleash that mysterious strength. She would have to come up with a name for it- The Silver seemed not to cut it anymore.

"Well, I suppose that ye best be off.", said Orfox, and reached out a hand. He met Dan's own fist right in the middle, a small shockwave emanating outwards. "Wouldn't want to keep you waiting, now would I?"

He looked to Leon, and gave a thumbs up. "Put a shirt on, laddie. Next time that comes off, it might be in the company of ones other than your family."

Bubble looked up at him in awe, as did Trevor. All Barbarians had such behavior in the faces of Barbarian Kings- it was only natural. Bubble was of course not a Barbarian, but she was awestricken anyway. He was the fourth titan she had met on her part of the journey, but the wonder still held. "And you two, take care of yer parents. Those two are mischievous ones."

Bubble nodded, and Trevor gave a sharp salute. He turned to Annabelle, and gave only a nod, which she seemed to understand. It was unknown what message was passed.

Orfox sat back down on the rock, and looked around the village. It was going to take him a while to clean up, but he was sure that he and his Builders could do it. If the leyline wasn't damaged- that would be bad. But it looked like it was not. That reminded him-

"If any of ye see my Archer Queen, tell me.", he said, and jabbed his sword into the air. "She went off with her friends some day ago, and has not come back since."

"Will do.", said Brandy, a shock of cold worry running through her for some reason. "What's her name? Is she wearing a costume?"

"She is named Shalia.", said Orfox, a dreamy glimmer running across his eye. "And last time I checked, she was in her Gladiator skin. I do miss her."

That thought reminded him of someone else he knew, and he sat up. "Ah, perhaps Shelly knows where she is."

"Wait, Shelly?", asked Leon, his ears perking up. "You know Shelly?"  
"I know _a _Shelly.", said Orfox, and kicked at a large rock. It broke. "Perhaps the same one."

"Guys.", said Dan, and rolled his eyes. He started walking, making sure that everyone was on his shoulders. "We really should be going, or we'll never get there in time. To the swamp."

"Say thanks to Orfox, Bubble.", said Brandy, and waved. Bubble nodded, and waved too.

"Thank you, Mr. Orfox!"  
Orfox nodded, and watched the group go, walking over ditches and through the treeline until they could no longer be spotted. He looked up into the sky, and thought. "Oh Shalia… where did you go?"

Song: Propaganda

"Father?", asked Askari the 15th, as he slowly exited his personal Battle Blimp. With a hop down to the ground below, he looked around the shores of Brawltopia. It was a rather nice place- with the white sands, blue skies, and gentle waves lapping at both. Several Brawl Ball stadiums lined the nearby landscape, a few of them actually on the beach itself. None of them were in use at the moment, although many had been reserved for coming groups. Askari had planned it precisely that way- for although he was the World's Protector, the world at large has not allowed to know. That was part of the actual protecting- to not let the common folk know exactly what it was they were being protected from. Otherwise, many bad things would most likely arise. "I'm here."

He looked around the beach again, wondering when his father, Askari the 14th, might show up. He hadn't really left much of a clue, just that if Askari arrived here at a certain time and waited, the two would soon be met. All of his messages tended to be rather cryptic, unlike his son's straightforward and to-the-point memos. "Are you?"  
His personal guard for that day, a Mega Knight and a Pekka, took either side of him. There heads spun on a constant swivel, keeping an eye out for anything that might attempt to harm their master. Askari was, of course, stronger than both of them combined- but after the run in he had earlier with the Jesterbot, no chances could any longer be taken.

Askari looked around for a few more seconds, beginning to get a little impatient. Even if his father was sort of an airhead, prone to running off at the slightest distraction, Askari still thought it would only be polite of him to keep a good schedule. That is what he always did. He had to, for that was his destiny. Defeating Rakastamos was his destiny.

"Ah, son.", he heard from the right of him, and he automatically turned his head. Not his body or neck, just his head, due to the way his mechanical body worked. But there was no one there- the voice had been cleverly thrown. His father was hiding somewhere else.

"I see that you've finally decided to come aboard fro the ride.", he said, as did Askari at the exact same time. They stopped and looked up, the 14th's smile growing wider as the 15th summoned a small flame above his head. "Ah, nice."

"It's time for you to meet my special group, son.", said Askari the 14th, as the 15th noticed a rustling right in the bushes next to him. As he watched, the aging, slightly pudgy figure of Askari the 14th emerged, and performed a slight bow. "They will prove most useful for your crusade against Dragonlord Rakastamos."

"Your special group?", asked Askari, and raised an eyebrow, accompanied by a custom sound effect. "Why, whatever do you mean-"

"Everyone!", he heard an incredibly, almost overly enthusiastic voice shout from the bushes next to him. A Magic Archer leapt out from the shrubbery and landed on a rock, twisting his entire body around in a magnificent pose. "Introductions!"

"Colt!", yelled a Colt, as he walked out backwards from the bush next to his leader. He too struck a pose, his Royal Agent skin complementing his crossed guns hugely. He flashed a grin, and gestured for the next member to come onto their impromptu stage.

"Butterfly!", a Pekka shouted, and strode out onto the rock. She stopped right next to the Magic Archer, and stuck her hands out as one leg went up to her knee. The overall effect was disorienting, , but that was most likely the point.

"Madgriese!", came the mighty roar of a Mega Knight, slamming down onto the ground with a crack. The rock very nearly broke, but it floated back together with a furious glare from the Magic Archer. The Mega Knight threw his arms out to one side, and stepped with his leg up.

"Budli!", the last member shouted, as a Goblin jumped out with a double cartwheel, spun around in the air, and landed in the middle of the group, one hand over his face. With a nudge from the Magic Archer, he moved aside, to his proper spot right underneath the massive Pekka.

"And together we are-", said the Magic Archer, and posed again. The rest of the team shifted their positions to complement his pose, the rock almost cracking once again underneath their combined weight. "The Tilyial force!"

They stood there for a second metrosexually, Askari blinking in utter inability do to anything else. After a few seconds, Tilyial the Magic Archer gave a slight nod. Askari the 14th spread his arms out open wide, finishing the presentation. "Yes! These boys were my strongest back when I was in your position, son. And now, they will help serve you. It took us a while to find each other, but once we found Colt, we were ready."

"I… see.", said Askari the 15h, trying to suppress a laugh at the sheer ridiculousness of the entier display. "Well, I do suppose that we can use everything we can get. Tilyial Force, consider yourselves part of-"

Tliyial gave an imperceptible signal that only his team understood, and they swung into action. He drew an arrow of light at speeds almost too fast to see, and shot it speeding into the clouds. Colt flashed his guns at max intensity, a storm of bullets all flying into the air like a hailstorm of metal. The Pekka folded her arms, and Madgriese breathed a flash of Star right into her back. It flared around her for a single second, until Budli, who had somehow gotten himself glowing, delivered a strong kick right against the Pekka's back. The Star flew out amplified, scattered across and bounced off the bullets, magnifying each time, until it shot out and hit the arrow of light- then exploded in a magnificent detonation as bright as the sun, spreading out across the clouds as far as the eye could see.

Askari blinked again, but this time out of pressure on his eyes rather than shock. He pointed out a finger at the group, and grinned for real. "Get on the ship.", he said, and turned. "You guys are amazing."

The group posed once again, and let out a mighty, synchronized cheer. "Yes, sir!", shouted Tliyial, and nodded with extravagance. "We will not let you, the new Askari, down at any cost!"

"Time for the dance!", shouted the Colt, as the group tended to shout everything. The rest of the group all circled up, and began to stomp their feet on the rock in curious unity. They drew closer and further apart in a rhythm, Askari's bizarre fascination once again triggered.

"We're the team who'll bring him down!", said Tliyial, and stuck out his arm into the center.  
"We'll kill the Dragon, we'll take his crown!", said Colt, and did the same.

"Butterly!", said the Pekka, but it rhymed in Pekka language. She stuck her arm into the center, and looked to the Mega Knight.

"And if anyone tries to stop us on the way?", he said, and almost laughed at the next line.

"We'll kill them dead!", shouted Budli, and jumped up onto the hands. "Make them pay!"

"Tiliyal force!", they all yelled at once, the two smaller leaning outwards, holding on to the larger ones for support. "Let's do this! Away!"

"Right, right.", said Askari the 15th, after waiting for the 14th to finish cheering. "Now, let's move. We still have one more stop to make today, and we have to not be late."

Song: Fields of Fright

Clashcrush Swamp, like many other landmarks in the area, was not that creatively named. But it did not need to be, for hardly anybody adventured there. No villages were even around the area, the closest ones being a few miles away, even Orfox's. The majority of the population did not even know that such a place existed, had no idea of the secret wonders that could be found there. For the group had long since left behind any trace of regular civilization, and were now in the true, untamed wilds of the Continent of the Clans. The regular blue of the sky was now but a memory, having been replaced since the long yesterday with a deep purple. But now, in this toxic, choking environment, even that had been replaced with a localized sickly green.

The ground, if it could even be called that, was more of a thickened sludge, seeming to be able to fall apart at the slightest contact. It had the consistency of wet cake mix, the vile green goop occasionally spitting up a bubble of gas that smelled like fish left on the side of a metal wall for three weeks. The only plants that were able to grow in the biological refuse dump of the swamp were pre-blackened trees, and weeds that seemed almost moving with the wind, about to grab anything that they could drag down into the muck below. It was for that very reason that everyone was currently riding on top of Dan's shoulders- the risk was too great for any of them.

He was tall enough, although the muck was up to his waist in some areas. The entire area was absolutely disgusting, a rotting zone of nature's puke.

"This wasn't worth it.", Brandy forced out of her mouth, trying not to breath in the disgusting air. She hugged Bubble a little tighter, seeing the bright green swamp down below. They had been traveling through the swamp for about half an hour now, after leaving Orfox's village behind. Nothing in particular had happened on the way there. "This is too gross."

"Better than walking through a ton of other stuff for way too long, honey.", said Dan. "Better than dying, too. That's what you said, right?"

The sentence was a little garbled, due to the smell reaching Dan's nose. His mental processes were a little slowed, and his head reeled at the sheer volume of the the gas.

"I know, I know.", said Brandy, and closed her eyes. She held herself very, very still, and tried not to throw up over the side. "But it still sucks."

"It smells so bad…", said Annabelle, her voice nasally from holding her nose. She waved her hand in front of her face, and closed her eyes from the unbearable stench. "Seriously, could someone just knock me out so I don't have to smell it anymore?"

"You and me both.", said Trevor, doing largely the same actions. He had tried to stuff his kilt up his nose to block out the stench, but he knew that such a thing would not be acceptable in public. "Hey Leon, could you do us both a solid and just knock us out already?"

Leon looked up, his eyes a little glazed over from the near sleep. He flicked his lollipop around in his mouth and checked his wrist. He had no watch, but he used to have one, and the habit still persisted. "Why?"

"Cause it smells like everything bad that's ever smelled bad in this fricking swamp.", said Annabelle, her eyes starting to water. "Just please, do us a favor."

"But why?", asked Leon, and took a sniff of the air. "It doesn't smell that bad."

Trevor coughed, and stared at Leon in shock. "What- doesn't smell that bad? What are you blind? Or, whatever it is for smell- what, can you not blind- I mean, smell?"

The smell was starting to get to him too, clouding his thoughts and slurring his speech. But Leon seemed totally unaffected, and closed his eyes once again. "Not really. Smell's never been one of my strong points, to be honest."

As Trevor and Annabelle stared at him in utter shock, Leon nervously flicked his strip of white hair through his fingers. He couldn't smell very well, that much was true. But he could still detect something in the swamp- something truly ancient, and very, very powerful. He did not know what it was, but he hoped to hope they would not have to encounter it. He also knew that, unfortunately, based on previous experiences, they of course would.

Dan took a step right over a large rock, expecting for his footstep to fall right back down into the swamp again- but to his surprise, it instead landed on something far more substantial, and far higher up than the silty, sandy bottom of the normal muck. It didn't feel like anything suspicious- no, it just felt like solid ground.

He stood with one foot high above the other, a precarious position. But with another step, he had both feet on the odd ledge, rising higher above the muck, high enough so that his knees were exposed. He looked down, and saw the surface texture in front of him change- evidently, they had entered a new part of the swamp.

The new area of the massive swamp was a little less toxic, but no less dangerous. It was a lot shallower, with less deep, swirling, bright green sludge, but the menacing aura rising above it at all times seemed the same, if not actually larger. The surface of the water, if it could truly be called that, was now a dark muted emerald, tinged with splashes of dirty beige.

As Dan looked around, he could see shapes in the water that had not been there before. Among the tall weeds and grass growing out of the liquid were quick, darting ovals- no doubt strange Fish. What could have been a Crab flashed by, with several small Squid in hot pursuit. That was odd by itself- neither of those things were typically found inland. But then again, this was far from a typical journey, or a typical place. And the swamp was fed directly by the Clashcrush River, which flowed into the ocean-

Dan put his hand to his chin, and thought. That didn't make sense. It led into the ocean, not away from it. Ocean animals wouldn't reach this part of the river unless they swam right up it, which seemed impossible. They would have to swim through multiple waterfalls to get this high.

"Honey?", he heard Brandy say, and he blinked as he returned to reality. He saw her pointing forward, at a dark shape scrambling amongst the grass. "You stopped walking. Also, there's something up ahead."

Dan frowned, and drew back his hand. Golden Star flowed freely into it, the bolts snapping down into the water. "Not for long there's not."  
"Dan, wait.", said Trevor, and held out his hand. He and Annabelle looked forward, her magical eyes detecting exactly what lay inside the bushes.

"It's just a Spider.", said Annabelle, and leaned back. "Orange, northern type. A bit large, but nothing more. You don't have to kill it."

"Oh.", said Dan, and slowly let his charge fall. He took a step forward, and a twig cracked from the movement. A miniscule bit of kinetic energy ran all the way from a thin line to the bush, the Spider alerted to Dan's action. With a shocked, primeval cry, the Spider ran out from the bushes, jumped over a corrupted lily pad, and flung itself into the swamp.

"Woah.", said Brandy, and nodded her head. "That one must have been at least the size of a Princess."  
She felt Bubble holding her tight, and returned it with a pat on the back. "That one was scary, Mommy. I'm glad Daddy made it go away."

"Me too, Bubble.".", said Brandy, and nodded. "Me too."

But, of course, in a swamp as huge and ancient as that one, a single spider would be far from the only crawling creep living in the area. And almost before Dan could take another step, the second emerged, with a cracking of plates and skittering of mouth parts.

It looked to be a giant centipede, a dirty brown in color and about the size of a Musketeer's gun. Brandy had seen plenty of centipedes before, but nothing like this one. This one was far larger, likely far older, and had enough scars on its carapace to show that it was far, far, tougher. Clashcrush Swamp seemed to be a place where prehistoric life forms showed up to forget about the changing times, and just stay the same for a while. It was disheartening.

"Oh, yeesh.", said Trevor and Annabelle under their breaths, staring too intensely at the centipede to even notice that they were doing it. "That's a creepy one. I hope-

Before they could even finish their sentence, another gigantic insect burst out of the woods. It looked around diligently for any prey that it could touch, the heavy-set scorpion build it wielded perfectly up to such a task. Or it would have been, had the only other animal around not been the centipede. Centipedes were known for being a hard counter to scorpions- and this time was no exception.

With a quick flash of energy, the centipede was upon it, moving its head to the tail and using dozens of legs to keep the forearms pinned. The scorpion tried to attack back as the centipede slowly chewed off its tail, but it was powerless to stop the process. Within mere seconds, the centipede had defeated the tail, chewing if off and onto the ground nearby.

The scorpion almost screamed, as everyone there watched intently. It tried to whip its lack of a stinger around in desperation, then stabbed the dirt with a huge pair of claws. But nothing worked. With a few more bites, the centipede had carved through the back of the scorpion's head, digging directly into its brain and killing it. As the insectile death train carried off its prey to devour later, Brandy cleared her throat.

"Guys.", she said and Dan nodded. "We can't get distracted. I know that fight was cool and all, but we don't have all the time in the world."

"Right, right-", said Dan, starting to step forward, but stopped. He looked up toward the sky, perhaps as if something was hidden from them all. "Guys? Do you… feel weird?"  
"Weird?", asked Leon, and looked up. He looked from sky, to sky, sensing something overwhelmingly off about the entire situation. "What do you mean? But yeah, I do."

"If you did, then why did you ask why?", snapped Trevor, with a burst of uncharacteristic anger. His eyes were looking a little redder than usual.

"Woah, hey.", said Leon, and put out his hands. "I didn't' mean it like that. I was just asking for any special, other reasons."  
"Hmph." said Trevor, and turned back around, still angry. He could feel the influence of some mist around the area slowly getting into his brain, but he didn't know that is what was happening. All he knew was his irrational anger towrds Leon. "You better."  
Neither of the two had any more words to say, and so they just kep on walking. Yet still, something flickering and small slowly boiled in between the two- one half smoldering, the other half a defensive blend.

"Now, now, don't fight.", said Brandy, looking up from her lying down. She had been looking into the water alongside Bubble, hoping to see some Fish, or even a Squid. "We all have bigger worries to deal with right now."

"Right, right.", said Trevor, but his eyes had not yet gone down at all. He had no forgiveness- and that bothered him. He did not know why these things were happening, only that they were.

"Of course, Mom.", said Leon, and flicked back his hood. There it was again, the situation that something was coming. It felt so very close, so very near. But Leon still could not tell what it was. He drew a Spinner Blade out of his pocket, and stared over the side.

Brandy interrupted Leon's thought train with a rock that fell right underneath where he had been into the water, sending up some rough splashes

_Leon, you can hear something,_ She said, _Tell me what it is._

Leon looked around ,and let his thoughts be slowly entered in the mental chat room- unlike out loud, his voice sounded quite nervous in there. _Something's coming, _he thought. _I can't quite tell what it is. _

"Hmm…", said Brandy out loud, then ducked back into the chamber. _Well, maybe you could-_

Leon and Dan suddenly both felt it, in the strongest concentration they had ever felt before. It was no longer a feeling of "It's coming,", and more like "It's here."

"Get out of the way!", Dan shouted, and leapt in a random direction. Bubble, who had not been holding on that tightly was left behind, suddenly hanging out in the air. As she started to fall, Leon noticed something break the surface of the water, with dozens of small teeth.

Acting faster tha he had ever acted before, Leon stuck out an arm, towards Bubble to grab her. He watched as the monstrous thing he had been worried about emerge from the swampy gloom, a bizarre cross between a Shark and a Crocodile with the jaws of both. It churned through the air just as it churned through the water, its jaws right about to snap shut on Bubble's arm- before Leon grabbed her out of the way, leaving the force clamping down on empty air.

As the Crocoshark retreated back into the gloom, Leon firing a few bullets after it, Dan knew it was best time to head to higher ground. Fortunately, the area he had stepped on earlier was a herald of such a thing. As Dan made a few more gigantic steps, his feet once again hit semi-dry dirt. Seaweed clung to his feet, and small snails and clams adorned his ankles, but he could see where he was stepping now. And that was the point.

"What is that up ahead?", asked Bubble, seemingly totally unaffected by her near death experience. Brandy looked up to where she as pointing, and saw a mysterious landscape.

The massive woody copse was ringed with a line of trees, the only dry land a solid path right through the center. There was a deep lake of deeper green within, the water within seeming almost to bubble with unnatural energy. A pair of massive rocks on each side of the strange place made the only way through the area the path. And before the group could get to the path, there was almost what looked to be a-

"An obstacle course!", said Bubble, and clapped her hands. Leaning on Dan's head for support, she stared with absolue excitement at the obstacles up ahead. "That's fun!"

Whether it was "fun" was certainly up for debate, but it was certainly complicated. A trio of burbling acid pits spat upwards into the air, spinning blocks of what appeared to be bone the only way through. Floating planks hung magically in the air, metal spikes jutting out from them at random angles. Spots of dry land among choking, slurping slime shifted quickly among the course, just daring for anyone to come and try them.

"Well.", said Dan, noticing how the entire area seemed to be in a created shape. "That doesn't look suspicious at all. I'm sure it's fine. Let's go."

"Oh yay!", Bubble said, her sense of self-preservation seemingly left behind. She stood up on Dan's shoulders, not able to wait before she got to the course. "I call going first!"

"Woah, no.", said Brandy, and pulled on Bubble's shoulder. She sat down with a pout, but stopped when she saw the look on Brandy's face. "I'm going first."

"Why?", asked Bubble, and frowned again. She crossed her arms, and huffed her bangs out of her face. "Mommy, you should go after me."

"No.", said Brandy, and her vision grew cloudy as she remembered the past. "I used to handle these sorts of things all the time back when I was just a Troop for Oticat… the obstacle course was my favorite part of the gym. I remember that I lost on it once. Once, and then never again. I ended up having a 72-win streak… I don't think anyone has ever broken my record."

Bubble stared at her mother, the seriousness across her face not lost on her. She nodded, now convinced. "Okay. You can go first, Mom."

Brandy looked down at Bubble, and wondered why it was that sometimes she was colled Mommy, and sometimes she was called Mom. But such things could easily be left for later- there was an obstacle course to do first. She had to keep an eye out for any foul play that could await her on it- some courses, especially this far out in the wilds, would most likely have things like hidden explosives and gravity traps. Those were quite nasty.

"Okay, here I go.", she said, and tapped Dan on the head. "Love tap."

"Wait, wha-", sad Dan, then realized what she had said. Right before she Dashed off his shoulder, flying towards the course, he breathed a shot of Star over her body, protecting her with a blanket of electric force. He softly grinned. "Stay safe, thief."

With a sparkling of gold, Brandy landed on the first cube. It bobbed unevenly in and out of the acid pits, intent on making her fall off. But Brandy would not be so easily bested- she rapidly spun her feet around in a circle, stabilizing the cube's movements and keeping her rooted. She narrowed her eyes.

Song: I'm in Control

Brandy focused on the rest of the course in front of her, still keeping herself sure not to slip. She tried and focused on finding a way through the rest of the cubes, but it was difficult. But perhaps if she were to Dash right on to each of them right as they were in the optimum position….

Brandy shouted, and concentrated right as she Dashed. She felt her feet touch the second cube, pushing it down into the acid from the force of the impact. She felt her boots scrape against the acid itself, from not looking at her course. She yelped and pulled her feet above the acid- only to find they had never entered it. That thought pulsed through her head as she landed on the third cube, turning her arms over in a circle to stop herself from falling off.

"Okay…", she said, thinking out loud. "What's next?"

She looked up, and saw the next obstacle in her path. It was a mess of hovering metal planks, adorned with spikes on the ends, the tops, and the bottoms. There appeared to be no way through it without damaging oneself- for most people, at least. Brandy just grinned, and charged up her Dash- she certainly was not most people.

"Why doesn't she just go around it?", asked Trevor, staring at Brandy as she prepared to jump.

"Why don't we all just go around it? What's stopping us?"

"Everything around it seems to be Poison.", said Annabelle, pointing to the burbling, toxic green liquid around the course. "Not to mention those two rocks."

"Oh.", said Trevor, and leaned back. That made sense. "Alright then."

Brandy, having finished charging up her Dash, made her move deeper into the course. Her feet lit up a bright silver and blue, landing atop the metal spikes as light as a feather. Her Dash protected her from being pierced, able to stand on the spikes like solid ground. But she had to balance carefully, for the platforms were hideously uneven, and tilted at the slightest touch.

"Shoot…", she said under her breath, and held her arms out to her side. "What's next?"

She looked up, and saw the next obstacle- but before that was the rest of the spikes. There were quite a lot of them- it looked like there had to be at least a dozen. Brandy stared at them, trying to detect anything she had not seen earlier. She had been trained for this- and yet, somehow, it still made her a little nervous. She had no idea why.

Brandy clenched her muscles, and jumped right at the top platform. She made sure to keep her Dash shield on, even as it grew harder and harder to maintain. She could not let it drop, or she would be in for a world of pain. The thought gave her motivation, as she landed flawlessly on the platform- or almost flawlessly. The touch made it start to turn, downwards towards the poison.

Brandy yelped, and Dashed once again. The force of the especially strong Dash caused her to bypass the rest of the metal spiked platforms, and land directly on the next obstacle- a spinning barrel, coated with green slime. It spun at an incredibly high speed, right between two drop offs, the poison bubbling with eager anticipation of its next meal.

Brandy felt her Dash start to flicker, and she knew that she would have to use another one. But as the feeling left her body, it was replaced with another- that of Dan's Star, flowing around her like a golden halo. She was at the same time grateful to Dan for giving it to her, and a little frustrated, as she had no idea how to use it.

As her feet danced like crazy spiders atop the barrel, Brandy grit her teeth. She looked down, trying to pick out a path through the dozen or so barrels that lay ahead. They each had a different movement speed, and half of them went in the opposite direction. There was no clear pattern to any of it- somebody had sent them randomly spinning. It couldn't have happened long ago, which meant that whoever built this obstacle course must still have been nearby. Or they were just spinning from the last person to use it…

Brandy tried to push all distractions from her head, and took a deep breath. She gently brought her hand up, trying to focus the Star into it- and to her surprise, it worked.

A bolt of lightning shot out from all over her body, the golden glow vanishing. It lashed out and struck a nearby tree, blowing the base apart into splinters in a second and sending the rest toppling down, right towards Brandy.

She yelped again, and Dashed upwards, as the falling log utterly decimated the spinning barrels. They splashed into the poison with a loud hiss, flying droplets going every which way. Brandy spun in a tight, Dash-covered circle, most of the drops reflecting off of her- but one landed right on her arm as she unfolded, sending a twinge of pain through her body.

As she landed on the fallen Log, Brandy looked forward to see the next obstacle, and saw- a beach. It was a beach of rough sand and old slimy driftwood, but it was still a beach, leading up out of the poison. Brandy blinked, and realized that was the end of the obstacle course.

"Well, hey hey.", she said to herself, and made a mental note of the victory. "That's 73."

She turned around, and gestured for the rest of the group to follow her. "Come on, guys! Don't worry, the course is easy!"

But the rest of the group just looked at the obstacle course, a third of it destroyed, and decided it would be best if they just took an easier route.

"Come on, on me.", said Dan, and stretched out his arms. Everyone slowly climbed on, Dan building up a gigantic jump deep in his legs. "Brandy is super good at the courses, but I don't think all of us are. It would be better if I just jumped."  
"What?", aksed Brandy, from across the course. She had heard him, but she wanted to see if he was going to change his mind.

"I said, I'm jumping over!", Dan shouted, as Bubble finally, reluctantly, climbed onto his shoulder and sat in Annabelle's lap. "Not everyone can complete the course! This is the safest way!"

Brandy folded her arms ,and frowned. She had expected to be able to guide each member of the group through the dangerous course, but she did have to admit this was a safer way. Provided nothing snatched them out of the way while they were up there…

Dan looked down at the ground, and took a deep breath in. As soon as his lungs were filled, he unleashed his breath- and shout off from the ground with the force of a launched Rocket.

Dan soared high above the obstacle course, crashing straight through the vines up above like a storm through paper. Right before he landed on the other side, Brandy realized where he was going to come down and Dashed straight through a rock to dodge. He hit the ground in a mighty crash, splitting open the dirt and spraying mud up in every direction.

"Well Dan.", said Brandy, and grabbed him by the finger. A bit of mud had gotten onto his face, but it was nothing a good sleep could not fix. "We did it. We got past the obstacle course. I did it my way, and you all did it the weird way."

"Indeed, Brandy.", said Dan, and grabbed her around the waist. She shivered with delight as she was brought up to Dan's shoulder, and deposited her right there. "You're right."  
"Wait, is something wrong?", asked Brandy, as she moved closer to Dan. "Why are you saying stuff like that?"

"Like what?", asked Dan, until he saw the way Brandy's eyes looked up at him. It was then that he understood- through their time together, words were no longer needed. "Oh. I'm just tired, is all. We've been walking for a good long while now, and we'll still need to continue. Bubble, keep an eye on the Clashcrush, will you? Thanks."

That last comment was, of course, directed towards Bubble, who was leaning over Dans' shoulder and looking down into the water. Bubble looked up, nodded, and stared through the water with increased interest.

"But anyway, I can't get tired.", said Dan, and sighed. "I'm not allowed to."

"What?", asked Brandy, and put her hand on Dan's shoulder. "What do you mean we're not allowed to. What's wrong with getting tired?"

Dan had been about to answer- when he felt an all-too-familiar rumbling beginning to emerge from the ground in front o them. It sounded like the sound of breaking glass, only a much larger, much deeper level. It was certainly coming from whatever lay below the swamp- although it was still far deep underground. Dan narrowed his eyes, and stopped where he stood.

"Something's coming.", he said. "Better be ready."

"What?", Brandy hissed, and stood straight up on Dan's shoulders. She looked around, trying to see where the next threat was coming from. "Another one, already?"

"No, I think this is the same one.", said Leon, looking down at his foot. Sure enough, there it was- tapping out a panicked trim to songs that didn't exist. He stared at it, trying to convince it to stop- but it would not. That left him with a ring in his ears, and burning desire to do whatever it would take. The foot tapping had always been a sure sign things were about to get crazy.

"Oh.", said Brandy, thinking back to when that had been- it was only a few minutes. That was strange- it always felt like longer.

"Where is it?", asked Dan, spinning around like the predator on a hunt. He saw the large fields of blank space- most likely used for farming. He saw the stones around the murky lake light up, a chorus of chants flowing through the area, and he thought to himself about that one.

"Well, shoot.", he said, as the evil liquid bubbled at a frenzied pace. It boiled and grasped into the air, almost seeming to form shapes and hands with the muck. "What is-"

There was a nearly deafening explosion, with a bright flash of green light that flashbanged the entire group. They could all briefly feel the weight upon the ground of such a behemoth appearing from below the sledge and slime, even if they could not see it.

Once the blindness cleared, Dan leapt back. Most of the group had fallen off, and right into his waiting hands. With a quick nod, the rest jumped off of his shoulders, and into Dan's protective grip. Dan looked up to see his foe- and grimaced.

There stood something in the shape of a human, but appearing to be made almost entirely out of plants. It was certainly not the size of a regular human- no, it must have been at least 27 feet tall. It dripped with water and spilled chlorophyll, the blanket of leaves around its body all adding to the aesthetic. Vines and trunks ran all the way down it, while slime bubbled off its body and rose off into the woods. It stared at the group with an empty gaze, as if daring them to make the fist move.  
"Well.", said Dan, and rolled his arms around .it had been ages since he had a fun fight like this one. He would have to make the most of it.

"Guys.", he said, and gestured back. "You all stay here. "I'll take on this Bog Monster, or whatever it is. Cover me, though. If it tries to escape, give it no quarter."

Brandy saluted, glad she could sit this one out. She had been just exhausted lately, and watching would be good for her. "Go get him, Dan."

Dan gave a thumbs up, and turned back around. He stared at the Bog Monster with a ferocious expression, which lay totally unreturned. He continued to stare, waiting for his foe to do something, anything at all. But it just stood there, occasionally moving its arms. It was almost as if it was Troop in a costume, or a Bowler in a formal suit. It seemed to be having many troubles.

"Oh well.", said Dan, and vigorously breathed out. A golden sphere formed right in the depths of his hand, Star sparking at the sides. He looked up, and focused.

"Take this, Bog Monster!", he yelled, and fired off the blast. "Star Cannon Overdrive!"  
"Star. Cannon. Over. Drive?", asked the Bog Monster, as it crossed its arms in front of his face. "Bog. Monster-"

Then the explosions hit the main body of the beast, obstructing it in a huge cloud of dust. Dan thought and hoped it had done damage- otherwise, he would have to get in there. But as the smoke cleared, and Dan prepared to count the damage, he was astonished to find that instead of being destroyed, the odd monster had been merely washed. His look was no longer that of vines and plants- it was that of a bright, gleaming, golden automaton, spewing steam into the air and working on pistons next to wires. There was no one inside of the machine, either- it seemed to work itself, through some miracle of engineering. Odd, alien-looking weapons sprouted from his body, two gargantuan fists steaming with raw power. Its face was still totally emotionless, almost a painting upon its thoroughly mechanical body.

"I see.", said Dan, and cracked his knuckles. He popped his neck a few times, and got ready for a real battle. "That's good then. I was hoping for a good fight."

"Good. Fight.", said Blaukstrassen the Automaton, and shifted into a stance of his own as well. Dan suddenly noticed just how alike they looked- his earlier size estimate was off, and it appeared his foe was actually exactly the same height as he was. The stances were precisely the same, and he thought he could see actual Star come from its mouth.

"Yeessh…", he said, just before he rushed. "This is gonna be like fighting myself."

Song: The Power to Resist

Blaukstrassen gave a mighty bellow, steam erupting from the many vents on his back. He leapt from the ground, streaking towards Dan, who jumped forward with just as much fervor. As soon as they met in the middle, their giant fists colliding, a shockwave was blown across the entire swamp clearing that bent the thick trees, shattered the water, and very nearly blew the entire group off of their feet. But by some miracle, they managed to stay upright, not falling into the Poison all around. Brandy held on to everyone, using her Dash to keep them rooted.

Dan struck upright with his other fist, and Blaukstrassen barely dodged. He retaliated with a fist of his own, which collided against Dan's chest with little effect. For the power raging within him was now above what he could normally access, a bit of green fire glowing in his eyes.

Dan threw another punch, one that struck past Bluakstrassen's raised hand and collided directly with his defenseless torso. It was a clean, solid blow- but it did very little, against the Automaton's legendary body. He withdrew his fist, and leapt back a few feet.

Blaukstrassen tried a kick, which Dan saw coming from a mile away. He drew back his entire body, twisting around to dodge the strike, and attacked back with a kick of his own. But that one too missed, Blaukstrassen's entire upper body falling backwards on its hinges, into a defensive positon. Dan growled, and backflipped into the swamp, green muck splashing up dozens of feet into the air. It reminded him somewhat of his battle against the Charger, only much more intense. Whereas the Charger had been almost a comedic foe, this one had real strength.

Bluakstrassen reached out an arm, buzzing coming from the joints. It stretched out towards Dan, who reached out his own. As the metallic arm of the Automaton grabbed at Dan's shoulder, Dan's own hand clenched down on the steel pipe.

Dan yelled, and bent down all the way to his feet. His arm went with him, as did the caught arm of his opponent. A cry of alarm came from Blaukstrassen, as he was suplexed all the way over Dan's body, landing with a mighty crash on the other side of the thin strip of land the group was hiding on. Brandy Dashed behind a rock, the rest of the group in tow, just barely managing to escape the flood of swamp.

"Hey, Dan!", she yelled, poking her head up above the rock. "Be careful, okay?"

Dan heard her, but did not have time to acknowledge it. He knew that such things could wait, until after he had removed his current foe from the world's surface.

The Automaton slowly got up, its sensors pushing into overdrive- until it felt another source of pressure- Dan's fist, glowing with Star, colliding directly into the center of its chest.

The metallic titan was thrown back, plowing directly through a row of trees and smacking against a rock, throwing up swamp and Gems in its destructive wake. But its recovery protocols were already online, and it had already stood up by the time Dan had begun charging towards it.

The Automaton leaned back, and took an aggressive stance. Its vision calmly calculated where and when Dan would strike it, and it raised its fists and leg to prepare for such an attack.

Dan leaped towards Blaukstrassen, raising his right hand to attack with a searing burst of Star. The Automaton began its automatically calculated attack subroutine, expecting to catch Dan in his tracks- but to his surprise, Dan didn't attack that way. He threw himself around at the last second, firing his blast of Star directly into the swamp water below, while grabbing Bluakstrassen's leg with his other hand. With a grunt of effort, he threw the Automaton directly into the air, the exploding swamp water down below giving him an additional boost.

But Blaukstrassen did not wait. With a steam-powered punch, his fist collided directly with Dan's cheek, a spurt of blood coming out of his mouth. Dan was thrown upwards even faster and farther than the Automaton was, breaking the treeline above with a resounding crash. Branches and dead leaves fell down below, as they both soared high above the thick foliage, the majestic battle of titans becoming visible for miles around.

Not even slowing down, Blaukstrassen grabbed Dan's shoulders, bashing his metallic forehead into Dan's surprised face. This blew back Dan even further, right into the open air, only his hovering Star keeping him afloat above the trees. Dan snarled in pain, a green flash becoming visible around his face. His teeth grew longer, his eyes grew wilder- and he struck back.

Dan grabbed the arms of the Automaton, staring right into its empty holes of eyes.

"You scrap metal excuse!", he roared, and attacked. He smashed his own forehead into his foe's face, his hard bone skull making a visible dent in the magical steel. The Automaton was now thrown backwards, doing a backflip over in the air, its automatic rocket boots letting it stay up.

It hung there for a second, pondering its next move- until its artificial brain decided the best course of action. With an odd popping sound, gigantic bellows on both sides of its body activated, its torso swelling up. Dan's previous suspicion had been right- the monster could use Star.

But Dan was not about to let it. He was not about to let some machine use what should have been the rightful weapon of biological beings- it didn't even have lungs. Stretching out his arms and grabbing Blaukstrassen's foot, he spun around in a circle. He looked down as he spun, the Automon leaking steam as it was flung around like a pillow in a pillow fight, streaming oil instead of feathers. Dan decided on the best place for his foe to land- and threw him directly downwards, back into the swamp. He had made sure to throw him in the opposite direction of where he had last seen the group- it would be bad if they were to be squished.

With a mighty crash, Blaukstrassen landed right in the middle of a thin stream. It was blown to bits by the impact, almost resembling a Meteor strike. Trees crumbled to bits around it, Gems spilling out into the open water. He looked around for Dan- he was nowhere to be seen. He looked around for the smaller group of targets- they were nowhere to be seen either. His backup protocols took effect from the lack of targets, to fly into the air and search again. He checked if his body was damaged- he had taken some, but not a lot of, damage from the fall. That was good. He had a moment of calm in which to collect himself, and he did so. Blaukstrassen put his arms out to either side to push him back to his feet, and-

Dan suddenly landed like a falling star right on top of the Automaton's chest, pushing him back into the river with a sound that was like unto a falling anvil hitting volcanic stone. He let out a berserker roar as he did so, slamming his fists into his foe's chest with a force that could shatter an entire village with a single blow. Shockwaves blew out from the impact points, and Blaukstrassen's armor began to dent under the legendary onslaught. Blaukstrassen raised a hand in defense- and Dan grabbed it, lifting his opponent into the air. With a nearly animalistic roar, Dan swung the Automaton around once more. He slammed him down into the ground, sending up a burst of slime and casting a film across its eyes. He slammed him into a tree, shattering it to deadwood and hearing something within his foe snap. He slammed him into the ground once again, into a puddle of mud that slurched up 6 feet deep against Blaukstrassen's metal sides. Dan raised his fists for a double overhead that could put a hole through a skyscraper- only for the delayed blast of Star from the Automaton's bellows to finally fire. It hit Dan's upper body, sending him flying high into the sky, breaking through the treeline once again.

Dan felt himself flying upwards, and shook his head to clear it. He had almost let himself get away from control there- smashing his fists into the Automtonon rather than just ending it with a Star blast to the head. He chided himself, and drew a surge of breath into his lungs for the next opportunity he had. He knew that he was burning through it quickly with his hovering, and that he soon had to end the fight. If he didn't, something bad would probably happen.

But Dan also knew that he could not just wait around for Blaukstrassen to attack him. He knew that robotic foes were almost always tireless and merciless, always just about to attack you. So he threw his arms out to either side, gathering a barrage of Star within.

Sure enough, Blaukstrassen blasted through the treeline, heading straight for where Dan hovered. One fist was outstretched, Star blazing around it in a yellow umbra. Dan growled, trying to refuse his berserker tendencies influence over him again. Ever since his power had been unleashed, he was finding it more difficult to control. And against such a worthy opponent it was hard indeed.

Dan's twin spheres of Star erupted, shooting out a solid beam of gold and green energy that smashed right up against the Automaton's fist. A series of continuous explosions rocked the air where it flew, obscuring the vision of of both Dan and his foe for a single second. But once Dan saw Blaukstrassen's fist emerge from the smoke, he knew it was time to act. So far, his Star had done little, and his physical attacks had done hardly more. But perhaps, if he was to use both was once, like his opponent was doing, things might change.

As Blaukstrassen's Star-infused punch swung, so did Dan's quickly charged attack. The two mighty punches directly collided with each other far overhead, creating a titanic explosion that reached well over a hundred feet in diameter and a few hundred degrees in heat, searing off the entire top part of the swamp for dozens of meters and blowing back far more.

But even such a powerful blast had done nothing to discourage the two powerhouses- they were still going at it, just as strongly. As fire and smoke roared and spat around them, Dan's fist smashed deeply into Blaukstrassen's shoulder. Blaukstrassen returned the attack with a savage kick that landed directly into Dan's cheek- yet unlike last time, it failed to knock him back. Dan could not feel pain from the blow- no, all he could feel was his raging, golden heart, pushing him to even greater heights of power.

Dan lashed out with a quick jab that ducked under the Automaton's guard, slashing a layer of paint off of his chest. Blaukstrassen ignored it entirely, summoning up a pair of huge rocket launchers from his back, as they settled on his shoulders. He stared at Dan, trying to calibrate his attacks- but all the primitive cameras saw were Dan's hands, as he grabbed the launchers at the base, tore them off, and threw them in opposite directions, thousands of feet into the swampy jungle below. Blaukstrassen let out the air from his bellows in what was almost a gasp, as Dan threw yet another punch that smashed right into the Automaton's face. But he had left his guard open- open enough for one of Blaukstrassen's feet to slip right in between Dan's legs, attacking with a solidly landed blow.

Dan's eyes went fully red, as he realized there was no longer, really, a reason to keep himself contained after an attack like that. He knew that if the Automaton wanted to play dirty, well, then so would he. So as soon as Blaukstrassen went to attack- Dan disappeared in a flash of Star, reappeared right above him, and launched a vicious infused elbow right into the small of his back, launching him at top speed, once again, into the jungle below.

But that had not been any normal launch strike- no, that one had been filled with intense rage, boiling fury, and an overpowering drive to win. And as Blaukstrassen smashed through the trees, Dan was right behind him. As he smashed into the ground, Dan soared right at him. And as Bluakstrassen landed right at the bottom of the river, Dan landed right next to him.

Neither of them cared that they were under 25 feet of festering, barely flowing muck. They just kept on bashing at each other, the light of their respective star blowing away the scum and thickened water, the entire structure of the biome crumbling around them for hundreds of feet.

"Holy…", Brandy breathed, as the felt the trees shaking around her. Bubble dived underneath her skirt, Leon trying to hold Trevor and Annabelle steady. "Dan, what are you doing?"

Blaukstrassen raised a fist, shining with huge amounts of Star. He almost fired it at Dan- before Dan lashed out with a deflecting palm, redirecting the destructive push into the ground below. The riverbed shook, crumbled, and broke- both of them falling along with the river into a vast underground cavern below.

The cave was wide, and huge in all directions. At the bottom flowed a massive river of pure Elixir- the source of the Elixir that was collected by the villages. Hundreds of Torches illuminated the walls in an eerie red light, mysterious fossils clearly visible along the cave's edges. But neither Dan or Bluakstrassen noticed such things- the only thing they were focused on was removing the other from existence as swiftly as possible.

Dan grit his teeth, and lit up his hand with Star. He didn't even bother to pronounce the Overdrive- honestly, he wasn't quite sure why he did it anyway. Not saying it just let him do it faster- but he did suppose that it made it look cooler. But there wasn't time for that.

Dan pressed his palm into Blaukstrassen's face, the metal screaming as it was heated up to a red sludge. He kept on pressing harder and harder, determined to kill- until the Automaton threw up his own hand, piercing Dan's forearm with a sharp metal blade.

Dan roared and let go, tearing off most of his opponent's face. Now gone was the still, calm face he had before- now there was only twisted, melting metal, in the shape of a grinning skull. It didn't faze Dan in the slightest- it just made him more eager to destroy. And as they landed on the riverbed, sinking low into the Elixir, Dan knew he had an advantage. Already he could feel it soak into his wound, stitching up the cut- but Blaukstrassen knew the advantage as well. And as he slammed his fist right into the ground, Dan could feel it crack.

As the bottom of the Elixir river broke and split open, Elixir and river water falling into the void below, Dan felt a little sorry for all the villages that were suddenly about to have an Elixir shortage. But he couldn't focus on that right now. All he could focus on, even as they both plummeted towards the lake of bubbling lava down below, was killing.

Dan grabbed Blaukstrassen by the shoulders, bringing his head up near Dan's mouth. With an insane bite, Dan clamped on, tearing a chunk of metal straight from his foe's body. The confusion on Blaukstrassen's was evident, but he kept his cool- right until they fell into the lava itself, with a gargantuan Star-induced explosion. The lava reached all the way up the cave, shaking the surface world up above.

One might think that they would meet their end in the molten magma- but that was not the case. Instead, their sheer might and Star protected them, the lava no more than thick red water. As Dan bit off another sheet of steel, a growl erupting from his lungs, Bluakstrassen thought he should return the favor. He attacked with a savage punch- only for Dan's leg to twist around and block it. He attacked with a ferocious kick- but Dan twisted around, the strike hitting nothing. He bit into Dan's shoulder with a row of sharp metal spikes, Dan snarling as he was forced to let go. He backflipped a half dozen times and threw out his hands- then put them together, gathering Star underneath the lava. It sparkled and cracked around him, a rainbow of light reflecting from the brightness all around.

Blakstrassen saw the force building up, and thought he could not have it. So he grabbed Dan's foot, pushing all his pistons, wires, and various parts into maximum overdrive- then swung Dan straight upwards, his opponent becoming a practical meteor as he flew upwards, crashing through the layer of volcanic rock before vanishing in the darkness.

Blaukstrassen knew that he could not just wait there. He would have to pursue his target- so he did, flying upwards as fast as his rockets would allow.

Dan burst above the surface of the swamp, almost a hundred feet from where he had come down. He took a deep breath, his entire being swelling with Star, and thought of his next move. He had to do something that Blaukstrassen would never expect- but what?

Blaukstrassen tore a hole through the volcanic rock with his head, bursting back into the Elixir river. More Elixir fell around him, but the Automaton was pleased, for his orders had been to create destruction for his master. And cutting no doubt hundreds of villages off from their precious Elixir supply no doubt counted.

Dan leapt up into the air, taking as deep of a breath as possible. He let out a mighty roar as he did so, shaking the trees for miles around. A huge green and yellow orb, similar to the one he had summoned after killing the Elecfirno Dragon, appeared in his hands.

Blaukstrassen finally shredded through the surface of the swamp, bursting high up above the trees- only to see a terrifying sight. There was Dan, floating in midair, already finished charging up his blast. Blaukstrassen held up his hand- but it was too late. Dan bellowed, and threw the blast.

It tore through the air as it went, the trees within a hundred feet of it bursting into flames. Blaukstrassen looked around for a way to stop it, anywhere to dodge- but it was too late. The blast was upon him before there was even a second. Blaukstrassed screamed, trying to push against it, and failing utterly as he started to disintegrate under the insane pressure. The blast went totally by his rapidly vanishing body, and slammed into the ground itself, utterly collapsing the swamp for nearly a thousand feet in every direction, turning so many thousands of trees into dust, and shooting out a shockwave that, given time, would eventually find its way across the entire world.

Dan took a moment to just breathe, hanging there in the now still air. He saw what he had done to the swamp, an utterly devastated climate below him. He saw the holes where he and Baulstrassen had broken through to the lava, elixir and magma pouring out in small amounts. He looked around, and- and a bolt of panic shot through his heart. What if the group had been caught in that explosion. He had been so in the moment, that he had forgotten to think. He swore under his breath and let his Star wind down, floating down haphazardly to the surface.

Brandy looked out from under a huge chunk of black metal, the only thing within the area to survive the blast. A bit of her hair was singed, and soot was strewn across her face- but she was still mostly unharmed, and very much alive. She looked behind her, to the rest of the group that she had protected with her Dash shield. Leon, although looking a little shell-shocked, was fine. Bubble had fainted dead away from the stress, but Brandy could see her chest rising up and down as she breathed. Trevor and Annabelle clung to each other as they looked out, not even daring to move from such an intense fear of death. But Brandy smiled- they were all there.

"Well, uh…", she said, noticing just how much her own voice shook. She had had to jump around a lot during the fight, and her legs quaked from the constant beatings the entire area had taken. "We're all alive, guys! Yay!"

"Yayyy!", Bubble said, sleeptalking. She pumped her little fist into the air, then once again fell limp. Brandy had a sudden urge to pick her up and squeeze her- which, of course, she did.

There was a loud thud next to the rock, and Brandy almost jumped out- then she stopped, as she realized she did not actually know who won. There had been a massive explosion, but that could have come from either of them, based on what she had seen. The footsteps were large and heavy enough to belong to either of them, but- no. No, she had to have faith. She had to believe that Dan had won. He was Dan, after all. Dan was invincible-

The rock lifted up, and Brandy screamed. She jumped back- only to see Dan, with a friendly smile on his face, and parts of his thick beard still smoldering a bit.

"Woah, hey.", he said, and spread his arms open wide. They still flickered with Star. "It's just me. And it looks like you guys are alright too."

Song: Siol Ghoraidh

"Yeah.", said Brandy, and relaxed at the sight. "I… I guess we are, aren't we?"

She looked up, and Dashed right towards Dan. He welcomed her with open arms ,even though she leapt right up onto his shoulder. But it was really the thought that counted.

"Well, we did it.", said Dan, and looked around at what remained of the swamp. A large amount of the thick, murky water had been drained away into the holes that had been opened, leaving riverbeds overflowing with moss and increasingly dry land. The Elixir and lava had stopped flowing, now cooling into bizarre shapes of purple rock. The only sound that could be heard for miles around was the gentle collapsing of trees, and the heavy breath of the group. The birds had all flown away even before the fight had begun. "We went up against a lot of Forgotten today, guys. A lot of really strange ones, and really tough ones. But we beat them all."  
"Dan?", asked Brandy, raising her eyebrow in a touch of suspicion. "Why are you talking about it in the past tense like that?"

Dan shook his head a bit, and sighed. He pointed up and behind the trees, but Brandy didn't look. "Honey?"

Brandy's thoughts were racing too quickly for her to notice, and she looked around. She saw the equally confused faces of everyone else in the group, trying to see where Dan was pointing- but he was just too tall. He could see things that no one else could, hidden beyond the canopy of the trees. For even though they had collapsed, they still towered tall.

"We have to keep going, Dan.", said Brandy, a little nervously. "I mean if we don't make it there in time, what are we gonna do? And we don't have much longer left in order to make it."

She looked up at the sky, searching for the sun in nervousness- and almost jumped 6 full feet in the air when she saw it. It was almost to the far side of the horizon, the sunrise beginning to break in beautiful hues of red, purple, and gold. But Brandy did not see that- she only the time slipping away, into nothing. "Oh, crap."  
"Brandy, honey?", said Dan again, but Brandy wasn't paying attention. She just nodded, looked up- and only then saw what Dan had been trying to tell her. He pointed towards and over the trees, telling her what he saw with his deep, husky voice. "Look. Look at where we are."

Brandy nodded, and jumped high into the air. She cleared the broken treetops, took a look, and gasped in total shock, seeing what lay beyond.

As soon as she landed back in Dan's hands, Brandy was almost shaking with wonder. Her eyes shone with triumph, and she flipped around in joy.

"What?", asked Leon, trying to decide if he should go up onto Dan's shoulders or not. "Mom, what is it? What's going on?"

Brandy almost opened her mouth to speak, but thought the side should have spoken for itself. So she looked up to Dan, who nodded, raised his hand, and fired a single thin beam of Star that blew the tops off of the dead trees that littered the ground, revealing what was beyond.

"Oh.", said Leon, and his eyes widened. He stumbled back a bit, but caught himself before he fell. "Oh, uh… woah."

"Daddy!", shouted Bubble, running up to Dan's leg. She wrapped her arms and face around his calf, her face burning red from innocent frustration. "I lost the river! It disappeared and I don't know where it is anymore and now we're probably lost and-"

But she stopped abruptly on her rant, as she felt herself get picked up. She was gently deposited onto Dan's shoulder, and turned around to face the majesty.

"Wait.", she said, all her annoyance forgotten. Bubble scrambled over Dan's shoulders to see the scene unbroken, in all its splendor.

"Those are-", said Brandy, hardly even able to belive the sight. "That's-"

"It is.", said Dan, and smiled to himself, taking in the land beyond the swamp. He flared up a bit in excitement. "The Clashcrush Mountains. We're almost there."

His eyes gently floated across the landscape, taking in the famous markings that Trevor had told them about. There near the front was Ice Mountain, almost a gigantic version of Frozen Peak. Ancient Mountain lay behind that, its volcanic surface inhabited with nearly no plants. Behind that was Iron Mountain, a mountain said to be made entirely out of metal. Behind that, in between a huge, blackened gorge, was the legendary Dark Mountain. Many rumors swirled around that haunted place, but Dan did not know which of them were even true. And behind even that was a truly colossal geological fortress, towering hundreds or even thousands of feet above its fellows, the topmost spire scraping against the edge of the sky. It was somehow even deeper than it was long. Brandy knew that must have been the lair of Rakastamos- nothing else could have possibly measured up. Dan clenched his fist, the thought of the arrival giving him life. The thought echoed through everyone's heads, each with their own inflection. _Tomorrow… we kill Rakastamos._

Brandy's eyes watered, and she put her hands to her face. The storm of emotions she was feeling almost overwhelmed her, the taste of victory approaching her senses at last.

"We… we did it.", she said, and looked towards the mountains another time. "We actually, truly, made it to the mountains."

"So we're here, then.", said Dan, and rolled his head around on his shoulders. "And we defeated everything… you know what that means!"

Brandy knew the present- she had gotten one many items. But Dan had yet to provide it to everyone else. She nodded, while everyone else just stared.

Dan drew back his hands, and placed them ever so gently on Leon's shoulders. Leon flinched, but trusted his father- trusted him enough to suddenly create a burst of blue fire right on top of him.

Leon almost freaked out, but stopped when he realized that despite the deadly potential of the flame, it was still just a burst, prone to falling apart in the wind. It rushed over Leons' skin, vanishing in an instant, but leaving the heat behind. It soaked into Leon's cold wet bones, and he had no choice to smile.

"See.", said Dan, and turned around. He started to swivel his head, looking for anything that lay in the moist swamp that could be used for fire starter. "Very cool."

"Woah.", said Leon, and looked up. He stared at his hands, hardly able to believe what had just happened. "That was cool, Dad."  
Dan didn't have time to listen, however. He knew that the sun would now be setting in just a few minutes, having already slipped behind the far mountains. The group had to be asleep by then, and a good sleeping point made all the difference.

"Dan?", asked Brandy, and found herself yawning. She rubbed her eye with one hand, and slowly walked on over to him. "I want to talk to you."

"Sure, honey.", said Dan, and sat down on a nearby flattened bush. "What about?"

"About… that thing that just happened.", sai Brandy, leaning down next to him. "And that thing that happened to me. And how you're just so good at killing the Forgotten. And stuff like that."

"Woah, woah, don't freak out.", said Dan, and moved a little bit for Brandy to sit on his lap. She hooped up immediately, feeling Dan's fingers start to play with her hair.

"So… you're still, like, you when you lose control like that, right?", Brandy asked, Dan telling she was talking about his berserker state he could now enter. She was worried about him- worried about his vast, nigh-uncontrollable strength. "When you go all green and crazy and way stronger? Because it almost doesn't even seem like you."

"Oh, no, that is me.", said Dan, and gave a reassuring nod. "I remember doing it- I just get angry sometimes, is all. Mostly when I'm fighting. But hey, good thing I do."

Brandy looked down at Dan's knee, feeling his hot blood rush through his body at the bottom of her own legs. She took a moment to marvel at it, before moving on to her next question.

"And Orfox said that I had something like that too…", she said, remembering back. "When I _go silver, _well, I feel strong. Stronger than anything I've ever felt before."  
Dan thought about this for a moment, the breached up his hand for a high five. "Yes? What's your question about that?"

"What is it?", asked Brandy, staring up into Dan's eyes. "I know that Orfox didn't tell me, but maybe you can?"

"Well.", said Dan, and put his fingers to his lips. He thought about the best way to proceed through what could potentially be a risky topic of talk. "I don't really know either. I'm not sure he knows what it was to begin with… I definitely don't. But do you?"

"No.", said Brandy, and shook her head. "Just what whenever I need it most, it shows up, gets rid of the most of all of the problem, and then just… leaves."

"It could be a super fight or flight response.", said Dan. He shot a look to Trevor that it was good he had gotten the fire ready, but he had to put on the main fuel. Trevor and Brandy both nodded, Brandy leaning back and Trevor walking away. "Just a thought."

"Maybe.", said Brandy, and tried to think about it a little more. She sat there for a few seconds, completely silent, her mind trying to figure it out. But she decided that it would be better if she just asked her questions. That was at least uncomplicated.

"Okay, another question.", she said, and bit her lip. This one was a bit more personal than the others, but she knew that it was one that had to be answered. She put her hands together, and moved up closer to Dan's gigantic arm. "Why is that so far, you've gotten all the good fights? Like every fight we face is a huge monster, and you're always the one to defeat it, and all I can get is an assist maybe. It almost feels like if this were a story, you would be the main character. Honestly…"

She buried her face into Dan's leg, and closed her eyes."I just want to defeat something, on my own, independently."

"Well…", said Dan, and thought. His reasoning matched against his emotions, and emotions won through skill. He nodded, and gave a big smile. "That really depends on what we run into next. If we're not that threated by it, I'll let you kill it alllll by yourself. Okay?"

He rubbed her back gently, and let out one thought. "Besides, you did so much on this trip. All of what would happened did so because you were there. Directly."

Brandy let that thought ruminate in her mind, and she nodded back. That wasn't exactly what she had been expected, but she supposed it was better than nothing. She closed her eyes and tried to meditate- only to feel the pulse of her last question at the back of her head.

"Oh, right.", she said, and stood up. She asked her last question, staring up at Dan with unblinking eyes. "Am…. am I a good mother, Dan? Are we good parents?"

Dan looked around, and saw what the rest of the group was doing. Leon and Bubble were both picking up sticks, without being asked. Trevor was trying to get the fire started, while Annabelle lay bits of torchwood on the pit. There were smiles all around, occasional bits of laughter- but most importantly, there was love.

"Yeah.", said Dan, and Brandy's heart lit up with love at the word. "I'd say you're a pretty good mother."

Brandy Dashed right up onto Dan's shoulders, wrapping him as tightly as she could in a tight hug. He almost couldn't breath for a second- but he was fine the second after. He just took a single, intense breath, Star flowing out of him and running over Brandy, some of it hitting her ears. She yelped, and pushed herself further down into his loving grasp.

The night had grown to reality around them, the sun now vanished from the sky. Now that the fall season had been unleashed to the world, the day would become shorter and shorter, until it would almost not even exist at all. But those days were still far off- they still had day tomorrow.

"Honey, look.", said Dan, and pointed up. Brandy opened up her eyes enough to see what he was looking at- fireflies. Dancing points of light that gently floated out of the wreckage of the swamp, lighting up the campsite with their beauty. Brandy had neer seen fireflies in the wild before- it almost made her tear up a bit.

"Fireflies.", she said, her tiny voice against the immense world almost leaving her feeling insignificant. And yet she knew that, no matter what, Dan's presence by her side would always make everything better. No matter what.

Dan and Brandy stared at the other four members of the group around the fire, talking and laughing about- something. It was getting hard to tell, as both of their senses began to shut down for the night. Dan's aching body screamed at him to fall asleep. His pounding headache told him to let go, to lose consciousness- but he could not, until Brandy was sleeping.

Brandy's exhausted limbs told her the same, to let them sleep, to let them heal. She wanted to obey them, to let herself fall asleep in the arms of Dan- and yet, she did not. She felt as if there was something else, one more thing, that kept her from falling asleep. Something they had forgotten, something from the sky-

A tremendous boom suddenly echoed from far overhead, deeper than any noise had a right to ever be and louder than the echo of an exploding star. The night sky that had so gently fallen over that section of the world was rudely disturbed, a ruddy golden glow edged with twinges of black falling over the entire continent. The world shook from the pressure, of a totally unknown source. Fear gripped the heart of the world, once more from the fear of death.

"What the-", Dan snapped, and leapt up. He grabbed Brandy from where she lay, holding her tight to his chest as something huge began to appear in the black sky. It looked almost like a curved knife- but blazing gold, burning from every angle, and a solidly curved shape. A cosmic aura burned off of it, erupting into the sky.

"Mommy!", Bubble screamed, as she saw the thing approaching. It looked incomprehensibly massive- one edge of it stretched to the far horizon and even beyond, the clouds far below it burning away just from the presence. "Mommy, help!"

Brandy, having suddenly been yanked out of her near-sleep and now being dragged along towards the rest of the group, simply screamed. She had no idea what was going on, but she was slightly curious as to why the ground was reflecting Star gold. "What? What?"  
Dan reached the rest of the group, and threw his arms around them. He took in a deep breath, not knowing how in Clash's name he was going to stop such a titanic blast from… wherever it had come from. From the sheer size and speed of the thing, it was as if it had been flung from deep space. "Everyone, get ready! Brace yourselves!"

Everybody tucked as tightly as they could under Dan's solid body, as Dan continued to build up his strike. He gathered two shots in both hands, putting all the power his exhausted body could allow into each of them. He had to give everything he had for this one.

The mysterious, cosmic blow came closer, only now entering the atmosphere. It had seemed to slow down and weaken a bit from the collision, but it still seemed as though it held the power to cut the entire planet in half. Dan grit his teeth, kept sucking in Star, and tossed both of the spheres into the air in front of him. They crackled and spat with sheer power, but it was nothing compared to the devastating world-ender bearing down on him.

"Double…", Dan breathed, bringing his legs up in front of him. He balanced on his hands, the group still protected. "Leg Day…"

The gigantic curve was still coming. Dan had only one shot. It was now or never. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and-

"OVERDRIVE!", he screamed, firing the blast with everything he possibly had. Yet as it shot towards the golden goliath in the sky, something strange happened. The curve stopped, and began to retreat off the planet. It was almost as if whoever had fired it had suddenly realize their mistake, and grabbed back their attack. Dan's Overdrive kept on going after it, into the sky, into space, and vanishing off to parts unknown, both golden glows fading from the sky.

Dan almost collapsed on the ground below, but he knew that everyone else was still underneath him- that is, until he saw them all rapidly crawl out. Then he let go, and fell to the ground.

"What…", he groaned, not even bothering to get up. "What the heck was that?"  
"I have no idea.", said Brandy, still shaking from the experience. She looked over at Leon- another white stripe had been marked into his hair. She could not help but wonder what caused that- and what Juno must have gone through to make her hair white. "But-"

"But don't worry ,everyone.", said Dan, with a grin. "Old Dad scared it away."

"Right.", said Leon, and closed his eyes. "But, like… Super Leg Day Overdrive, Dad? Really?"

"What?", asked Dan, moving his head over to see Leon. "I like that name. It's cool."

"No.", said Leon, and shook his head. "It's not. Maybe you can come up with a different name in the morning, once we're all rested. Cause I'm going to sleep."

"Leon-", said Brandy, but it was too late. Leon rolled over on his side and Dan's arm, asleep with moments. In just a few seconds, the rest of the group followed, leaving Dan and Brandy the only ones awake.

"Dan.", said Brandy, finally able to say what had been on her mind for hours. "Being out here, in such an unstructured place, running into such weird things, seeing so much that we never knew existed, well…"

"Yes, Brandy?", asked Dan. "What is it?"

"What if… everything was like this?", she asked, gesturing with her hands to the stars. "What if there were no battles, or upgrades, or Troop Types, and everywhere was wild, and people were just… people? I mean, I know that sounds crazy, and it is, but-"  
"I think it used to be like that.", said Dan, his brain starting to nod off. "Back before everything. When the first animals were made, they were just that. Animals. Nothing about them."

"What if…", Brandy said, trying to put her cosmic thoughts into words. "It was like that again?"

For a second, they just both lay there, staring at the infinite cosmos above, hearing the fireflies fly, and taking in the rich atmosphere of the fantastic world around them, a tapestry in its wonders and a sonnet in its beauty. The stars twinkled through the clouds, the moon a beautiful shade of purple from the October season. A pair of Bats flew by, and landed in a nearby tree. They were clearly wild- normally, Bats came in groups of five. Although, really, wild Bats would be the norm.

"That would be cool.", said Dan, and slowly nodded. "I think it would be nice to see that."

He put a hand onto Brandy's back, and pulled her in closer to himself. They both felt themselves begin to fall asleep, from the sheer unmatched stress of what had been one of the longest days of either of their lives. "Goodnight, honey."

"Goodnight, Dan.", said Brandy, and felt herself fall asleep. "I… love… you…"

Then they were both truly out like a light, drifting off into dreamland, until the world tomorrow would be ready for their waking. 

Song: Dawn- Phantom Blood

Chris Tinkain the Builder slowly trudged his way up the nightly lit path, the almost overdone Shocktober decorations nipping at his heels, tugging at his boots, and generally just making his walking a bad time. A Skeleton stabbed his toe. A Bat danced in his hair. A Fire Spirit ran around his leg, and jumped on a piece of grass. He scrunched up his nose and held his breath as he felt a Royal Ghost pass him by- not for smell, but so as to not lose his breath. He sighed, as he saw that he still had a few more hundred feet to go before he made it to his destination- the gigantic gates of Oticat's and Spacekrakenx's duel castle.

He looked behind him, seeing for the 45th time what he guided- a gigantic procession of Loot Carts, filled to the brim with Gold and Elixir. He frankly had absolutely no idea why in all that was holy and unholy he was delivering it to some Castle on Royale instead of a Village like normal, but he had never been one to judge. He always just did what he was told.

A Guard working on the ramparts of the castle, Gid by name, took a moment from his eternal stride from either end of the entire building to the other to look outwards. There he saw Chris Tinkain, walking at the very end of his energy, what appeared to be a gargantuan train of wagons rolling up behind him. Gid had no idea what exactly was going on- but he had never been one to question orders either. All he knew was that he had a guest, and he was to be let in.

Chris, using the last amount of care left in him, finally took the last step. He stopped right within knocking distance of the gigantic gates, and held up his Torch to signal the Loot Carts to stop. They took a few moments to recognize his signal, but they did roll to a deafening stop, just a few feet before they would have run over Chris. He took a bit to lament this fact, and held up his hand to knock on the door.

But right before he did so, he saw and felt the locks within begin to open, the Guards inside hurriedly working to open it up. He decided that he would wait exactly 15 seconds- if he could remove an entire tree in that time, they could open the locks.

But the 15 seconds passed, and the door was still in the process of being opened. Chris rolled his eyes, and knocked on the door with his wooded multi-tool. Three immense knocks sounded, ringing out across the still night, right as the Guards finally got the door open.

"Evening.", said Chris, with the enthusiasm of a concrete sock in a coma. "I got some war loot for your King. Take it to him. Or do not. I genuinely do not care at all."

"War Loot, eh?", asked Gid, stepping down from the top of the pile of Guards, and craned his neck to see the immense train. "Wow, that's uh… a lot of Loot. Like…"

He started to count, before realizing that the highest number he knew was 50000, and there seemed to be a lot more than that. He looked at Chris with a disbelieving look, starting to question just what was going on here. "Like, uh…"  
"That's 20.3 million. Each.", said Chris, and took a casual glance at his fingernails. "Give or take a few thousand."

Gid's jaw dropped clean off his skull, falling down onto the ground below. The number echoed through the entire group of Guards, each of their own jaws following suit. Their arms were the next to go from sheer shock, then their legs, then their heads. Within just a few seconds, the entire platoon of Guards had just fallen apart- that was more Gold or Elixir than any of them had ever seen in their lives.

"2- 2- 2-", stammered Gid, his eyes somehow flickering. "20.3 million? How? Why? Who?"

"Well.", said Chris, and took out a small notepad. He took a look at the front page, nodded, and tucked it back into his pocket. "You see, I have it on record that a single Troop of yours somehow three-starred about two dozen War Bases... I have absolutely no idea how, but I do not care. So you get the loot, and a formal invitation to join Clan Awesomesauce. Motto: _Dang it Kyle, stop giving everyone free co or we will kick you." _

"I… I see.", said Gid, and started to try and piece himself back together. "Well, uh, let me just call my King, and we can get started accepting this."

"Good.", said Chris, and stared up at the stars and moon overhead .He thought about writing a song about the once he got back home, whenever that would be. Probably in just a few hours, if his Dragon wasn't late or asleep. "Yeah, that'll be just great."

Oticat burst up from his bed, almost hitting his head on the wooden post up above. He stared at Max in shock, who had been chosen by Gid to deliver the message. They both had installed communicators in their shields, and Gid had Max on speed dial at all times. They had both decided that awaking Spacekrakenx was not the best thing to do, as he had gone to bed after working on figuring out The Slime for almost 10 hours straight. Neither of them knew that, in fact, he was still awake.

"What?", Oticat shouted, almost unable to articulate his thoughts. "20.3 million Gold?"

"That is what I said ,yes.", said Max, and gave a polite nod. "20.3 million Gold."

"But…", Oticat gibbered ,mirroring the same questions Gid had had. "How? Why? Who?"

"I do belive, sir…", said Max, and bowed again. "The Builder in charge said one of our Troops was responsible. Three starred over two dozen War Bases, winning us all the respective loot."

Oticat opened his mouth- then shut it again when he realized he had absolutely nothing to say. The mere thought of such staggering loot truly left him at a loss for words. His mind swirled with what he could do with that much- he could upgrade every single card he owned. He could buy an entire new wing of the Castle. He could get everyone he knew a massive boost. He could- he could-

He could get up, that's what he could do. The thought came into his head that unless he got up and went to collect everything, there would be no vast amounts of Gold. Not for him, or anyone.

"Well, let's go!", he said, now able again to speak. He jumped all the way out of his bed, and landed with a dramatic pose on his wooden floor. "Max, the night and Gold awaits!"

"Sire?", asked Max, slightly leaning back as he slightly died inside. He did not look at Oticat, only staring at the immensely interesting pattern of the walls. "Could you-"

"What?", asked Oticat, already on his way to the door. He looked back at Max, who had closed his eyes. "What is it, Max?"

"Could you put on some clothes?", asked Max. Oticat looked down and realized that he was wearing nothing but his blue nightshirt and his crown. He looked up and tried to meet Max's gaze, but of course failed- then realized Max was right. Without another word, Oticat turned to his dresser and began to rummage for real clothes.

Song: Approach

Meg was still awake, despite the late hour.

She sat in her bed, Brenda lightly snoring in the covers next to her. She held a TV remote, using it to blearily flip through the channels. Her Gunstand lay by her side of the bed, a soft blue light streaming from the barrel at all times. Almost no sound came from the room- only Brenda's snoring and the TV's quiet volume. Meg hadn't even bothered to put on her glasses- she was too tired to see the screen properly anyway.

A very concerned Archer was pictured on screen, her hair lying frizzled and her face full of terror. The studio behind her was cracked and broken, a Skeleton tapping the desk.

"Many villages are currently without any Elixir.", she said, staring right into the camera. "Except for what they already had in their storages- but collectors are no longer bringing anything up. Experts are saying that a devastating Earthquake ruptured the underground leylines, but we are not really sure."

A Wizard hurried on screen, tripping over an unseen object and landing right on the ground. He picked himself up as quickly as he could, still pulling on his purple robe. He skidded in to his spot, and hurriedly adjusted his hair. "That's right… and not to mention the dozens of War Bases that were mysteriously destroyed just this morning. No witnesses were there to see it, so we still have no idea what happened."

"All we know is…", said the Archer, and put her finger into the air. She stopped, thought for a second, put her hand down, and worriedly shrugged. "We don't know, okay? Just… stay safe out there, everyone. There's something going on out there. Something bad."

"Some say it's the work of the Gods.", said the Wizard, as Meg raised her finger to change the channel. "Some say it's the work of the Wa-"

The channel changed, to a screaming, raving, Giant. Meg briefly wondered what the Wizard had been about to say- but as the Giant screamed again, her attention was turned.

"It's Them, Harry!", screamed Alex Jones, and slammed his hand against the table. "I always knew there was a secret organization lurking under the surface of the world, waiting to strike, and this just proves it! It proves it! You too, Colt!"

Alex pointed accusingly at both a Barbarian and a Colt, who stared at each other in mild fear. Neither of them had any idea what to say in the face of pure insanity.

"Or it's a Dragon!", shouted Alex Jones, and felt his heart jump. "A huge Dragon, who's gonna-"

Meg groaned, and flicked off the TV. She no longer had any desire to watch anything on TV- not when they were just going to spread doom and gloom like that.

"Brenda?", she asked, and felt a mysterious feeling begin to rise within her. It was not something that she was quite able to place, but she felt its strong hold on her, sure as night.

Brenda had been having a bit of a dream, but the sound of Meg's words was strong enough to break through her sleep. With a burst of movement she awoke, and looked up at Meg.

"Huh?", she asked, and blinked. She cleared the sleep from her eyes with a quick movement, and adjusted herself to a sitting position. "Whassat?"  
"I can't sleep.", Meg said, and sighed. She made some gesture towards the TV, but it didn't really mean anything. "I've tried watching TV, I've tried singing myself to sleep… I've tried everything."

_Yep, two is everything, _thought Brenda, but she did not say it. Instead, she just leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Meg, putting the Musketeer's head on her shoulder. "Well, have you tried lying on my chest and listening to me breathe until you fall asleep?"  
"Yes.", said Meg flatly, though not without affection. She rubbed her forehead, trying to get the pain to subside. "I did. I almost fell asleep too, until you rolled over."  
"Oh.", said Brenda, and thought for a moment. "Sorry, Nutmeg-"

Then the answer was upon her, and she snapped her fingers. A long, checkered arm appeared behind her, and started to move its fingers towards Meg's head. Brenda grinned, and gently elbowed Meg in the side. "What if I just get the Phantom to-"

"It's not that, Brenda.", said Meg, and a single tear ran its way down her face. The arm of the Phantom held, sensing that he still might be of assistance. Brenda just stared, wondering how to help Meg. "There's… there's something on my mind."

"I see.", said Brenda, and once again moved forward. She wrapped her arms around Meg in a hug. "Well, tell me what it is."

"That's just the thing…", said Meg, and frowned again. Her fingers began to shake, as she tried and failed to grab her glasses from the side of the bed. "I'm not quite sure what it is. Only that it hurts, and it's in my head, but it's not a headache. I have a weird, aching thought, and I'm trying to figure out what it is. "

"Hmm.", said Brenda, once again putting her mind to work. She had to figure out what it was. "Well, what if we were to-"

"I want to go out to the shooting range, Brenda.", said Meg, being unusually assertive. The words were echoed in her Stand behind her, as the blue slowly turned darker and more intense, almost a shade of green. "In the Training Camp out back."

Brenda nodded, and began to get up- it was not what she had expected Meg to say, but she supposed it was fine anyway. "Well, let's go then. You might want to put on some clothes, Nutmeg- can't go around in just a nightdress."

"I already did, Brenda.", said Meg, standing up from the bed in her full uniform. Brenda stared, suspecting that Meg had been planning this for quite a while.

"Ah.", said Brenda, and Dashed over to her closet for some spare uniforms. "Alright then, wait just a second. I'll be ready in a touch."

Oticat spun around in a crazed circle, grabbing entire handfuls of Gold from just one of the many, many Loot Carts in the room and throwing it in all directions. A vertibable train of them led out of the main entryway, far out back, and vanishing into the woods beyond. It was a miracle that a ton of Goblins had not shown up already- but no one was thinking that, save Brenda as she and Meg slowly, silently, snuck through the back of the chambers and out the door.

"We're rich, Max!", Oticat screamed, his eyes bulging from the sight of the unimaginable Gold. "This is rich beyond our wildest dreams! We'll never have to worry about anything ever again!"

The screaming of his cash-induced ecstasy quickly traveled throughout the castle, echoing off the halls, and trickling into the bedrooms of many Troops. Some of them started to stir, the distinctive smell of vast amounts of Gold wafting into the noses of the Goblins.

"Er, sir-", said Max, but Oticat was only half listening. He continued to spin, spraying Gold every which way, landing in the far cracks of the room. His eyes were alight with the comfort that only true financial security could bring, his merry, booming laugher filling the halls.

"Sir?", asked Max, and this time Oticat could bring himself to listen. "Yes?", he asked, after ever so slowly spinning to a stop. "What is it, Max?"  
"That Builder said it was one of our own Troops who caused this.", said Max, his own mind racing. "Now who could have possibly destroyed that many War Bases? Who could possibly even be over there-"

For a second, they both fell silent. Their minds had automatically sifted through the possible knowledge available to them, both of them finding a conclusion they found equally correct.

_Dan, _thought Max, in awe of what Dan must have been doing over there to cause such immense amounts of destruction. Oticat, meanwhile, was thinking about what kind of sandwich he wanted to make fist. His options were now practically unlimited with that much Gold.

"Well, what are we waiting for?", asked Oticat, and threw up his hands. "Call everyone! Get them down here! It's upgrade time!"

Max bowed, and swiftly retreated. He looked for the stairs to upstairs, the best way to talk all at once. Oticat cast a greedy look all over the pile of Gold that new practically made up the room- 30 feet in all directions. He had no idea where to even start, only feeling the desire to grab it all and keep it for himself -but that thought was quickly subdued.

"Meg…", he said, and held is finger over a button that he had summoned upon setting up his keys. "I know you haven't been upgraded for a while. So how about now?"

Song: Virtuous Pope

The atmosphere of Training Camp, particularly at night, was one of total peace, The very last vestiges of the sun were just barely visible along the horizon, tinting some spots on the ground rather randomly with red, orange, green, and blue. Some Goblins were hovered in the area, endlessly ready to grant the Troops who came whatever they needed. As Meg and Brenda stepped down from the small field behind and around the Castle, and left the wooded cosp, they entered the Training Camp proper. Neither set of towers were up or running- it was too late for that ,and Oticat currently had no interest in a Training match. One could see the robotic trainer standing in his tower, his robotic troops unable to move unless attacked.

"Well, we're here.", said Brenda, and sighed. She looked out towards the range- and saw the icy sphere on legs that was Randy, dancing around on the grass without a care in the world.

"Oh, hey Randy.", she said, and they both gave a little wave. Randy waved back- but he said nothing. Because he was an Ice Spirit.

Brenda looked up at the moon, seeing the wonderful shade of purple, and wondered just who else was looking up at it that night. It brought her peace- but that was quickly shattered, as she remembered that Meg was currently still upset. So Brenda put her arms around Meg's shoulder, and whispered into her ear. "So, are you just here to shoot? Or should we-"  
"Just here to shoot, Brenda.", said Meg, her hands still shaking. She had no idea how to tell what was on her mind to Brenda- but little did she know, Brenda too had something she ached to tell Meg. "Nothing really such that more."

"Suit yourself.", said Brenda, and grabbed Meg by the back of the head. A quick Dash to the right place later, and Brenda sat down. She did not want to tire out her legs, just in case.

"There you go, honey.", said Brenda, and gave Max a little kiss ont he cheek. "Don't worry, I'm just going to be here. Wake me up if you need me."

"Well, of course I'm going to need you.", said Meg, and rolled her eyes. ""You always help. With whatever."

Brenda nodded, and stood back up. She put her hand on Meg's head, as the Musketeer knelt down with serious intensity. She raised her gun to her chest, took careful aim at the target many steps away, and fired.

The shot rang out, disturbing the cool quiet night air. The Goblin that had been right next to the target jumped, adjusted his targeting glasses, and ran over to see the mark. It was his job to call out where exactly the epicenter of the target had hit, and this was no exception.

He walked around it a few times ,and Meg found herself unconsciously clenching her knees onto the ground. She had gotten better with her aim but… was she good enough for this? She had no idea until the Goblin threw his hands into the air. "Outer Ring."

Brenda frowned, and reached out to try and console Meg. But the opposite effect took place, Meg almost bristling at the touch. "I'm fine, I'm fine.", she said, and huffed her air out of hr face. She quickly reloaded another shot, and took aim. "You don't need to worry about me."

Before Brenda could even respond, Meg raised her Stand once more. She spun around and shot it right at a wagon- this one came closer. According to the Goblin, that shot was in the medium ring. Meg scowled and blew the smoke off her gun, intent on reloading.

But as Brenda watched her, she knew there was something she had to talk to her about. It had been bugging at the back of her mind for almost a week now, and she could not take it any longer. She swallowed ,and built up her words.

"Hey, uuh…. Meg?", she asked, and Meg looked up. "You remember when… we first met, right?"  
"Yes.", said Meg, her eyes a little softer. Her shot was a little more accurate as well- but no one noticed that. "I do...what about it?"

Brenda started to say something, but knew she could not keep her emotions bottled up inside anymore. She pitched forward right as Meg shot her shot, landing right on top of her and bursting into tears. "I'm- I'm sorry…"

"What?", asked Meg, in utter shock. She had no idea why Brenda was collapsing into her chest, had no idea why her strong confident girlfriend of nearly four weeks was crying. "What-"

Brenda almost pushed Meg to the ground, but she was able to keep her footing, just barely. Her words came out quickly, spilling out of her like a fountain, almost as if she struggled to even keep them in her mind. "I'm sorry for taking advantage of you and I'm sorry for ruining what life you could have had and I'm sorry for not teaching you what I-"  
"Woah, woah, slow down.", Meg said, her fingers shaking their way through Brenda's hair. "Slow down, be quiet, and tell me what's wrong. Exactly."

Brenda nodded, and sat up. She straightened her hair, smoothed down her uniform, looked Meg dead in the eyes, and spoke.

"When I first found you…", said Brenda trying and mostly succeeding, although it was hard, to keep control of herself. "You were just a kid, really. You had just left that Red Castle, just been saved from whatever awful things they were doing in there, and… I just snatched you up. You didn't even really have time to look around for anyone else, I just saw you and took you. You were underage, Meg! You might even be underage now! Frick."

Brenda took a moment to breathe, before continuing into her rant about herself. "And then you just had to end up with me, didn't you? You had to get snatched up by the worst predator in the woods."

Brenda looked up again, and almost burst into tears once more. "I'm sorry, Meg. I shouldn't- I shouldn't have made you this way. It's my fault."

Meg stared at Brenda, her eyes wide open in shock. "Wha-", she stammered, and tried to speak. "Brenda... "

She lifted up Brenda by the chin, staring into her eyes. Worry and love were reflected upon her face in equal measures. "Brenda, what in Clash are you talking about?"

"I"m a terrible person.", said Brenda, and looked down at the ground. A tear dripped from her face, splashing into the dirt. "And we both know it."

Meg blinked, and grabbed her cloak. She intertwined it with Brenda's, letting her thief's head fall onto her lap. Usually it was the other way around, but she supposed that this time it was Brenda that needed the help. "Brenda, what are you even saying? You're the best person I know."

"No…", Brenda whined, and pushed her face into Meg's legs. "You heard what I said. I didn't let you have your own life. I just took you, and kept you, and-"

"No, no, don't say that.", said Meg, and gently rubbed the back of Brenda's head. She made sure to get her ears as well, for maximum comfort. "Brenda, you mean the world to me. And you know it. Besides what you think you did, which you didn't, by the way- you saved my life- what do you think makes you a terrible person?"

Brenda opened her mouth to speak, and closed it again. Her mind tried to find things to say, but she was at a total loss for words. She stared at Meg, knowing that she couldn't just say "I didn't let you live your life." Because at Meg's words, she knew. She knew that Meg hadn't had a life before that day. Her entire _real _experience in the world had been with Brenda.

"I'm…. super possessive?", she said, not sure why she was trying to put herself down. Perhaps she had just been happy for so long that she needed to be sad a bit.

"No, you're protective.", said Meg, and rocked back and forth. "There's a difference."  
"Well then, I don't let you do things.", said Brenda, even thought she knew it wasn't true.

"That's just rephrasing it.", said Meg, and tapped Brenda on the side of the head. "Silly."  
Brenda tried to say something else- but she knew that she could not. How could she? Meg was right. She had no idea what she had been saying.

"Brenda…", said Meg, and let Brenda sit up. It was her turn now to lay down, in the green-cloaked lap of her thief. "Now that we're here discussing our inner feelings and all, there's something I need to tell you."

"You can tell me, Nutmeg.", said Brenda, and gently stroked her hair, just as she had done. "Tell me everything. You get to."  
Meg's hand slowly reached into her pocket, not bothering to speak. She fished around in it for a few seconds, until she withdrew a single piece of dirtied cloth, clearly aged. It must have had been in her pocket for quite a while- Brenda wondered why she had never seen it before. Then it occurred to her that it must have been with Meg even though uniform changes- it clearly meant a lot. What was it?  
Her question was answered when Meg put her hands up, unfolded the cloth, and let Brenda see. A shock of pain shot through her heart as she realized just what is said.

"For-", Meg said, reading off of it. Her throat caught on the next word, and she was unable to continue- but Brenda could still read what it said. _For Boys only. Girls, no touch._

"They… they made me wear this. Around the Castle, all day.", said Meg, her words once again catching. She tried her best not to cry, but it was a losing effort, as the tears dripped down her face. "As soon as they found out that…"

"Meg…", Brenda said, and hugged her tight. "I'm… I'm sorry. I had no idea."

"Don't be sorry.", said Meg, reciting her famous phrase. "You didn't do anything wrong."

She took a breath, and began again. "They wouldn't let me have anything there. They let everyone else indulge in their desires- everyone but me. Why me?"

She looked upwards to the skies, and began to sob, unable to control her emotions. "I never did anything wrong. Not to a single one of them- and they all hated me."

_Well, except for Bailey, I guess, _she thought, at the back of her mind. _I wonder what happened to her… _

Brenda, ever so slowly, ran her fingers across Meg's face. The two just lay there on the still night grass, watching the stars, feeling the chilled winds go by. "Meg… of course they hated you. Because they were Red. They were evil, and you weren't. Evil hates good, and that's why they didn't like you."

Meg allowed that thought to enter her mind, swirling in and around her like a burst of cool air, and she opened her eyes. She had never really thought of it that way before- it was refreshing. But then again, that was one of the reasons she loved Brenda so much. Her unique perspective on life, always able to dispense advice. "But you l-"  
"Meg, of course I like you.", said Brenda, and smiled. "Silly."

Meg closed her eyes again, and allowed herself to fall onto Brenda's lap with a smile. "I guess I'm just trying to say… I love you. I always have, from the moment that we met. And regardless of anybody trying to ruin that… no matter what they have to say… it's real. Our love. Even if we're both girls, even if you're Blue and I was Red, no matter what."

Brenda, realizing something, looked straight up into the sky. She sent a message to anyone that might be watching- Meg was technically young, yes, but it worked extremely differently for Troops than "Normal" people. Phedophilia was, and is, never okay, and anyone who acts upon such urges deserves to stand under a Rocket.

"I love you too, Meg.", said Brenda once she was done, and sat up. She held Brenda's torso in her arms- then looked towards her Stand. The glow it was emitting was… different. Something that was far brighter and stronger than she was used to, a different level of charge. "Now let's see if you can't hit that target."

Song: The Wonder of You

"The- the target?", asked Meg, in surprise. She picked up her gun- but just held it there, not shooting. "But- you saw that I couldn't hit it. Just a few minutes ago."

"Yeah.", said Brenda, and shrugged. "But that was before, my musky. Before we just talked. I think you could hit it now."

Meg bit her lip nervously, and ran her fingers up and down her gun. She stared at the target, so far away- and so fuzzy. Meg mentally slapped her forehead as she realized she had forgotten her glasses. "I forgot my glasses…", she muttered, and stared down at the ground. "There's even less of no way now."

"No, no, don't be thinking like that on me.", said Brenda, and put her fingers on Meg's shoulderblades. Meg jumped a bit, feeling her skin grow goosebumps. "You don't need your glasses. You just need your Stand, and yourself. Come on. Do it."

"I-", Meg said, and stammered. Her fingers shook- but not as much as they had been. "I can't do it. No way. There's no way I could-"

She felt Brenda's fingers grab her cheeks, and Meg was afraid she was about to get yelled at. Brenda had never yelled at her before, but there was a first time for everything, right? Even though it had been a while, Meg still feared that-

But those thoughts were shattered as Brenda turned Meg around, landing a kiss right on her lips. She let them stay together for 8 long seconds, before breaking it off and giving Meg a little honk on the nose. "No excuses, Meg.", she said, and winked. "There's a target there. Hit that thing."

Meg sniffed with emotion, and whipped her head around. She raised her gun, feeling the power of her Stand flow through her. She put one finger on the trigger, aimed as best as she was able, and began to pull. "Yes, ma'am."

But the she felt something telling her not to aim with her eyes- but to aim with something beyond. _My heart_, she asked, but the thought told her no. It came to her- she was to close her eyes completely, and aim with her very soul. So she squared her body, focused her entire being into the shot- and lit up with a dazzling blue light that shone like a midnight sun.

Brenda stared at the bright light, The Phantom producing a pair of sunglasses from her pocket and putting them on. Brenda stared through them, at what Meg had become.

Randy looked at the brilliant illumination- and giggled to himself. No one knew what was going on in that head of his- and he would not say. He could not. Because he was an Ice Spirit.

Meg opened her eyes again, the light pouring out from then as well. With a lightning fast motion, she pulled down on the trigger, the bullet shooting out in a blast that rivaled a Sparky's shot. Twisting and turning, it tore through the air like a knife, ripping all the way through the target and landing burrowed 15 feet in the ground on the raised other side.

The Goblin that had been next to the target raised his hand, signaling a 1. "Perfect…", he said woozily, and fainted dead away. "Perfect score. Straight through the middle, bullseye, congratulations Meg."

As the Goblin continued to sleep-talk, Meg's eyes once again began to tear up. But these were not tears of sorrow- they were tears of pure joy. She had done it. She had shot the target clean through, accurately, for the first time in her life.

"Meg, do it again!", said Brenda, her face glowing with excitement. She pointed towards another target, right next to the one that had been shot. "Shoot again!"  
Meg was not quite sure at first- then she grit her teeth, swung her Stand around her body, and aimed right at the second target. There was a pulled trigger, a flash of light- and another target down, fallen to bits from the force of the blast. Meg stared in wonder, but not waiting a bit as she fired a third blast, smashing apart the third target within a single second.

Brenda put her hands to her mask, pulling down on the tough skin in amazement. Meg's hands flew to her nose, and the tears started to flow faster, cleaner, more beloved. She found herself pulsing with a strange, magical energy- but hether it was from Brenda, the Stand, or the green light of an upgrade that suddenly flowed around her body, she did not know.

"What-", she said, suddenly noticing what had just happened. "An upgrade?"

She looked down at her clothes, noting her level patch on her shoulder. Her heart very nearly stopped as she saw that it had jumped dramatically- from a mere level 9 to a mighty level 13. Her helmet glowed as well, the Star Level turning the silver metal a burnished gold.

Brenda had no such glow- she was already as high level as she could be. But another blue and gold flash came from across the clearing, as Randy was suddenly maxed out as well. There wer more and more, as even the Goblins were leveled up.

"What-", she gasped again, utterly confused. "What's going on?"

Brenda Dashed forward and grabbed Meg around the waist, lifting her up into the air and giving her another huge kiss. "Meg, who cares what's happening?", she cried, and hugged even tighter. "You did it, dearest. Your hands didn't even shake once."  
"My- my hands?", Meg asked, and looked down in surprise. Normally, upon such a momentous occasion, with so much going on, her hands would be all aflutter- but not this time. No, this time, they were perfectly still. "Oh. My… my hands."

Meg looked up, a still mist coming off her body. A vein of previously hidden, raw confidence surged outward from her, and she clenched her fist. "I did it. Oh my goodness."

Brenda continued to hug her, and turned towards the castle. Even now they could see flashes of green and gold coming from Oticat's chambers, from his mad spree of continuous windfall-induced upgrading. The shouts echoed outwards, almost concealing the sounds of something else approaching from the opposite direction.

"You did.", said Brenda, seeing Randy run towards something out of the corner of her eye. She looked at Meg slyly, feeling her chest and arms heat up. "Now, we should probably go back… and do something else-"

Her words were interrupted with a vast gust of wind that tore from the opposite direction, almost knocking them both off their feet. Both of them spun around- to see a man standing on the far hill, staring at them with an air of sheer confidence that could break mountains, adjusting his cybernetic eye.

Song: Propaganda- Simpsonill

Behind the man, who they could now see was some sort of Wizard, was a vast army, unlike anything they or the continent had ever, ever seen. Huge scores of Goblins milled about raindrops in a lake, every single type of weapon at their ready. A great clatter arose from their number that almost sounded like rushing wind, as deafening as it was chaotic.

Among the Goblins marched dignified columns of exotic Troops, decorated and powerful beyond belief. Pekkas with electric swords stood alongside Giants with fists of stone. Wizards that glowed with mysterious purple light floated in midair, right next to Minions that glowed a bright, toxic green. Barbarians with muscles like steel and mullets flowing in the wind intermingled with Archers that held bows of flame, sparking all across their entire body.

Executioners, axes floating and gloating above their head, stood next to Mega Knights with fists of melded steel, and bodies of glowing light. Immense fleets of Lava Hounds and parades of Balloons floated overhead, each packed to the brim with multi colored Skeletons, swords aplenty in either or both hands. Truly gargantuan Golems with spikes the size of entire lesser Golems stood stone still, the ground almost seeming to collapse underneath their intense weight. A few Magic Archers hovered above the army of legends, mystical threads connecting their communications.

But the army was not just Royale Troops- no, far stranger things were within their number. Huge, terrifying Adult Electro Dragons circled overhead, the very sky crackling with thunder around their mighty bodies. All manner of Heroes stood in a line right behind Askari the 15th, their Skins glowing beneath the purple moon. Orfox stood among them, talking and laughing with another Barbarian King. They both wore the skin of the Pekka, bumping fists on occasion. So much power was arrayed in the front line that it illuminated the hill and Training Camp below- and yet, that was only the very beginning of the army.

Next to the Heroes and Askari were the armies from far off lands, not even from the twin Continents of Clash. Hundreds of Brawlers milled about, their skins shining almost as brightly as the heroes. Everything from Shellys standing backwards in the army line, unsure of what to do, to Gold Mecha Crows hovering expertly in midair looked down upon the Camp. No one below had ever seen that many Brawlers in one place before- they had only seen some, then and again. It was a mind-boggling sight for both Meg and Brenda- but not, of course, for Randy. He had been rushing at the army, intent on attacking- but that turned to a jolly skip once he saw Askari. He bounded up at heightened speed- past the still assembling army of legends.

Troops from the Boom Beaches and the faraway Rushlands were also rallied upon the hill line, bizarre Cryoneers and Grenadiers taking places alongside Pitchers and B. . They had never been to a place like Royale before, and were looking around in total confusion. But they too had a job to do, and didn't let themselves get too distracted.

Behind the regular Troops and Brawlers were other things, things that most people didn't even know existed. As a group of Tanks and Heavies parted, an entire tribe of Great Apes bounced up onto the hill, hooting and hollering for all they were worth. Ape Lord Kragonbrock stood at the front, a smile on his ancient lips, staring up at the majestic castle. He beat his chest once, and the entire army replied with a shout, spreading across the battle line.

Askari the 14th stood next to his elite warriors, as they posed for all they worth, a pure aura of fabulousness lighting up the night and heating up the grass below. He cast a look at his son- they both wanted to make sure that everything was absolutely ready before they picked up their final reinforcements.

Askari took another look at the Camp, noticing the Musketeer and Bandit that stood down below, in defensive positions. He thought it was only natural- he supposed that his army appeared absolutely terrifying to anyone facing it down. He only hoped it would be that way to Rakastamos. He thought about ordering someone to escort the two away- until his radar beeped. His eyes widened in shock- they were both Stand users. His plan would have to change then- get them into the army as quickly as he could.

Askari felt something run up right next to him, and he looked down. His stern face became a friendly grin, as the all too familiar face of Randy beamed up at him from down below.

"Why, Randy!", said Askari, and bent down. He gave Randy an icy high five, then stood back. "It's a pleasure to see you here, old friend."

Randy nodded, and took his place beside Askari. But he said nothing- because he was an Ice Spirit. Askari looked around- all things were in place. It was time for him to speak with Oticat.

"Hey!", he heard from down below. The Bandit stood with her finger pointed out, right at him. "Who the frick are you? Identify yourself, Wizard!"

Askari sighed, and concentrated. With a cry of alarm from his front line, he vanished- and reappeared with an impressive burst of effects right in front Brenda. She and Meg both jumped back, as Askari took another step forward. He supposed he did look intimidating,

"Do not be alarmed, Stand users.", he said politely, and offered his hand. "My name is Askari the 15th, great protector of the world. This is my army- for, as you may have guessed, the world needs protecting."

Meg stared for a few seconds, before croaking out a single word. "Wh… what?"

"Oh, I'll explain it later.", said Askari ,and shook his head. He pointed up towards the castle, right at Oticat's chambers. The light was still on, but the flashes and shouts had stopped- Oticat had presumably noticed what was going on. "I need to speak with your King. All of you are coming with us."

"Wait, what?", Brenda snapped, the bladed hand of The Phantom appearing behind her. "What do you mean we're coming with you? We don't even know-"

"Excuse me for one second.", said Askari, and tapped the side of his head. It was his father on the line, with some last minute questions.

"What?", he asked, and scowled. "No, I don't know where Chuqualita is right now. She is notoriously difficult to track. And I don't really know if she's coming with us- I hope. That would be rather nice, to have her on our side."

He listened for a few more seconds, and frowned in thought. "Why no, I don't really know where _they _are. Or even if they're coming at all. But they, too, would be most useful."

He looked up again, and ended the call. "Anyway, your friends are already on their way. Would you like to help them with their quest, or are you just going to stand around gawking all night?"

"Our… friends?", Meg asked, her head spinning. She held tighter on to Brenda- it was all going too fast for her. "Do you mean-"

"Yes, I do.", said Askari and listed the names he had heard. "Brandy the Bandit. Dan the Mega Knight. Leon the… Leon. Trevor the Barbarian. Annabelle the Archer. And Bubble, the unknown."

Brenda just stared, trying to make sense of everything, but she was having no more luck than Meg. She had always been wise and wordly, but this was far too much, all at once. "Uh-"

"And I see that the Gold was delivered here by my instructions.", he said, taking a look at Meg's shoulder patch. "That's nice- wouldn't want you fighting against a Dragonlord's army underleveled now would we?"

"A- a what?", asked Meg, and almost began to cry. Her face heated up with sheer confusion, totally unable to cope. The army, the man, the news- she was about to shut down.

Askari almost began to explain- when the door creaked open, to reveal both Oticat and Spacekrakenx, staring in confusion and absolute wonder.

"Who are you?", aksed Oticat, and pointed at Askari. "What is that?", he asked, and pointed at the army. "What are you all doing on my property?", he asked, and pointed at himself.

But Spacekrakenx already knew, for he was wise beyond most Kings. His hand had already gone to his forehead in a formal salute, his chest bursting with pride. "Askari, sir.", he said, and gave a bow. "It is an honor to serve you. We will do whatever we can."  
"Good, good.", said Askari, and motioned. Spacekrakenx got up, and Askari smiled. "We will leave very soon, so tell everyone to get ready."

"Wait, what?", asked Oticat, as Spacekrakenx ran back inside. "Space, you- you _know _this guy?"

"Well, of course.", said Askari, and let loose with a deep, hearty laugh that echoed across the night. "Your friend is wiser than most. And as for what we're doing… well…"

He snapped his fingers, and looked towards the Continent of the Clans, far to the east. "There is a Dragonlord named Rakastamos. He plans to wipe out all mortal life besides Dragons, in not very long at all. We're all going to stop him. And yes, due to your involvement with some truly remarkable individuals, you have to come."

He made a motion, and teleported back. Oticat stared at the indescribable army that was still assembling on the horizon, and felt his mind break a bit. Everything was far beyond anything he had imagined now- but that, he supposed, was life. And as he prepared himself to head inside and get all his troops, he could not help but feel terrified at whatever was coming next.

_Get ready, guys, _he thought, as he rushed back through the door. _I don't know what's coming, but… it's going to be big._

Brandy felt something stir, deep within her unconscious mind. It was a warning, and a vision. It came with both the sweet breath of life, and the dark smell of death. It whirled around within her, as a poem in her brain,

_Through darkest paths and highest peaks,_

_The warriors travel, and deities sleep._

_Through blackred anger and purple rage,_

_With light and love and bliss and age_

_Night falls harsh over the ancient land, _

_Crushed to bits by destiny's hand. _

_The light conspires, the time soars higher, _

_Until all is consumed in blazing fire._

_The child runs through mountainous lands, _

_The grace of silver in her hands._

_But even as the world shall burn, _

_Perhaps fate and life, can they turn?_

_The forces that were brought together, _

_By some chance, through the aether._

_To fight, to burn, to clash, almost, _

_All in the strength of almighty Rakastamos._

_The world spinning, towards its grave,_

_For the mortals, one day to save._

_In doom or destiny will they lay,_

_At the dawn of the Final Day. _


End file.
